The Dickens-Kolle letters

University of California • Berkeley

From the Library of

Charles Erskine Scott Wood

and his Wife

Sara Bard Field

Given in Memory of

JAMES R.CALDWELL

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A LIMITED NUMBER OF COPIES OF THIS VOLUME
HAVE BEEN PRINTED FOR MR. SMITH FOR PRESEN-
TATION TO FRIENDS AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
THESE COPIES ARE PRINTED ON DIFFERENT PAPER.
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Copyright, 1910, by

THE BIBLIOPHILE SOCIETY

All rights reserved

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

By Henry H. Harper

At the time of the issue (in 1908) of the
volume of the Dickens-Beadnell Correspon-
dence, containing Professor Baker's footnote
calling attention to another collection of early
Dickens letters that changed hands in Birming-
ham, England, about ten years ago, it was
hardly to be hoped or believed that within a
year these letters should be located here in
the United States, and in the hands of a gener-
ous Bibliophile, who not only expressed an
eager willingness to share their contents with
his fellow-booklovers, but also offered to edit
and arrange them for the press, which he has
done in a scholarly and highly entertaining
and instructive manner. Mr. Harry B. Smith,
of New York, the present owner of this collec-
tion of letters written by Dickens to his friend
Kolle, has in the following pages related by
what a narrow margin the Dickens-Beadnell
episode escaped being exploited in public
print before the advent of the recent Biblio-
phile edition of the letters from Dickens to

[V]

Maria Beadnell-Winter. It will be remem-
bered that KoUe, in addition to looking after his
own interests in wooing a fair member of the
Beadnell household, served young Dickens
in the capacity of messenger in smuggling his
imploring love missives through the parental
barriers and into the hands of the coquettish
Maria, after Dickens had been debarred from
the Beadnell home, and even from communi-
cating with Miss Beadnell through the mail.
Nothing could better illustrate the corrobo-
rative character of these letters than the quota-
tion appearing on pages 13-1?.

Matters of an intimately personal nature
which disclose important facts and give a
clearer insight into the lives and characters of
those who are near and dear to us are always
interesting. Perhaps no author excels Dickens
in the ever-increasing number of admirers he
has made among the lovers of literature ; and
facts, therefore, which relate to and explain
the all-absorbing event of his life, and which,
according to his own confession to Mrs.
Winter, were the inceptive cause of his
famous career, cannot fail to be of interest.
Any new autobiographical material of this
nature may be justly regarded as a valuable

[vi]

contribution to literature, and, as such, is
worthy of preservation in an enduring form.

There are a number of causes which co-
operate to make this series of letters of
unusual interest to readers of Dickens. Note-
worthy among its attractive features is the
facility with which Mr. Smith has brought
out the full significance of every point in its
relation to the principal episode, and to a
better knowledge of the character and early
struggles of the author. Letters, — which if
printed disconnectedly would appear incon-
sequential,— are carefully woven into the
complete fabric, and in the remarks interposed
by Mr. Smith their relative importance and
meanings — oftentimes more or less obscure
to the casual reader — are made so clear and
comprehensive as to render every letter an
important link in the story. It would have
been impossible for anyone other than a care-
ful student and admirer of Dickens to have
extracted from these letters and given to the
reader so much that is new, important and
interesting alike to readers and collectors of
that author's works.

Apart from its direct connection with the
contents of the Dickens-Beadnell volume,

[vii]

this book has a distinct value of its own ; but
as a coincidental issue, each supplements and
lends interest to the other.

It appears inconceivable that the correspond-
ence of one so full of literary vitality and social
proclivities, as was Dickens in his youth and
early manhood, could have been confined to
one or two individuals. As reporter on a
London daily paper he was brought into daily
contact with all sorts of companionable men,
both young and old, and there must have
been others than Kolle with whom he was on
terms of equal intimacy, and with whom he
occasionally exchanged letters. Though not
born with a golden spoon in his mouth,
Dickens may be said to have been born with
a pen in his hand, which he kept almost
constantly in service. In his reportorial days
his acquaintance must have been widely ex-
tended, and in his biographies we find refer-
ences to his "many warm friends;" but
strangely enough, they reveal no names which
would serve as a clue to definite facts with
regard to the formative period in the life of
the great novelist. Almost without exception
the writers of his memoirs jump abruptly
from the blacking warehouse experiences to
[ viii ]

the period when as assistant and companion
to his father he was reporting the parliament-
ary debates for the Daily Chronicle. It is
not impossible that there still exists an un-
covered wealth of Dickensiana in the form of
early letters which may in due time come
before the public ; and yet it is easy to under-
stand why his early letters may have been
destroyed by those who received them, for the
reason that at that time no one suspected him
of undeveloped greatness, and even his closest
friends would not be likely to encumber their
files with his letters, which had no apparent
value. In fact it is a matter of astonishment
that any of them should have been preserved ;
hence the great value of the very few that are
known to exist. That the letters of a scorned
and rejected suitor should have been carefully
cherished by the frivolous girl to whom they
were addressed — and upon whom they seem
to have made no impression— is a miracle
bordering on the supernatural ; but now that
another group of contemporary letters bearing
directly upon the same affair has come to light,
the coincidence is so strange as to appear un-
real. Truth is indeed " stranger than fiction."
Even in the face of the contrary views of

[ix]

Professor Baker, in the Dickens-Beadnell
Correspondence, and of Mr. Smith, in the
present volume, I am forced to adhere to my
former conviction that Mary Anne Leigh was
never in love with Dickens, and that the part
she acted in "throwing herself in his way"
was prompted only by one of two purposes:
either that she herself wished to experience
the sensation of toying with the ardent young
lover at the end of her line, or else that, in the
interest of her friend, she was merely endeavor-
ing to provide for her the usual excuse of a
clever coquette when trying to shake off a
suitor of whom she has grown tired. Young
Dickens was too devoutly in love with Maria
Beadnell to become interested in any other
flirt, and he refused to be shaken off so easily.
Determination was always his strong suit, and
it is gratifying to know that it won for him in
literature what it failed to accomplish in love-
making. Mr. Smith points out the fact that
Miss Leigh was a cleverer girl than Maria
Beadnell, which only confirms the view that
she would not have allowed herself to indulge
in anything more serious than a sham flirtation
with an unpromising youth whom her friend
and companion was doing her best to get rid

of. A clever young lady of Miss Leigh's type
is not usually found playing second fiddle to
one of inferior accomplishments, in the pursuit
of a rejected lover. Mr. Smith thinks that
Maria BeadnelFs coldness may have been due
to " Dickens' attentions to Mary Anne Leigh."
If Miss Beadnell had seriously cared for
Dickens, the fact that her friend was trying to
win him away from her would have caused
her to redouble her efforts to hold him, instead
of " freezing'* him out; and in addition,
would perhaps have broken off the friendship
between the two girls. Mr. Smith admits
that the girls probably got together and had a
good laugh at Dickens' expense after it was
all over. However, differences of opinion
must always exist, and after all perhaps it is
best merely to present the facts and leave the
judicial functions to the reader. Therefore,
in the language of the lawyer, I rest the case
on the evidence.

fxi]

\

I

%

THE DICKENS -KOLLE LETTERS

Edited by HARRY B. SMITH

In that valuable contribution to modern biog-
raphy, Charles Dickens and Maria Beadnell.
Private Correspondence, Professor George
Pierce Baker, who performed the editorial
work in a manner deserving the gratitude of
every lover of Dickens, remarks : —

"It is reported that some ten years ago a
series of letters from Dickens to the friend of
his youth, Henry Kolle, changed hands in Bir-
mingham, England. The present editor hopes
that the publication of the letters in this book
may bring this set to light, for they should
supplement and explain the letters here given."

The letters referred to by Professor Baker
are those contained in the present volume.
They were unknown to Forster, who ignores
Kolle even as he disregards several other close
friends of Dickens. In some instances Forster
quarreled with men who were known and

[1]

liked by his great friend, and this led to the
omission of their names from the biography ;
though this was not the case with KoUe,
whose intimacy with Dickens ceased at about
the time the famous friendship with Forster
began. No reference is made to Kolle by
either James Payn or Robert Langton in the
monographs on Dickens' early life. This cor-
respondence, however, tells its own story of
confidence and comradeship.

It cannot be claimed for the letters in the
present volume that they equal the Beadnell
correspondence in emotional sentiment or in
what may be called dramatic interest. In
these qualities the letters to Miss Beadnell
(and later to Mrs. Winter) probably surpass
any series ever written by Dickens, though
there are many single examples equally vital
and self-revealing. Such, for instance, are the
ones which Dickens wrote at the culmination of
his domestic infelicities, — those strange let-
ters which tended to destroy " the greatest of
Dickens' fictions — himself." Most of these
are unpublished, and some are to be found in
American collections.

The correspondence with Kolle, it is thought,
has a distinct interest of its own and contrib-

[2]

utes something to Dickens' biography, although
it gives a sketch of a period rather than the
complete chapter supplied by the Beadnell
group. Some of the present series are the
earliest known letters of Dickens ; others have
a direct connection with the love aflfair with
Maria Beadnell ; many of them, in a few sen-
tences, give a more graphic idea of the life of
the author as a young man than any corre-
spondence or reminiscences yet published.
They are redolent of the joys and dreams of
youth and not untinged by its occasional sad-
ness. The first of the letters was written in
1830; the last of the early series in 183?.
After the latter date Dickens and KoUe, for
twenty-five years, held little if any communi-
cation. In 18?9, four years after the reappear-
ance of Maria Beadnell, KoUe wrote to his old
friend, and again in 186?. The novelist's an-
swers to these two later letters form a part of
the present collection.

Of Dickens after the " Pickwick " period
the biographical information is as complete
as the most exacting specialist could wish.
Of the innumerable volumes of mid-Victorian
Memoirs and Reminiscences of " people of im-
portance in their day," a large number make

[31

their contribution of side-lights and anecdote.
Of Dickens and his family in the period
between the blacking warehouse and the
Sketches by Bo{, comparatively little is known.
Among the published letters there is but
one written during his days of newspaper
reporting. It is believed that the corre-
spondence, now for the first time printed,
adds to our knowledge of Dickens as a youth
in that interesting period when he was emerg-
ing from obscurity and coming into his own.
An English critic, who is much cleverer than
a mere critic has any right to be, has thought
it worth his while, at this late day^ to devote
a book to an appreciation of Dickens. In this
work Mr. Chesterton declares that " whatever
the word * great ' means, Dickens is that." It
might be added that whatever the word " pop-
ular'* means Dickens is that also. Popular
he has been continuously from the publication
of the Sketches by Bo{ to the present day.
There have been at all times critics hostile to
his novels and people who have declared that
they could not read Dickens ; but their minor-
ity report has generally taken the form of a
protest against his acknowledged popularity.
During the year 1906, a single London
[4]

publishing house sold four hundred and fifty
thousand copies of novels by Dickens, and it
has been estimated that in that year fifteen
hundred thousand copies of his books were
sold in England alone. It is probable that as
many more were sold in the United States,
Canada and Australia, and it is within bounds
to say that the annual sales of the Dickens
novels amount to three millions of copies.
About three hundred and fifty articles dealing
with Charles Dickens and his writings are
published in magazines and newspapers every
year. An incomplete collection of these in
the Guildhall Library numbers over ten thou-
sand items. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, starting to
collect all the printed matter relating to
"Pickwick" alone, soon found that he had
" nearly a roomful.'' A magazine is devoted to
Dickens literature, clubs and fellowships are
organized in his honor, and the library of
Dickensiana is beginning to rival in extent the
literature of Shakespear and Napoleon.^
Dickens' principal works have been trans-

1 In 1838, " Pickwick " was attacked by the Quarterly Review
which declared that " indications were not wanting that the peculiar
vein of humor which has hitherto yielded such attractive metal, is
worn out." When this was written by an eminent critical author-
ity, Dickens had published nothing but the Sketches hy Bo{.

[5]

lated into every European language. He is
read by all sorts and conditions of men,
women and children. Lord Jeffreys, Charles
Lever, and Walter Savage Landor wept over
Little Nell (though Mr. Andrew Lang makes
merry over her). Lever declared Dickens to be
" the greatest imaginative writer since Shake-
spear,'' and Mr. Chesterton, most modern of
critics, also corroborates this in a way when
he says that claiming to have contributed
an idea to Dickens is like saying one has
added a glass of water to Niagara. Swin-
burne, who was nothing if not fastidious,
wrote an almost rhapsodical defense of Dick-
ens against his academic detractors. The
shop-girl on her way to work is quite as likely
to be reading Copperfield as Laura Jean. The
messenger boy taking his time with a " rush *'
message, if not enthralled by Old Sleuth, is
probably delayed by Oliver Twist. At least a
dozen times the writer has seen elevator boys
reading Dickens. Once — in Boston — one
was observed reading Thackeray.

It is a proof of the universal appeal of Dick-
ens that he not only has this vogue with the
masses, but is also pre-eminently a collector's
author. Judging from observation and from

[6]

information supplied by book-sellers, it may
be confidently stated that fully nine-tenths of
the collectors of modern books collect first
editions of Dickens. The name of " Boz "
may not lead all the rest, but it is pretty sure
to be upon the scroll, whether the collector be
a Tennysonian or a Shelleyan, a disciple of St.
Charles or a devotee of the Brownings.

The fact is that if one is interested in mod-
ern literature at all, and has any of the in-
stincts of a collector, he can hardly escape
being a Dickensian. This is particularly true
for the reason that book-collectors, in spite of
their reputation for solemnity, are a race of
humorists. Reference is made to the collect-
ors of modern books, not to those who are on
the passenger list of Brandf s Ship of Fools,
who buy books which they cannot read. In-
deed if one must have an answer for the
Philistine's question, " i4^by first editions ? "
one can find it readily in the case of the Dick-
ens books. Apart from the unique form in
which they were published, the illustrations
as they first appeared make these editions in-
finitely more desirable than any de luxe vol-
umes ever printed for the delusion of the unco

rich.

[7]

Perhaps next to Lamb, Dickens as a person-
ality is the most lovable of authors. We love
Elia in spite of — nay, because of — his pecu-
liarities and his little vices ; and as we grow to
know Dickens through the study of his works,
his letters, and the many books about him, we
love him in spite of the defects in his character,
without which he would be a demigod in-
stead of the hearty, human, friendly creature
he is. Loving Dickens as we do, feeling that
we know him better than we know many of
our friends, any news out of shadow-land is
welcome when it can tell us anything of the
man that brings him nearer to us. For this
reason the printing of the Dickens-Beadnell
letters was an event of importance to all ad-
mirers of the novelist and all readers of biog-
raphy,— more vivid and suggestive perhaps
than any one chapter in that indispensable
biography which has been rudely called Dick-
ens' Life of Forster.

The earliest known autograph of Charles
Dickens is a note written in his thirteenth
year to Owen P. Thomas, his classmate at
Wellington House Academy. This note would
have been a formidable weapon in the hand
of Sergeant Buzfuz, who could have read into

[8]

it crime and conspiracy, even as he interpreted
the famous " warming-pan " letter as evidence
of deliberate and systematic villainy. To the
unsuspicious non-legal mind, however, the
note indicates nothing worse than juvenile
humor and an eye to business. It begins
with an apology for neglecting to return
Owen Thomas* "Leg,'' the writer supposing
that in the interim Owen has " used a wooden
one." Dickens assures his friend that since
it has been in his possession "the leg has
been weighed every Saturday night ; " and the
note concludes with an offer to sell a school-
book " at a greatly reduced price, much cheaper
in comparison than a leg."

What an opportunity for the redoubtable
Buzfuz !

" Gentlemen of the jury, I ask you, as hus-
bands and fathers, what is this youthful des-
perado doing with his comrade's leg? By
what dark deed did he possess himself of that
graceful member of which each one of us
poor mortals claims his allotted share of two ?
And — mark you — why should this Dickens,
with a depravity appalling in one so young, go
through the wretched form of weighing his
wronged friend's leg every Saturday night?

[9j

Gentlemen, the brain reels, the mind is baffled
in the presence of such mysteries as these/'

Mr. Thomas, writing in 1870, explained
that the " Leg '' was " a legend of something,
a pamphlet romance I had lent him/' But the
Buzfuzzian mind would have shattered this
shallow explanation. Why should a " legend
of something'' be weighed every Saturday
night ? As Forster says, " There is some
underlying whim or fun in the ' Leg' allusions
which Mr. Thomas has overlooked."

The next writing in order of date is found
in a "petty cash book" kept by Dickens
when, at the age of fifteen, he was employed
in the office of Mr. Edward Blackmore, So-
licitor, of Lincoln's Inn Fields. This interest-
ing memento was in the collection of Mr.
William Wright, dispersed at auction in 1899.
Among the entries in Dickens' hand is the
charge to himself of a weekly salary of thir-
teen shillings and sixpence. Many years after-
ward Mr. Blackmore recorded his memories of
young Dickens, who it appears was not too
assiduous in his routine of office duties, but
inclined to waste time at theatres, where, with
a fellow clerk named Potter, he was even sus-
pected of " going on " in minor parts. It is

[10]

highly probable that he did so, as the Sketches
by Bo{ show a familiarity with h'fe behind the
scenes which could have been obtained only
by experience. It is curious to note that in
this old account book, kept by Dickens in his
fifteenth year, are several names which were
afterward used by him for characters in his
novels.

In editing the Dickens - Beadnell corre-
spondence for The Bibliophile Society, Pro-
fessor Baker refers to the scarcity of early
letters of Dickens. Until the discovery of the
letters to Miss Beadnell, only four letters prior
to 1836 were published, and these were of no
great interest. The Beadnell correspondence
belongs to the year I83?, while several of the
letters in the present volume were written in
1830 and 18? 1. These are believed to be
the earliest Dickens letters in existence. That
still earlier ones may be discovered is pos-
sible, but hardly probable. There may lurk
in some dusty drawer or closet in an old
London house the letters that Dickens wrote
to his fellow clerk, the facetious and frolic-
some Potter, companion of his secret ad-
ventures among the cheap theatres. There
may be in existence notes written to his
[11]

schoolmates at Wellington House. Possibly
some early letters to members of his family
may have been preserved. Of autographs of
a somewhat later date (18?4-183?) there may
be future discoveries. In 18H or 18?? Dick-
ens became acquainted with the Hogarth fam-
ily, and he undoubtedly wrote letters to Miss
Catherine Hogarth, his betrothed, and to her
sisters. He must have written occasionally
to Thomas Beard, who was best man at his
wedding, and who seems to have become his
chum after Kolle's marriage.

It is likely, however, that Dickens collectors
have come to the end of their treasure trove.
In 1870 the editors of the published corre-
spondence were able to obtain no early letters,
and of late years the agents of London book-
sellers and autograph dealers have made dili-
gent search without finding any material of
value. After the publication of the Sketches
by "Bo^y Dickens became a personage, and his
correspondents were more inclined to preserve
his letters. Specimens written in 18?6 and
1837 are occasionally met with, though they
are by no means common.

Shortly before the appearance of The Biblio-
phile Society's volume, Charles Dickens and

[12]

Maria Beadnell, the present writer prepared for
a magazine an article regarding the Dickens-
Kolle correspondence.^ At that time he was
not acquainted with the contents of the Bead-
nell letters and was compelled to guess and
theorize regarding much that is in the Kolle
correspondence. A portion of the article thus
written is here quoted : —

"The chief interest in the Dickens-Kolle
correspondence is the light thrown upon an
early love affair. Dickens was under twenty
at the time ; yet this was no ordinary boyish
flirtation, but an enduring love. The writings
of later years, the confidences to Mr. Forster,
contain so many references to this early ro-
mance that it must be considered, like the
death of Mary Hogarth, an event that had
a life-long influence upon the mind of the
author and the heart of the man. The iden-
tity of this first love, this real Dora, is now
revealed. She was one of the two^ Misses
Beadnell. Kolle was engaged to the elder;
Dickens fell desperately in love with the
younger. Kolle's suit prospered ; but that of

1 This article was not published, — it having been bought back
from the magazine to which it was sold, — and is here printed in
part for the first time.

2 There were three,— Anne, Margaret, and Maria.

[13]

Dickens was an example of the proverbial
roughness of the course of true love. The
father of Miss Beadnell was well-to-do, and
it is more than likely that the parents did not
view with approval the courtship of a young
reporter with a small salary and no prospects
worth mentioning. Kolle, however, was the
typical young man bound to make his way in
the world ; he was employed in a bank. It is
clear that Dickens was looked upon as a party
whom Mrs. Malaprop would have classified as
'illegible.' The letters indicate that at the
Beadnell home he was unwelcome, and that
when he found his room was preferred to his
company, he called upon the favored Kolle to
serve as letter-carrier and intercessor. ... It
is quite evident that Dickens sent by Kolle a
written proposal of marriage to Miss Beadnell.
Delivered on a Saturday, this proposal was not
answered till the following Thursday. Doubt-
less the Dulcinea was deliberating, deciding
whether a rebellion against parental authority
were worth while. It is likely that she had
some fondness for the young man who was
in every way attractive; but she was older
than Dickens, as he admits in one of his later
allusions to her, and she was made prudent

[14]

by reflecting upon his financial situation. A
second appeal, or events following upon it,
resulted in a misunderstanding. Dickens at-
tributes this to envious tongues. Mischief
had been made and Lady Sneerwell had been
at work. One of Miss BeadnelFs friends, a
Miss Marianne Leigh, was a cause of jealousy
and disputes. . . ."

It will be seen that the letters to Kolle sup-
plied a fairly accurate key to the then unpub-
lished Beadnell correspondence.

The collector's history of these autographs is
as follows : It will be remembered that William
Henry Kolle married Anne Beadnell, sister of
Dickens' inamorata. Mrs. Kolle died, and the
widower married again. Kolle died in 1881.
In February, 1890, his widow offered for sale to
a London dealer the letters written by Dickens
to her husband. They were promptly pur-
chased, and in response to the dealer's request
for information concerning them, Mrs. Kolle
wrote : —

West Brighton,
February 12, 1 890.

Dear Sir, — I beg to acknowledge, with thanks, re-
ceipt of postal orders, and I am most willing to answer
your inquiries. My husband prized the letters highly in
remembrance of his youthful friendship with Charles
[15]

Dickens. He always kept them locked up in a drawer
to which even I had not access till after his death nine
years ago. They remained in the same drawer un-
touched until about three weeks ago, when I perused
them for the first time, and it occurred to me that as
autographs they might be worth money — as you phrased
it — and so I got the idea of sending them to an auto-
graph sale, but your oflfer altered this project. My hus-
band and C. Dickens first met at the house of a mutual
friend, became attached to two sisters of the name of
Beadnell, and so the intimacy commenced. My husband
was at that time engaged in a banking house in the city,
but soon after his first marriage entered into commercial
pursuits. C. Dickens, as everyone knows, was strug-
gling for fame as an author, and so the friends diverged
into different lines of life, but the old kind feelings still
existed, as you will see by two letters which I enclose for
your perusal, and which my step-daughter, whom you
saw the other evening, prizes " above rubies," although
they dashed her hopes of becoming a poetess. Please
take great care of the two letters which I have borrowed,
as my daughter does not wish them creased unnecessarily.
... My husband assisted on one or two occasions at
some private amateur theatricals in the house of the
elder Mr. Dickens.

Yours truly,

S. J. KOLLE

There was some further correspondence be-
tween the London dealer and Mrs. Kolle, and
eventually Miss Anne Kolle (named after her

[16]

mother, Anne Beadnell) sold the two later
letters addressed by Dickens to her father.
Immediately after concluding the purchase of
the collection, the book-seller sent a descrip-
tion of the contents to the late Augustin Daly
and offered them to him. Mr. Daly purchased
them and had them bound in a folio volume
together with a miscellaneous collection of
autograph letters of literary celebrities. There
was no attempt at classifying the contents
and the volume bore no descriptive title.

It may be doubted whether Mr. Daly him-
self knew or appreciated the prize he had ac-
quired ; for, although he took a lively interest
in his collection, he had such quantities of
letters, books, and prints, that to have known
and loved them all would have left him no
time for the exacting and multifarious duties
of a theatrical manager. In fact, Mr. Daly
once laughingly admitted to the writer that he
did not know what he had. He was, perhaps,
more interested in collecting than in his col-
lection, in the chase than in the quarry. Mr.
Daly acquired the Dickens-Kolle letters in
1890. In March, 1900, the Daly collection
was sold at auction in New York. The de-
scription in the catalogue of the volume con-

[17]

taining the Kolle letters gave no indication of
the unique interest of the correspondence and
the book sold for a moderate price.

The letter of the London dealer offering the
autographs to Mr. Daly was a part of the
" lot " and in it the number of the letters to
Kolle is distinctly stated to be twenty-five.
Of these, twenty-three were described as early
letters and the other two as dated 1859 and
186?. When the volume appeared in the
auction room it contained but twenty-one of
the early letters. Two of them had mysteri-
ously disappeared, nor was there any evidence
of their having been in the book at any time.
What has become of them? Mr. Daly had
several extra-illustrated volumes of Dickens-
iana. Some of these contained a considerable
number of Dickens' autograph letters. He
employed a specialist to do his extra-illustrat-
ing, the selecting and preparing of material.
The Kolle letters were delivered to Mr. Daly
in their original condition, not bound in book
form. It is quite likely that in choosing the
material for some extra-illustrated work, like
the Daly copy of Forster's Life, the two
letters now missing were included as speci-
mens of an early period. It might be worth

[18]

while for the possessors of some of the extra-
illustrated books from the Daly collection to
examine their contents carefully with a view
to detecting these missing autographic links.
The hope expressed by Professor Baker that
the publication of the Beadnell correspondence
might reveal the letters to KoUe is echoed here
with regard to these two wandering missives.

Like the early Beadnell letters, those of
Dickens to KoUe, with one exception, bear no
date, only the day of the week. The one ex-
ception is dated January ?, 1833. Two of the
letters are postmarked 1833. The water-
marks on several are 1830 and 1831. The
date of the one letter and the postmarks on
the two are important, as they prove that
most of the other letters were written before
January ?, 1833.

The verses, The Bill of Fare, printed in the
Beadnell correspondence, fix exactly the month
and the year in which Dickens fell in love
with Maria Beadnell. That the verses were
written in I831 is shown by the reference to
the marriage of David Lloyd and Margaret
Beadnell, which occurred in April, I83 1 . That
it was in the autumn or winter of I831 is
shown by the lines speaking of Lloyd: —

[19]

That when he last summer from Paris came home
(I think 't was his marriage induced him to roam).

In the poem Dickens says of himself, —

Charles Dickens, who in our feast plays a part,
Is a young summer cabbage without any heart ; —
Not that he 's heartless, but because, as folks say,
He lost his twelve months ago from last May.

*' Twelve months ago from last May " would
mean May, 18?0. In this manner Dickens
himself fixes, beyond reasonable doubt, the
date of his conquest by Dora.^

In his letter to John Forster in 18??, in an-
swer to the latter's questioning the existence
of a Dora in real life, the novelist states that
his love for the original Dora began " when I
was Charley s age " and " excluded every other
idea from my mind for four years." As Miss
Beadnell finally rejected Dickens in May, 1833,
and as he admits that he lost his heart to her
in May I830, this allows a twelvemonth for
recovery from the blow that was so decidedly
a blessing in disguise. It is unlikely that
Dickens' own evidence in the poem and in
his letter to Forster is inexact. The love af-

1 Forster gives 1829 as the date of the first appearance of the
" real Dora." Vol. I, 71.

[20]

fair was too important an event in his life for
him to be in doubt — even twenty years later
— whether it lasted four years or three. The
poem, The Bill of Fare, obviously was writ-
ten to impress Maria Beadnell, to express his
devotion in a manner which, if regarded as
too bold, could be passed oflf as a jest, and in-
cidentally to show her and her friends that he
was a clever fellow. By mentioning the time,
" twelve months ago from last May," Dickens
may have intended to tell Maria that he had
fallen in love with her at first sight, as they
may have met for the first time during that
month. At all events, it is not likely that he
had known her more than a month or two
before losing his heart. He was eighteen
years old and even more impulsive and im-
pressionable than most youths of that age.
It is practically certain that Dickens was in-
troduced to the Beadnell family at some time
between January and May, 1830. In all prob-
ability, he met the Beadnells through Kolle.
The letter of Mrs. S. J. Kolle indicates that
her husband and Dickens met at the house of
a common friend and afterward became ac-
quainted with the Beadnell family. Mrs.
Kolle states that her husband was at that time

[21]

" engaged in a banking house in the city, but
soon after his first marriage entered into com-
mercial pursuits ; " that is to say, he became a
quilt-printer. With what bank young Kolle
was connected is not ascertainable, but it is
quite likely that he was a clerk in the establish-
ment of Smith, Payne and Smith, in which
George Beadnell held a responsible position.
The letters to Kolle furnish evidence that
the two young men first met in the spring of
1830, and the two letters following may be
ascribed to that date. Dickens could not have
known Kolle for any length of time, for in
r both letters he misspells the name of his new
friend, writing it with a terminal " ie." This
might be regarded as a nickname or a playful
version of the name, were it not for the fact
that both these letters are written in a com-
paratively formal style, while, as the others of
the series become more familiar and indicate
intimate friendship, Kolle's name is correctly
written. In these two letters the handwriting
is considerably more unformed and juvenile
than in those known to have been written in
1832 and 1833. It is, in fact, quite a boyish
hand. That these were not written earlier
than the spring of 1830 is shown by Dickens'

[22]

^ .

.e2 >.J ^^-^ -^-^ ^-^

i^C

ct.^^ J

Ct z-o/ ^t^ ^

^ /^

^ c^:

f

statement that he can name no night to go
out to play "until the House is up." The
novelist himself is the authority for the state-
ment that he entered the reporters' gallery
"when not yet 18." There are two veiled
allusions to the Beadnell family. In one letter
Dickens expresses his envy of KoUe's devotions
[to Anne Beadnell] and in the other he sends
his " best remembrances to (?) ; " the interroga-
tion point being a cryptic reference to Maria
Beadnell. The allusion to the poor accommo-
dations at Cecil street also points to the date
1830. The following letter, being the more
formal in expression, is probably the eariier of
the two. It is the earliest Dickens letter known,
with the single exception of the schoolboy
note written at Wellington House Academy. —

My dear Kollie, — I owe you ten thousand apologies
for not having seen you last night, but the fact is that 1
found out late in the evening that I could not leave the
House until a quarter past ten, and I thought it would be
useless to endeavor to make my way into the city at that
hour. As I was not aware of the melancholy fact in suf-
ficient time to send for you (I mean to you, but I do not
like scratching out) I hope I need not ask you to excuse the
apparent inattention on my part. It is equally unneces-
sary to add that I was very much disappointed, as I looked
forward to having a very comfortable couple of hours.
[23]

1 fear, until the House is up, I can name no certain
night on which I can go to play, except Saturday. How-
ever, I leave the selection of another day to your taste,
always promising that if I accept your next invitation, no
consideration shall induce me to depart from it.

With my best remembrances to (?), believe me, my

dear KoUie,

Very truly yours,

Charles Dickens

I see there are two superfluous I's in this note, but I sup-
pose you are not particular to a shade. The sun is so
obscured that 1 intend living under the planet no longer
than Saturday week next.

It will be observed that the tone of the note
is rather formal and apologetic. The writer
regrets his failure to keep an appointment;
explains a slip in expression and a superabun-
dance of capital Ts. It is possible, of course,
that the " best remembrances to (?) " may not
refer to Maria Beadnell ; but if, as seems cer-
tain, the letter was written in the spring of
1830, it is more than likely that the allusion is
to the young woman to whom Dickens, by his
own confession, lost his heart in the May of
that year. The next letter was written a few
days later. In this also Kolle's name is incor-
rectly spelled. Of the place from which this
was written, North End, Mr. F. G. Kitton

[24]

says : " Certain letters written to an intimate
friend indicate such addresses as North End
(PFuIham) and Fitzroy street." The letter
following — which is the one to which Mr.
Kitton refers — was apparently written while
Dickens was enjoying a holiday. The whole
tone of it indicates that he has no business
cares to prevent his enjoying himself in his
own way. That it was written while on a
vacation is shown, too, by the fact that the
writer speaks of having left one place of resi-
dence and not yet having " fixed upon * a local
habitation and a name ! ' "

North End,
Friday evening.

My dear Kollie, — I have great pleasure in being able
to assure you that I shall be perfectly disengaged on Sun-
day next, and shall expect you. I always rise out here
by seven, and therefore you may safely wend your way
here before one, if you can.

In reply to your inquiry respecting a sizable pony, I
have great satisfaction in being able to say that I can pro-
cure you an " 'oss " which I have had once or twice since
I have been here. I am a poor judge of distance, but I
should certainly say that your legs would be off the
ground when you are on his back. To look at the ani-
mal in question you would think (with the exception of
dog*s meat) there was no earthly purpose to which he
could be applied. But when you try him, joking apart,
[25]-

I will pledge you my veracity, he will beat any horse,
hired or private, that you would see in a morning's ride.
1 am his especial patron, but on this occasion I will pro-
cure something smaller for myself.

Pray come before one, as I shall order them to be at
the door punctually at that hour, and we can mount, dis-
mount, and ride eight or ten miles without seeing a soul,
the peasantry excepted.

The people at Cecil street put too much water in their
hashes, lost a nutmeg grater, attended on me most mis-
erably, dirted the table cloth, &c., &c. ; and so (detesting
petty miseries) I gave them warning and have not yet
fixed upon a "local habitation and a name."

Envying you your devotions, notwithstanding the pil-
grimage attendant thereon, and wishing you every suc-
cess and happiness, I remain, my dear Kollie,
Yours most truly.

Come early. Charles Dickens

[P. S.] I shall depend on your staying all night. You
shall have breakfast by half past seven next morning, as
1 must walk to town the very first thing.

C. D.

The paragraph preceding the signature al-
ludes to Kolle's courtship of Anne Beadnell,
and Dickens' envy was due to his growing
admiration for her sister, which was already
an object of parental disapproval. In the pen
portrait of the " sizable pony " there is a sug-
gestion of the gift for humorous description

[26]

which was soon to find expression in the
Sketches by Bo{, Indeed, it may be surmised
that the animal was the model for the " im-
mense brown horse displaying great symmetry
of bone" which caused such annoyance to
Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Winkle during their
memorable journey to Dingley Dell.

Next in the series, in order of date, are six
letters written from Fitzroy street. These are
without date by the writer, but the year in
which they were written can be fixed with tol-
erable accuracy. In the case of three of the
letters the paper bears the water-mark of 1830.
The address Fitzroy street helps to establish
the date. Thanks to the researches of enthusi-
astic Dickensians, and particularly to the zeal
of the late F. G. Kitton, the various places of
residence of Dickens and his family may be
accurately traced by anyone curious in such
matters. For the sake of assigning these let-
ters to their correct year, and for the better
realization of the circumstances under which
they were written, one may briefly recapitulate
the principal events in this period of the life
of Dickens.

On removing to London with his family in
1823, John Dickens lived first at No. 16 Bay-

[27]

ham street (now No. 141). He removed from
there probably about Christmas, 182? ; cer-
tainly not later than January 21, 1824. Up to
Lady Day, 1824, Mrs. Dickens was proving
that she would " never desert Mr. Micawber "
by endeavoring to establish a school for girls
at No. 4 Gower street. It was from this house
that Dickens, a boy of eleven, sallied forth
to distribute circulars calling attention to the
merits of the establishment. "Yet nobody
ever came to school," he wrote to Forster,
"nor do I recollect that anybody ever pro-
posed to come."

From the Gower street house John Dick-
ens was taken to the Marshalsea, and Charles,
then twelve years old, went to live as a lodger
with Mrs. Roylance, incidentally to make mental
notes for the study of Mrs. Pipchin. These were
the dark days of the blacking warehouse. Mrs.
Roylance lived at No. J 7 Little College street,
Camden Town, till the end of 182?. During
a part of this year the boy lived in a back attic
in Lant street, where he met Bob Sawyer and
the Garland family. While he was lodging
here " something turned up," the timely legacy
came to his father, who was released from
bondage. According to Forster, a brief so-

[28]

journ at Hampstead for the entire family
followed the improvement in John Dickens'
circumstances. The wanderers then estab-
lished themselves — July, 182? — in a small
tenement, No. 1? Johnson street, Somers-
town. Mr. Kitton states that, according to
the rate book, Caroline Dickens was the ten-
ant of these premises till January, 1829.

On the family's removal to Johnson street,
after John Dickens' release in 182?, Charles,
then thirteen years old, was sent to Wellington
House Academy. According to Dr. Henry
Danson, who was a fellow pupil at Wellington
House, Dickens, while attending the school,
lived in " a very small house in a street lead-
ing out of Seymour street." Forster and
other biographers state that Dickens remained
at Wellington House Academy for about two
years; but it appears that they have rather
overestimated the duration of his school days.
It was March 2?, 1824, that the Gower street
house was given up. Then followed the
period of the Marshalsea for the father and
Hungerford Stairs for the boy. This purga-
tory seems to have continued until the summer
of 182?, though Dickens, in his confidences to
Forster, says : " I have no idea how long it

[29]

lasted, — whether for a year, or much more, or
less." One can best determine the duration
of this time of misery and humiliation by the
rate books and other records showing the ten-
ancy of the Dickens family of various houses
and lodgings. There is no record for the period
between March 2?, 1824, and July, 1825. In
all probability, this was the length of time that
John Dickens was a prisoner for debt, and the
blacking warehouse sentence must have been
for one year and three months.

Dickens certainly did not enter Welling-
ton House Academy until after his father had
been given freedom. He could not have be-
gun his attendance much before September,
1825. Two years at the school would ter-
minate in the autumn of 1827. Yet it is
certain that he entered the offices of Ellis
and Blackmore in May, 1827, and previous
to that he had been employed in the office
of Mr. Molloy. It appears probable that Dick-
ens did not have much more than one year's
schooling — possibly eighteen months' — apart
from the lessons he received as a small child
from the Reverend William Giles, the Baptist
clergyman at Chatham. What wonder that
John Dickens, when asked about his son's
[30]

education, replied : " Why, sir, he may be said
to have educated himself ! "

When Charles Dickens left the Ellis and
Blackmore office (November, 1828) he was
within three months of his seventeenth birth-
day. At this time he began his work as a
court reporter. Three months later the Dick-
ens family moved to the Polygon, Somers-
town. From the time he left school to the
date of the family's removal to the Polygon,
the boy lived with his father and mother and
contributed a share of his earnings to the
general exchequer. It is likely that the lodg-
ing in Cecil street, unfavorably mentioned in
the second letter in the present series, was
Dickens' first separate residence after his start
in life as a reporter. In 1830 the Dickens
family took up their residence in Fitzroy
street, Fitzroy Square, and Charles returned
to live at home, he and his father earning at
this time about ten pounds a week. This
was comparative affluence. Dickens began
to make congenial acquaintances; was taken
up by respectable middle-class Londoners,
and Mrs. Beadnell was sponsor for him in
a coterie which to his unsophisticated eyes
appeared to be Society. It may be imagined
[31]

with what care he concealed the episodes of
the Marshalsea and the blacking warehouse,
and in what terror he lived, dreading a chance
revelation to his eminently respectable friends.

Although the house in Fitzroy street was
occupied by the Dickens family for nearly
three years, it is not mentioned in any of the
biographies. Mr. Kitton makes an allusion to
it, but knew this early home of Dickens only
through having seen the Kolle letters. These
show that after living nearly three years in
Fitzroy street, the family moved to Bentinck
street early in January, 18??.

With the residence in Fitzroy street there
began a new life for Charles Dickens and for
all the members of his family. The flamboy-
ant geniality of the father expanded in the
sunlight of moderate prosperity. He doubtless
still indulged in the Micawber-like predilection
for spending a little more than he earned. He
was perhaps a little too fond of the flowing
bowl, and certain letters recently brought to
light show that he could seek small loans in
large language; but he was a companionable
man in his home ; he even took part in the
private theatricals given by Charles and his
friends. There was a piano in the parlor and
[32]

there were occasional trips to the country.
Dickens, as a young reporter in the police
courts, in Doctor's Commons and in Parlia-
ment, saw much of varied phases of London
life, and we may take it for granted that he
found his work congenial and got a good deal
of fun out of it. " The key of the street " — as
Mr. Chesterton says — was handed to him in
the old days at Hungerford Stairs ; but at this
time he began to use it to unlock new mean-
ings and mysteries. For recreations there were
the playhouses, private theatricals, occasional
visits in society, incipient heart interests, and
the usual pranks of precocious young men of
eighteen with the freedom of the city of London.
One obtains an idea of the gaieties in which
young Dickens indulged from the sketch enti-
tled Making a Nigbt of It. In this the city
clerk, Thomas Potter, was no doubt the iden-
tical Potter who was his fellow clerk at Ellis
and Blackmore's and who shared his fondness
for the theatre. The following letter appears
to have been written after the two young men
had been " Making a Night of It," though it is
not possible to say whether Dickens himself
played the role of Mr. Robert Smithers in the
sketch of that title: —

[33]

FiTZROY Street,
Thursday morning.

My dear Kolle, — I recollect this morning to my great
horror that I owe you eighteen pence which I borrowed
and forgot to return last night. I therefore hasten to
repair the omission with all possible despatch. A cab driver
whom I was obliged to ask for change last night, gave me
a bad five-shilling piece, so that I was in luck altogether.
My cold is about as bad as a cold can be, and on the
whole I feel tolerably happy and comfortable today, the
state of the weather being so admirably adapted to dis-
pel any gloomy ideas, of which I always have a very
plentiful stock.

Believe me.

Yours most truly,

Charles Dickens

" Thank Heaven, Pickwick will soon be out,"
exclaimed the invalid after his prosy pastor's
visit. Yet here we find the future creator of
Pickwick confessing to being in the ** low
state " of Mrs. Gummidge. This letter must
have been written early in I83O, for the reason
that Dickens evidently did not know KoUe as
an intimate friend at the time. Otherwise
he would not have written in great haste to
return a loan of eighteen pence. The next
letter belongs to a somewhat later time in the
same year, and the outing in prospect doubt-
less refers to a bank holiday excursion.
[34]

My dear Kolle, — Are you going out of town next
Saturday, because if you are not, we propose to get one
or two young men together for the purpose of knocking
up a song or two, and I am specially directed to beg your
attendance on the occasion. I give you this early notice,
not because there is anything formal or party-like in the
arrangements for that day, but in order that I may have
a better chance of securing you. You will perhaps oblige
me with a line at your earliest convenience, giving me
your arrangements for Saturday, and the probability of
your local destination on that day.

Trusting that ever3rthing goes on as well as ever (which
I have been more than once inclined to doubt, in conse-
quence of not hearing from or seeing you) , I remain, my
dear KoUe,

Yours sincerely,

FiTZROY Street, CHARLES DiCKENS

Monday morning [1830].

The date of the next letter can be fixed ex-
actly. It will be observed that it contains an
invitation to dine on Christmas Day, which in
the last paragraph is mentioned as Tuesday.
The letter was written on the Thursday pre-
ceding, which would be December 20th. The
Dickens family are prospering. "Our man"
shall return the borrowed books to Kolle. The
reference to the mendacious Miss Evans shows
that Marianne Leigh was not the only one in
the Beadnell social circle inclined to make
[35]

mischief. Possibly Miss Evans had given cur-
rency to rumors about Charley Dickens' family
history which inclined to lower him in the
opinion of his Lombard street friends.

FiTZROY Street,
Thursday morning.

My dear Kolle, I am exceedingly sorry that I was
so unfortunate as to select last night for my annual visit
to Drury Lane, as I should have very much preferred
having a chat and cigar with you. I hope, however, you
will give me an early opportunity of doing so. How are
you engaged on Christmas Day ? If you do not join any
family party of your own, will you dine with us ? It
will, I need hardly say, give us all the greatest pleasure
to see you. Perhaps you will let me know by a line per
post. I have two books of yours which I am quite
ashamed of having kept so long. Our man shall bring
them this week without fail.

I long to give you my opinion of that Miss Evans, and
to communicate some monstrously strong circumstantial
evidence to prove that she must tell the most confounded

As yours are " ears polite " I shall leave your

imagination and observation to supply the blank.

Trusting that you have (as you easily may have) no
better engagement for Tuesday than I can offer you, be-
lieve me,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Dickens

Of course 1 came home last night exactly four min-
utes after you left.

[36]

One wonders if the Christmas party at John
Dickens' house in Fitzroy street had anything
of the gaiety and spirit of Bob Cratchif s feast.
Surely it had, with two hosts like young
Dickens and his jovial father. No doubt it
was a real old English middle-class Christmas,
with a punch-bowl many times replenished, a
goose — " there never was such a goose ! " —
songs, and round games, and dancing and the
drinking of healths, with the original Micawber
as toastmaster.

There is nothing in the contents of the next
letter which aids in fixing its date, excepting
that it belongs to the Fitzroy street group. It
was surely written in the spring or summer,
and either in 18J0 or I83I.

Fitzroy Street,
Wednesday.

My dear Kolley — k% we have had a little sickness
among our family, we intend going to Highgate for a
fortnight. The spot we have chosen is in a very pleasant
neighborhood, and I have discovered a green lane which
looks as if nature had intended it for a smoking place.
If you can make it convenient to come down, write to me
and fix your own day. I am sorry I cannot offer you a
bed, because we are so pressed for room that I myself
hang out at " the Red Lion ; " but should you be dis-
posed to stay all night, I have no doubt you can be pro-
vided with a bed at the same establishment. The address
[37]

is "Mrs. Goodman's, next door to the old Red Lion,
Highgate." The place has no other name ; but a two-
penny directed as above will no doubt find us. Remem-
ber me to all friends, and believe me, in haste,
Most truly yours,

Charles Dickens

Twenty years after this letter was written,
Dickens' father and mother were buried at
Highgate Cemetery, and there too his infant
daughter, Dora, was laid to rest. He wrote to
Forster, in 18?2, " My Highgate journey yes-
terday was a sad one. Sad to think how all
journeys tend that way. Wild ideas are upon
me of going to Paris — Rouen — Switzerland
— and writing the remaining two-thirds of the
next number, aloft in some queer inn room.''
The terrible restlessness that turned so much
of his work into self-torment was upon him
then, for he had become a famous man;
youth and carelessness and peace of mind
had gone from him forever, and instead of
looking for a green lane wherein to idle for
a summer's day, he sought feverishly for some
new environment which might stimulate his
imagination.

The next two letters refer to a proposal of
marriage written by Dickens and sent by KoUe
138]

to be delivered to Maria Beadnell. It is im-
possible to draw any other inference from the
contents. Unfortunately, there is no internal
evidence to fix the date of these letters. We
know that they were written before January ?,
18??, as on that date the Dickens family re-
moved from Fitzroy street to the Bentinck
street house. It was from the latter that
Dickens addressed the letters to Maria Bead-
nell which are contained in The Bibliophile
Society's recent volume. Reverting to the
poem, The Bill of Fare, we recall Dickens'
confession that he had lost his heart to Maria
"one year from last May," or May, 18?0. It
is more likely, however, that The Bill of Fare
was Dickens' first declaration of his affections
for Miss Beadnell, as its daring, if disapproved,
could have been accounted for by calling the
verses mere fun. The poem was written to
be seen by all the persons mentioned in it, and
it is not probable that Dickens would have
written as he did in these verses of a young
girl whom he had already asked to be his wife,
whether his proposal had met with favor or
not. One is inclined to think that the next
two letters were written in 18? 1.

[39]

FiTZROY Street,
Thursday morning.

My dear Kolle, — I would really feel some delicacy in
asking you again to deliver the enclosed as addressed,
were it not for two reasons. In the first place, you know
so well my existing situation that you must be almost
perfectly aware of the general nature of the note, and in
the second/ 1 should not have written it, for I should have
communicated its contents verbally, were it not that I
lost the opportunity of keeping the old gentleman out of
the way as long as possible last night. To these reasons
you may add that I have not the slightest objection to
your knowing its contents from the first syllable to the
last.

1 trust under these^ circumstances that you will not ob-
ject to doing me the very essential service of delivering
the enclosed as soon this afternoon as you can, and per-
haps you will accompany the delivery by asking Miss
Beadnell only to read it when she is quite alone. Of
course in this sense I consider you as nobody.

By complying with this request you will confer a very

great favor on, dear Kolle,

Yours most truly,

Charles Dickens
Excuse haste.

From this letter there may be obtained a
fair idea of the position of young Dickens in
the Beadnell family. He was liked for his en-
gaging social qualities and his agreeable per-
sonality. Mrs. Beadnell, who, judging from

[40]

the pen portrait in The Bill of Fare, was a
good-hearted matron, was partial to the youth ;
but certainly he was not to be taken seriously
as an admirer of one of her daughters. By
wise fathers and mothers his profession is
regarded as precarious ; he was something of
a Bohemian, — perhaps a trifle fast. Some of
these letters indicate much cigar smoking, and
a little too much drinking for a youth of
eighteen. He was always fond of fine rai-
ment,— no doubt as much so at eighteen
as he was in his days of velvet coats and
gaudy waistcoats. He was excellent company,
the life of a party, but not to be considered
as a suitor. No doubt Maria Beadnell, some-
what older than Dickens, regarded him much
in the manner of her mother.

There is something delightfully boyish in
the reference in this letter to the difficulty
of " keeping the old gentleman out of the
way," — Rosina and Almaviva in an English
setting. What manner of man was the old
gentleman who would not be kept out of the
way? The portrait of Mr. Beadnell in The
Bill of Fare verses is negative, but contrasts
so vividly with the complimentary description
of Mrs. Beadnell that one infers Dickens' dis-
[41]

like of him. No doubt we have a sketch of
him in Mr. Casby ; and one suspects that he,
as well Is Mr. S. C. Hall, contributed some of
the qualities of Mr. Pecksniff, — perhaps the
manner of that great and good man toward
his fair daughters. Mr. Pecksniff, too, was a
sort of architect, — the profession of which
Mr. Beadnell had been an ornament. The
little that we know of him indicates that he
was a pompous and ponderous person, — one
of those middle-class Englishmen on whom
the affairs of the British Empire weigh heavily.
" His opinions," wrote Dickens, " were always
sound and sincere," with the " sound" in italics.
The joke reminds one of Jerrold's answer to
the bore's question: "Are not my opinions
sound?" "They are, and nothing else."

In the Dickens-Beadnell volume is printed a
letter from the novelist to George Beadnell,
written in 18?2. The original of this letter,
by the way, is in the possession of the present
writer. Unfortunately George Beadnell's in-
vitation, to which this is a reply, was burnt
in the holocaust of autographs at Gad's Hill
in i860. Very likely it would tell us some-
thing of Mr. BeadnelFs characteristics.

The foregoing letter seems to prove that

[42] '

while Kolle was the accepted suitor of Anne
Beadnell, the engagement being sanctioned by
her parents, Dickens' courtship of Maria was
surreptitious. It also shows that Kolle was
Dickens' confidant in his love affair. Sent on
Thursday, the love-letter or offer of marriage
was promptly answered, as Dickens received
Miss Beadnell's reply the next morning. In
it he was asked to send another letter by
Kolle.

FiTZROY Street,
Friday morning.

My dear Kolle, — As I was requested in a note I re-
ceived this morning to forward my answer by the same
means as my first note, I am emboldened to ask you if
you will be so kind as to deliver the enclosed for me
when you practise your customary duet this afternoon.
I hope you will not make it long before in mere charity
you look in upon me.

Believe me, my dear Kolle,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Dickens

If, as it is surmised, the earlier letter trans-
mitted by Kolle was an offer of marriage, it
is evident that Maria gave Dickens no defi-
nite reply. She could not have said "yes,"
or "no." She kept her swain in suspense.
Being a coquettish young person, she enjoyed
[43]

the homage of love-letters, particularly as they
were cleverly written by an ardent and attrac-
tive youth. She temporized, and doubtless
relished the cat-and-mouse game. Dickens
was serious enough for two. " I hope," he
writes to Kolle, " you will not make it long
before in mere charity you look in upon
me."

From any evidence known to be in exist-
ence, it is impossible to determine the relations
of Charles Dickens and Maria Beadnell from
the time of this correspondence until the mis-
understanding and final separation in the spring
of 1 8? 3. It is most likely that there was a clan-
destine engagement which Dickens regarded as
a very serious matter, but which Miss Beadnell
considered a source of amusement. It is safe
to assume that there was no engagement with
parental consent. Neither George Beadnell
nor his wife would be likely to approve of the
betrothal of their daughter to a youth under
twenty, somewhat volatile and unstable, and
with no substantial worldly prospects. Maria
possessed beauty and charm, and, however
bright and clever Dickens might be consid-
ered, the Beadnells had higher expectations
for her. Forster intimates that there was a

[44]

secret engagement when he quotes the fol-
lowing as an allusion to the " Dora of 1829."

" The lovers sit looking at one another so
superlatively happy, that I mind me when I,
turned of eighteen, went with my Angelica to
a city church on account of a shower (by this
special coincidence that it was in Huggin-lane),
and when I said to my Angelica, *Let the
blessed event, Angelica, occur at no altar but
this I ' and when my Angelica consented that it
should occur at no other, — which it certainly
never did, for it never occurred anywhere.
And O, Angelica, what has become of you,
the present Sunday morning when I can't at-
tend to the sermon, and, more difficult ques-
tion than that, what has become of me as I
was when I sat by your side?'*

That there was an engagement of some kind
seems certain. Dickens refers to the affair as
having " excluded every other idea from my
mind for four years at a time of life when four
years are equal to four times four.'' It is not
to be supposed that a love affair would " per-
vade every chink and crevice of his mind for
three or four years," unless there were an en-
gagement at some time during that period.
That the relations were equivalent to those
[45]

of affianced lovers is shown by the Dickens-
Beadnell correspondence. If there were no
definite relations to break off, why did it re-
quire the exchange of so many letters ? That
Maria Beadnell ever had any serious idea of
marrying Dickens is not probable ; but it is
fairly certain that he considered her his be-
trothed, that he expected to marry her, and
that she deluded him into that hope. Proba-
bly he was the most attractive young man in
a coterie which is not likely to have been
notably brilliant.

The preceding letters are the only ones
known positively to have been written be-
fore January, 1833. In that month the Dick-
ens family removed from the house in Fitzroy
street to one in Bentinck street, Manchester
Square. Forster names 1831 as the date of
residence in the latter, but he seems to have
had no knowledge of the Fitzroy street home,
where the family lived for at least two years.
The next letter following is the only one bear-
ing a date in the writer's hand. It was written
January ?, 1833, and proves exactly the time
of the removal to Bentinck street. This is of
some interest, as it was while living in the
Bentinck street house that Dickens made his

[46]

beginning in literature. It was in a room in this
house that he wrote his first sketch, the manu-
script of which he mailed with an agitation
which he has vividly described. The house was
No. 18. About fifteen years ago it was torn
down to make room for a row of modern man-
sions ; and Mr. Kitton at the time of his investi-
gations found that the tenant of No. 19 " oddly
enough bore the novelist's patronymic."

Dear KolUy — Will you excuse my postponing the
pleasure of seeing yourself and brother until Sunday
week? my reason is this:

As we are having coals in at the new place, cleaning,
&c., we cannot very well remove until Tuesday or Wed-
nesday next. The piano will most likely go to Bentinck
Street today, and as I have already said, we cannot ac-
company it, so that the piano will be in one place and we
in another.

In addition to this we shall be all in bustle and I fear
should impress your brother with a very uncomfortable
idea of our domestic arrangements. Will you therefore
let me hope to see you on Sunday week, when perhaps
we shall be enabled to get a friend of yours to meet you.

I was not certain last night that we should postpone
our removal ; had I been so I would have spared you the
infliction of deciphering this elegant epistle.
Believe me, my dear Kolle,

Yours most truly,

Charles Dickens

Saturday, Jan. 5, 1833.

[47 1

It will be seen that the Marshalsea was now
so far in the background that a piano was a
household necessity with the Dickens family,
and that, too, when pianos were less common
than at present. Music probably played an
important part in the social life of Dickens
and his young friends. His sister Fanny was
a prize pupil at the Royal Academy, and, as
one of the preceding letters shows, he was
fond of getting together a party of young men
for the purpose of " knocking up a song or
two." The next letter makes good the post-
poned invitation, and the house-warming party
in the new house in Bentinck street was given
January 11. —

Dear Kolle, — I enclose an invitation to yourself and
both your brothers for the 11th. I do not like after par-
taking so liberally of your hospitality to leave anyone
out.

I was sorry to hear you were " diskivered " the other
night, though I do not know that the thing is a bit the
worse for it in the end.

Let me see you one evening this week because next
the House begins. I shall be at home.
Believe me, my dear Kolle,

Most sincerely,

Charles Dickens
Bentinck Street.

[48]

Dickens' regret at Kolle's being "diskiv-
ered " may refer to the latter's having been
caught in the act of carrying a note to Maria.
KoUe's courtship of Anne Beadnell continued
to prosper, but Dickens seems to have made
no definite progress. Dora was either worn
out by the opposition of her parents, or she
found that playing the coquette with one
faithful and enamoured young man became
monotonous. In February or March, 183?,
her coldness to Dickens — " heartless indiffer-
ence," he calls it — became more than he
could endure, and he wrote the first of the
printed letters to Miss Beadnell. Shortly af-
terward, Kolle's engagement to Anne was
formally announced. The despondency of
Dickens at this time and his wretchedness be-
cause of the ill-treatment he received are
shown by his letters to Miss Beadnell and his
confidences to Forster years afterward. But
he made a good fight and ambition began to
stir within him. If he could not win Dora,
he would prove to her that she had lost a
lover of whom she might have been proud.
It is likely that at this time he thought seri-
ously of becoming an actor. Dickens told
Forster that when he was " about twenty," he

[49]

applied to Hartley, stage manager at Covent
Garden, for an engagement.

The next letter was written in April, 18J?.
It contrasts KoUe's good fortune with his own
unhappy situation, and one may feel the self-
pity of youth suflFering the pangs of despised
love. At the same time there is an intimated
determination to throw off depression by tak-
ing up with other interests. Dora may frown,
but David will try to forget her unkindness
by throwing himself heart and soul into a
congenial task. —

Bentinck Street,
Monday morning [April, 1833].

My dear Kolle, — I received your note the other day
and of course much regretted the absence of any member
of my company on the occasion of a grand rehearsal.
You ask me whether 1 do not congratulate you. I do
most sincerely. If anyone can be supposed to take a
lively and real interest in such a case it is an old and
mutual friend of both parties. Though perhaps I cannot
lay claim to an old friend I hope I may be that of a real
one, and although unfortunately and unhappily for my-
self, I have no fellow-feeling with you, no cause to sym-
pathize with your past causes of annoyance, or your
present prospects of happiness, I am not the less disposed
to offer my heartfelt congratulations to you because you
are, or at all events will be, what I never can, happy and
contented, taking present grievances as happiness, com-
[50]

pared with former difficulties and looking cheerfully and
steadily forward to a bright prospective of many happy
years.

Now turning from feeling and making oneself miser-
able, and so on, may I ask you to spare one evening this
week for the purpose of doing your two pair of side
scenes. I would not ask you, but I really have no other
resource. The time is fast approaching and I am rather
nervous. Will you write and tell me when you will
come and when I may send for your scene. Thursday
is a rehearsal of Clari with the band, and Friday week
a dress rehearsal.

You shall have your bills when I see you. An im-
mense audience are invited, including many judges.
Write me an answer to these queries as soon as pos-
sible, pray.

The family are busy. The corps dramatic are all
anxiety. The scenery is all completing rapidly, the
machinery is finished, the curtain hemmed, the orches-
tra complete and the manager grimy.
Believe me, my dear Kolle,

Truly yours,

Charles Dickens

It is rather startling to read the confession
of Charles Dickens at the age of twenty-one
that he is not and never can be happy and
contented ; but a vein of melancholy appears
in several of these letters to Kolle as well as in
those to Maria Beadnell. His despondent in-
trospection at the time was due partly to the
[51]

unhappy outcome of his love affair; but it
was also an essential quality in Dickens' tem-
perament. The greatest humorist of his time
was also the most sentimental of men, and
most intensely so about himself. Humor and
a tendency to be ** sad as night only for wan-
toness " arise from the same causes, sensibility
and imagination. Moliere was a melancholy
man. Liston, the drollest of comedians, in a
fit of melancholia, visited a doctor who, not
recognizing him, advised him to "go to see
Liston act." Dickens, with all his joviality
and the genuine gaiety of most of his writ-
ings, was a man of many heart-aches. It is
part of the law of compensation that one who
most intensely enjoys the good in life must
suffer most keenly from its ills.

This and the next two letters refer to the
performance of Clari or the Maid of Milan,
by an amateur company organized and di-
rected by Dickens. This representation took
place on Saturday evening, April 27, 18? 3,
and these letters were written during the prog-
ress of the rehearsals. Kolle appears to have
been an important factor in the amateur the-
atricals, as he was cast for a prominent part
in Clari and was also called upon to paint the

[52]

scenery. But Kolle had not Dickens' incen-
tive to work ; he had no sorrows to disperse
and no broken heart to forget. As a newly
engaged young man, he had no evenings to
devote to the painting of side scenes. "To
sport with Amaryllis in the shade " was his spe-
cialty for the moment, and he much preferred
rehearsing his love scenes with the gentle
Anne to practising the mouthings of "the
Nobleman'' in John Howard Payne's opera.
Who can blame him for absenting himself
from rehearsals to an extent that brought
upon him the rebuke of the young director
and stage manager?

Bentinck Street,
Tuesday morning: [April, 1833].

My dear Kolle, — I will not say that I have been sur-
prised at our not hearing from or seeing you, either on
the day you mentioned in your note or any other time
since its receipt, because of course we know from practi-
cal experience in other cases that a little flow of pros-
perity is an excellent cooler of former friendships, and
that when other and more pleasant engagements can be
formed, visits, if not visits of convenience, become exces-
sively irksQme. This is everybody's way, and of course,
therefore, I attach no blame to you that it is yours also.
I do not say this with any ill-natured feeling, or in any
unkind spirit, but I know that something like this is felt
1 53 ]

by others here, and I am really sorry for it, though as I
said before by no means surprised that it should be so.

Now, as Saturday is fast approaching I should really
be much obliged to you if you will (if you can find the
time) write me a word in answer to these two questions.
In the first place, do you play the Nobleman ? I have
the dress and if you are disinclined to play the character
1 must intrust it to other hands. In the second place,
when may I send for your scene, as it requires fitting up,
lighting, &c. ?

Believe me (in great haste).

Very truly yours,

Charles Dickens

Thus admonished, KoUe made haste to sup-
ply his scenery and to perfect himself in the
part of the Nobleman. Evidently the ama-
teurs, under young Dickens' management,
went into their theatricals quite thoroughly.
The letters show how completely absorbed
Dickens was in these affairs. He was the
organizer and stage director ; he played a lead-
ing character in each of the three pieces per-
formed ; he wrote the "Introductory Prologue,"
and in all probability was the author of the
afterpiece, Amateurs and Actors, besides su-
perintending all the details. In later years he
frequently demonstrated his great talent for
this sort of work as well as for theatrical im-
[54]

personation, but it is probable that he never
took a more anxious interest in a performance
than in this one, when one of his chief motives
was to impress Maria Beadnell. The three
characters for which he cast himself were de-
signed to show his versatility as an actor. In
Clari he played a " heavy " part, the heroine's
father; in The Married Bachelor, he acted a
polished man of the world — high comedy;
and in Amateurs and Actors, a low comedy
role.

The allusion to " our friend the clerk " in the
following note may refer to arrangements for
Kolle's marriage which was to occur in the
following month.

[April, 1833].
Dear Kolle, — W\\\ you be kind enough to give
Henry Bramwell the enclosed 14/ — for cigars, at the
same time saying I am much obliged to him. Ask
him to be punctual on Monday as I expect an excel-
lent rehearsal, and " Look to yourself." The scenery is
progressing at a very rapid rate, the machinery is excel-
lent, the decorations are very good and ditto expensive ;
and in short the whole affair is in excellent train. I am
busy and therefore will not give you the trouble of de-
ciphering any more of my ilegant writing.
Believe me, dear Kolle,

Sincerely yours, C. D.

[55]

Have you seen our friend the clerk yet ? Or have
you adopted the other course ? No good results yet, I
presume.

The Henry Bramwell, to whom the money
for cigars was sent, was a young law student,
who afterward became a Judge and a Peer of
the Realm. He was a member of the cast of
Clari assuming the character of the Duke
Vivaldi. The performance was given and it
may be assumed that Dickens covered himself
with amateur glory. Maria Beadnell was in
the audience ; but the only effect that the af-
fair had upon her was to create additional
coldness on account of Dickens' attentions to
Marianne Leigh. He declares that, on that
evening, he "could not get rid of her." As
Miss Leigh and Maria were intimate friends,
this statement of Dickens means one of two
things: either Miss Leigh was in love with
him, as Professor Baker thinks, or her persist-
ence in putting herself in his way was prear-
ranged by the two girls in order that Maria
might have a definite cause for ridding herself
of him. There is at least one good reason for
believing, with Professor Baker, that Marianne
Leigh was in love with Dickens. It is that
she, apparently, was a much cleverer girl than
[56]

Maria. A clever girl would be quick to ap-
preciate the unusual qualities of a young man
like Dickens and his superiority to other
youths, while an unintelligent woman (such as
Maria Beadnell appears in both the pen por-
traits afterward made of her by Dickens)
would have been merely bored by him. In
Tbe*BillofFare, Miss Leigh is described as "a
fine roasting Jack ; a patent one, too — never
wants winding up." Does not this indicate
that Dickens' dislike for the young woman
antedated by two years her mischief-making in
his love affair ? And may she not have loved
him the more because she felt that her case
was hopeless on account of his preference for
her girl friend ?

Subsequent to the dramatic performance,
April 27th, 1833, Dickens met Miss Beadnell,
and it is evident that she reproached him for
his interest in Marianne Leigh. She after-
ward repeated her charges in a letter and
Dickens wrote denying Miss Leigh's interfer-
ence. Kolle at this time was busily preparing
for his wedding which had been announced
for May 21st. The second letter to Maria, on
page 48 of the Dickens-Beadnell correspond-
ence, written on a Tuesday afternoon, was
. [57]

probably sent May 14th. Dickens and Kolle
had discussed the increasing coldness of Maria
Beadnell and the mischievous part played by
Miss Leigh. Again Kolle played the confidant
and go-between. The letter to Maria asking
her consent to Dickens writing to Miss Leigh
was sent to Kolle with the following note : —

My dear Kolle, — On reflection it appeared to me that
as Miss Beadnell is a party concerned and as Marianne
Leigh's malice in the event of my writing might be
directed against her, I have thought it best to ask her
consent to my writing at all, which I have done in the en-
closed note. You know how I feel upon the subject, and
how anxious I naturally am, and 1 am sure, therefore, you
will do all you can for me when I say that I want it de-
livered immediately. I have lost too much time already.
Believe me, my dear Kolle,

Faithfully yours, C. D.

Tuesday evening [May 14, 1833].

Although Dickens was properly punctilious
in asking Miss BeadnelFs permission to write
his resentful letter to Marianne Leigh, it is
quite certain that he was glad enough to have
this excuse to write to his chilly and silly
Maria. Write he did, and her reply — judging
from his next letter — reiterated charges of
conspiracy against her by Dickens and her
imaginary rival. However, her feminine curi-
[58]

osity was strong enough to cause her to admit
that she would like to see the letter he in-
tended writing to Marianne. On the follow-
ing evening, therefore, Dickens called at Kolle's
house with a letter for Miss Beadnell enclosing
the scornful epistle to Miss Leigh. Of the
latter the artless Maria was careful to keep a
copy which she made, and which appears in
the Dickens-Beadnell volume. The letter was
sent to Miss Leigh and, as it must have eflfect-
ually cured her of any affection she may have
had for Dickens, it is likely that the two girls
lost no time in meeting for a chat and a good
laugh over the affair which Dickens regarded
as a tragedy that wrecked his life.

Kolle was the bearer of Dickens' last appeal
to Maria Beadnell. This letter was written May
19, 18??, the Sunday immediately preceding
KoUe's marriage. The following note to Kolle
was, of course, written on the same day, and
the letter to Maria sent with it to be delivered
to her when Kolle made his Sunday evening
call upon his betrothed.

My dear Kolle, — I enclose a very conciliatory note.
Sans pride, Sans Reserve, Sans anything but an evident
wish to be reconciled, which I shall be most obliged by
your delivering.

[59]

Independently of the numerous advantages of your
marriage you will have this great consolation, that you
will be for once and for aye relieved from these most
troublesome commissions. I leave the note myself, hop-
ing that it is possible, though not probable, that it may
catch you so as to be delivered today.

By the by, if I had many friends in the habit of mar-
rying, which friends had brothers who possessed an ex-
tensive assortment of choice hock, I should be dead in no
time.

Yesterday I felt like a maniac, today my interior re-
sembles a lime basket. •

Truly yours, C. D.

Sunday [May 19, 1833].

The last two paragraphs refer to a bachelors'
supper given on the evening of May 17th.
Dickens apparently drank more than was good
for him. He was always fond of the liquid
good things in life, and on this occasion, apart
from the ordinary temptations of a festive
gathering of young men, there doubtless was
in his mind a recklessness born of despond-
ency. He compared Kolle's " most blest con-
dition " with the unhappy termination of his
own love affair, and he drank to forget —
enough to make him feel " like a maniac '' the
next day and very uncomfortable on the sec-
ond day after.

In his note to Kolle, Dickens accurately de-

[60]

scribes his letter to Miss Beadnell. It is one
that would touch the heart of any girl worth
the winning ; but Maria BeadnelFs little mind
was made up. If she had ever cared for
Dickens, she had outgrown all fondness for
him. As he said in one of his later letters,
when Dora became Flora, " you answered me
coldly and reproachfully, and so I went my
way." This cold and reproachful answer she
gave to Kolle to deliver to Dickens, and the
final dismissal was received by the unhappy
lover on the next day. Even now he did not
" go his way " without another appeal or a
last word of some sort. For on the follow-
ing day he sent another letter for Kolle to
give to Maria. —

Tuesday [May 21st, 1833].
My dear Kolle, — "Least said soonest mended." 1
am very very much obliged to you for performing my
commission in the midst of your multifarious concerns
so kindly and punctually. May I trouble you with an-
other ? by way, of course, of evincing my gratitude.
I shall be at my post in Addle street at 10 : GO to-
morrow.

Faithfully yours,

Charles Dickens

To Henry Kolle, Esq.,
14 Addle Street, Aldermanbury.

[61]

This last letter was not kept with her other
trophies by Miss Beadnell. It was so unusual
for her to overlook anything gratifying to her
girlish vanity, that one is tempted to believe
that the letter never reached her. KoUe was
to be married the next day. It is quite possi-
ble that he forgot to deliver his friend's note ;
or he may have suppressed it, believing, more
consistently than Dickens, " least said soonest
mended."

The last paragraph in the note to Kolle
refers to his wedding, which occurred the
following day. Dickens was Kolle's best
man, and the being " at his post in Addle
street" refers to his calling for the bride-
groom at the latter's house, No. 14 Addle
street.

Thus ended Dickens' first and, as far as
known, his only real love affair. His subse-
quent courtship and marriage seem to have
been quite free from the element of poetic
sentiment. He himself wrote to Maria in
iSSS : ** Whatever of fancy, romance, energy,
passion, aspiration and determination belong
to me, I never have separated and never shall
separate from the hard-hearted little woman —
you." That he had at the time of his marriage

[62]

an honest and manly aflfection for the lady
whom he made his wife is beyond question.
Mr. Chesterton thinks that Dickens fell in
love with all three of the Hogarth sisters ; but
there is in the known letters to Miss Catherine
Hogarth nothing of the passionate adoration
that was lavished upon his first love. Mary
Hogarth was his ideal of all that is adorable in
girlhood. His devotion to her and his grief
for her early death were among the most en-
during passions of his life. His relations with
Georgina Hogarth were those of an ennobling
friendship. Instead of having fallen in love
with all three of the sisters, as Mr. Chesterton
suggests, it is more likely that Dickens fell in
love with none of them.

The following note to Miss Catherine Ho-
garth, written at some time in 1835, is in the
collection of the present writer and is now
first printed. While its tone is affectionate, it
has none of the fervor of the Beadnell letters
and, in fact, shows a greater enthusiasm for
books and his work than for his fiancee. A
man whose letters to friends are always so
affectionate could hardly have written more
conventionally to the young woman he was
on the point of marrying.—
[63]

Furnival's Inn,
' Thursday Night.

My dearest Katie — It is nearly eight, and I have not
yet even begun the Sketch ; neither have I thought of a
subject. Excuse the brevity of this note on that account
and believe that it is only occasioned by my wish to see
you as early as possible tomorrow.

1 send you by George (who in Fred's absence on busi-
ness, is kind enough to be the bearer of this) the volume
which contains the Life of Savage. I have turned down
the leaf. Now do read it attentively ; if you do, I know
from your excellent understanding you will be delighted.
If you slur it, you will think it dry. I have written to
Macrone for Rookwood ; and shall have it tomorrow, I
doubt not.

Give my best love to your mamma and Mary. Write
me word how all is going on.

Ever yours, my dearest love,

Charles Dickens

With this is a wrapper addressed " Miss
Hogarth. Favored by George Hogarth, Esq."
The letter was given by Mrs. Perugini (Kate
Dickens) to George Augustus Sala who has
endorsed it, " Precious Dickens letter to his
wife before their marriage.''

Professor Baker finds it difficult to under-
stand Maria Beadnell's treatment of Dickens.
It may be accounted for by the fact that she
did not have intelligence enough to appreciate

[64]

him nor heart enough to respond to a genuine
passion. Miss Beadnell was Flora Pinching at
forty-five or so. At twenty she was the same
Flora, excepting that she had the charm of
Dora's youthful prettiness. What Dickens saw
in her to fall desperately in love with would
be a greater mystery, were it not for the fact
that the cleverest men have never been proof
against the fascinations of the silliest women.
"If ye have charm," says Maggie Wiley in
Mr. Barriers play, " it does not much matter
what else ye have.'' And it must be remem-
bered that Dickens was only eighteen when
his infatuation began, and a little more than
twenty-one when he received his ultimate
dismissal.

One cannot avoid thinking what a blessing
in disguise Flora's refusal was. As an ideal, a
lost love, she was a source of inspiration in
the work of the novelist, and when she re-
appeared in his life she was a figure for a
comedy; but, as a wife, it would seem that
she would have been the last woman in the
world to have made Dickens happy. Poor
soul I She was wretched enough in her re-
grets in later years. She is only remembered
as the woman who jilted Dickens, even as

[65]

Venables is remembered as the man who, as a
school-boy, broke the nose of Thackeray.

One service Maria Beadnell did for Dickens
and for all mankind. Her treatment of him
stimulated his ambition and made him plunge
into work, determined to make a name for
himself. It was during the next few months
that Dickens began to aspire to a class of work
more satisfying and remunerative than the
drudgery of the reporters' gallery. He has
told us, through the medium of his biog-
rapher, that his notion of becoming an actor
was suggested only by the idea that the stage
would be the source of a good income. Then,
as he says, he "made a great splash in the
Gallery" and the theatrical ambitions were
abandoned.

It was at this time that he began to try his
hand at small forms of fiction. This is a nat-
ural progression from the descriptive work of
a reporter. It is a step that has been made by
many writers, but never so quickly and with
such complete success as by Dickens. The
novelist has described his dropping his first
Sketch " into a dark letter-box in a dark office
up a dark court in Fleet street." He had
told of his agitation when this first article

166]

appeared in all the glory of print. " On which
occasion I walked down to Westminster Hall,
and turned into it for half an hour^ because
my eyes were so dimmed by joy and pride
that they could not bear the street and were
not fit to be seen there."

What then was this first attempt that brought
first fear and trembling and then tears of joy
to the young enthusiast? To the lovers of
Dickens, it is a matter of distinct interest.
Mr. Forster in the Life states that the first of
the Sketches by Bo{ to appear was " not Mr.
Minns and His Cousin, as he (Dickens)
thought, but Mrs. Joseph Porter over the WayT
The biographer says : " In the January number
for 18M of what was then called the Old
Monthly Maga:(ine, his first published piece of
writing had seen the light." In this statement
Mr. Forster was in error upon a point of some
importance. The next letter to Kolle proves
that the " first published piece of writing " was
not the one stated by the biographer, but the
one identified in Dickens' own recollection.
Moreover, it appeared not in January, 18M,
but in December, 183 J. It is characteristic of
Forster — who lives in the cabman's descrip-
tion of him as " a h'arbitrary gent " — that he

claims a more exact knowledge than Dickens
of the latter's first published writing, and then
proceeds to identify the wrong work and the
incorrect date.

A Dinner at Poplar Walk may be found in
the Monthly Magazine for December, 1833,
by any person of an investigating turn of
mind, whether a biographer or otherwise. In
the collected Sketches the title is changed to
Mr, Minns and His Cousin. Here is Dickens'
letter written with a certain pride of author-
ship; yet in diffidence withal and the hope
that his Dora's sister will approve — and per-
haps send the magazine to Dora.

Bentinck Street,
Tuesday morning.

My dear Kolle, — I intend with the gracious permis-
sion of yourself and spouse to look in upon you some
evening this week. I do not write you, however, for
the purpose of ceremoniously making this important an-
nouncement, but to beg Mrs. K.'s criticism of a little
paper of mine (the first of a series) in the Monthly
(not the New Monthly Magazine) of this month. I
have n't a copy to send, but if the number falls in your
way, look for the article. It is the same that you saw
lying on my table, but the name is transmogrified from
A Sunday out of Town to A Dinner at Poplar Walk.
Knowing the interest (or thinkmg 1 know the interest)
[68]

u

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'i^ctCj^c^

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^^ ^CL4^^JLJ 1^<^^ ^^rc<j rd^MT-

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fi^J A.^ <,:^ ^^ ^{^ ^ ^

you are kind enough to take in my movements, 1 have
the vanity to make this communication.

Best remembrances to Mrs. K. " So no more at
present " from, my dear Kolle,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Dickens

I am so dreadfully nervous that my hand shakes to
such an extent as to prevent my writing a word legibly.

Dickens lost no time in writing this letter
to his intimate friend. It was the shortest
way of conveying the news to the Beadnell
family that Charley Dickens had become an
author. We may be sure that one of the chief
causes of his exultation was his knowledge
that Maria Beadnell would be impressed.
When he wrote to Kolle there was still upon
him the agitation which caused him to turn
into Westminster Hall because his eyes were
not fit to be seen in the street. There was
good cause for his emotion; better than he
realized ; for Charles Dickens had found him-
self. Still " in the brave days when we are
twenty-one" he had arrived. He knew now
what was to be his life work, though he had
no idea that in a little more than two years he
would be the most popular author in England.

It is probable that in choosing the form for
[69]

first essays in literature, Dickens was influenced
by Wight's Mornings at Bow Street. These
sketches first appeared in a newspaper, the
Morning Herald. They proved so popular
that in 1824 they were published in book form
with illustrations by George Cruikshank, some
of the best of his small engravings. Three
years later, a second series was published,
likewise with Cruikshank illustrations. The
Sketches by Bo{ were also published in news-
papers and magazines ; were collected in book
form, illustrated by Cruikshank, and appeared
in a second series. The subject matter is
similar, — scenes from London life, — and the
humor and style have considerable resemblance.
The essential difference is that Dickens' sub-
jects are general while Wighf s are confined to
humorous incidents in the police courts.

The arrangement of the Sketches in book
form gives no idea of the order of their com-
position and of their publication in the maga-
zine. Mrs. Joseph Porter over the Way was
the second, appearing in January, 18M. The
subject of this sketch is an amateur theatrical
performance, and the mischief-making gossip,
Mrs. Porter, may be considered a pen portrait
of Mrs. John Porter Leigh who in the Bill of

[70]

Fare is described as " a curry, hot, biting, and
smart/' Horatio Sparkins was published in
February, 18M, 7be Bloomsbury Christening
in April, and The Boarding House in May. As
the following letter refers to The Boarding
House as being in the hands of the publisher,
and as likely to be returned — probably in
proof — this letter was written a short time
before the appearance of the magazine for
May, 1834.

Bentinck Street,
Monday evening [March or April, 1834].

My dear Kolley — As neither you nor yours have the
most remote connection with The Boarding House of
which I am the proprietor, I cannot have the least objec-
tion to (indeed I shall be flattered by) your perusing it.
It is, however, in the hands of the publisher ; when they
return it to me you shall have it.

I am much obliged to you for purchasing the lottery
ticket. 1 shall call for an hour very soon, when I will kill
two birds with one stone and pay you for the " wentur,"
besides bringing the O' Thello. I think if we win we had
better sacrifice the discount and take ready money, unless
indeed you prefer gold bar. I see by the announcement
in the diflferent lottery office windows that the lucky pur-
chaser of a ticket may have the value in " money or free-
hold houses." Suppose we have ten pound worth of
free-hold houses ; of course this will afford a small street.
I '11 have one side of the way and you shall have the
[71]

other. I shall improve my property by the erection of
brass knockers and patent water-closets.

Give my love to Mrs. K., and believe me, my dear

KoUe,

Sincerely yours,

Charles Dickens
Henry Kolle, Esq.

The burlesque GTbelb, according to Mr.
Kitton, was written in 18??. It is rather
curious that a performance of Othello is given
by the amateurs in the sketch Mrs. Joseph
Porter over the Way, a production that the
disagreeable Mrs. Porter (? Mrs. Leigh) tri-
umphantly tells everybody was a complete
failure. In this play, a prominent role was
assigned to the author's father, John Dickens,
who appeared in the character of "The Great
Unpaid." There was certainly some personal
allusion in this. Perhaps the elder Dick-
ens had been having difficulty in collecting
his salary, or possibly that may have been his
excuse to the family for Micawber-like im-
pecuniosity. John Dickens preserved the
manuscript of GThello, and, after his son
became famous, gave away separate pages of
it as souvenirs. The first page was in the
collection of Mr. William Wright and was
sold at Sotheby s auction rooms in 1899. On

[72]

the margin was the following: "The Great
Unpaid was your humble servant, John
Dickens. Alphington, 6th June, 1842." Mr.
S. Dyer Knott, of Alphington, near Exeter,
had another page of this manuscript with
John Dickens' endorsement.

It will be seen that, whatever Dickens ' re-
lations with the Beadnell family may have been
at this time, he continued on terms of inti-
mate friendship with Kolle and his wife. He
seems to have set some value upon Kolle's criti-
cal opinion and in the following letter makes
him the confidant of his literary plans. The
"Boarding House referred to in the letter
next preceding was the first of the sketches
which bore the signature of " Boz," soon to
become a household word with the reading
public.

This famous pseudonym was probably in-
tended to be pronounced with the " o " long.
There is a bit of contemporary verse in which
Boz is made to rhyme with "owes." The
derivation, too, suggests this. If Dickens
adopted it from his own nickname for his
brother Augustus, taken from Goldsmith's
character of Moses, pronounced through the
nose "Bozes!" the next transition would
[73]

naturally be to " Boze ! " The public, how-
ever, adopted the more obvious pronunciation.
It is not generally known that this brother
of the novelist came to America under some-
what romantic circumstances. In 1868 he
was living in Chicago with a very handsome
woman — supposed to be his wife — and two
beautiful children. When Dickens visited
America in that year, he was announced to
give his readings in Chicago. Shortly before
the date set, his plans were changed, and it
was stated that the health of the novelist
would not permit his making so long a
journey. The Chicago press resented this
and charged Dickens with avoiding that city
because he knew that his brother was living
there in circumstances which were not par-
ticularly affluent. Dickens made answer to
this that he was contributing to the support
of the only genuine Mrs. Augustus Dickens,
who was living in England. A few months
later Augustus Dickens died. A short time
before the Chicago fire of 1871, the alleged
Mrs. Augustus Dickens died and was supposed
to have committed suicide. The case attracted
considerable attention at the time, partly on
account of the great beauty and charm of the

[74]

two children. They were adopted by Chicago
people. The great fire occurring shortly after-
ward caused the incident to be forgotten.
These details were obtained from a member of
the writer's family who at the time was living
in Chicago and was well acquainted with the
facts.^ It may be added that not the slightest
censure could justly be passed upon Dickens
for his conduct in the matter. He was
burdened by the claims of a horde of poor
relations, and his liberality to them kept him
comparatively poor in spite of his large
earnings.

The next letter to KoUe must have been
written in 18?4, as it is sent from Bentinck
street. Dickens removed from the house in
that thoroughfare December 25, 18M. At
the same time, the letter shows that several of
the Sketches had appeared in the Monthly Mag-
azine, The last of these in 18?4 was The
Steam Excursion in the October number.
They had attracted sufficient attention to
warrant pirate publishers in appropriating

1 Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, in his much criticised Life of
Dickens, alludes to these events, and states that the second wife
of Augustus Dickens was "Miss Bertha Phillips, daughter of
Charles Phillips, the eminent Irish orator." Dr. Mackenzie gives
the date of Augustus Dickens' death, Christmas Day, 1868.
[75]

them for the numerous cheap periodicals that
did not make it a practice to pay for contri-
butions. The Monthly Magazine had lost
some of its popularity, and was not upon a
solid financial foundation. However, its new
editor, James Grant, agreed to pay half-a-
guinea a page, the terms proposed by Dickens
for the continuation of the Sketches. It is
evident that three were paid for at this rate,
and then the arrangement proved to be a
burden which the magazine could not carry.
"Only imagine," wrote Mr. Grant, "Mr.
Dickens offering to furnish me with a con-
tinuation, for any length of time which
I might have named, of his Sketches by
Bo{ for eight guineas a sheet, whereas in
a little more than six months he could —
so great in the interim had his popularity
become — have got a hundred guineas a
sheet from any of the leading periodicals of
the day."

Bentinck Street,
Friday morning [1834].

My dear KollCy — 1 only returned from my uncle's at

Norwood (where I have been busily engaged for a week

past, and whither I return again today) late last night.

Consequently as they did not forward your note I could

[76]

not have the pleasure of seeing you on Friday evening,
not knowing of your invitation.

They have done me the honor of selecting my article
for insertion in The Thief ^ where you will see it for the
small charge of three pence, if you have not yet paid two
and six.

I have had a polite and flattering communication from
the Monthly people requesting more papers, but they are
rather backward in coming forward with the needful. I
am in treaty with them, however, and if we close, my next
paper will be Private Theatricals, and my next Lon-
don by Night. I shall then, please God, commence a
series of papers (the materials for which I have been noting
down for some time past) called The Parish. Should
they be successful, as publishing is hazardous, I shall cut
my proposed novel up into little magazine sketches.
Should I not settle into this periodical, I shall try The
Metropolitan.

As 1 am not certain how long I shall be detained at
Norwood, I cannot say when I can have the pleasure of
seeing you. As soon as I return, be it only for a night,
however, I shall show myself at Newington, and must
take the chance of finding you at home. Business in
the shape of masses of papers, plans and prospectusses,
and pleasure in the shape of a very nice pair of black eyes
call me to Norwood ; of course the call is imperative and
must be obeyed.

Pray give my love (I may say so I suppose) to Anne
and perhaps you will do me the favor of turning over
the following request in your mind. When there is a
vacancy for a god -father-ship either to a young lady or
a young gentleman, for I am not particular, who could
[77]

afford to have one poor god-father, will you bear me in
mind ? Hint this delicately to your " missus."
Believe me, my dear KoUe,

Ever yours sincerely,

Charles Dickens
More nervous than ever.

It is evident from this letter that the publi-
cation of the Sketches did not follow the
order of their composition. Trivate Theatres
and London by Night were published after
the series of papers called The Parish or Our
Parish. No doubt Dickens had been making
notes, mental or otherwise, for the Sketches
from the beginning of his experiences as a re-
porter. Like most beginners in literature, he
had on hand a quantity of material from which
to select as occasion required. That this was
the case with Dickens is shown by the rapid-
ity of his production as soon as opportun-
ity came to him. Oliver Twist must have
been commenced for serial use in Bentley's
Miscellany while the writing of Pickwick was
in progress. In fact, only ten of the twenty
monthly parts of Pickwick had appeared when,
in February, 18 J 7, Oliver Twist began its
serial course in Bentley*s. It seems incredible
that even Dickens could have written two of

the most famous novels in literature, supply-
ing serial instalments of both. If he did so,
he accomplished a feat which he never at-
tempted after he became a more practiced
writer. It is not unreasonable to suppose that
Oliver Twist was written, in part at least,
before Pickwick. In the series of sketches
called Our Parish may be found the germ of
the former. Bumble is present in all his glory,
and there are many indications that Oliver and
his associates were in process of evolution. It
is true that in the letter the author speaks of
The Parish and " my proposed novel " as two
distinct works; but this does not disprove
that Oliver Twist, or the Parish Bay's Progress
was in some manner connected with the Parish
sketches. It is possible, however, that "my
proposed novel " may have been Gabriel Var-
don, the Locksmith of London.

That Dickens ever projected such a work is
known only from the fact that it was adver-
tised by Macrone in 18^6 as a new novel by
the author of Sketches by Bo{, It was Mac-
rone who published the Sketches in book form-
He continued to advertise Gabriel Pardon till
18? 7, when his failure in business put a stop
to the plans for its publication. This is an in-

[79]

teresting suggestion, for it is practically certain
that Gabriel Vardon was the precursor of Bar-
nahy Rudge. The connection is not merely
one of names. We know how a name in-
vented or observed would haunt Dickens.
Balzac had the same peculiarity. But the
Gabriel Vardon advertised in I836, and possi-
bly referred to in the foregoing letter of 18M»
was a novel dealing with events during the
Gordon riots. Mr. Kitton discovered that the
name of Gabriel Varden — spelled with an " e/'
as in Barnaby Rudge — is in the London di-
rectory for 1780, the year of the riots. But
there is more definite evidence. The pres-
ent writer has in his collection a pamphlet
(without covers, but with Dickens' book label
attached) the title of which is "A plain and
Succinct Narrative of the Late Riots and Dis-
turbances. . . . With an account of the Com-
mitment of Lord George Gordon to the Tower,
and anecdotes of his Life. London, 1870."
In this work the name of Gabriel Varden ap-
pears as that of a shop-keeper whose property
was damaged by rioters. From the top of the
title-page a signature has been cut, probably
that of Dickens. The pamphlet certainly be-
longed to him, as the book label proves. Mar-

[80]

ginal notes in pencil are in a hand-writing
resembling his. In view of these facts, it seems
likely that portions of Bamaby Rudge were
written before either Pickwick or Oliver Twist,
although the first-named novel did not appear
in its final form until after Nicholas Nickleby
and The Old Curiosity Shop.

The foregoing letter to Kolle shows how
enthusiastic the young author was in the plans
and projects resulting from a fair start in the
new career that had opened to him. There
is evidence, too, of his recovery from the
cruel treatment he had received from Maria
Beadnell. In the midst of his routine duties
as a newspaper writer and his enthusiasm for
his literary work, he finds time for " pleasure
in the shape of a very nice pair of black eyes."
Who the fair one of Norwood may have been
is not to be learned. He doubtless hoped that
his interest in this " nice pair of black eyes "
might be reported by Mrs. Kolle to her sister,
the hard-hearted Maria. That Dickens' friend-
ship for Kolle was as close as before the latter's
marriage is shown by the request made at the
end of the letter.

The following note, written from Bentinck
street, in 18?4, indicates that the suggestion in

[81]

the last paragraph of the preceding letter may
have been adopted. A little Miss Kolle had
now appeared upon the scene, and Dickens
had been asked to be the child's sponsor in
baptism.

Bentinck Street,
Friday Evening.

Dear Kolle, — I snatch an instant to say that I shall
be at the Ball's Pond Chapel, please God, on Sunday
next at half past two precisely.
Believe me.

Truly yours,

Charles Dickens
My duty to your good lady.

The Kolles appear to have lived at Isling-
ton at this time. Ball's Pond is in Islington
and was so called from the ducking pond of a
person named Ball, who conducted a tavern
there during the reign of Charles II.

Dickens wrote his earlier sketches and be-
gan his preliminary work as a novelist while
living with his parents in the Bentinck street
house. His home life seems to have been
pleasant, though there is in existence an un-
published letter referring to the "damnable
shadow" cast by his father. It is impossi-
ble to say whether this is an allusion to

[82]

the erratic habits of the elder Dickens or
to his former experience with the " ban-dogs
of the law." Late in 18M, the young writer
decided to establish a home of his own, and
from Christmas of that year he occupied a
"three-pair back" at No. IJ Furnivars Inn,
"modest quarters at the top of a steep and
dark staircase.'' He was at this time nearly
twenty-three years old and his regular em-
ployment was on the reportorial staff of the
Morning Chronicle. The following letter was
probably written early in 183 J, —

FURNIVAL'S INN,

Wednesday morning.

My dear Kolle, — As you know of old my excellent
good luck in small matters, I think it hardly necessary to
say that of course I have received a summons from the
office this morning, which will, in all probability, detain
me the whole evening and consequently prevent my being
able to enjoy the pleasure of your society. This is the
first I have had since I returned from the country, and
as a matter of course it interferes with the only engage-
ment I had formed.

Now will you turn over in your own mind what even-
ing will suit you best, and just write me a line in the
morning in time to prevent my being out, and to enable
me to communicate with you in case I should be officially
engaged. If you don't do so at once I will be offended.
[83]

Give my best love to Henry's Mrs. K., and believe
me, dear Kolle,

Sincerely yours,

Charles Dickens

Dickens lived at No. 1? Furnival's Inn for a
year. During this time the editorial powers of
the Morning Chronicle recognized the value
of the Sketches and increased the writer's sti-
pend by an additional two guineas a week.
This enabled him to move to more attractive
rooms at No. 1? Furnival's Inn. It has been
surmised that these quarters are described in
Martin Chu{{lewit as John Westlock's apart-
ments. Mr. Kitton has stated that it was
at Dickens' rooms at No. 1? Furnival's Inn
that Mr. William Hall called, "on a certain
memorable day in the early part of 1836," to
arrange for the writing of Pickwick. There
is evidence, however, that this memorable day
was in December, 183?. One of the two
published letters to Catherine Hogarth informs
her of the negotiations with Chapman & Hall,
and this is dated 18??. Some time was lost
in discussion of the precise character of the
projected work. The manuscript of the first
monthly part must have been delivered to the
publishers about March 1st, and it was prob-

[84]

ably written during the month of February,
18?6. To the latter date belongs the following
letter in the collection of the present writer,
and now first printed. Although only a brief
note, it is the earliest known Dickens auto-
graph referring to Pickwick by name, and in
it the author coins a word — "Pickwickian''
— which he afterward used so effectively that
it has become a part of the language.—

FuRNiVAL's Inn,
Thursday Evening.

Dear Sirs, — Pickwick is at length begun in all his
might and glory. The first chapter will be ready to-
morrow.

I want to publish The Strange Gentleman. If you
have no objection to doing it, I should be happy to let
you have the refusal of it. 1 need not say that nobody
else has seen or heard of it.

, Believe me (in Pickwickian haste).
Faithfully yours,

Charles Dickens
Messrs. Chapman & Hall.

The Strange Gentleman was not per-
formed until September 29th, 1836, at which
time six monthly parts of Pickwick had ap-
peared. From this letter we learn that it was
written before Pickwick.

It was while living in his first quarters in
[85]

Furnivars Inn that Dickens became friendly
with George Hogarth, one of the writers on
the Chronicle staflf. Hogarth's three daugh-
ters were destined to play important parts in
the life drama of the novelist ; one as his ideal
of girlhood, the original of some of his most
beloved characters ; one as his most loyal and
devoted woman friend ; one as the mother of
his nine children, the wife of whom he de-
clared, twenty-five years later, that if they
continued to live together they would drive
each other insane.

There are no more early letters to Kolle and
the probability is that Dickens' intimacy with
that friend (and with the social circle in which
the Kolle and Beadnell families moved) ceased
at about the time he became interested in the
Hogarth family. After his sensational success
as the author of Pickwick Dickens formed
friendships with some of the leading writers,
artists and actors of the period. These were
more congenial to his taste and temperament
than the worthy but conventional folk of the
Lombard street coterie. Dickens was not the
sort of man to allow success to make him
ignore old friends; but ambition and a new
environment bring different interests and

[86]

associates. Twenty-five years passed before
Dickens again wrote to his old friend. Dur-
ing that period the novelist created his most
famous works. Fame and fortune had done
what they could to make him what he had
declared in an early letter he could never be,
"happy and contented." Kolle had been re-
garded as a promising young man at a time
when Dickens had been considered an ineligi-
ble suitor, but it appears that Kolle had not
prospered during the quarter of a century
which had brought honor and a moderate
fortune to his old friend. Kolle must have
died poor, for his widow and daughter were
glad to obtain a few guineas by the sale of
Dickens' autographs. It is inferred from the
contents of the following letter that the two
old friends had rarely met in the intervening
years. Apparently Kolle's letter in 18?9 was
a voice from the past, like the letter from
Maria Beadnell in 18??. Kolle's daughter
(perhaps the one for whom Dickens had stood
sponsor in baptism in 18??) had literary
aspirations and, undeterred by the previous
achievements of Voltaire and Southey, had
written a poem on the subject of "Joan of
Arc." Kolle sent the manuscript to Dickens

[S7]

either for his personal opinion or as a contri-
bution to the periodical of which the novelist
was the editor.

Gadshill Place, Hicham by Rochester, Kent,
Saturday, l8th June, 1859.

Dear Kolle, — It is an extremely difficult thing to
pronounce on the qualifications of any writer or anyone
aspiring to be a writer, with only one youthful composi-
tion to guide the judgment.

I have read Joan of Arc attentively and all I can do
is to tell you faithfully what impression it has left upon
me. A facility of versification is certainly to be observed
in it, though it has very many weak and lame lines ; but
it seems to me to stop at turning prose into rhyme, and I
don't see much good in that. When I say this I mean
that I do not find the writer to see the story poetically,
or to place any scene in it vividly, through the aid of a
bright and picturesque imagination, before the reader.

After laying the piece down I do not remember any
thought in it, any fancy, any image, any little touch of
description that gives me the least notion connected with
the story of which 1 was not already possessed. I do not
believe that the way to success, recompense or happiness
in composition lies through such a portal, and unless the
writer can do much better, my advice to her is to leave it
alone ; but she may be able to do better, and considered
as an amateur lady-composition, this is very good.

1 understand you, however, to wish to know whether
this is something beyond such a composition ? I think
not. In remembrance of the old days to which you so
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feelingly refer in your note, and which are no less dear
to me, do not hesitate to write to me again on this sub-
ject, if you should see reason for doing so, and pray as-
sure your daughter that I am not a dragon, but that I tell
her the truth as her father's old friend should.
Faithfully yours,

Charles Dickens
Henry Kolle, Esq.

Six years later other poems by Miss Kolle
were sent by her father to Dickens, who then
wrote for the last time to his old friend.

Gad's Hill Place,
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1865.

My dear Kolle, — I have not marked the accompany-
ing copy of your daughter's verses because the little that I
have to say about them may be best said generally. They
are very musical, very creditable, very good. As editor
of a periodical I read many much worse, and many much
better. As a composition of a young lady in private life
they are interesting and meritorious; but I cannot do
such violence to what I believe to be the truth as to en-
courage a sensitive young creature to enter the public
lists so armed. Great disappointment and, consequently,
great unhappiness would result from such a rash venture.
There may be promise in your daughter not expressed
by these verses. Judging her solely by their internal
evidence, I find her on a level with hundreds and thou-
sands of unheard-of amateurs. There is a curious ex-
pression of conscious weakness in every page but one.
The purpose that cannot express itself in words without
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italicising them is waited on by a misgiving that it wants
force and struggles for expression in vain. If the lines
were my own daughter's, I should tell her exactly what
I tell you.

When I got to Paris on that occasion to which you
refer, 1 carried out my part of our contract as heartily as
I now send all good Christmas wishes to you and yours.
My dear Kolle,

Faithfully yours always,

Charles Dickens

These two letters are striking evidence of
Dickens' characteristic honesty, kindness and
loyalty. An unwelcome verdict could scarcely
be written in terms more considerate. The
same frankness and firmness appear in the
later letters to Mrs. Winter; and we see re-
vealed in all of them "the good, the gentle,
high-gifted, ever-friendly, noble Dickens," as
Carlyle said of him, "every inch of him an
honest man."

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