Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/442

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NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. v. MAY n, 1912.

given in the " Memoirs | of the | celebrated vol. ii. pp. 23-4, 35, where the famous beau, Robert Tracy (whose connexion with Madame Campioni is also mentioned several times in The Town and Country Magazine), is alleged to have had an amour with the Italian opera-dancer a little while before his marriage with the " egg-girl " Susannah Owens, which event took place at Keith's Chapel on 4 Aug., 1748. (Cf. ' Walpole's Letters,' Toynbee, ii. 338-9 ; ' N. & Q.,' 5 Sept., 1896.) Signora Campioni is also mentioned as an early contemporary of Fanny Murray in the same ' Memoirs,' vol. ii. p. 59.
 * Miss Fanny Murray. Dublin 1759,"

Is there any collection of Opera-House playbills circa 1748-50 ?

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

CHARLES DICKENS. FEBRUARY 7xn, 1812 JUNE 9TH, 1870.

(See ante, pp. 81, 101. 121, 141, 161, 182, 203, 223, 243, 262, 284, 301, 323, 344.)

ALTHOUGH the voyage to England was a rough one, Dickens had not been three days at sea before his health began to improve. He and Dolby landed at Liverpool in a little over eight days, on the 1st of May, 1868. By express arrangement there were no friends to meet him on his arrival at Euston, and Dolby describes it as " something almost ludicrous to see Mr. Dickens walk out of the station, bag in hand, on his way to Charing Cross Station for Gadshill." Although his arrival in London had been kept quiet, the villagers at Higham had got to know of it, and had made plans to take the horses out of his carriage and drag him on to his own house. In order to avoid this Dickens had the carriage sent to Gravesend, but the villagers were not to be " done " : they turned out, some on foot, some in market- carts and gigs, and escorted him along the road with shouts of welcome, the houses being decorated with flags. The following day being Sunday, the bells of his own church rang out a peal after the morning service in honour of his return.

Dickens was once more full of his old brightness and vivacity. Writing to his Boston friends, he jokingly told them he " was brown beyond belief," and

" caused the greatest disappointment in all quarters by looking so well. My doctor was quite broken down in spirits on seeing me for the first

time. ' Good Lord ! seven years younger,' said the doctor, recoiling."

To his joy, the closing of the American accounts revealed a state of affairs far in excess of his anticipations. Seventy-six readings had been given, and after deducting all expenses, including the cost of converting- the greenbacks into gold, which was nearly 40 per cent, there was left to him a profit of 20,000;. If gold had been at par, the profits would have been nearly 38.000Z.

Before leaving for America Dickens had resolved on giving a series of farewell readings, on his return, and while at Boston he received word from Messrs. Chappell that they agreed to pay him the sum of 8,000/. and all expenses for one hundred readings, a proposition assented to by him by return of post. Although it was a fatal mistake for Dickens, in his state of health, to have agreed to this, Forster most rightly vindi- cates him from any charge of avarice :

" No man could care essentially less for mere money than he did. But the necessary provision for many sons was a constant anxiety ; he was proud of what the readings had done to abridge this care ; and the very strain of them under which it seems that his health had first given way, and which he always steadily refused to connect especially with them had also broken the old confidence of being at all times available for his- higher pursuit. What affected his health only he would not regard as part of the question either- way. That was to be borne as the lot, more or less, of all men ; and the more thorough he could make his feeling of independence, and of ability to rest, by what was now in hand, the better his final chances of a perfect recovery would be. That was the spirit in which he entered on his last engagement. It was an oppor- tunity offered for making a particular work really complete before he should abandon it for ever."

Dickens had intended to rest as much as- possible before commencing his final readings, but Wills had a severe accident in the hunting field, with concussion of the brain,, so that Dickens had to take charge of All the Year Round. In this he decided to establish a new series, and to make it as attractive as possible by writing more for it himself. He also resolved to discontinue the Christmas numbers, not on account of their ceasing to be successful, but because they had found so many imitators. Those who are old enough will remember Ms novel mode of advertising these by placarding the title in every available space for weeks before the date of issue. This was done with the greatest secrecy, so that while people wondered what could be the meaning of ' Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings,' or ' Mugby Junction,' or ' No Thoroughfare ' stuck about London and the provinces, no one