FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  
and that it was under his direction that the plays were produced. Observe the clear evidence of his hand in the very wording of the bill:-- "On Wednesday evening, September 1, 1852. "THE AMATEUR COMPANY OF THE GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART; To encourage Life Assurance and other provident habits among Authors and Artists; to render such assistance to both as shall never compromise their independence; and to found a new Institution where honorable rest from arduous labors shall still be associated with the discharge of congenial duties; "Will have the honor of presenting," etc., etc., But let us go on with the letters. Here is the first one to his friend after Dickens arrived home again in England. It is delightful, through and through. London, 1 Devonshire Terrace, York Gate, Regent's Park, Sunday, July 31, 1842. My Dear Felton: Of all the monstrous and incalculable amount of occupation that ever beset one unfortunate man, mine has been the most stupendous since I came home. The dinners I have had to eat, the places I have had to go to, the letters I have had to answer, the sea of business and of pleasure in which I have been plunged, not even the genius of an ---- or the pen of a ---- could describe. Wherefore I indite a monstrously short and wildly uninteresting epistle to the American Dando, but perhaps you don't know who Dando was. He was an oyster-eater, my dear Felton. He used to go into oyster-shops, without a farthing of money, and stand at the counter eating natives, until the man who opened them grew pale, cast down his knife, staggered backward, struck his white forehead with his open hand, and cried, "You are Dando!!!" He has been known to eat twenty dozen at one sitting, and would have eaten forty, if the truth had not flashed upon the shopkeeper. For these offences he was constantly committed to the House of Correction. During his last imprisonment he was taken ill, got worse and worse, and at last began knocking violent double-knocks at Death's door. The doctor stood beside his bed, with his fingers on his pulse. "He is going," says the doctor. "I see it in his eye. There is only one thing that would keep life in him for another hour, and that is--oysters." They were immediately brought. Dando swallowed eight, and feebly t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
letters
 

Felton

 

oyster

 
doctor
 

farthing

 

counter

 

opened

 

eating

 

natives

 

uninteresting


wildly

 
epistle
 

American

 
feebly
 
describe
 

Wherefore

 

indite

 

monstrously

 

swallowed

 

oysters


brought

 

immediately

 

staggered

 

committed

 

constantly

 
Correction
 

fingers

 

offences

 

shopkeeper

 

During


knocking

 

violent

 
double
 

knocks

 

imprisonment

 

flashed

 

forehead

 

backward

 

struck

 

sitting


twenty
 
compromise
 

independence

 

assistance

 

Authors

 
Artists
 

render

 
discharge
 
congenial
 

labors