THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK.*
THERE is a great deal in Mr. Fitzgerald's History of Picicwick that is really interesting and of value, not only to the book- collector or to the most select circle of Dickens's admirers, * Tho History of Pickwick. By Percy Fitzgerald, MA. London Chapman and Hall.
but also to any reader who has ever encountered and been carried away by that resistless flood of high spirits and good humour contained in the Pickwick Papers. There can be but very few people left now who remember its first appearance, and the excitement that grew month by month as each number came out in its first green wrappers. Still, we should think that there are fewer people still who have ever read it, and have forgotten the great occasion, the first day that they opened its pages. For that reason alone we are glad to wel- come Mr. Fitzgerald's book, which has for its purpose the com- memoration of the enormous success achieved by an unknown writer, the pains and labour by which that success was obtained, and the widespread reputation which followed upon it. Unfortunately, Mr. Fitzgerald, who bad, matter enough for a very slender volume, has thought fit to fill up a book of considerable dimensions, with the result that the gratitude of the reader is largely tempered by the weariness that Mr. Fitzgerald as a commentator inflicts upon him. A very interesting account is given of the first origin of the Pickwick Papers, though we believe that that story is also to be found in Forster's Life of Dickens. It is difficult to imagine what possible argument could have been urged by the relations of Mr. Seymour when they asserted him to have been the inventor of the series. Granting that the first numbers were written with the sole purpose of illustrating his plates, it does not follow that he made any suggestions as to the form that the work should take; indeed, it would appear that from the time that the first plate left his hands, to his tragic death, when only twenty-four pages of the work had been published, he had never held any communication whatever with the author on the subject. A much more reasonable claim might be made out on behalf of Mr. Moses Pickwick, of Bath, from whom the author seems undoubtedly to have borrowed a name, and the history of whose family Mr. Fitzgerald has thought 'worth recording.
The early part of Mr. Fitzgerald's book, which deals with the history of the illustrations, and the bad luck and difficulties that the publishers had to contend with until they made the happy choice of Mr. Hablot K. Browne (" Pbiz ") as an illus- trator, and which supplies, moreover, a very useful account of the various editions, and the consequent variance in the illustra- tions, is by far the most interesting. The name of Thackeray among the draughtsmen proposed for the work, suggests a curious speculation as to what his illustrations would have been. Thackeray's illustrations of his own works are prized iso much from a kind of sentiment that attaches to them, and also from the fact that the author's individuality is strongly stamped upon both pictures and letterpress, that one can- not imagine how the style would have suited itself to Dickens's work ; still less can one imagine what modifying influence the two authors might have exercised upon each other had they ever so worked together. It is fortunate, however, that the experiment was not made, for no better illustrator of Dickens's work than " Phiz " could have been wished for. Very interesting, also, is the account that Mr. Fitzgerald gives of the different localities in which the scenes are laid, and the old inns that play so prominent a part in the story. But he really carries his veneration of the author too far when he is at the pains to provide us with a pedigree of the Pickwick family at Bath, or to examine the hundred and one legends that attach to the origin of Sam Weller. His explanation of some of the allusions that have now through lapse of time grown rather obscure, is also very welcome. When Mr. Pickwick declared, in his speech before the Club, that "the praise of mankind was his Swing; philan- thropy was his insurance office," he apparently referred to a per- sonage, after the "Captain Moonlight "type, who was addicted to the burning down of hayricks, and who was known under the name of "Swing." But Mr. Fitzgerald's explanation of "prophesying like a red-faced Nixon" hardly seems to us so satisfactory, ingenious though it is. If he had limited his comments to such obscure allusions, he would have done well. As it is, his explanations of what does not need ,explaining are rather irritating. "Cricket," he supposes, in speaking of the match at Dingley Dell, "at this time had not developed into a science, and hence we meet with some odd technical phrases connected with the game. The fielders were called scouts,' who were to look oat' in different parts of the field,"—two expressions which still are not unfrequently met with, "What was more odd, there were two bowlers, one for each wicket, which we may suppose was the custom of the time." Indeed, a very similar custom prevails among the cricketers of to-clay,—the M.C.C., for instance. Mr. Fitzgerald is also much exercised in his mind to account for the fact that, when Mr. Pickwick was locked into the closet at the girls' school, "he sat down beneath a grove of sandwich-bags" belonging to the day-boarders. He argues that in the middle of the night the day-boarders' sandwich-bags would have been at the day- boarders' homes. This is a very acute piece of criticism, and quite unanswerable. He is rejoiced that Dickens fairly accounted for Mr. Pickwick's total disappearance, when he broke the ice, under only two feet of water, by making the latter say that "he fell upon his back." But Mr. Fitzgerald adds : "Why Mr. Allen and his friend should during the crisis have consulted seriously about bleeding the company generally, is not clear." Evidently, as a critic, Mr. Fitzgerald is not to be trifled with. He is most pleasant when dealing with Samuel Weller, and we much wish that we could tran- scribe the whole of the passage in which he sums up the merits of that versatile person. In speaking of the "ingenious and apposite illustrations with which he used so often to enliven his discourse," he says In real life so fertile a gift of illustration would be impossible, and require an amount of ability and knowledge and reading, as would have been beyond the opportunities of a person like Sam This sort of metaphorical spirit is also rather inconsistent with his eminently practical character, and, in fact, formed an oppor- tunity for the exhibition of the author's own lively and exu- berant powers, showing, as we said, an amount of ability, somewhat of the school of De la Rochefoucauld," After that stupendous piece of appreciation, one feels' rather resentful that Mr. Fitzgerald should take upon himself the part of a guide, and, quoting long and well-loved passages, laboriously point out all the jokes. The chronology of Pickwick is eminently incorrect, but here again Mr. Fitzgerald really wastes his time in devoting so many pages to blunders which do not in the least interfere with the sequence of the story.
He further informs us that the work has been translated into nearly every European language; that it contains fifty- six episodes, "all full, exuberant, dramatic, complete, and mirth-moving ;" that it mentions twenty-two inns, "each with a physiognomy of its own ;" that it contains three hundred and sixty characters ; "and the marvel is that every one is distinct and present to the memory, with their sayings and doings, without confusion or indistinctness," Here is an extract from the list which Mr. Fitzgerald has thoughtfully
numbered 281, Lamplighter; 282, Occasional Charwoman ; 283, Chambermaid ; 284, Surly Groom ; 285, Scientific Gentle- man ; 286, Pruffte; 287, The Horse." After that, one is not surprised to find that the 85th character was "the mob," and. the 91st, "the independent voters, pumped over." But Mr. Fitzgerald rises to his greatest height when he quotes a portion of a preface in which Dickens declared that he would he proud and happy if he induced a single reader to look upon the brighter side of human life, and comments on it thus :—" This is really an almost unique expression, and may be contrasted with the practical purpose of the average novelist, which is often to entertain or make money." Well might Dickens, if he could only read those lines, declare, " Amicus Fitzgerald,. major amicus veritas" !
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