The Poems and Verses of Charles Dickens

Title: The Poems and Verses of Charles Dickens

Author: Charles Dickens

Editor: Frederic George Kitton

Release date: March 10, 2011 [eBook #35536] Most recently updated: January 7, 2021

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35536

Credits: Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)

THE POEMS AND VERSES OF CHARLES DICKENS

Maclise. R.A. C. H. Jeens

CHARLES DICKENS, HIS WIFE, & HER SISTER DRAWN BY MACLISE IN 1842.

THE POEMS AND VERSES OF CHARLES DICKENS

Collected and Edited, with Bibliographical Notes, by F. G. KITTON

LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED 1903

Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. Constable

TO MISS GEORGINA HOGARTH THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

[Pg ix]

CONTENTS

[Pg 1]

SONGS, CHORUSES, AND CONCERTED PIECES FROM ‘THE VILLAGE COQUETTES’ A COMIC OPERA 1836

[Pg 2]

[Pg 3]

THE VILLAGE COQUETTES

About the year 1834, when the earliest of the Sketches by Boz were appearing in print, a young composer named John Hullah set to music a portion of an opera called The Gondolier, which he thought might prove successful on the stage. Twelve months later Hullah became acquainted with Charles Dickens, whose name was then unknown to those outside his own immediate circle, and it occurred to him that he and ‘Boz’ might combine their forces by converting The Gondolier into a popular play. Dickens, who always entertained a passion for the theatre, entered into the project at once, and informed Hullah that he had a little unpublished story by him which he thought would dramatise well—even better than The Gondolier notion; confessing that he would rather deal with familiar English scenes than with the unfamiliar Venetian environment of the play favoured by Hullah. The title of The Gondolier was consequently abandoned, and a novel subject found and put forward as The Village Coquettes, a comic opera[Pg 4] of which songs, duets, and concerted pieces were to form

constituent parts. Dickens, of course, became responsible for the libretto and Hullah for the music; and when completed the little play was offered to, and accepted by, Braham, the lessee of the St. James’s Theatre, who expressed an earnest desire to be the first to introduce ‘Boz’ to the public as a dramatic writer. A favourite comedian of that day, John Pritt Harley, after reading the words of the opera prior to its representation, declared it was ‘a sure card,’ and felt so confident of its success that he offered to wager ten pounds that it would run fifty nights!—an assurance which at once decided Braham to produce it.

The Village Coquettes, described on the title-page of the printed copies as ‘A Comic Opera, in Two Acts,’ was played for the first time on December 6, 1836, with Braham and Harley in the cast. In his preface to the play (published contemporaneously by Richard Bentley, and dedicated to Harley) Dickens explained that ‘the libretto of an opera must be, to a certain extent, a mere vehicle for the music,’ and that ‘it is scarcely fair or reasonable to judge it by those strict rules of criticism which would be justly applicable to a five-act tragedy or a finished comedy.’ There is no doubt that the merits of the play were based upon the songs set to Hullah’s music rather than upon the play itself,[Pg 5] and it is said that Harley’s reputation as a vocalist was established by his able rendering of them.

The Village Coquettes enjoyed a run of nineteen nights in London during the season, and was then transferred to Edinburgh, where it was performed under the management of Mr. Ramsay, a friend of Sir Walter Scott. Sala, as a boy of ten, witnessed its first representation in London, and ever retained a vivid impression of the event; while especial interest appertains to the fact that a copy of the play became the means of first bringing Dickens into personal communication with John Forster, his life-long friend and biographer. It is more than probable that ‘Boz’ felt a little elated by the reception accorded by the public to the ‘dramatic bantling,’ but as time progressed he realised that the somewhat unfavourable comments of the critics were not entirely devoid of truth. Indeed, when in 1843 it was proposed to revive the play, he expressed a hope that it might be allowed ‘to sink into its native obscurity.’ ‘I did it,’ he explained, ‘in a fit of damnable good-nature long ago, for Hullah, who wrote some very pretty music to it. I just put down for everybody what

everybody at the St. James’s Theatre wanted to say and do, and what they could say and do best, and I have been most sincerely repentant ever since.’ The novelist confessed that both the[Pg 6] operetta and a little farce called The Strange Gentleman (the latter written as ‘a practical joke’ for the St. James’s Theatre about the same time) were done ‘without the least consideration or regard to reputation’; he also declared that he ‘wouldn’t repeat them for a thousand pounds apiece,’ and devoutly wished these early dramatic efforts to be forgotten. À propos of this, the late Frederick Locker-Lampson has recorded that when he asked Dickens (about a year before the great writer’s death) whether he possessed a copy of The Village Coquettes, his reply was, ‘No; and if I knew it was in my house, and if I could not get rid of it in any other way, I would burn the wing of the house where it was!’

Although, perhaps, not of a high order of merit, The Village Coquettes is not without bibliographical interest, and may be regarded as a musical and literary curiosity. Copies of the first edition of the little play are now seldom met with, and whenever a perfect impression comes into the market it commands a good price, even as much as £10 or £12,—indeed, a particularly fine copy was sold at Sotheby’s in 1889 for twenty-five pounds. In 1878 the words of the opera were reprinted in facsimile by Richard Bentley, for which a frontispiece was etched by F. W. Pailthorpe a year later.

[Pg 7]

THE VILLAGE COQUETTES

[Pg 26]

[Pg 27]

LYRIC FROM ‘THE LAMPLIGHTER’ A FARCE 1838

[Pg 28]

[Pg 29]

THE LAMPLIGHTER

In 1838 Dickens agreed to prepare a little play for Macready, the famous actor, then the manager of Drury Lane Theatre. It was called The Lamplighter, and when completed the author read aloud the ‘unfortunate little farce’ (as he subsequently termed it) in the greenroom of the theatre. Although the play went through rehearsal, it was never presented before an audience, for the actors would not agree about it, and, at Macready’s suggestion, Dickens consented to withdraw it, declaring that he had ‘no other feeling of disappointment connected with this matter’ but that which arose from the failure in attempting to serve his friend. The manuscript of the play, not in Dickens’s handwriting, reposes in the Forster Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in 1879 it was printed for the first time, in the form of a pamphlet, of which only two hundred and fifty copies were issued.

When rejected by Macready as unsuitable for stage presentation, The Lamplighter was adapted by[Pg 30] Dickens to another purpose—that is to say, he converted it into a tale called The Lamplighter’s Story, for publication in The Pic-Nic Papers, issued in 1841 for the benefit of the widow of Macrone, Dickens’s first publisher, who died in great poverty. Between the farce and the story there are but slight differences. The duet of two verses, sung by Tom and Betsy to the air of ‘The Young May-moon,’ cannot of course be regarded as a remarkable composition, but it served its purpose sufficiently well, and for that reason deserves recognition.

[Pg 31]

DUET FROM ‘THE LAMPLIGHTER’ Air—‘The Young May-moon’

[Pg 33]

SONGS FROM ‘THE PICKWICK PAPERS’ 1837

I.—THE IVY GREEN

[Pg 34]

[Pg 35]

THE IVY GREEN

This famous ballad of three verses, from the sixth chapter of Pickwick, is perhaps the most acceptable of all Dickens’s poetical efforts. It was originally set to music, at Dickens’s request, by his brother-in-law, Henry Burnett, a professional vocalist, who, by the way, was the admitted prototype of Nicholas Nickleby. Mr. Burnett sang the ballad scores of times in the presence of literary men and artists, and it proved an especial favourite with Landor. ‘The Ivy Green’ was not written for Pickwick, Mr. Burnett assured me; but on its being so much admired the author said it should go into a monthly number, and it did. The most popular setting is undoubtedly that of Henry Russell, who has recorded that he received, as his fee, the magnificent sum of ten shillings! The ballad, in this form, went into many editions, and the sales must have amounted to tens of thousands.

[Pg 36]

THE IVY GREEN

[Pg 38]

[Pg 39]

II.—A CHRISTMAS CAROL

[Pg 40]

[Pg 41]

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

The five stanzas bearing the above title will be found in the twenty-eighth chapter of Pickwick, where they are introduced as the song which that hospitable old soul, Mr. Wardle, sung appropriately, ‘in a good, round, sturdy voice,’ before the Pickwickians and others assembled on Christmas Eve at Manor Farm. The ‘Carol,’ shortly after its appearance in Pickwick, was set to music to the air of ‘Old King Cole,’ and published in The Book of British Song (New Edition), with an illustration drawn by ‘Alfred Crowquill’—i.e., A. H. Forrester.

[Pg 42]

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

[Pg 45]

III.—GABRIEL GRUB’S SONG

[Pg 46]

[Pg 47]

GABRIEL GRUB’S SONG

The Sexton’s melancholy dirge, in the twenty-ninth chapter of Pickwick, seems a little incongruous in a humorous work. The sentiment, however, thoroughly accords with the philosophic gravedigger’s gruesome occupation. ‘The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton’ is one of several short tales (chiefly of a dismal character) introduced into Pickwick; they were doubtless written prior to the conception of Pickwick, each being probably intended for independent publication, and in a manner similar to the ‘Boz’ Sketches. For some reason these stories were not so published, and Dickens evidently saw a favourable opportunity of utilising his unused manuscripts by inserting them in The Pickwick Papers.

[Pg 48]

GABRIEL GRUB’S SONG

[Pg 49]

IV.—ROMANCE

[Pg 50]

[Pg 51]

ROMANCE

It will be remembered that while Sam Weller and his coaching-friends refreshed themselves at the little public-house opposite the Insolvent Court in Portugal Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, prior to Sam joining Mr. Pickwick in the Fleet, that faithful body-servant was persuaded to ‘oblige the company’ with a song. ‘Raly, gentlemen,’ said Sam, ‘I’m not wery much in the habit o’ singin’ vithout the instrument; but anythin’ for a quiet life, as the man said ven he took the sitivation at the light-house.’

‘With this prelude, Mr. Samuel Weller burst at once into the following wild and beautiful legend, which, under the impression that it is not generally known, we take the liberty of quoting. We would beg to call particular attention to the monosyllable at the end of the second and fourth lines, which not only enables the singer to take breath at those points, but greatly assists the metre.’-The Pickwick Papers, chapter xliii.

At the conclusion of the performance the mottled-faced gentleman contended that the song was ‘personal to the cloth,’ and demanded the[Pg 52] name of the bishop’s coachman, whose cowardice he regarded as a reflection upon coachmen in general. Sam replied that his name was not known, as ‘he hadn’t got his card in his pocket’; whereupon the mottled-faced gentleman declared the statement to be untrue, stoutly maintaining that the said coachman did not run away, but ‘died game—game as pheasants,’ and he would ‘hear nothin’ said to the contrairey.’

Even in the vernacular (observes Mr. Percy Fitzgerald), ‘this master of words [Charles Dickens] could be artistic; and it may fairly be asserted that Mr. Weller’s song to the coachmen is superior to anything of the kind that has appeared since.’ The two stanzas have been set to music, as a humorous part-song, by Sir Frederick Bridge, Mus. Doc., M.V.O., the organist of Westminster Abbey, who informs me that it was written some years since, to celebrate a festive gathering in honour of Dr. Turpin (!), Secretary of the College of Organists. ‘It has had a very great success,’ says Sir Frederick, ‘and is sung much in the North of England at competitions of choirs. It is for men’s voices. The humour of the words never fails to make a great hit, and I hope the music does no harm. “The Bishop’s Coach” is set to a bit of old Plain-Chant, and I introduce a Fugue at the words “Sure as eggs is eggs.”’

[Pg 53]

ROMANCE

[Pg 55]

POLITICAL SQUIBS FROM ‘THE EXAMINER’ 1841

I.—THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN

[Pg 56]

[Pg 57]

POLITICAL SQUIBS FROM ‘THE EXAMINER,’ 1841

In August 1841 Dickens contributed anonymously to The Examiner (then edited by Forster) three political squibs, which were signed W., and were intended to help the Liberals in fighting their opponents. These squibs were entitled respectively ‘The Fine Old English Gentleman (to be said or sung at all Conservative Dinners)’; ‘The Quack Doctor’s Proclamation’; and ‘Subjects for Painters (after Peter Pindar).’ Concerning those productions, Forster says: ‘I doubt if he ever enjoyed anything more than the power of thus taking part occasionally, unknown to outsiders, in the sharp conflict the press was waging at the time.’ In all probability he contributed other political rhymes to the pages of The Examiner as events prompted: if so, they are buried beyond easy reach of identification.

Writing to Forster at this time, Dickens said: ‘By Jove, how Radical I am getting! I wax stronger and stronger in the true principles every day.’... He would (observes Forster) sometimes[Pg 58] even talk, in moments of sudden indignation at the political outlook, ‘of carrying off himself and his household gods, like Coriolanus, to a world elsewhere.’ This was the period of the Tory interregnum, with Sir Robert Peel at the head of affairs.

[Pg 59]

THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN New Version (To be said or sung at all Conservative Dinners)

[Pg 64]

[Pg 65]

II.—THE QUACK DOCTOR’S PROCLAMATION

[Pg 66]

[Pg 67]

THE QUACK DOCTOR’S PROCLAMATION Tune—‘A Cobbler there was’

[Pg 70]

[Pg 71]

III.—SUBJECTS FOR PAINTERS

[Pg 72]

[Pg 73]

SUBJECTS FOR PAINTERS (After Peter Pindar)

[Pg 77]

PROLOGUE TO WESTLAND MARSTON’S PLAY ‘THE PATRICIAN’S DAUGHTER’ 1842

[Pg 78]

[Pg 79]

PROLOGUE TO ‘THE PATRICIAN’S DAUGHTER’

The Patrician’s Daughter was the title bestowed upon a play, in the tragic vein, by a then unknown writer, J. Westland Marston, it being his maiden effort in dramatic authorship. Dickens took great interest in the young man and indicated a desire to promote the welfare of his production by composing some introductory lines. To Macready he wrote: ‘The more I think of Marston’s play, the more sure I feel that a prologue to the purpose would help it materially, and almost decide the fate of any ticklish point on the first night. Now I have an idea (not easily explainable in writing, but told in five words) that would take the prologue out of the conventional dress of prologues, quite. Get the curtain up with a dash, and begin the play with a sledge-hammer blow. If, on consideration, you should agree with me, I will write the prologue, heartily.’ Happily for the author, his little tragedy was the first new play of the season, and it thus attracted greater attention. Its initial representation took place at Drury Lane Theatre on December 10, 1842, and

the fact that Dickens’s dignified and vigorous lines were recited by Macready, the leading actor of his day, undoubtedly gave prestige[Pg 80] to this performance; but the play, although it made a sensation for the moment, did not enjoy a long run, its motive being for some reason misunderstood. As explained by the Editors of The Letters of Charles Dickens, it was (to a certain extent) an experiment in testing the effect of a tragedy of modern times and in modern dress, the novelist’s Prologue being intended to show that there need be no incongruity between plain clothes of the nineteenth century and high tragedy.

The Patrician’s Daughter: A Tragedy in Five Acts, appeared in pamphlet form during the year prior to its being placed upon the boards. The Prologue was printed for the first time in the Sunday Times, December 11, 1842, and then in The Theatrical Journal and Stranger’s Guide, December 17, 1842. By the kind permission of Miss Hogarth, the lines are here reproduced from the revised and only correct version in The Letters of Charles Dickens.

In the preface to the second edition of the play (1842), the author thus acknowledges his indebtedness to Dickens for the Prologue, which, however, does not appear in the book: ‘How shall I thank Mr. Dickens for the spontaneous kindness which has furnished me with so excellent a letter of introduction to the audience? The simplest acknowledgment is perhaps the best, since the least I might say would exceed his estimate of the obligation; while the most I could say would fail to express mine.’

[Pg 81]

PROLOGUE TO ‘THE PATRICIAN’S DAUGHTER’ (Spoken by Mr. Macready)

[Pg 84]

[Pg 85]

A WORD IN SEASON FROM THE ‘KEEPSAKE’ 1844

[Pg 86]

[Pg 87]

A WORD IN SEASON

The Keepsake, one of the many fashionable annuals published during the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, had for its editor in 1844 the ‘gorgeous’ Countess of Blessington, the reigning beauty who held court at Gore House, Kensington, where many political, artistic, and literary celebrities forgathered—Bulwer Lytton, Disraeli, Dickens, Ainsworth, D’Orsay, and the rest. Her ladyship, through her personal charm and natural gifts, succeeded in securing the services of eminent authors for the aristocratic publication; even Dickens could not resist her appeal, and in a letter to Forster (dated July 1843) he wrote: ‘I have heard, as you have, from Lady Blessington, for whose behalf I have this morning penned the lines I send you herewith. But I have only done so to excuse myself, for I have not the least idea of their suiting her; and I hope she will send them back to you for The Examiner.’ Lady Blessington, however, decided to retain the thoughtful little[Pg 88] poem, which was referred to in the London Review (twenty-three years later) as ‘a graceful and sweet

apologue, reminding one of the manner of Hood.’ The theme of the poem, which Forster describes as ‘a clever and pointed parable in verse,’ was afterwards satirised in Chadband (Bleak House), and in the idea of religious conversion through the agency of ‘moral pocket-handkerchiefs.’

[Pg 89]

A WORD IN SEASON

[Pg 91]

VERSES FROM THE ‘DAILY NEWS’ 1846

I.—THE BRITISH LION

[Pg 92]

[Pg 93]

VERSES FROM THE ‘DAILY NEWS,’ 1846