Speeches

Charles Dickens

Description

Charles Dickens was the literary superstar who singlehandedly set the bar for popular fiction in the mid to late nineteenth century. As a result of his fame, Dickens was also in great demand as a speaker. This collection brings together dozens of the author's lectures and talks on topics ranging from the literature of the day to the toughest social issues.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776594450
• Langue: English

Extrait

SPEECHES
LITERARY AND SOCIAL
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CHARLES DICKENS
 
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Speeches Literary and Social First published in 1870 Epub ISBN 978-1-77659-445-0 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77659-446-7 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Speech: Edinburgh, June 25, 1841 Speech: January, 1842 Speech: February 1842 Speech: February 7, 1842 Speech: New York, February 18, 1842 Speech: Manchester, October 5, 1843 Speech: Liverpool, February 26, 1844 Speech: Birmingham, February 28, 1844 Speech: Gardeners and Gardening. London, June 14, 1852 Speech: Birmingham, January 6, 1853 Speech: London, April 30, 1853 Speech: London, May 1, 1853 Speech: Birmingham, December 30, 1853 Speech: Commercial Travellers. London, December 30, 1854 Speech: Administrative Reform. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,Wednesday, June 27, 1855 Speech: Sheffield, December 22, 1855 Speech: London, February 9, 1858 Speech: Edinburgh, March, 26, 1858 Speech: London, March 29, 1858 Speech: London, April 29, 1858 Speech: London, May 1, 1858 Speech: London, July 21, 1858 Speech: Manchester, December 3, 1858 Speech: Coventry, December 4, 1858 Speech: London, March 29, 1862 Speech: London, May 20, 1862 Speech: London, May 11, 1864 Speech: London, May 9, 1865 Speech: Newspaper Press Fund.—London, May 20, 1865 Speech: Knebworth, July 29, 1865 Speech: London, February 14, 1866 Speech: London, March 28, 1866 Speech: London, May 7, 1866 Speech: London, June 5, 1867 Speech: London, September 17, 1867 Speech: London, November 2, 1867 Speech: Boston, April 8, 1868 Speech: New York, April 18, 1863 Speech: New York, April 20, 1868 Speech: Liverpool, April 10, 1869 Speech: The Oxford and Harvard Boat Race. Sydenham, August 30,1869 Speech: Birmingham, September 27, 1869 Speech: Birmingham, January 6, 1870 Speech: London, April 6, 1846 Speech: Leeds, December 1, 1847 Speech: Glasgow, December 28, 1847 Speech: London, April 14, 1851 Speech: The Royal Literary Fund. London, March 12, 1856 Speech: London, November 5, 1857 Speech: London, May 8, 1858 Speech: The Farewell Reading. St. James's Hall, March 15, 1870 Speech: The Newsvendors' Institution, London, April 5, 1870 Speech: Macready. London, March 1, 1851 Speech: Sanitary Reform. London, May 10, 1851 Speech: Gardening. London, June 9, 1851 Speech: The Royal Academy Dinner. London, May 2, 1870 Endnotes
Speech: Edinburgh, June 25, 1841
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[At a public dinner, given in honour of Mr. Dickens, and presidedover by the late Professor Wilson, the Chairman having proposed hishealth in a long and eloquent speech, Mr. Dickens returned thanksas follows:-]
If I felt your warm and generous welcome less, I should be betterable to thank you. If I could have listened as you have listenedto the glowing language of your distinguished Chairman, and if Icould have heard as you heard the "thoughts that breathe and wordsthat burn," which he has uttered, it would have gone hard but Ishould have caught some portion of his enthusiasm, and kindled athis example. But every word which fell from his lips, and everydemonstration of sympathy and approbation with which you receivedhis eloquent expressions, renders me unable to respond to hiskindness, and leaves me at last all heart and no lips, yearning torespond as I would do to your cordial greeting—possessing, heavenknows, the will, and desiring only to find the way.
The way to your good opinion, favour, and support, has been to mevery pleasing—a path strewn with flowers and cheered withsunshine. I feel as if I stood amongst old friends, whom I hadintimately known and highly valued. I feel as if the deaths of thefictitious creatures, in which you have been kind enough to expressan interest, had endeared us to each other as real afflictionsdeepen friendships in actual life; I feel as if they had been realpersons, whose fortunes we had pursued together in inseparableconnexion, and that I had never known them apart from you.
It is a difficult thing for a man to speak of himself or of hisworks. But perhaps on this occasion I may, without impropriety,venture to say a word on the spirit in which mine were conceived.I felt an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, toincrease the stock of harmless cheerfulness. I felt that the worldwas not utterly to be despised; that it was worthy of living in formany reasons. I was anxious to find, as the Professor has said, ifI could, in evil things, that soul of goodness which the Creatorhas put in them. I was anxious to show that virtue may be found inthe bye-ways of the world, that it is not incompatible with povertyand even with rags, and to keep steadily through life the motto,expressed in the burning words of your Northern poet -
"The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that."
And in following this track, where could I have better assurancethat I was right, or where could I have stronger assurance to cheerme on than in your kindness on this to me memorable night?
I am anxious and glad to have an opportunity of saying a word inreference to one incident in which I am happy to know you wereinterested, and still more happy to know, though it may soundparadoxical, that you were disappointed—I mean the death of thelittle heroine. When I first conceived the idea of conducting thatsimple story to its termination, I determined rigidly to adhere toit, and never to forsake the end I had in view. Not untried in theschool of affliction, in the death of those we love, I thought whata good thing it would be if in my little work of pleasant amusementI could substitute a garland of fresh flowers for the sculpturedhorrors which disgrace the tomb. If I have put into my bookanything which can fill the young mind with better thoughts ofdeath, or soften the grief of older hearts; if I have written oneword which can afford pleasure or consolation to old or young intime of trial, I shall consider it as something achieved—somethingwhich I shall be glad to look back upon in after life. Therefore Ikept to my purpose, notwithstanding that towards the conclusion ofthe story, I daily received letters of remonstrance, especiallyfrom the ladies. God bless them for their tender mercies! TheProfessor was quite right when he said that I had not reached to anadequate delineation of their virtues; and I fear that I must go onblotting their characters in endeavouring to reach the ideal in mymind. These letters were, however, combined with others from thesterner sex, and some of them were not altogether free frompersonal invective. But, notwithstanding, I kept to my purpose,and I am happy to know that many of those who at first condemned meare now foremost in their approbation.
If I have made a mistake in detaining you with this littleincident, I do not regret having done so; for your kindness hasgiven me such a confidence in you, that the fault is yours and notmine. I come once more to thank you, and here I am in a difficultyagain. The distinction you have conferred upon me is one which Inever hoped for, and of which I never dared to dream. That it isone which I shall never forget, and that while I live I shall beproud of its remembrance, you must well know. I believe I shallnever hear the name of this capital of Scotland without a thrill ofgratitude and pleasure. I shall love while I have life her people,her hills, and her houses, and even the very stones of her streets.And if in the future works which may lie before me you shoulddiscern—God grant you may!—a brighter spirit and a clearer wit, Ipray you to refer it back to this night, and point to that as aScottish passage for evermore. I thank you again and again, withthe energy of a thousand thanks in each one, and I drink to youwith a heart as full as my glass, and far easier emptied, I doassure you.
[Later in the evening, in proposing the health of Professor Wilson,Mr. Dickens said:-]
I have the honour to be entrusted with a toast, the very mention ofwhich will recommend itself to you, I know, as one possessing noordinary claims to your sympathy and approbation, and the proposingof which is as congenial to my wishes and feelings as itsacceptance must be to yours. It is the health of our Chairman, andcoupled with his name I have to propose the literature of Scotland—a literature which he has done much to render famous through theworld, and of which he has been for many years—as I hope andbelieve he will be for many more—a most brilliant anddistinguished ornament. Who can revert to the literature of theland of Scott and of Burns without having directly in his mind, asinseparable from the subject and foremost in the picture, that oldman of might, with his lion heart and sceptred crutch—ChristopherNorth. I am glad to remember the time when I believed him to be areal, actual, veritable old gentleman, that might be seen any dayhobbling along the High Street with the most brilliant eye—butthat is no fiction—and the greyest hair in all the world—whowrote not because he cared to write, not because he cared for thewonder and admiration of his fellow-men, but who wrote because hecould not help it, because there was always springing up in hismind a clear and sparkling stream of poetry which must have vent,and like the glittering fountain in the fairy tale, draw what youmight, was ever at the full, and never languished even by a singledrop or bubble. I had so figured him in my mind, and when I sawthe Professor two days ago, striding along the Parliament House, Iwas disp