Dickens' Pilgrimages.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 April 1911, Page 4

Dickens' Pilgrimages.

We were reminded by Mr Birrell. at the Boz Club dinner, that the Centenary of Charles Dickens' birth will occur next year, ami we may be very sure that it will bo very worthily celebrated, for tho number of admirers of Dickens i.s legion, and there is probably no British writer unless ho be Shakespeare to whose works so many people have devoted a particular and minute attention, qualifying them to be regarded as'authorities on the subject. Their adniiroaion of Dickens has gone even further than that, for they have made pilgrimages to spots which he mentioned, and have visited all the inns which remain, or which can be identified. Nor has the cult of Dickens been confiend to this country. It has extended' to the colonies, as we were reminded recently, in a list which was published, of the favourite book of tho Canadians, and in the United] States the memory of the great novelist is cherished almost, if not quite, as warmly as it is among his compatriots. So great was the popularity of "Dombey and Son," that we are told! tibat when the book was being .published! in several forms the eagerness of people in the State to follow the thread of the narrative was such, that on one occasion the vessel containing the next number was met at the docks by a crowd: of people anxious "to learn the fate of little Paul. Similar anecdotes are rolated concerning the first publication of "The Pickwick Papers."