LECTURE ON "CHARLES DICKENS."

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2000, 2 May 1885, Page 3

LECTURE ON "CHARLES DICKENS."

-*- — TiiK Rev. H. li. l)ov\->l>ury delivered hi-. \oiy intei( v ->tinj,' .md impul.u lettiue on '• (Jli.ule- Dicken-j in aid of the fund-* <>f the t.m.l)ii(l«e Public School m the Public H^ll on Wedne-.day evening. NotvvithbUnduiK the incleuiuncy of the wc.ithei, which kept nun} i»f thr country people at home, theie vv.i-. a Liiff ..udicuce, and one thoioutjlilv appifuative. Mr R. W. S.ir^ent, cli.urinan of the school c umuittee occupitd the-Llnui, anil in a few buefieni nk-i ititi oducud tho lectumr. Mi Di'Wsl)iu y<m coming liuwaul vv.i> leceiwd vvitli the iiHii.il diMiiuiiNti.ition, and .iftei <i lev\ apolngetic rental ks eutcwd upon ln> Mib joct Too -^t.iry of Duki'ti-.' lite could not in tho tun" bj t'>l(J with any device <>f f>'l nc--> b.nne scitti-ied notices vveie .ill th.it could b 1 uivimi. Did it scum -.tian n 'e that .i cltMifynt vi should speak in hitfh tein.s of a iii.m s like vwuk vvlio>e etfoits were e\l»Li)ded in tlic dnin.im of fiction ? Theie wero sojiif vvlto coiitK'nnifd such literature ; and ceiluidv it might be indulged m to an nijiiri'iii-, i>\tenc. But tho novelist w.w a te.icljei. Ho nj.tfht be un.tble to dolinc.tte with a divine hand, the wonderful piol)hetic thoughts of tins world's history, but he could hold up to the cvili of hi* day. Such a- m liter was Dicken". From hi-t to last, in t-htwiiiL,' how Oliver Tvviht siitffii'd under the maladministration of thu poor Uw-., how Siuiko was used in a villainous school, or in exposing tho iniqui tie-> of the Couit of Cii.uict-iy, he wrote atf unst public abuses. Bit ho also taught the ifusjwl of kmdnes-. Hi' «-houed that m tha lowest there ix a cipicity foi g<u.ducxx, and j, Miul worth saving. Ho t.iught the ncli how that better side might bo j cached, and c Mujielled i s to lecojjniso in inn the honmned labouroi m all that concerns the bi^'huat mteiesti in our couunon huinamt}. Tho lecttnur tlten briefly sketched tin* novulist xc uly life, dwelling paiticulaily on th>2 nutobi i(jiap'iic.il character of David Coppertield. Ho traced his only hardshun, lux persov franco m xm mounting diihuiiltie-<, and showed how hixt he vv i--led to enter on a career of htei.ituie. "Sketchc-i byß>z" was his hixt pioduction und doseived to bj leiueiiibered .is one of tho raio instance-, m \»lnch a young autUor h n .it tlio l)>'jrinnin<^ ot lin cireor, shown u kiiowli'dge of Ins teal sti-on^th. Tlij Pickwick Pa pel s vvoio do(.ll,'nod to I'lnud ito cci Lain plate-> diawn b\ All Seymour, the com c diau^htxin in, md hence tin* niachmeiy of tho tale was artih tial Vot it vva-i impossible to tin u to itnj pagi* without chancing upon some miprcme'y fLhcitou-, phiaxe, m tlie nad> inint.i^e of which Dickens' <if all timt;s e\colli'd. Tin "Old Cmio-ity Simp 'was oni* of his iniMt adniiiod vvoiks. Its keynote is idyllic path<is. The lectuier here illustrated tho character of the book by his u'citatiou of tin 1 death of " Littl« Nell." Reference was then made to Dickons" Christin >o books the goumal tendency of which, it was maintained, was to make men legaid Christmas tune, as often as it comes round, ap.ut fiom tho veneration dm 1 to its xacred origin, if, indeed, anything can be .vpait fiom that, as a time when strife and envy and evil speaking must be laid aside, am the spirit of kindliness, cLuity, biothcily love, cultivated. Tlio lectuier liert have rucited the e\poii euces old Scidogp, and how ho was changed fioin a " tight tisted, grasping, covetous old sinner" into a man of tenderness and benevolence. In referring to Ditkons's uni iv ailed povvi'i of pathos the lectiuor i (jetted " The death of Paul Divnbey, ' .md "t he death of Little Joe," in" JJleak Hotw, ' The author's favourite was David Cippeihi'ld. That Iv to',, of which Dickens linnaolf said, ' I c!iei . in my heart of In arcs a favourite child, and his nami' u David Coppeifij'.d." In in my rospjets Dickons w.isa cuiic itiuist ; but hoie tinu* is in ov null. ivv n figure, no charactct winch can strictly bo called grotesque. The closing ye ir » of Dic\oiix'n life were leforred to, and bissuddtM end. Most touching of all was it to t link of h'lii ini'li'i* the trjjs of his own guden at (rad-thill, in the pleasant home when- after many wanderings he died in peic 1 , and as on* that had earned his lost. It had been said that Dick<'iis> fame could not cidure, for tlmt be punted the nianiien of tlu day, and of a cla^, but tho lecturer contended that to paint us J hckeim did was to earn euduiiiijj fivine, and tho giatitudu of j) >stonty, and it v\a.« tight to iiiinenibur that while with biilli.int wit and HCithmg satire be exposed the abuses o' hix day, ho did so without tho use of a, single expression w Inch could defile tho purest, or shock the ino-'t sensitive. Mr Dewnbury resinned ,c.it amidst hearty apiilause. During the evening Mr H. \v. Moore rendered " In the eventide " and the "Faiiies" hi good voice, Miss Wilson playing the accoii'paniinentM. At tho eh so of tho programme, Mr Houghton, a member of tho Kchool conimittee piopo«ed a hearty vote of thanks to the lecturer, and to Mr Moore and Miss Wilson, for the very excellent tieat, literary and musical, which they had affoided, and for the leady nnd kind maunei in vvluJi tin V had emu foi a aid to assist in such .i dosiiMiii,' olijut Tho usual compliment to tho chau bi ought the uvcning to. i tl'ixe.