Transcribed from the 1880 Chatto and Windus edition by DavidPrice,
SPEECHES
LITERARY AND SOCIAL
BY
CHARLES DICKENS
WITHCHAPTERS ON “CHARLES DICKENS AS A LETTER WRITER,
POET, AND PUBLIC READER.”
A NEW EDITION
London
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1880
p.5INTRODUCTION.
Charles Dickens was born atLandport, Portsmouth, on February 7, 1812. At that time hisfather, Mr. John Dickens, held an office in the Navy PayDepartment, the duties of which obliged him to reside alternatelyat the principal naval stations of England. But on theconclusion of peace in 1815 a considerable reduction was made byGovernment in this branch of the public service. Mr. JohnDickens, among others, was pensioned off, and he removed toLondon with his wife and children, when his son Charles washardly four years of age.
No doubt the varied bustling scenes of life witnessed byCharles Dickens in his early years, had an influence on his mindthat gave him a taste for observing the manners and mentalpeculiarities of different classes of people engaged in theactive pursuits of life, and p. 6quickened a naturally livelyperception of the ridiculous, for which he was distinguished evenin boyhood.
It is curious to observe how similar opportunities of becomingacquainted practically with life, and the busy actors on itsvaried scenes, in very early life, appear to influence the mindsof thinking and imaginative men in after-years. Goldsmith’s pedestrian excursions on the Continent,Bulwer’s youthful rambles on foot in England, andequestrian expeditions in France, and Maclise’s extensivewalks in boyhood over his native county, and the mountains andvalleys of Wicklow a little later, were fraught with similarresults.
Charles Dickens was intended by his father to be anattorney. Nature and Mr. John Dickens happily differed onthat point. London law may have sustained little injury inlosing Dickens for “a limb.” English literaturewould have met with an irreparable loss, had she been deprived ofhim whom she delights to own as a favourite son.
Dickens, having decided against the law, began his career in“the gallery,” as a reporter on The True Sun;and from the first made himself distinguished and distinguishableamong “the corps,” for his ability, promptness, andpunctuality.
Remaining for a short term on the staff of this periodical, heseceded to The Mirror of Parliament, which was startedwith the express object of furnishing verbatim reports ofthe debates. It only lived, however, for two sessions.
The influence of his father, who on settling in the p. 7metropolis, hadbecome connected with the London press, procured for CharlesDickens an appointment as