A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land Part 23

We next visit the site of old Kingston Parish Church,--St. Mary's, Portsea--where Charles d.i.c.kens was baptized on 4th March, 1812. A very handsome and large new church, costing nearly forty thousand pounds, and capable of seating over two thousand persons, has been erected, and occupies the place of the old church, where the ceremony took place.

Mr. Langton has given a very pretty little drawing of the old church in his book, so that its a.s.sociations are preserved to lovers of d.i.c.kens.

The old church itself was the second edifice erected on the same spot, and thus the present one is the third parish church which has been built here. There is a large and crowded burial-ground attached to it; but a cursory examination does not disclose any names on the gravestones to indicate characters in the novels.

It is right to note here, that the kind people of Portsmouth were desirous of inserting a stained-gla.s.s window in their beautiful new church to the memory of one of their most famous sons (the eminent novelist, Mr. Walter Besant, was born at Portsmouth, as also were Isambard K. Brunel, the engineer, and Messrs. George and Vicat Cole, Royal Academicians), but they were debarred by the conditions of d.i.c.kens's will, which expressly interdicted anything of the kind. It states:--

"I conjure my friends on no account to make me the subject of any monument, memorial, or testimonial whatever. I rest my claim to the remembrance of my country upon my published works, and to the remembrance of my friends upon their experience of me in addition thereto."

Before leaving Portsmouth, we just take a hasty glance at the Theatre Royal, which remains much as it was during the days of Mr. Vincent Crummles and his company, as graphically described in the twenty-second and following chapters of _Nicholas Nickleby_. Of that genial manager, Mr. T. Edgar Pemberton, in his _Charles d.i.c.kens and the Stage_, observes:--

"Every line that is written about Mr. Crummles and his followers is instinct with good-natured humour, and from the moment when, in the road-side inn 'yet twelve miles short of Portsmouth,' the reader comes into contact with the kindly old circuit manager, he finds himself in the best of good company."

Mr. Rimmer, in his _About England with d.i.c.kens_, referring to the "Common Hard" at Portsmouth, says that the "people there point out in a narrow lane leading to the wharf, the house where Nicholas is supposed to have sojourned."

FOOTNOTES:

[19] So far as I am aware, nothing has been done to trace the genealogy of the d.i.c.kens family, and it may therefore be of interest to place on record the t.i.tle of, and an extract from, a very scarce and curious thin quarto volume (pp. 1-28) in my collection. Sir Walter Scott was immensely proud of his lineage and historical a.s.sociations, but it would be a wonderful thing if we could trace the descent of Charles d.i.c.kens from King Edward III.

In the _Rambler in Worcestershire_ (Longmans, 1854), Mr. John Noake, the author, in alluding to the parish of Churchill, Worcestershire, says:--"The d.i.c.kens family of Bobbington were lords of this manor from 1432 to 1657, and it is said that from this family Mr. d.i.c.kens, the author, is descended."

[t.i.tle.]

A POSTHUMOUS POEM of the

late THOMAS d.i.c.kENS, ESQ.,

Lieut.-Colonel in the First Regiment of Foot Guards, Dedicated, by permission, to his Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester, to which is added The genealogy of the Author from King Edward III.; also A few grateful stanzas to the Deity, three months previous to his death, _Sep. 21st, 1789_.

CAMBRIDGE: Printed by J. Archdeacon, Printer to the University.

And may be had of the Editor, C. d.i.c.kENS, LL.D., near Huntingdon, and of T. PAYNE AND SON, Booksellers, London.

MDCCXC.

Above the t.i.tle is written in ink: "Peter Cowling to Charles Robert d.i.c.kens, 3rd son to Sam. Trevor d.i.c.kens, this 10th August, 1807, and from said Chas. R. d.i.c.kens to his loved father, on the 16th June, 1832."

[EXTRACT.]

Genealogy of the late Thomas d.i.c.kens, Esq.

KING EDWARD III.

LIONEL, Duke of Clarence his Son

PHILIPPA, married to EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of March his Daughter

ROGER, Earl of March her Son

ANN, who married RICHARD, Duke of York and Earl of Cambridge his Daughter

RICHARD, Duke of York her Son

GEORGE, Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV. his Son

Countess of SALISBURY his Daughter

Viscount MONTAGUE her Son

Lady BARRINGTON his Daughter

Sir Francis BARRINGTON her Son

Lady MASHAM his Daughter

William MASHAM, ESQ. her Son

Sir FRANCIS MASHAM her Son

JOHANNA MASHAM, who married Counsellor Hildesley his Daughter

JOHN HILDESLEY, ESQ. her Son

MARY HILDESLEY, who married the Reverend SAMUEL d.i.c.kENS his Daughter

THOMAS d.i.c.kENS, ESQ., the Author her Son

Opposite GEORGE, Duke of Clarence, is written in ink, "Drown'd in a b.u.t.t of Malmsey Madeira," and following THOMAS d.i.c.kENS, ESQ., the Author, also written in ink--

"Lieut.-Gen. Sir SAML. T. d.i.c.kENS, K.C.H. his Son

Capt. SAML. T. d.i.c.kENS, R.N. his Son"

And following the last-mentioned names written in pencil--

"Admiral SAMUEL TREVOR d.i.c.kENS, R.N. my Son"

Also written in pencil underneath the above--

"qy. CHARLES d.i.c.kENS the Novelist."

[20] In a copy--in my collection--of the second edition 8vo of "_The History and Antiquities of Rochester and its Environs_, embellished with engravings (pp. i-xvii, 1-419), printed and sold by W. Wildash, Rochester, 1817," there occurs in the list of subscribers--about four hundred in number--the name:--d.i.c.kENS MR. JOHN, CHATHAM.

[21] A most interesting paper ent.i.tled "The Life and Labours of Lieutenant Waghorn," appeared in _Household Words_ (No. 21), August 17th, 1850.

[22] See Note to Chapter ii. p. 38.

[23] Since this was written, Mr. Littlewood has pa.s.sed over to the great majority. He was found drowned near Chatham Pier in March, 1890.

[24] This was taken from the first edition of Mr. Langton's book, published in 1883. In the new edition, 1891--a beautiful volume--this pa.s.sage has been eliminated, but the engraving is untouched.