"I say openly andplainly, that this fund is pompously and unnaturally administered at great
expense, instead of being quietly administered at small expense
Febr. 11, 1854
Town and Table-talk on literature, art etc.
The great grandson of the illustrious author of "Robinson Crusoeis alive, and in great poverty -
in poverty arising from no misconduct of his own, but from mi fortune and its unwelcome ally, old
age. It is enough, one would think, to mention the circumstance - and to obtain for him with ease
that bare sufficien/y which he seeks. He is in his seventy-seventh year, and is the De Foe, of
Hunger-market, mentioned by Wilson, in his painstaking life of the great novelist. His case has
been inquired into by Mr. Charles Knight, and a sum of money has been raised by him, chiefly
among literary men, that will, with a little more assistance, be sufficient to provide for his very
moderate wishes and wants. The great grandson of the man who has given so much to all ages of
Englishmen is content and happy at Kennington, with a relief of 2 pounds. Mr. Charles Dickens
has been (as might be expected) amongst the most liberal subscribers to the little fund. If everybody
who has derived delightfrom the perusal of 'Robinson Crusoe" would but contribute a single
farthing to his descendant, that descendant would become a wealthy man. When Mr. De Foe was
asked, the other day, what he knew of his great ancestor s writings, he answered to the point, and
observed (without any intentional comment on the reputation of the great novelist), that in his
happier days he had several of De Foe's works; but that he never could keep a copy of 'Robinson
Crusoe"; "there were so many borrowers of the book in Hunge ford-market alone.
The Guild ofTiterature and Art has obtained its bill; and all its operations will now be regulated
"pursuant to Act of Tarliament". We are glad of this: the Guild is now in a better position than
the Titerary Fund. It is true that the Fund has a large funded property; and that the Guild has
only a small capital, won by the persevering exertions of some dossen or sixteen authors and artists.
Tut the same means to increase its funds is now open to the Guild, thatfor half a century, at
least,, has been open to the Fund. Not that the Guild is started to lessen the useful exertions of the
Dickens' conclusie was meedogenloos:
In 1858 schreef hij met Forster en Charles Wentworth Dilke, eigenaar van de Athenaeum Club,
een pamflet "The Case of the Reformers in the Literary Fund" in een poging de doelstellingen
van het fonds te herzien. De poging mislukte.
Over bijeenkomsten van het "Royal Literary Fund" werd regelmatig bericht in "The Illustrated
London News". Dit rijk met houtgravures geïllustreerde weekblad, dat sinds 1829 verscheen,
informeerde de lezer regelmatig hierover in de rubriek "Town and Table-talk on Literature, Art,
etc.". Afgelopen zomer, tijdens mijn verblijf in Frankrijk, verwierf ik op een brocante in Moulins-
Engilbert twee gebonden halve jaargangen van dit blad, en wel Volume 24, 1854, Jan. to June, en
Volume 25, 1855, Jan. to June. Belangrijkste items in 1854 en 1855 waren de strenge winters met
een bevroren Thames en Seine, en de Krimoorlog. Omdat de gebruikte letter wel erg klein werd
afgedrukt volgen hier de verzamelde teksten uit deze volumes in de cursieve Garamond letter:
In de genoemde rubriek in de aflevering van 10 juni 1854 het volgende bericht:
