Winter 2005 no. 55
The text of the Copperfield reading includes
dialogue between David and the Micawbers which
in the novel, takes place in a 'little inn' near the
Cathedral (not, we understand, to be identified
with the building that advertises its Dickens
connection). However, in the text of that reading
as we have it, the conversation was moved to Mrs
Crupps' lodgings, Buckingham Street, the Strand. I
wonder if Dickens brought it back home for the
Canterbury audience: probably not. However, their
reception delighted him. 'The most delicate I have
seen,' he said, 'in any provincial place.' Writing to
his daughter Mamie he described them as 'an
audience positively perfectan intelligent and
delightful response in them, like the touch of a
beautiful instrument'. (I shall be returning to
David and the Micawbers.
Towards the end of his life, Dickens made a visit to
Canterbury and the Cathedral with James T.
Fields, his American publisher, and his wife,
coming down in style from Gad's Hill. As Peter
Ackroyd narrates:
They all went to Canterbury in large four-horse
carriages, complete with postilions in red coats
and .top-boots, and it was here that Dickens found
another clue to the novel he was about to write. In
the cathedral there, he was depressed by a service
which seemed no more than a token of worship
and which would find its place in the pages of The
Mystery of Edwin Drood. (in which 'Cloisterham'
cathedral seems in part a blend of Rochester and
Canterbury.) It was in Canterbury that Dickens
also gave one intimation of his fictional method
when, asked which house was the original for Dr
Strong's school in David Copperfield, Dickens
laughed and replied that several "would do". It was
here, too, that he was happy to lose his identity. A
crowd collected around the carriages and one
man, pointing to James Fields, shouted out, "That's
Dickens!" Dickens then handed Fields a small
parcel and said, in tones loud enough to be heard
by the crowd of onlookers, "Here you are, Dickens,
take charge of this for me." Annie Fields noted in
her diary at this time, "it is wonderful the fun and
flow of spirits C. D. has, for he is a sad man." (He
was under some strain, suffering from lack of
sleep, at least partly owing to complications in his
private life.)'
From Dickens in Canterbury I move now to
Canterbury in Dickens. It appears most frequently
and memorably, of course, in Copperfield, first
published in parts in 1849-50. There is also
evidence of first-hand acquaintance in A Child's
History of England, published in 1850-53, but
largely dating from some time earlier. There are,
as I've mentioned, references in The Uncommercial
Traveller, and there are brief mentions in Nicholas
Nickleby - where Miss Snevellicci asks Nicholas -
temporarily an actor with the Crummies company"
if he has ever played Canterbury, in Little Dorrit,
Barnaby Rudge and Our Mutual Friend. The Dorrit
reference is not a flattering one. It comes early in
the account of Mr Dorrit's tragic descent from
prosperity. He has gone, as you may remember,
from debtor's prison, where his long residence and
gentlemanly airs had earned him status and
respect as the Father of the Marshalsea, to
temporary wealth and high social status outside,
but now - his painful and indeed fatal decline
beginning - he is returning from London to the
continent. We can, if we need to, reassure
ourselves that Dickens is here concerned to convey
Mr Dorrit's state of mind, rather than to report
objectively on the treatment of travellers.
'Next morning's sun saw Mr Dorrit's equipage upon
the Dover road, where every red-jacketed postilion
was the sign of a cruel house, established for the
unmerciful plundering of travellers. The whole
business of the human race, between London an
Dover, being spoliation, Mr Dorrit was waylaid at
Dartford, pillaged at Gravesend, rifled at
Rochester, fleeced at Sittingbourne, and sacked at
Canterbury'.
In his Child's History of England, Dickens's account
of Becket's murder clearly sho ws his knowledge of
this place, but before I quote that, here is his
child's version of Augustine:
'Kent is the most famous of the seven Saxon
kingdoms, because the Christian religion was
preached to the Saxons there (who domineered
over the Britons too much to care for what they
said about their religion, or anything else) by
Augustine, a monk from Rome. King ETHELBERT,
of Kent, was soon converted; and the moment he
said he was a Christian, his courtiers all said they
were Christians; after which, ten thousand of his
subjects all said they were Christians too.
AUGUSTINE built a little church, close to this
King's palace, on the ground now occupied by the
beautiful cathedral of Canterbury.'
Canterbury Cathedral
2 4
The Dutch Dickensian Volume XXV
