Abstract
… many comic songs were sung … two by Dickens, who would not make the attempt until late in the evening, and after a good deal of pressing. One of them was called The Dandy Dog’s-meat Man, then much in vogue with the lower classes, and the other was an effusion by Dickens himself [beginning ‘Sweet Betsy Ogle’]…. We were all very merry, if not very wise, unless merriment be taken as another sort of wisdom…. I may here add, that soon after [his appointment to the Chronicle] I observed a great difference in C. D.’s appearance and dress; for he had bought a new hat and a very handsome blue cloak, with black velvet facings, the corner of which he threw over his shoulder à l’ Espagnol. I overtook him in the Adelphi, and we walked together through Hungerford Market, where we followed a coal-heaver, who carried his little rosy but grimy child looking over his shoulder; and C.D. bought a halfpenny worth of cherries, and, as we went along, he gave them one by one to the little fellow without the knowledge of the father. C. D. seemed quite as much pleased as the child. He informed me, as we walked through it, that he knew Hungerford Market well, laying unusual stress on the two first syllables. He did not affect to conceal the difficulties he and his family had had to contend against.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1981 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Collier, J.P. (1981). Prospects Improving. In: Collins, P. (eds) Dickens. Interviews and Recollections. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04591-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04591-4_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-04593-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-04591-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)