Read Online Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin - Free Book Online Page B

to write at once. While he was about it, he offered Chapman & Hall
The Strange Gentleman
, a farce he had adapted from one of his stories, which would be put on later in the year, and they agreed to publish that too.
    The wedding date was now fixed for 2 April. Before it arrived a third publisher appeared on the scene, introduced to Dickens by his future father-in-law. This was the gentlemanly Richard Bentley, also remembered as the man who brought out the first reprints of Jane Austen in 1833, with fine illustrations, and persuaded her brother Henry to write an introductory note. Bentley had begun his career as a high-quality printer, turned to publishing and produced handsome editions of standard novels, and now he was keen to sign up new writers. Dickens was interested, but for the moment too preoccupied to attend to any proposals Bentley had in mind. He was busy ordering furniture – rosewood for the drawing room, mahogany for the dining room – and shopping, for a sideboard, decanters, jugs, china jars; also having a workbox inscribed ‘from Chas. Dickens to Kate’ as a wedding present to his bride. His sister Letitia fell ill, so ill that their father thought she was dying and needed support. Happily she recovered, but Dickens was busier than ever, embarked on his new project. ‘“Pickwick” must be attended to,’ he told Catherine. 5 On 20 March he apologized for not seeing her: ‘I am tired and worn out today, mind and body; and have that to do, which will certainly occupy me till 1 or 2 o’Clock. I did not get to bed till 3 oClock this morning; and consequently could not begin to write until nearly one … forced to deny myself the least recreation, and to sit chained to my table.’ 6
    The wedding plans had to be changed when Mrs Macrone insisted that the best man must be a bachelor, and Dickens was obliged to ask Tom Beard instead of Macrone. Shortly before the day he wrote to his uncle Thomas Barrow, wishing he could invite him, and explaining that Barrow’s refusal to have John Dickens under his roof made it impossible; he recalled his own visits to him as a child, and thanked him for his interest and affection. 7 It is clear that the Barrow side of the family was the one he was proud of, and yet he remained loyal to his father, feeling the strain, and unhappy about the division in the family.
    His mother arranged the honeymoon lodgings for him, in a cottage belonging to a Mrs Nash in Chalk, a small pretty village on the marshes of north Kent, between Rochester and Gravesend. They would not have much more than a week there, and he would be working on
Pickwick
during that time. On 2 April a simple ceremony at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea married Charles and Catherine in the presence of their immediate families, the only other guests being Tom Beard as best man and John Macrone. After a wedding breakfast at the Hogarths’, the bride and groom set off for Kent, a journey of about two hours by public coach. Dickens wanted to show Catherine the country of his childhood and no doubt hoped to walk with her to favourite spots – Cobham Woods, Gad’s Hill, Rochester – in the April sunshine. Catherine was never a great walker, while his idea of enjoyment was to stride far and fast across country, and here perhaps the pattern of their life was set, since he was also obliged to work at
Pickwick
during their few days away. Writing was necessarily his primary occupation, and hers must be to please him as best she could within the limitations of her energy: writing desk and walking boots for him, sofa and domesticity for her. 8
    In Dickens’s novels young women meant to be lovable tend to be small, pretty, timid, fluttering and often suffering at the hands of their official protectors, like Little Nell and Florence Dombey. Ruth Pinch (in
Martin Chuzzlewit
) is a good housekeeper and cook, has been a governess, and sings delightfully for her brother and his friend, but the symptoms of her reciprocated love are