DINNER TO MR CHARLES DICKENS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 825, 1 February 1868, Page 2

DINNER TO MR CHARLES DICKENS

A complimentary dinner was given in the city of London, to Mr Charles Dickens previous to his departure for the United States. The numerous literary, artistic, and scientific friends of Mr Dickens mustered in great force on the occasion, and the large hall of the Freemasons’ Tavern was filled in every part. Covers were laid for nearly four hundred and fifty persons, and so general was the desire to be present that a large number of applicants were unable to obtain admission. The chair was taken by Lord Lytton. The guest of the evening sat on the right, the Lord Chief-Justice on the left. After grace was said, and the loyal toasts disposed of, the noble Chairman proposed—“A prosperous voyage, health, and long life to our illustrious guest and countryman Charles Dickens.” The toast was received with cheering and expressions of hearty good will and hope for a prosperous voyage, which lasted undiminislied for several minutes, when comparative silence was at length restored, Mr Charles Dickens, in rising to reply to the toast, was received with enthusiastic and repeated rounds of cheering, the company rising en masse to greet their honoured guest. When silence was at length restored Mr Dickens, who spoke witli considerable emotion, said “My lords, ladies, and gentlemen —No thanks that I can offer to you can express my sense of my reception by this great assemblage, or in the least suggest to you how deeply the glowing words of my friend the Chairman, and your reception of them, have sunk into my heart (cheers), but both combined have so greatly shaken the composure that 1 am used to command before an audience that I hope you may observe in me some traces of an eloquence more expressive than the richest words (loud and continued cheering). His reply was altogether strictly personal, bearing chiefly on the reason of his visit to America. Mr Anthony Trollope, who returned thanks for the toast of literature, defended English authors, and chiefly novelists from Mr Carlyle's charge in “Shooting Niagara.” Several other distinguished men also spoke ; and at the conclusion of the proceedings, as Mr Dickens left the hall, numbers of his friends crowded round him and shook him heartily by the hand as they wished him a prosperous and pleasant voyage.