Re: Victorian Studies

Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Thu, 1 May 1997 16:19:00 -0100 

My dear Saxonwood pupils,

  To Jo-Anne I have to confess I played few active games
as a child.  Because I was sickly, while other boys played
cricket, I read.  Imaginative games were more to my taste.
I remember, at a very young age, seeking to rescue my
beloved (a neighbour's child) from the dungeons of
Seringapatem (haystack in field opposite) or, armed with
a stair-rod sabre,strutting around the house, the very
model of a dauntless British naval officer.  Later I became
very fond of toy theatres, and produced minature
performances of fashionable plays.
  Craig, I don't think I was ever seriously beaten at
school.  I went to schools where such things happened, but
learning was so precious to me, no mischief could divert
me from it.
  I did meet Queen Victoria, Marcia, on a number of occasions.
Indeed, as an amateur player, I acted before her, and the
Prince Consort.  One one occasion I was summoned to a
private audience, at which we exchanged books.  I gave
her majesty my "David Copperfield."  She gave me her
journal of the Highlands.
  Your green and yellow uniform sounds most colourful, Simon.
The school clothes I most clearly recollect are those I wore
at my last school, which I attended until I was fifteen.  I
was resplendent in what we used to call a pepper-and-salt
jacket and trousers - a tweedy material that is, with closely
packed black and white threads - and I sported a turn-down
collar - a collar such as is usual in shirts today, but not
so in the 1820's, when most men wore collars turned up,
brushing their earlobes.
  Emma, I wrote many books: "Pickwick Papers," "Nicholas
Nickleby," "David Copperfield," "Bleak House," "Great
Expectations," to name just a few.
  You will laugh, Lindsay.  Even in the 1860's I kept up the
old fashion of writing, most of the time, with a quill pen.
A pen, that is, carved from a cut-down goose feather.  What
do you think a penknife used to be?  It was a knife,
originally, that you used for repairing your goose-quill pen.
  When in health, I always had a good appetite, Hannah, and
scorned few foods.  I was particulalrly fond of oysters, and
greens were might delight,as I hope they are yours.  My
favourite pudding was jam rolypoly.
  Terry, I think all of my books have already been made into
musical plays.  It is not for me to say why - ahem! - but
for some reason they attracted the dramatiser from the
start.  Perhaps you know that most of my books were originally
published in monthly parts.  Some were being performed on the
stage, even before I had finished them, with endings made up
by the dramatists, not me!  As soon as musical theatre became
popular, musical versions appeared too.  Whether I like all
this or not is another matter.  The flattery is one thing,
to be sure, be the liberties taken transform this cooing dove
into a raging lion!

Faithfully yours,


Charles Dickens
________________________________________________________________________________

>Dear Charles Dickens,
>Many thanks for your letter dateldren's first
>questions, which they are going to type themselves.
>"What games did you play when you were a child?" asks Jo-Anne.
>"Did you get hit with a stick at school?" asks Craig.
>"Did you ever meet Queen Victoria?" asks Marcia.
>Simon asks, "What sort of clothes did  you  wear  to school? We have a green
>and yellow uniform."
>"We know you wrote "Oliver Twist" and "A Christmas Carol" -"What other books
>did you write?" asks Emma.
>"What was it like being an author? We have word-processors, what did you
>write with?" asks Lindsay.
>"What was your favourite food?" asks Hannah.
>"We are watching a video of "Oliver" - would you like all your books mad
>into musical plays?" asks Terry.
>
>====================
>Saxon Wood School
>saxon@rmplc.co.uk
>
>

======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author