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INTRODUCTION. xxiii |
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TO
LORD JEFFREY
THIS LITTLE STORY IS INSCRIBED,
WITH
THE AFFECTION AND ATTACHMENT OF HIS FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
December, 1845.
With reference to these illustrations the following characteristic letter from Charles Dickens to Clarkson Stanfield, dated the 2d of October, 1845, may be quoted here:—
I need not say how much I should value another little sketch from your extraordinary hand in this year's small volume, to which Mac again does the frontispiece. But I cannot hear of it, and will not have it (though the gratification of such aid to me is really beyond all expression), unless you will so far consent to make it a matter of business as to receive, without asking any questions, a cheque in return from the publishers. Do not misunderstand me —though I am not afraid there is much danger of your doing so, for between us misunderstanding is, I hope, not easy. I know perfectly well that nothing can pay you for the devotion of any portion of your time to such a use of your art. I know perfectly well that no terms would induce you to go out of your way, in such a regard for perhaps anybody else. I cannot, nor do I desire to, vanquish the friendly obligation which help from you imposes on me. But I am not the sole proprietor of these little books ; and it would be monstrous in you if you were to dream of putting a scratch into a second one without some shadowy reference to the other partners, ten thousand times more monstrous in me if any consideration on earth could induce me to permit it, which nothing will or shall.
So sec what it comes to. If you will do me a favour on my terms it will be more acceptable to me, my clear Stanfield, than I can possibly tell you. If you will not be so generous, you deprive me of the satisfaction of receiving it at your hands, and shut me out from that possibility altogether. What a stony-hearted ruffian you must be in such a case !
The original manuscript of the Cricket on the Hearth is the property of Miss Hogarth, and was recently lent to the Victorian Exhibition at the New Gallery.
There was so much that was dramatic in the little story |
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