the moonlight – go among the water-carriers and the village
gossips, living still as in days of old – and who has travelled
among them before you, and peopled the Alhambra and made eloquent
its shadows? Who awakes there a voice from every hill and in every
cavern, and bids legends, which for centuries have slept a
dreamless sleep, or watched unwinkingly, start up and pass before
you in all their life and glory?
But leaving this again, who embarked with Columbus upon his gallant
ship, traversed with him the dark and mighty ocean, leaped upon the
land and planted there the flag of Spain, but this same man, now
sitting by my side? And being here at home again, who is a more
fit companion for money-diggers? and what pen but his has made Rip
Van Winkle, playing at nine-pins on that thundering afternoon, as
much part and parcel of the Catskill Mountains as any tree or crag
that they can boast?
But these are topics familiar from my boyhood, and which I am apt
to pursue; and lest I should be tempted now to talk too long about
them, I will, in conclusion, give you a sentiment, most
appropriate, I am sure, in the presence of such writers as Bryant,
Halleck, and – but I suppose I must not mention the ladies here –
Page 15
Dickens, Charles – Speeches, Literary & Social
THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA:
She well knows how to do honour to her own literature and to that
of other lands, when she chooses Washington Irving for her
representative in the country of Cervantes.
SPEECH: MANCHESTER, OCTOBER 5, 1843.
[This address was delivered at a soiree of the members of the
Manchester, Athenaeum, at which Mr. Dickens presided. Among the
other speakers on the occasion were Mr. Cobden and Mr. Disraeli.]
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, – I am sure I need scarcely tell you that I
am very proud and happy; and that I take it as a great distinction
to be asked to come amongst you on an occasion such as this, when,
even with the brilliant and beautiful spectacle which I see before
me, I can hail it as the most brilliant and beautiful circumstance
of all, that we assemble together here, even here, upon neutral
ground, where we have no more knowledge of party difficulties, or
public animosities between side and side, or between man and man,
than if we were a public meeting in the commonwealth of Utopia.
Ladies and gentlemen, upon this, and upon a hundred other grounds,
this assembly is not less interesting to me, believe me – although,
personally, almost a stranger here – than it is interesting to you;
and I take it, that it is not of greater importance to all of us
than it is to every man who has learned to know that he has an
interest in the moral and social elevation, the harmless
relaxation, the peace, happiness, and improvement, of the community
at large. Not even those who saw the first foundation of your
Athenaeum laid, and watched its progress, as I know they did,
almost as tenderly as if it were the progress of a living creature,
until it reared its beautiful front, an honour to the town – not
even they, nor even you who, within its walls, have tasted its
usefulness, and put it to the proof, have greater reason, I am
persuaded, to exult in its establishment, or to hope that it may
thrive and prosper, than scores of thousands at a distance, who –
whether consciously or unconsciously, matters not – have, in the
principle of its success and bright example, a deep and personal
concern.
It well becomes, particularly well becomes, this enterprising town,
this little world of labour, that she should stand out foremost in
the foremost rank in such a cause. It well becomes her, that,
among her numerous and noble public institutions, she should have a
splendid temple sacred to the education and improvement of a large
class of those who, in their various useful stations, assist in the
production of our wealth, and in rendering her name famous through
the world. I think it is grand to know, that, while her factories