become more tolerant of other men’s belief in all matters, and will
incline more leniently to their sentiments when they chance to
differ from his own. Understanding that the relations between
himself and his employers involve a mutual duty and responsibility,
he will discharge his part of the implied contract cheerfully,
satisfactorily, and honourably; for the history of every useful
life warns him to shape his course in that direction.
The benefits he acquires in such a place are not of a selfish kind,
but extend themselves to his home, and to those whom it contains.
Something of what he hears or reads within such walls can scarcely
fail to become at times a topic of discourse by his own fireside,
nor can it ever fail to lead to larger sympathies with man, and to
a higher veneration for the great Creator of all the wonders of
this universe. It appears to his home and his homely feeling in
other ways; for at certain times he carries there his wife and
daughter, or his sister, or, possibly, some bright-eyed
acquaintance of a more tender description. Judging from what I see
before me, I think it is very likely; I am sure I would if I could.
He takes her there to enjoy a pleasant evening, to be gay and
happy. Sometimes it may possibly happen that he dates his
tenderness from the Athenaeum. I think that is a very excellent
thing, too, and not the least among the advantages of the
institution. In any case, I am sure the number of bright eyes and
beaming faces which grace this meeting to-night by their presence,
will never be among the least of its excellences in my
recollection.
Ladies and gentlemen, I shall not easily forget this scene, the
pleasing task your favour has devolved upon me, or the strong and
inspiring confirmation I have to-night, of all the hopes and
reliances I have ever placed upon institutions of this nature. In
the latter point of view – in their bearing upon this latter point
– I regard them as of great importance, deeming that the more
intelligent and reflective society in the mass becomes, and the
more readers there are, the more distinctly writers of all kinds
will be able to throw themselves upon the truthful feeling of the
people and the more honoured and the more useful literature must
be. At the same time, I must confess that, if there had been an
Athenaeum, and if the people had been readers, years ago, some
leaves of dedication in your library, of praise of patrons which
was very cheaply bought, very dearly sold, and very marketably
haggled for by the groat, would be blank leaves, and posterity
might probably have lacked the information that certain monsters of
virtue ever had existence. But it is upon a much better and wider
scale, let me say it once again – it is in the effect of such
institutions upon the great social system, and the peace and
happiness of mankind, that I delight to contemplate them; and, in
my heart, I am quite certain that long after your institution, and
others of the same nature, have crumbled into dust, the noble
harvest of the seed sown in them will shine out brightly in the
wisdom, the mercy, and the forbearance of another race.
SPEECH: LIVERPOOL, FEBRUARY 26, 1844.
[The following address was delivered at a soiree of the Liverpool
Mechanics’ Institution, at which Mr. Dickens presided.]
Page 19
Dickens, Charles – Speeches, Literary & Social
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, – It was rather hard of you to take away my
breath before I spoke a word; but I would not thank you, even if I
could, for the favour which has set me in this place, or for the
generous kindness which has greeted me so warmly, – because my
first strong impulse still would be, although I had that power, to
lose sight of all personal considerations in the high intent and
meaning of this numerous assemblage, in the contemplation of the
noble objects to which this building is devoted, of its brilliant
and inspiring history, of that rough, upward track, so bravely
trodden, which it leaves behind, and that bright path of steadilyincreasing