DICKENS AND EDUCATION
By the same author * DICKENS AND CRIME
DICKENS AND EDUCATION BY PHILIP COLLINS SENIOR LECTURER IN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER Palgrave Macmillan 1963
ISBN 978-1-349-81704-7 ISBN 978-1-349-81702-3 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-81702-3 Copyright Philip Collins 1963 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1963 978-0-333-06662-1 MACMILLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED St Martin's Street London WC 2 also Bombo,y Calcutta Madras Melbourne THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED Toronto ST MARTIN'S PRESS INC New York TO MILDRED WITH THANKS
PREFACE STARTING from the same accumulation of material about Dickens and his world, I have written two books: the present one, and Dickens and Crime (published in 1962). I often found it difficult to decide in which book to discuss certain topics, so much does Dickens's concern for education arise out of his ideas on how to prevent crime. I have made various cross-references in the Notes, and must apologise for so often appearing to advertise my other wares: but the two books are complementary, and I must hope that anyone who finds my approach to Dickens useful will, at some stage, turn from the one to the other. Readers may, however, be relieved to learn that I do not intend to produce an infinite series of books entitled Dickens and Such-and-Such. I hope some time to take part in one on Dickens and Politics, but not just yet. Dickens and Education was written first, but there is perhaps some advantage in its being published second. When Dr Johnson was taken to task for criticising Shakespeare, he replied: 'We must confess the faults of our favourite, to gain credit to our praise of his excellencies. He that claims either for himself or for another the honours of perfection, will surely injure the reputation which he designs to assist.' It was a decidedly imperfect Dickens that appeared in my earlier book - though I did not profess or intend to 'demolish completely' his reputation as a reformer, which one of my reviewers took to be the result of my survey; One of Dickens's colleagues called him a 'wobbler' on political issues. He wobbled on penology, too, and often in the wrong direction. There is certainly much to deplore in his journalistic writings about crime and punishment; nor, I think, is crime one of his best subjects in the novels, though it was indeed one of his favourite themes. He will appear a good deal more favourably in the present book, and I hope that the J ohnsonian adage will prove true: that my praise will weigh somewhat the heavier since I have elsewhere made ample confession of my subject's faults. Not that I now propose to write a 'honeysuckle' study (if another Johnsonian term may be pardoned). Dickens had his liinitations as an educationist, too, as I shall try to show; but, I hardly need insist, he is v
vi PREFACE a large enough writer to suffer without severe damage many more subtractions from his perfection than I make or would want to make. The aims of this book are to show what Dickens wrote and did about education, not only as novelist but also as journalist, editor, public man, philanthropist and parent: and to relate this on the one hand to the schools and educational ideas of his time, and on the other to the ethos and qualities of his fiction. By comparing what he had actually observed in schools with the fictional episodes he based upon these memories, I have tried to show some of the processes of 'the shaping spirit' of his imagination. My earlier chapters are chiefly concerned with his observations and activities, and my later ones with the treatment of education in the novels, but I try throughout the book to maintain a continual interplay between fact and fiction. I have tried to make the book interesting and comprehensible to three sorts of reader - those primarily interested in Dickens, in the nineteenth century, and in the history of education. I cannot hope to have equally satisfied all three at every point, and the historian and educationist will realise that I start, not from their specialities, but from a delighted, though not uncritical, interest in Dickens's life and work. My main predecessors on this aspect of him - James L. Hughes, author of Dickens as an Educator (1900), and Dr John Manning, whose Dickens on Education appeared in 1959 - were both educationists by profession, so my point of view will, happily, have at least the merit of novelty. 'The more you want of the master, the more you'll find in him,' said one of Dickens's servants after he had surmounted a sudden crisis, and I hope that I have been able to add something to these earlier accounts. Readers who are less interested in Dickens, or less knowledgeable about him, may find it useful to begin by glancing at the Appendix, which lists the main events and writings of his career which are relevant to the present study. Many friends, and many strangers, have helped me with information or advice. A number of specific debts are acknowledged in the Notes: lowe a more general indebtedness to several colleagues, who read various parts of the book in manuscript or discussed its
PREFACE topics with me. Particularly I would name Professor A.J. Allaway, Professor A. R. Humphreys, Mr G. H. Bantock, Mr G. S. Fraser, and Dr R. P. Draper (all of the University of Leicester), and Mrs Madeline House, who kindly answered many enquiries, and gave me invaluable advice, long before I joined her and Mr Graham Storey on The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens. Dr K. J. Fielding generously allowed me to use his typescript of Dickens's Speeches, when his indispensable edition was still unpublished, and I have often drawn upon his vast knowledge of Dickens, in letters as well as through reading his numerous publications. Mr V. C. Clinton-Baddeley also kindly showed me his researches on the Yorkshire Schools, including much unpublished material. At an early stage of my studies I conducted an extra-mural Research Group in Vaughan College, Leicester. Its members not only helped me to clarify my ideas, but also dug up much useful information. They worked hard, and thought hard, and many ideas from our discussions have been incorporated into this book. Two members, Mr Peter Nixon and Mr G. H. Franey, have done me many scholarly services since then. Mr H. C. Dickens has granted me permission to quote unpublished Dickens letters, and Dr Robert O. Dougan and Dr Frederick B. Adams, Jr., have given me permission to quote those in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, and in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, respectively. Dr Harald Ostvold has similarly allowed me to use the Gad's Hill Gazette in the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Various transcripts, microfilms and pamphlets have been lent to me by Mr L. C. Staples, Mr W.J. Carlton and Mr George Chadwick. I thank them all. The Librarians of the University of Leicester, and of its Institute of Education, and their staffs, particularly Miss Joanna Hatfield, have given much time to helping me to discover obscure books and pamphlets. Miss D. L. Minards, of Dickens House, has been most hospitable during my many visits there, to study in its fine collection of Dickensiana. The several drafts of my book, generally illegible palimpsests, have been patiently and accurately typed by Miss Doreen Hodson, Miss Olive Wood, Miss Ann Knight, Miss Caroline Herbert, Mrs D. L. Aston and MrsJoan Hill. I must thank the Editors of The Dickensian, English Studies, Researches and Studies, The Journal of Education and The Educational vii
viii PREFACE Review for their permission to use material from articles originally contributed to their journals. P.A.W.C. THE UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER May 1963
CONTENTS CHAPTER I PREFACE THE REpUTATION AND THE MAN PAG" V I II FATHER OF NINE III 'DEDICATED TO MY OWN DEAR CHILDREN' IV THE DUTY OF THE STATE V TEACHERS IN THE NOVELS: VICE AND VIRTUE VI LESS DEADLY THAN THE MALE 53 70 98 VII GOOD INTENTIONS AND BAD RESULTS VIII THE RIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD IX CONCLUSION ApPENDIX: A chronological table of Dickens's main educational activities and writings 222 NOTES 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY 248 INDEX 253 ix