2-982-254 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. Charles Dickens reading "Little Dombey", at St' Martin's Hall, 1858. 'It is a good thing when the author can be thus induced to come forth from his library and mingle with his fellow-men, as a living teacher...Mr. Charles Dickens is an excellent reader. He uses little action, but he can make his features eloquent. He is far from monotonous, and throws an alternation of light and shade, so to speak, into his reading, by means of a rapid or slow utterance, according to the character or importance of the passages read. He, therefore, maintains the interest of his subject for two hours with comparative ease, and carries his audience with him by means of the variety which he imparts to his entertainment. Without any aid from costume, or any extravagance of motion, by the mere power of facial expression, he impersonates the different characters of his stories, and brings them ideally, but vividly, before the spectator's mind. Mr, Dickens, has invented a new medium far amusing an English audience, and merits the gratitude of an intelligent public'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.