ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20283, 16 December 1927, Page 14

ROGUES AND VAGABONDS.

SOME DICKENS CHARCTBRS. Dickens had a fine taste in rogues and vagabonds, and introduced the world to a variety of them (says a correspondent of the Melbourne Age). Like a true genius, he achieved the triumph of presenting them not only in such a way as to omit all suggestion of repulsiveness, but also to bring out whatever redeeming feature the villain might possess. Strictly speaking, not all vagabonds are rogues, but English law uses the phrase “ rogues and vagabonds ” as a drag net for those gentry who, whether stationary or vagrant, make a living by their wits. The collection of them brought together in the writings of Dickens would occupy a fair-sized Rogues’ Gallery, and the story of thier cunning and unbelievable resourcefulness would be an amazing piece of literature. Mr Walter Dexter, an ardent Dickensian, has assembled about 30 spimens in his “ Rogues and Vagabonds of Dickens ” (London; Cecil Palmer), and frankly acknowledges that from the beloved vagabond, Mrs Jarley, to the cold and calculating murderer, Jonas Chuzzlewit, all alike pay tribute to the great versatility of their creator. Merdle, in “ Little Dorrit,” is the type of the immensely rich rogue; “ a man of prodigious enterprise; a Midas without the ears, who turned all he touched into t gold. He was in everything good, from banking to building. He was in Parliament, of course. He was in the city, necessarily. He was chairman of this, trustee of that, president of the other.” At Ms dinners one would find all the great men of the Bar, the Treasury, the Church, and the Admilarty. Merdle himself sat silent at these dinners. The papers published his wonderful wealth, enterprise, and success. He became every day more famous. It was understood he had declined a baronetcy, and insisted on a peerage. One evening he was found dead in his bath. With a penknife he had separated his jugular vein. He left a letter addressed to the doctor. Crowds had been blighted by his insolvency; old people who would have been comfortable for life had to go to the workhouse, legions of men and women were desolated by this mighty scoundrel and master of humbug. Every form of execration was hurled at the mention of his name. He was not the last of the species, but Dickens called him “ the greatest forger and the greatest thief that ever cheated the gallows.” The portrait was suggested by John Sadlier, member of the Cabinet and leading London banker, forger, and swindler, who committed suicide in 1856. Mr Dexter points out that even such a critic as Mr G. K. Chesterton entirely overlooks Carker in his appreciation of Dombey and Son, James Carker was the confidant and personal friend of Mr Dombey, and was on hand even when that gentleman chose a wife, and the wise Carker saw that Edith Granger knew she was being bought. Before very long Mrs Dombey ran off with James Carker. Mr Dombey followed them to France. There Mrs Dombey told Carker he had been betrayed. He fled to England, sought a quiet country place to hide in, met Mr Dombey, and in the effort to avoid him stepped on the railroad track and was cut to pieces by a traiu. He had betrayed Mr Dombey in business and in the family life and was a consummate scoundrel. The story of Abel Magwitch in ” Great Expectations ” as he told it to Pip, is one of the most poignant tales ever penned. Ee had spent much of his We > n had been locked up, carted here and caned there, put out of this town and that town, out in the stocks whipped, worried, and driven perpetually. His first recollection was tnat ot stealing turnips. “ I reg’larly grow’d up took up. A swindler and forger called Compejson made him his tool. Magwitch got 1* years and Compeyaon seven m a prison ship, and later Magwitch was sent .or life for assaulting Compc-ysen. A S atn he appeared as a returned transpor , t a informer being Compeyson, and was sentenced to death, but died oefore the iaw could exact the penalty. Before the end came his friend told him. You had a child once, whom you loved and lost ... She is a lady. 411(1 ver > beautiful, and 1 love her.” The dying man kissed his friends’ hand and passed away. There is something of Les Miserables ” in this story, and Magwitcn, though a rogue and vagabond, draws the reader’s heart to him in a great sjmChuzzlewit is generally regarded as the greatest scoundrel in the Dickens gallery, but Dicaens explains that the mam feature in his education was that the supremely good thing was money, learned to over-reach everybody, including the father who taught him. Ho even tried to poison his f Mher toget Ms money the quicker, but his father discovered the plot, frustrated it and died a natural death. Jonas -ame under the influence of Montague Tigg and Cmnple, knaves both, and became one of the company- Ti«rg was a blackmailer wiln Nadgett for" his confidential agent, ana ultimately Chuzzlewit murdered Ligg- un the way to prison he took noison, and cheated the gallows. The mental torture of the murderer is well portrayed, but the pith of the story lies m the degrading power of the love of money. Dickens was glad to give specimens of vagabonds who were not rogues, and the Most attractive of them all the wellknown Mrs Jarley, who was so stout and comfortable that she could get into her little caravan only by a kind of gymnastic exercise. Thither came little Well and her grandfather. How scornful Mrs Jarley was at the suggestion of her waxworks being like a Punch and Judv show, and how carefully she taught little Nell to describe the wax figures, including that of the atrocious wretch “ who courted and married 14 wives, and destroyed them all by tickling the soles of their feet when thev were sleeping in the consciousness of innocence and virtue.” Who can suppress a hearty laugh at the great showy women and her devices, and especially at the announcement that she was about to depart on a short tour among the crowned heads of Europe. The glorious emblazonment _of the entire collection inmpressed the visitors, and what mattered if Mary Queen n Scots looked so like an image of Lord Byron that some young ladies screamed at the sight! ■ , , , The well-known and healthful hatred which Dickens had of hypocrisy in every form made it impossible that he should omit a striking example of it among the rogues and vagabonds. The sitter for this portrait is the infamous Uriah Heep, with his cadaverous face red hair, and red-brown eyes. He gained an extraordinary influence over Mr Wickfield, expected a partnership, falsified the books, and aimed at marrying Miss Wickfield. His villainy was exposed by Wilkins Micawber, and some years later David Copperfield visited Uriah Heep in prison. He was then known as number 27, the model prisoner, full of pious admonitions to everybody round him, and as ’umble as ever. He hopea Mr Wickfield and Miss Wickfield, and all of that sinful lot would repent, and that Mr Copperfield would, for his spiritual crood, “be took up and brought here.” The gaoler told the party that Heep had been found guilty of fraud, forgery, and conspiracy against the Bank of England. This very wisely-chosen assor' ent of rogues and vagabonds reveals at once the endless versatility of Dickens and his inimitable power of characterisation. There is a vein of humour running through many of the. stories, and as usual the great novelist is ■at his best when he set down some of the memories of his childhood and youth