[Applause.]
JOSIAH QUINCY
WELCOME TO DICKENS
[Speech of Josiah Quincy, Jr., at the banquet given by the "Young
Men of Boston" at Boston, Mass., February 1, 1842, to Charles
Dickens, upon his first visit to America. Mr. Quincy was the
President of the evening. About two hundred gentlemen sat at the
tables, the brilliant company including George Bancroft, Richard H.
Dana, Sr., Richard H. Dana, Jr., Washington Allston, the painter,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, George S. Hillard, Josiah Quincy, President
of Harvard College, the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the
city, and Thomas C. Grattan, the British Consul.]
GENTLEMEN:--The occasion that calls us together is almost
unprecedented in the annals of literature. A young man has crossed the
ocean, with no hereditary title, no military laurels, no princely
fortune, and yet his approach is hailed with pleasure by every age and
condition, and on his arrival he is welcomed as a long-known and highly
valued friend. How shall we account for this reception? Must we not at
the first glance conclude with Falstaff, "If the rascal have not given
me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged: it could not be
else--I have drunk medicines."
But when reflection leads us to the causes of this universal sentiment,
we cannot but be struck by the power which mind exercises over mind,
even while we are individually separated by time, space, and other
conditions of our present being.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173