Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1894 — The Menken and Dickens. [ARTICLE]

The Menken and Dickens.

A little book is associated in the oddest way with Dickens—“lnfelicia,” by Adah Isaacs Menken. It is dedicated to him, and the authoress printed a facsimile of his letter acknowledging the compliment. These verses are sought by the bibliophiles, and are essential for any complete collection, the book fetching about £2. 1 have heard Dickens relate in his richest comic manner the incidents of this introduction. The lady at one time was the talk of the town from her performance of Mazeppa, when she appeared hound to her untamed and fiery steed—of course, a very pliant, well-broken quadruped—in the airiest of raiment. “Boz” was one night seated in the stalls looking on, when her business manager, a Yankee, stood before him with a pressing invitation from the 1 air and massively built equestrienne to come round and see her. The emissary, in the usual nasal tone, represented that this meeting was the dream of her (the equestrienne’s) life. The author politely waived off the interview, deprecating the compliment; but the manager returned with more pressing Insistence, and “Boz” had to yield. He gave a humorous sketch of his Interview and the lavish incense that was offered to him. “The dream of her life” was still insisted on, hut unluckily I have forgotten the details. The lady had literary instincts, and her verses are full of Are. Sometimes, we are told, they have been “attributed to Swinburne. ” She later transferred her adoration —strange to say—to the elder Dumas, and I possess that rarest and most curious of curios, a photograph representing her and the grand novelist standing together. Later, I think, she married the pugilist Heeuan. Altogether, an'odd history.— The Gentleman’s Magazine.