5th, 1857, at
the London Tavern, and was very numerously attended, Mr. Charles
Dickens occupied the chair. On the subject which had brought the
company together Mr. Dickens spoke as follows:-]
I must now solicit your attention for a few minutes to the cause of
your assembling together--the main and real object of this
evening's gathering; for I suppose we are all agreed that the motto
of these tables is not "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die;" but, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we live." It is
because a great and good work is to live to-morrow, and to-morrow,
and to-morrow, and to live a greater and better life with every
succeeding to-morrow, that we eat and drink here at all.
Conspicuous on the card of admission to this dinner is the word
"Schools." This set me thinking this morning what are the sorts of
schools that I don't like. I found them on consideration, to be
rather numerous. I don't like to begin with, and to begin as
charity does at home--I don't like the sort of school to which I
once went myself--the respected proprietor of which was by far the
most ignorant man I have ever had the pleasure to know; one of the
worst-tempered men perhaps that ever lived, whose business it was
to make as much out of us and put as little into us as possible,
and who sold us at a figure which I remember we used to delight to
estimate, as amounting to exactly 2 pounds 4s.
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