Retitled 'In the French-Flemish Country' in collected editions of the series.

The 'French-Flemish Country' depicted here was a former province of France known as Flandre Française, now comprising the Département du Nord, the most northerly of the French departments, bordering Belgium.

Then, as now, it was divided into seven arrondissements, each named after its principal town: Lille (the administrative centre or 'préfecture'), Avesnes, Cambrai, Douai, Dunkerque, Hazebroucke and Valenciennes (all sous-préfectures). Along with Amiens and Arras in the neighbouring department of Pas de Calais, these are all towns mentioned in 'The Calais Night Mail', many of which also feature in Dickens's correspondence of late 1862 and early 1863. Dickens was also in northern France during the last two weeks of August 1863, writing to Wilkie Collins that 'I have not been anywhere for ever and ever so long, but am thinking of evaporating for a fortnight on the 18th [of August]', and noting on the last day of the month that he had recently 'com[e] back from a fortnight's Uncommercial Travelling abroad' (Pilgrim, Vol. X, pp. 281, 283). As suggested in the introduction to Vol. 4 of the Dent edition of Dickens's Journalism (pp. xvii-xviii), Dickens's references in his letters to trips made 'in the Uncommercial interest' at this time may well have been a handy smokescreen for visits with or to Ellen Ternan centering on Condette, near Boulogne. If so, it is even less likely that Dickens would allow the 'Uncommercial Traveller' to give away clues about his movements in an article such as the present.

As the Count de Suzannet observes, the 'famille P. Salcy' of whom Dickens writes at length, must have been artists of 'the most humble and local reputation, now quite unknown; the town, possibly Gravelines or Dunkerque could not possibly be identified' from the descriptions given (Hill 27.1). Hazebroucke would be an equally possible candidate, however, as Dickens had already identified it as the location of 'a Fair... where the oldest inhabitants were circling round and round a barrel-organ on hobby-horses'. As with Dickens's handling of the Medway towns and the 'stage-coaching' town, it would appear that a composite, almost impressionistic, rendering of a number of places and their distinctive atmosphere is intended, rather than a portrait of any identifiable municipality.

Mention of the 'Mexican victories' on display at peep-shows at the Fair refers to recent victories of the French army in Mexico, of which the most celebrated was the triumphal entry into a deserted Mexico City of General Foley and Imperial troops on 7 June 1863.

Textual note:

• copytext has 'like the toast out of a Giant's toast-and-water': The Uncommercial Traveller, Charles Dickens Edition (1868) has 'like the toast of a Giant's toast-and-water'.

Author: John Drew; © J. M. Dent/Orion Publishing Group, Dickens' Journalism Volume IV: 'The Uncommercial Traveller' and Other Papers, 1859-1870, 2000.

DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

Click here for further information about texts cited.