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 THE 
 
 7 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 PICKWICK 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF ITS 
 
 CHARACTERS, LOCALITIES, ALLUSIONS, 
 AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 PERCY FITZGERALD, M.A., F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED 
 1891 
 
 [All right* reserved]
 
 PS 
 
 PBIBTED BY GILBERT AND HIVINGTON, LD., 
 ST. .lOHB'S HOUSE, CLF.KKESWKLL ROAD, E.C.
 
 Jnscribefc 
 
 TO 
 
 HENRY FIELDING DICKENS, 
 
 THE SON 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF "PICKWICK/'
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THERE are many who look back with delight to 
 the days of their childhood, when " Pickwick," 
 in its green wrappers, was coming out month 
 by month, and furnished nearly two years of 
 sustained enjoyment to people of all ages and 
 conditions. The cherished numbers, bound into 
 a volume, now lie before me, and bring back the 
 recollection of the almost feverish expectancy 
 with which its mirth-moving incidents were 
 awaited or listened to, as the head of the family 
 read them aloud, to increase, it might be, his own 
 sense of the relish. Not the least merit in this 
 book is that it should have been thus appreciated 
 by children ; but the aged found no less enjoyment 
 in its humours ; so those of the old and new fashion 
 were alike recreated. This was in itself a 
 phenomenon. If it be not read by the children of 
 our generation, it is owing to the change in 
 habits and manners ; it is too much to expect 
 such an exertion from the juvenile mind, as to 
 assume the existence of duelling, stage coaches, 
 elopements, old inns, and other obsolete things.
 
 vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The book is so rich in suggestion, so stored 
 with humorous touches and allusions, that each 
 reading as Professor Ward has pointed out 
 brings out something that has escaped notice : 
 while the general hilarity is so overpowering that 
 many delicate touches escape notice, and require 
 pause and deliberation to discover. 
 
 It may be that objection will be taken to the 
 somewhat minute character of the following specu- 
 lations, and it may be thought that the praises 
 are exaggerated ; but the position held for over half 
 a century by " Pickwick " is really a unique one. 
 Edition after edition comes out, and the stock of 
 allusions and metaphor's drawn from it increase 
 every day. The book is regularly studied, and 
 the ardent Pickwickian will find in these pages 
 much that will assist him in his labours. As 
 the form of humour now in fashion is of a some- 
 what trivial kind, founded on verbal quips and 
 fancies, it were to be heartily desired that 
 something of the old Pickwickian, laughter- 
 moving humour, illustrating comic adventure, 
 could be revived. "We cannot, of course, revive a 
 young and buoyant Dickens ; but where genuine 
 humour exists, it can be turned into new and 
 varied channels, and by careful study, something 
 of the original pattern may be caught : like 
 BoswelFs German, who, when surprised jumping 
 over chairs, explained, *' J'apprends d'etre vif."
 
 INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 I have shown in the text how much this work 
 has engrossed the labours of bibliographers, 
 topographers, critics, students of manners and 
 customs, even of professors of " Folk lore." 
 The illustrations, with their " stages," the artists 
 themselves, and their history, have excited the 
 curiosity and research of the inquirer. All these 
 topics have been dealt with, not too copiously, I 
 hope ; they offer an interest even for the general 
 reader. The imitations, translations, dramas > 
 &c., still further show the singular vitality and 
 fascination of the subject. We may look around 
 in vain for any work of modern times which has 
 excited such interest or prompted so much com- 
 mentary, except it be the " Life of Johnson." 
 But Boswell's hero lived. Mr. Pickwick, how- 
 ever, is quite as familiar to us as Boswell's idol, 
 and almost as living. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the 
 assistance I have received from all quarters, 
 assistance given cordially and heartily, as though 
 it were felt that the service was rendered to 
 their old esteemed friend Mr. Pickwick, for whom 
 too much could not be done. I have been 
 particularly aided by the Rev. Alfred Buss, son of 
 one of the early illustrators of " Pickwick," and 
 by Mr. W. Wright of Paris, who opened to me 
 his extraordinary " Dickens Collections." I am 
 also indebted to Dr. Brougham, the Dean of
 
 viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Lismore ; to Mr. Sketchley, Librarian of the 
 Forster and Dyce Collections ; to Mr. Grego ; to 
 the Vicar of Cobham ; and to several other persons 
 who have aided in various ways. 
 
 I may add that a small portion of this book has 
 already made its appearance in the Gornhill 
 Magazine, where it excited some interest and 
 discussion. I have also included some papers on 
 the same subject, from the St. James's Gazette. 
 
 ATHEN^DM CLUB, 
 
 January, 1891.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 i. 
 
 THIS cheerful and inspiring work, which, of all 
 modern inventions has most increased the gaiety 
 of nations and the public stock of harmless 
 pleasure, appeared over fifty years ago, and its 
 Jubilee has recently been celebrated by a sump- 
 tuous edition, the " Victoria," enriched with 
 " extra " illustrations, and notes explaining its 
 origin. Such is a tribute almost of affection ; 
 while any new information about its characters 
 seems to be always welcomed, much as are fresh 
 biographical details concerning some popular 
 favourite. During the last half-century all that 
 relates to the composition of the immortal book, 
 the allusions, the personal history of the author 
 and of all concerned, has been greedily sought for, 
 and gathered up ; the work itself has come to be 
 
 B
 
 2 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 treated as a classic, and laborious persons are 
 already exhausting themselves in commentaries, 
 collections and discussions on its text and illustra- 
 tions. None are so interested as our American 
 cousins, and, it may be added, the booksellers ; 
 while a standing entry in every catalogue is half 
 a column or so of " Pickwicks." 
 
 In this marvellous " Pickwick " panorama the 
 work of a young man of two -and- twenty, there 
 are some seventy or eighty characters, round, 
 clearly drawn, original, and distinct. Of these 
 about twenty are leading or working performers, 
 as they may be called, who carry the piece 
 regularly through, and appear in all the acts. 
 These are Mr. Pickwick, and his three friends, 
 Tupman, Winkle, and Snodgrass ; "Wardle, his 
 daughter Emily, and the " Fat Boy ;" Jingle and 
 Job Trotter; Ben Allen and Arabella ; Bob Sawyer, 
 Perker, with Lowten his clerk ; the two Wellers, 
 and Mary the pretty housemaid; Stiggins and 
 Mrs. Weller. In addition there are fifty and more 
 minor figures, who appear little more than once, 
 and then go their way. This amusing miscellany 
 is all marshalled without confusion or crowding, 
 and furnishes entertainment to the close. We 
 have only to call up the list to marvel at the 
 author's power of gay invention. We have 
 Dr. Slammer, Dr. Payne, and the widow; the 
 dockyard magnates; Mr. and Mrs. Pott, Slurk,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 3 
 
 the Leo Hunters, and Count Smorltork; the 
 spinster aunt and her mother, the " long game- 
 keeper," Magnus, Miss Withersfield, and Dowler. 
 Then come the characters of the Fleet : Roker, 
 Mivins, Smangle, the Cobbler, the Butcher, Par- 
 son, &c. ; the M.C. at Bath, with Lord Mutin- 
 hed ; the card-playing ladies, and the immortal 
 "Bath footmen;" Nupkins the Mayor, and his 
 servant Muzzle; the constable, Grummer, Dod- 
 son and Fogg and their clerks ; the attorney Pell, 
 Justice Stareleigh, Serjeants Buzfuz and Snubbin, 
 with the other barristers ; the chemist- jury man ; 
 Mrs. Cluppins and Mrs. Rogers, and old Winkle ; 
 to say nothing of a crowd of inferior characters 
 who appear but for a few moments, but who serve 
 their purpose, helping on the story and amusing 
 the reader. The remarkable thing is, that not 
 only are there characters of one class, but there 
 are classes of the same character all distinct. 
 
 The figures of Mr. Pickwick and his party are 
 known wherever an English story is read. A 
 more artistic and suitable character for suggest- 
 ing or provoking situations could not have been 
 devised. He is universally popular, and his popu- 
 larity is declared in all sorts of ways. At the 
 interesting Dickens sale, a set of small apostle 
 spoons ornamented with Pickwick figures were 
 fiercely contended for, and we recall the triumph 
 with which the late Andrew Halliday, one of the 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 master's own " merry men," displayed to us a 
 single spoon which he had secured for the enormous 
 price of sixty-nine odd pounds ! The Christmas- 
 trees in Germany and elsewhere are often hung 
 with Wellers, Winkles, &c., in their habits as they 
 were etched. The fund of happy and ready quota- 
 tions has been amply enriched by points and 
 allusions from the same story, the most useful and 
 humorous being that of " the Pickwickian sense," 
 which removes offence from an offensive speech. 
 The sale of this extraordinary work has never 
 flagged during fifty years, and we are told that, 
 since the death of the author, over a million 
 copies have been disposed of by its publishers. 
 One of the most touching, practical tributes 
 to the popularity of the story one which would 
 have given the author gratification is that 
 at the Bodleian Library, " they show a stained 
 and battered volume in the Eussian language, 
 which the besiegers of Sebastopol found among 
 the dreadful ruins of the Redan," a tattered 
 copy of " Pickwick." Topographers, Biblio- 
 graphers, critics, booksellers, annotators, artists, 
 have all been attracted and kept at work by this 
 extraordinary book. It may be said indeed, with- 
 out exaggeration, that there is a regular " Pick- 
 wick" literature. So real are the characters and 
 scenes, that in reading it over and over again, 
 we find no more sense of familiarity or same-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 5 
 
 ness than we do in meeting friends or acquaint- 
 ances. In these fictitious beings, as in real 
 life, we seem to discover on further intimacy 
 fresh points of interest which have escaped us 
 before. 
 
 The oft-told but always interesting story of the 
 origin of " Pickwick " has been clearly and satis- 
 factorily related by Mr. Forster, in his admirable 
 biography of the author. In its way it is as in- 
 teresting, and even romantic, as anything known 
 in the history of authorship. There was living in 
 Furnival's Inn, a bright, vivacious, energetic young 
 fellow, then a reporter on the press, and who 
 was indeed scarcely more than a magazine writer. 
 Young as he was not more than three and twenty 
 his childhood and youth had been the severest 
 discipline conceivable. He had passed through 
 much privation, had been familiar with the inside 
 of debtors' prisons, had been glad to snatch a 
 morsel at a tavern, like the " Fox under the Hill," a 
 SDrtof shanty on the river, which disappeared only 
 yesterday thus picking up a sort of " extensive 
 and .peculiar" knowledge of London life and 
 manners. These experiences he had already set 
 out in some vivid and amusing local sketches, 
 which had attracted attention. 
 
 But in 1835 came a chance which he hailed 
 with delight, and which promised an opening. It 
 really amounted to no more than a clever piece
 
 6 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 of " drudgery " which was to consist in 
 illustrating certain illustrations that were to be 
 executed by an artist of much popularity. This 
 was a combination then in favour. The public 
 was partial to a coarse sort of coloured 
 caricature, and illustrated adventure. The pub- 
 lishers of the present volume, Messrs. Chap- 
 man and Hall, were then at No. 186, Strand, and 
 it was Mr. Edward Chapman who was chiefly 
 concerned in arranging the plan. In a letter 
 dated July 7, 1849, he furnished his recollections 
 to the author himself which corresponded in 
 every particular with the latter' s own. Dickens's 
 account is given in the preface to the edition of 
 1847, and is an interesting piece of personal 
 history. 
 
 The way in which the happy chance offered 
 was this : 
 
 "In November," says Mr. Chapman, "we 
 published a little book called the ' Squib 
 Annual,' with plates by Seymour, and it was 
 during my visit to him, to see after them, 
 that he said he should like to do a series of 
 cockney sporting plates of a superior sort to 
 those he had already published. I said I thought 
 it might do if accompanied by letterpress and 
 published in monthly parts ; and this being agreed 
 to, we wrote to an author of " Three Courses and 
 a Dessert" (a Mr. Clarke). I proposed it; but
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 7 
 
 receiving no answer, the scheme dropped for 
 some months, till Seymour said he wished us to 
 decide, as another job had offered which would 
 fully occupy his time. And it was on -this we 
 decided to ask you to do it." As they had already 
 formed a connection with him, this was natural. 
 " But I am quite sure," he goes on, " that from 
 the beginning to the end nobody but yourself had 
 anything whatsoever to do with it." 
 
 It was evident that the intended new work was 
 little more than " a job," or piece of hack-work 
 as it might be called, in which the writer was to be 
 useful to Mr. Seymour. Mr. Buss states in his 
 memoir that others besides Dickens and Mr. 
 Clarke were thought of as literary " illustrators " 
 of the Illustrations. Leigh Hunt was at one time 
 proposed, and Mr. Mackenzie Bell tells us that 
 Charles Whitehead, a friend of Dickens, and 
 some years older, " used constantly to affirm that 
 he had been asked to write to Seymour's sketches; 
 but that feeling uncertain as to his being able to 
 supply the copy with regularity, he had recom- 
 mended Dickens." 
 
 Mr. Edward Chapman further relates the 
 nature of the contract between the firm and the 
 young author. " There was no agreement 
 about ' Pickwick ' except a verbal one. Each 
 number was to consist of a sheet and a half, for 
 which we were to pay fifteen guineas, and we
 
 8 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 paid him for the first two numbers at once, as 
 he required the money to go and get married 
 with. We were also to pay more according to 
 the sale, and I think "Pickwick" altogether 
 cost us three thousand pounds." Mr. Forster 
 thinks that the share of profit thus calculated 
 would have come to four times as much, and his 
 impression is that the sum received was not so 
 large. When arrangements were made for a 
 new venture it was agreed that, after five years, 
 the author should have a share in the copyright 
 of " Pickwick." But all through the firm behaved 
 to him with fairness and liberality. 
 
 " I was a young man of three-and-twenty, 
 when the publishers, attracted by some pieces 
 I was at that time writing in the Morning Chro- 
 nicle newspaper (of which one series had lately 
 been collected and published in two volumes, 
 illustrated by my esteemed friend, Mr. George 
 Cruikshank), waited upon me to propose a some- 
 thing that should be published in shilling numbers 
 then only known to me, or, I believe, to any- 
 body else, by a dim recollection of certain 
 interminable novels in that form, which used to 
 be carried about the country by pedlars, 
 
 " When I opened my door in Furnival's Inn to 
 the managing partner who represented the firm, 
 I recognized in him the person from whose hands 
 I had bought, two or three years previously, and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 9 
 
 whom I had never seen before or since, my first 
 copy of the Magazine in which my first effusion 
 dropped stealthily one evening at twilight, with 
 fear, and trembling, into a dark letter-box, in a 
 dark office, up a dark court in Fleet Street ap- 
 peared in all the glory of print ; on which memo- 
 rable occasion (how well I recollect it) I walked 
 down to Westminster Hal], and turned into it for 
 half-an-hour, because my eyes were so dimned 
 with joy and pride, that they could not bear the 
 street, and were not fit to be seen there. I told 
 my visitor of the coincidence, which we both 
 hailed as a good omen ; and so fell to business. 
 
 " The idea propounded to me, was, that the 
 monthly something should be a vehicle for certain 
 plates to be executed by Mr. Seymour ; and 
 there was a notion, either on the part of that ad- 
 mirable humorous artist, or of my visitor, that a 
 ' Nimrod Club ' would be the best means of intro- 
 ducing these. I objected, on consideration, that 
 although born and partly bred in the country, 
 I was no great sportsman." 
 
 "Within the memory of the present generation 
 there used to be in the Haymarket a well-known 
 print shop, whose windows displayed coloured 
 caricatures, chiefly representing sporting cock- 
 neys in old-fashioned costume strange beings, 
 whose guns were always going off by accident, 
 whose fishing-hooks caught in ladies' bonnets.
 
 io THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 These were coarsely drawn and highly coloured, 
 and underneath was usually some punning title, 
 such as " A Good Bite," &c. The favourite pur- 
 veyor for these things appears to have been this 
 Mr. Seymour, an artist of skill, but who seems to 
 have brought his humour down to the level of the 
 street public. Mr. Buss gives a very plausible 
 account of how the idea of a club came to suggest 
 itself to the artist. He lived at Islington, which 
 was then a great resort of cockney sportsmen, 
 who were ever firing at the cats and sparrows, 
 or fishing in the New River, and their oddities 
 impressed him forcibly. He himself was fond of 
 angling and of sport of all kinds. 
 
 He had the most marvellous fertility and facility 
 in his work; his sketches amount to thousands, 
 and display a great deal of clever invention. 
 Underneath each plate is put some rather 
 vulgar or " slangey " jest : these, however, 
 were condescensions to the public taste, for 
 he was capable of better things, had exhibited 
 at the Academy, and could etch with freedom 
 and refinement. It was the fashion then in the 
 trade that for such works the plate should be 
 the leading feature; the artist in fact told the 
 story as he pleased, and the author was expected 
 to " write up" to him. It was in this way that 
 Dr. Syntax had made such a success, the " hack " 
 Combe, from his prison furnishing copy to any
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 1 1 
 
 amount and for any subject. It seems to have 
 been expected that the young Dickens was to 
 follow the usual course. 
 
 Seymour had been engaged on a paper called 
 the Figaro, edited by a clever member of a witty, 
 clever family, and showed extraordinary ver- 
 satility and energy in his work. At one time he 
 took up " High Art," and retired with a fellow- 
 student to^practise his art, to that interesting old 
 monument near Islington, Canonbury Tower, 
 which has furnished shelter to Goldsmith and 
 other remarkable persons. The result of these 
 ardent studies was an enormous and ambitious 
 picture, representing scenes of German Diablerie, 
 " The Giant of the Brocken," " The Skeleton 
 Hunt," the " Casting of the Bullets " from " Der 
 Freischutz," and other goblin incidents. The 
 picture was exhibited without success, and the 
 artist soon abandoned this line. 
 
 Dickens, heartily accepting his role, tells us that 
 he put in Winkle "expressly for the use of Mr. Sey- 
 mour," who introduced one of his most favourite 
 types to represent him, and which figures in many 
 of the cockney sporting caricatures, with check 
 neckcloth, turned-up nose, and long gaiters. On 
 the green cover of " Pickwick " he is seen firing 
 at a spat-row. A design of this kind is also to be 
 found in one of the caricatures. 
 
 More interesting and a greater matter of
 
 12 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 discussion has been the question of the origin of 
 the central figure of the story, " the immortal 
 Pickwick." The first type for this personage 
 was, according to Mr. Chapman's statement, 1 
 " a long thin man. The present one he made 
 from my description of a friend of mine at 
 Eichmond, a fat old beau, who would wear, in 
 spite of ladies' protests, drab tights and gaiters. 
 His name was John Foster." 2 Seymour would 
 also appear to have designed Tupman and Snod- 
 grass, but they are rather indistinct and colourless. 
 His family, however, claimed that the gaiters, and 
 Pickwick himself, was his conception also, and an 
 attempt was made to support this by reference to 
 one of his old caricatures of a portly old gentleman 
 fishing. But there is little resemblance. 
 
 The very name of " Pickwick," so natural and 
 yet of quaint sound, unfamiliar, and yet recog- 
 nizable, was one of the happiest selections ever 
 made. It is interesting to consider how it came 
 to be suggested to him. It was said that when it 
 occurred to him, he rushed off: in triumph to the 
 publishers, calling out, " I have got it, ' Pick- 
 wick ' ! " 
 
 The coaches running between Bath and London 
 belonged to a well-known proprietor named Pick- 
 wick, of a family established in Bath. There can be 
 
 1 Forster's Life of Dickens i. 91. 
 
 2 Mr. Forster pleasantly calls attention to this odd coincidence.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 13 
 
 little doubt that Dickens had abundant experi- 
 ences of coaching, when on his reporting expedi- 
 tions, which brought this exceptional and quaint 
 name to his mind when he was looking out for one 
 for his hero. It had been better, according to strict 
 artistic propriety, that the master and servant had 
 not the same name, Samuel. But in this case, 
 "Sara " might be considered a different name from 
 " Samuel," for no one would think of calling 
 Mr. Pickwick " Sam," or his servant " Samuel." 
 
 It will be recollected how bewildered Sam was 
 at discovering the name of his master upon the 
 coach that was to take them to Bath : 
 
 " Here's rayther a rum go, sir," replied Sam. 
 
 " What ? " inquired Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 "This here, sir," rejoined Sam. "I'm wery 
 much afeerd, sir, that the properiator o' this here 
 coach is a playin' some imperence vith us." 
 
 "How is that, Sam?" said Mr. Pickwick; 
 " aren't the names down on the way-bill ? " 
 
 " The names is not only down on the vay-bill, 
 sir," replied Sam, "but they've painted vun on 
 'em up, on the door o' the coach." 
 
 " Dear me," exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, quite 
 staggered by the coincidence; "what a very 
 extraordinary thing ! " 
 
 "Yes, but that ain't all," said Sam, again 
 directing his master's attention to the coach 
 door; "not content vith writin' up Pickwick,
 
 14 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 they puts c Moses ' afore it, vich I call addin' 
 insult to injury," as he paused. 
 
 I have always fancied that Dickens could not 
 fairly have avoided noting the coincidence of 
 Mr. Pickwick's travelling in Pickwick's coach. 
 Having adopted the proprietor's name, he 
 probably wished to pass it off, in a good-natured 
 way, making a sort of amende by the bold 
 advertisement; or felt that unless he took 
 some notice of the fact, there would be orood- 
 
 7 O 
 
 natured persons to note it. 
 
 Mr. R. Peach, of Bath, who has written several 
 agreeable works on his native city, full of 
 interesting details, has furnished some facts 
 concerning the Pickwick family. " At the 
 close of the lasi; century," he writes to 
 me, { Sleazer Pickwick (from these names, 
 Eleazer and Moses, it must have been a Jewish 
 family), who had been for some years a postboy at 
 the Old Bear Inn, succeeded a Mr. Brockman 
 at the White Hart ; he made the hostelry very 
 popular and famous. He had two sons who 
 succeeded him, the elder of whom was the father 
 of Charles Pickwick and of Major Pickwick, who 
 was the father of Moses Pickwick. The old Pick, 
 wick, who kept the hotel and who. was living at 
 the time of Dickens' visit, died soon after, and was 
 succeeded by Mr. Cooper, but the posting and 
 coaching business was carried on by Moses, whom
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 15 
 
 I knew very well. Charles died before I came to 
 Bath, he left one son and two daughters. The 
 son entered the army, and for some reason changed 
 his name to Sainsbury." The reason probably 
 was the awkwardness of bearing a too familiar 
 name associated with grotesque adventures. 
 
 Thus far Mr. Peach's narrative. But it would 
 seem as if everything connected with the family 
 should have a quaint flavor". "Witness these 
 entries in a newspaper : 
 
 "In his 19th year, 1795, after a long, often 
 flattering, but at last fatal illness, Mr. "William 
 Pickwick, son of Mr. P. of the White Hart Inn, 
 Bath. He had been but a short period entered 
 at Oxford, when the rupture of a blood-vessel 
 impaired a constitution not naturally good, and 
 terminated in depriving society of a valuable 
 young man, his distressed parents of an only 
 child, as amiable in manner as his genius was 
 promising." And again : 
 
 " This evening (October, 1807), GeorgeHawkins, 
 driver of Mr. Pickwick's coach from Southampton 
 to Bath, was taken suddenly and very alarmingly 
 ill on Slander wick Common. When all apprehen- 
 sions of immediate danger were over, he was un- 
 willing to be carried to one of the neighbouring 
 cottages, and was at his own request removed to 
 the inside (of the coach), where he expired before 
 the coach reached Bath."
 
 1 6 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 This might have been one of Sam's own 
 very appropriate anecdotes related on the top 
 of the coach. Mr. Charles Pickwick died in 
 1835. A contributor to Notes and Queries, a paper 
 from which I have taken much that is interesting 
 about the story, writing in 1887, says that there 
 was then living in Penarth, close to Cardiff, an 
 efficient police officer, Sergeant Eleazer Pickwick. 
 And a friend informs me that there is, or was 
 until lately, engaged on the coach running 
 between Ross and Pontypool, a well-known and 
 exceedingly popular guard of the name of Pick- 
 wick. 
 
 In the first two numbers the author seems to 
 have accepted as a type for his hero a rather 
 disagreeable, sour and " cantankerous " cast of 
 person. He had not, however, as yet developed the 
 milder and more placid elements in Mr. Pickwick's 
 character. He was much pleased with the pains the 
 artist took to realize his ideas. Witness the modest 
 letter, to be quoted later, which he addressed to 
 him in reference to one of the illustrations. 
 
 Two or three years ago a curious and amusing 
 coincidence brought the author's son, a barrister 
 in good practice, into connection with his father's 
 famous book. It occurred at a trial on the 
 circuit. 
 
 Mr. Dickens, who was counsel for the defence, 
 announced that he meant to call Mr. Pickwick.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 17 
 
 The judge entered into the humour of the thing. 
 " Pickwick," he said, " is a very appropriate 
 character to be called by Dickens", (laughter). 
 With much pleasantness the advocate replied : 
 " I fully believe that the sole reason why I was 
 instructed in this case was that I might call Mr. 
 Pickwick" (laughter), " and it may interest your 
 lordship to learn that the witness is a descendant, 
 a grandnephew, I believe, of Mr. Moses Pickwick 
 who kept a coach at Bath, and that I have every 
 reason to believe that it was from this Moses 
 Pickwick that the name of the immortal Pick- 
 wick was taken. I daresay your lordship will 
 remember that that very eccentric and faithful 
 follower of Mr. Pickwick Sam Weller seeing 
 his name outside of the coach, was indignant 
 because he thought it was a personal reflection 
 upon his employer." This little bit of comedy 
 harmonizes well with our old Pickwickian asso- 
 ciations. 
 
 Meanwhile the young author had lost not a 
 moment in setting to work ; and, full of spirit and 
 overflowing with humorous ideas, got ready his 
 opening chapters. 
 
 On March 26th, 1836, the following advertise- 
 ment appeared in The Times : 
 
 " THE PICKWICK PAPERS. 
 " On the thirty-first of March will be published,
 
 i8 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 to be continued monthly, price Is., the first 
 number of The Posthumous Papers of the Piclaviclc 
 Club, containing a faithful record of the peram- 
 bulations, perils, travels, adventures, and sport- 
 ing transactions of the corresponding members. 
 Edited by ' Boz.' Each monthly part em- 
 bellished with four illustrations by Seymour. 
 Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand, and all Book- 
 sellers." 3 
 
 "We may assume that it was thought that 
 " Boz " would be a more attractive name than the 
 then obscure one of " Charles Dickens." The 
 first number was arranged in the well-known 
 "green leaves" which for over fifty years were 
 to be the familiar joy of every lover of harmless 
 pleasure. Their success at first was not remark- 
 able indeed the venture would seem to have 
 "hung fire" a little. 
 
 Seymour prepared some seven illustrations in 
 all, of which four were to appear in the first 
 number. Some of these are excellent in the 
 drawing and composition done with a firm touch 
 and much dramatic spirit, and in a wholly different 
 style from that of his caricatures ; and there is 
 no scene we recall better than that of Jingle's 
 
 3 On the same day was announced the first part of the 
 "Library of Fiction," containing " The Tuggs's at Eamsgate," 
 by Boz, and also some recognizable Pickwickian figures by 
 Seymour, such as Jingle and Doctor Slammer.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 19 
 
 altercation on the stairs with Dr. Slammer. 
 Jingle's attitude is excellent. So with the draw- 
 ing of the " tall quadruped." The horse, in his 
 struggle, is admirably sketched, and capitally 
 modelled. It is superior in these points to one 
 substituted for it later. Mr. C. Thomson, in bis 
 handsome volume on Hablot Browne, gives a 
 facsimile of one of the original drawings for the 
 Stroller's Tale, which is really graceful and spirited. 
 It is after Rowlandson's fashion, outlined with 
 a pen, and lightly washed or tinted with water- 
 colour. His etchings indeed promised well, and 
 would no doubt have improved as he felt his way. 
 It is, however, worth noting that the face and 
 character of Mr. Pickwick had not then been 
 settled, and in the altercation with the cabman 
 and the club scene it appears very hostile and 
 uninviting. 
 
 The news of the important contract the author 
 communicated to his betrothed, Miss Kate 
 Hogarth, on one evening in 1835, when the 
 responsibility of his venture obliged him to deny 
 himself the pleasure of a visit to her. "My 
 dearest Kate, the house is up, but I am very sorry 
 to say I must stay at home. I have had a visit 
 from the publishers this morning, and the story 
 cannot be any longer delayed ; it must be done to- 
 morrow. As there are more important considera- 
 tions than the mere payment for the story involved 
 
 c 2
 
 2O THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 too, I must exercise a little self-denial and set 
 to work. They (Chapman and Hall) have made 
 me an offer of fourteen pounds a month, to write 
 and edit a new publication they contemplate, 
 entirely by myself, to be published monthly, and 
 each number to contain four woodcuts. I am to 
 make my estimate and calculations, and to give 
 them a decisive answer on Friday morning. The 
 work will be no joke, but the emolument is too 
 tempting to resist." This characteristic letter is 
 the most interesting piece associated with Pick- 
 wick, or, indeed, with the course of the author. 
 He was but just twenty-three, and it shows the 
 reserve and self-denial of one far older the 
 thoughtful restraint which takes time to consider 
 before deciding. "But the emolument is too tempt- 
 ing to resist." How natural and characteristic 
 is this ! He seemed to be quite delighted with the 
 modest honorarium. Shortly after the arrange- 
 ment was concluded, Mr. James Grant, who had 
 taken the editorship of the " Monthly Magazine," 
 to which Dickens had furnished " Mrs. Joseph 
 Porter" and other pieces, applied to him to 
 continue his contributions. The young writer 
 wrote that he had just concluded with Messrs. 
 Chapman and Hall, and that he would be obliged 
 to raise his terms to eight guineas a sheet, or ten 
 shillings a page.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 21 
 
 In an "illustrated" copy of the Forster Life, 
 prepared by Mr. Harvey of St. James's Street, 
 there was a letter of Dickens' to Harley, the 
 actor, which shows how devotedly he applied 
 to his task : " I am so engaged with my 
 respectable friend Pickwick, on whom I have 
 only just commenced, that I cannot get out this 
 week." 
 
 In the same ardent spirit he wrote to his be- 
 trothed after the work had commenced, excusing 
 himself from a visit. "I have at this moment got 
 Pickwick and his friends on the Rochester coach, 
 and they are going on swimmingly, in company 
 with a very different character from any I have 
 yet described, who I flatter myself will make a 
 decided hit. I want to get them from the Ball 
 to the Inn before I go to bed, and I think that will 
 take me until one or two o'clock at the earliest. 
 The publishers will be here in the morning, so 
 you will readily suppose I have no alternative but 
 to stick at my desk." This short scrap gives 
 a fair notion of the spirit and high pressure, 
 under which the work was carried out by all 
 concerned. 
 
 The passage " I want to get them from the 
 Ball to the Inn," seems to indicate that his first 
 intention was to exhibit Mr. Pickwick and all his 
 friends at the Rochester Ball ; so that it would
 
 22 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 almost appear that the capital device of the 
 borrowing of the coat, and Mr. Winkle's 
 adventure, had been an inspiration that came 
 to him as he wrote. We can fancy it would 
 have been amusing enough to have seen Mr. 
 Pickwick figuring away at the dance. On the 
 other hand " them" may have been intended only 
 for Jingle and Tupman. 
 
 It will be seen also from his little note that he 
 was accustomed to give his friends an anticipatory 
 enjoyment of his plans and characters, 'and to 
 consult with them on the treatment. This was 
 his fashion all through ; and it bespeaks his open 
 and unaffected nature. Indeed, it is said that 
 at this time his Pickwick used to be read to a few 
 friends by Talfourd, and criticisms and sugges- 
 tions were freely given and adopted. 
 
 We must always look with interest at Furnival's 
 Inn, No. 15 now marked with one of the Society 
 of Arts tablets where he wrote the larger por- 
 tion of the " Pickwick Papers," a year's work 
 from March to March. He married his wife two 
 days after the appearance of the first number 
 of the work, and in the March of the following 
 year removed to Doughty Street, No. 48, where 
 the last portion of Pickwick was written. 
 
 Some little versicles written to the printers or 
 engravers have been preserved, and were lately 
 " sold in America " for a large sum.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 23 
 
 Private and Confidential. 
 To MR. HICKS. 
 
 Oh, Mr. Hick 
 
 s, I'm heartily sick 
 
 Of this sixteenth Pickwick, 
 
 "Which is just in the nick 
 
 For the publishing trick, 
 
 And will read nice and slick 
 
 If you'll only he quick, 
 
 I don't write on tick, 
 
 That's my comfort, avick. 
 
 Mr. James Grant insists that the early numbers 
 rather fell flat, or, as he puts it, were " a signal 
 failure," and adds that " Charles Tilt, the book- 
 seller, out of friendship for the firm, made great 
 exertions to push the sale, taking 1500 copies of 
 each number, which he sent into the country " on 
 sale or return," as it is called. He even goes so 
 far as to say it was proposed to stop the whole 
 when Seymour died, but that on the appearance 
 of Samuel Weller, the flagging interest revived. 
 All which is most inaccurate, and inconsistent 
 with well-established facts. It, may however, 
 represent the story current in " the trade." * 
 
 4 He adds some further mythical details as to Dickens' re- 
 muneration ; how the firm "gave Dickens a present of 500Z. 
 in November," and more by-and-by, amounting in all to 3500Z., 
 while the publishers netted over 20,OOOZ. This, however, is 
 nothing to what appears in the preface to a French translation 
 of the little story of "The Baron Grogswig," an elegant little
 
 24 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The general tumultuous success that attended 
 the work became pronounced after the appearance 
 of Sam Weller, when the whole kingdom was read- 
 ing the numbers, in a state of eager expectancy 
 and delight. As Mr. Croker tells us, a notable 
 and exceptional point in this success was, that, 
 " with the exception of occasional extracts in 
 the newspapers, he received little or no assist- 
 ance from the Press. Yet, in less than six months 
 from the appearance of the first number of the 
 Pickwick Papers, the whole reading world was 
 talking about them the names of "Winkle, Wardle, 
 Weller, Snodgrass, Dodson and Fogg, had be- 
 come familiar in our mouths as Household Words. 
 Nay, Pickwick chintzes figured in linen-drapers' 
 windows, and Weller corduroys in breeches- 
 makers' advertisements ; Boz cabs might be seen 
 rattling through the streets, and the portrait of the 
 author of Pelham or Crichton was scraped down 
 or pasted over to make room for that of the new 
 popular favourite in the omnibuses." 5 There 
 
 book, prettily illustrated. M. de Bedoliere there speaks of the 
 50,000 subscribers to Pickwick, and of two American editions, 
 each of 100,000 copies. The author, according to this authority, 
 received 5QL for the first number, 100?. for the third, and for 
 the whole, 16,OOOZ! 
 
 6 This was a characteristic element in the conduct of what is 
 called " the vehicular traffic " of the city. Now the omnibus 
 traveller is recreated with portraits of some popular performer, 
 or notability.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 25 
 
 were to be seen " Pickwick canes," " Pickwick 
 gaiters," " Pickwick Hats," with narrow curled 
 brims; and even tobacco-stoppers. Many years 
 later a tobacco-merchant brought out a small, 
 cheap and convenient cigar, " the penny Pick- 
 wick," which has ever since been patronized by 
 'Arry when out for his holiday. 
 
 A further testimonial to this popularity was the 
 formation of " Pickwick clubs " all over the 
 kingdom, in which the members supported the 
 characters, or at least took the names of Winkle, 
 Weller, &c. Even in our day the tradition is kept 
 by one of the most flourishing of bicycle clubs, 
 "the Pickwick," and many of these pages have 
 been written, appropriately, with a " Pickwick " 
 pen. 6 There are still sold Pickwick menus. 
 
 Mr. Carlyle's graphic testimony to its popularity 
 is well known. "An Archdeacon," he wrote to 
 Forster, " with his own venerable lips repeated to 
 me the other night, a strange profane story of a 
 solemn clergyman, who had been administering 
 ghostly consolation to a sick person : having 
 finished satisfactorily as he thought, and got out 
 of the room, he heard the sick man ejaculate, 
 '"Well, thank God, Pickwick will be out in ten 
 days any way.' On the whole, I think nothing 
 
 Advertised for years in the familiar couplet: 
 They come as a boon and a blessing to men, 
 The Waverley, Owl, and Pickwick pen.
 
 26 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 more forcible or better than this has been said of 
 Pickwick." This passage is quite Pickwickian in 
 character, and the sketch of the patient turning 
 wearily from his proper clerical comforter, to the 
 ephemeral instalment of the story, has a grim air 
 of humour. 
 
 "How I envy," says Mr. Herman Merivale, "the 
 generation which read Pickwick as it came out in 
 numbers, and my father has told me that it was 
 the phenomenon of the time. My grandfather's 
 whole family of sons and daughters (a very 
 large one), used to cluster round him to hear 
 number after number read out to them. He always 
 studied them himself for an hour or two, in order 
 to be able to read them aloud with decent gravity, 
 and his apoplectic struggles and occasional shouts 
 made them feel bad longing for their turn." 
 Another thus forcibly recalls the same feverish 
 enjoyment with which each instalment was awaited. 
 " Few works of this or any other age have enjoyed 
 greater or more universal popularity. The unani- 
 mous (with one or two modified exceptions) approval 
 of the press ; the unprecedented sale of copies : 
 the feverish anxiety with which every one watched 
 the coming ' first ' as being to usher in a new 
 number of the engrossing series ; the voracious 
 eagerness with which each precious morsel was 
 literally devoured as soon as presented ; the feel- 
 ing of half disappointment, half anticipation in
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 27 
 
 which we closed each number, with the knowledge 
 that a long month must elapse before curiosity 
 could be satisfied or anxiety relieved these 
 every reader will recollect as furnishing an index 
 of public favour." But the most impressive testi- 
 mony to this success is Miss Mitford's letter of 
 rebuke to some incurious Dublin friends who 
 knew nothing of Pickwick : 
 
 " So you never heard of the Pickwick Papers ! 
 Well, they publish a number once a month, and 
 print 25,000. It is fun London life but with- 
 out anything unpleasant ; a lady might read it 
 aloud; and this so graphic, so individual, and so 
 true, that you could courtesy to all the people as 
 you see them in the streets. I did think there had 
 not been a place where English is spoken, to which 
 Boz had not penetrated. All the boys and girls talk 
 his fun the boys in the streets ; and yet those 
 who are of the highest taste like it the most. Sir 
 Benjamin Brodie takes it to read in his carriage 
 between patient and patient ; and Lord Denman 
 studies Pickwick on the Bench while the jury are 
 deliberating. Do take, some means to borrow the 
 'Pickwick Papers.' It seems like not having 
 heard of Hogarth." This unaffected belief in the 
 reality of the story, with a sort of compassion 
 for the benighted creatures who " had never 
 heard of Pickwick," is a truly genuine tribute.
 
 II. 
 
 ONPJ reason for the exuberance and the life-like 
 originality which distinguished the characters of 
 the new story has, I think, not been suggested 
 before. In those happy, buoyant days, when 
 the author was busy with newspaper work, he 
 was encountering the varieties that are found 
 in courts and taverns, as well as all the curious 
 adventurers who " hung loose " upon this sort of 
 society. N"o one was more accessible, or met every 
 one so much " half -way," as it is called, a charm 
 which he retained to the end of his life. His 
 quick eye, therefore, caught up and appropriated 
 all odd types of character in abundance, wherever 
 he encountered them. At that time he appears to 
 have been a most brilliant, clever being, exuberant 
 in fancy and full of life. 
 
 But as he prospered, and rose out of this sphere, 
 the old opportunities became lost to him, and he 
 ceased to encounter these inspiring if grotesque 
 types. He had then to trust to his imagination 
 and invention. Hence those more fanciful figures 
 which crowd his later stories, and whose attrac-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 29 
 
 tion rests upon curious turns and oddities of 
 manner and speech, and which are admired for 
 their ingenuity rather than for their nature. 
 
 His friend Forster had an important share in 
 the revision and correction of proofs, and was 
 entrusted, in the author's absence, with the nice 
 duty of " cutting," when there was an excess of 
 matter. We thus have not all that the author 
 wrote in his pleasant exuberance and superabun- 
 dance of ideas ; and whereas, in later works, he 
 was generally " short" of matter to fill a number, 
 in Pickwick there was nearly always an overplus 
 which had to be compressed or cut away. 1 
 
 To Forster, when he reached No. 15, he wrote 
 full of enthusiasm for his work he was " getting 
 on like a house o' fire," and thought the next 
 Pickwick would " bang all the others." In this 
 was the well-known account of the Fleet Prison 
 and the debtors. " Every point was a telling one," 
 says his friend, " and the truthfulness of the 
 whole unerring. The dreadful restlessness of the 
 place, undefined and yet unceasing, was pictured 
 throughout with De Foe's minute reality." That 
 dreadful restlessness actually expresses the tone of 
 his description, which is apart from its details, and 
 could only be imparted by one who was inspired by 
 
 1 We find him writing to Forster, "I send you revise of the 
 Pickwick by Fred, you will see my alterations of it are very 
 slight."
 
 3O THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 a vivid sense of what lie was drawing. Mr. Forster 
 notes a fine point in his character in the indiffer- 
 ence he showed to any praise of his work " on the 
 literary side," compared with its higher recog- 
 nition as bits of real life, set forth with the 
 purpose of doing good to his fellow-creatures. 
 Pickwick might seem to be an exception, from its 
 jovial, farcical character; but a "first Book" has 
 its immunities and privileges. He had to feel his 
 way and make sure of his ground. " It has been 
 often noted that the later portion seemed incon- 
 sistent with the first, not only in its more serious 
 tone which this sense of responsibility made 
 him adopt but in the actual characters ;" and this 
 charge was ingeniously justified by the author for 
 this reason. He argued " that the mere oddities 
 of a friend were apt to strike us at first ; but as 
 we grow acquainted with him the better and more 
 serious qualities reveal themselves." 
 
 This trusty friend of nearly forty years whom 
 he was then addressing as "My dear sir," was 
 editing the Examiner, and, as the work went on, 
 identified himself thoroughly and generously with 
 the interests of the author. When the work 
 reached the fifteenth number he wrote a review of 
 it which was cordial and enthusiastic. It will be 
 interesting to note how ardent were these praises. 
 "In this number the author has achieved his 
 masterpiece. Every point tells and the reality of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 31 
 
 the whole is wonderful. We place the picture by 
 the side of those of the greatest; masters of this 
 style of fiction in our language, and it rises in 
 comparison." 
 
 He then speaks of "the exquisite sketches of 
 Mr. Smangle and his friends. All is real life and 
 human nature. Ifc is not a collection of humorous 
 or pathetic dialogues about people who have no 
 tangible existence in the mind ; but it is a succes- 
 sion of actual scenes, the actors of which take a 
 place in the memory. We recognize in this fine 
 writer a maturing excellence which promises at no 
 distant day the very greatest accomplishment of 
 that great style in which Fielding, honouring 
 humanity while he exalts literature, achieved those 
 books which are now appealed to as we appeal to 
 truth or nature. We see in every succeeding 
 work he takes in hand a superior insight into the 
 general principles of character^ joining itself to 
 the old and exquisite representations of local 
 peculiarities and humours ; and we can rarely now 
 find anything that approaches to caricature with- 
 out finding also some very shrewd and sound 
 truths concealed beneath it. 
 
 " The illustrations are as usual full of excellent 
 character. The ease and skill with which they 
 are drawn are among the least of his merits, they 
 leave an artistic feeling and amazement most rare 
 in things of the kind."
 
 32 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 It is strange to think that the composition of 
 this festive, jocund work, presumed to have been 
 written in a whirl of good spirits, should have 
 been marked by two events of a very tragic kind. 
 The first, which occurred before the second number 
 was reached, was the death of the illustrator, 
 almost at starting. This alone might have proved 
 a serious check to the success of the work, and, 
 but for the good luck which attended the spirited 
 author, might have shipwrecked it altogether. 
 The other was the death of his wife's sister. 
 
 The young writer had only a short time before 
 written to Seymour with a kindness and tact 
 remarkable in one of his years : 
 
 " Furnival's Inn, No. 8a. 
 
 " Mr DEAE SIR, I had intended to write to you, 
 to say how much gratified I feel by the pains you 
 have bestowed on our mutual friend Mr. Pickwick, 
 and how much the result of your labours has sur- 
 passed my expectations. I am happy to be able 
 to congratulate you, the publishers and myself, on 
 the success of the undertaking, which appears to 
 have been most complete. I have now another 
 reason for troubling you. It is this. I am 
 extremely anxious about the Stroller's Tale, the 
 more especially as many literary friends on whose 
 judgment I place great reliance, think it will 
 create considerable sensation. I have seen your 
 design for an etching to accompany it. I think
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 33 
 
 it extremely good, but still it is not quite my 
 idea ; and as I feel so very solicitous to have it 
 as complete as possible I shall feel personally 
 obliged to you if you will make another drawing. 
 It will give me great pleasure to see you, as well 
 as the drawing, when it is complete, with this 
 view I have asked Chapman and Hall to take a 
 glass of grog with me on Sunday evening (the 
 only night on which I am disengaged), when 
 I hope you will be able to look in. The 
 alterations I want, I will endeavour to explain. 
 I think the woman should be younger, the dismal 
 man decidedly should, and he should be less 
 miserable in appearance. To communicate an 
 interest to the plate, his whole appearance should 
 express more sympathy and solicitude, and while 
 I represented the sick man as emaciated and 
 dying, I would not make him too repulsive. The 
 furniture of the room you have depicted admirably. 
 I have ventured to make these suggestions, feel- 
 ing assured that you will consider them in the 
 spirit in which I submit them to your judgment. 
 I shall be happy to hear from you that I may 
 expect to see you on Sunday evening." 
 
 2 It may be mentioned here that the Athenceum did not favour 
 " Pickwick :" 
 
 " A wit or humourist should remind you of human nature 
 in its vivid and lustrous colours and not hunt you back to a 
 foregone work. The writer of the periodical (for such it is) 
 
 D
 
 34 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 But the catastrophe which was to be so perilous 
 for the interests of " Pickwick " was at hand. 
 Though a person of gay and pleasant disposition, 
 the artist had latterly been much depressed. 
 This state of mind seems to have had little or 
 no relation to a quarrel with the Figaro, with 
 which he had renewed his connection. The 
 truth was, he was overwhelmed with work, as, 
 indeed, the vast number of his sketches in every 
 direction and form, proves. It was likely enough 
 that his sketches did not give complete satisfac- 
 tion to the proprietors of " Pickwick," but no 
 doubt the strain of getting ready no less than four 
 illustrations for a number was excessive. The 
 " copy," too, was delayed to the last moment, and 
 could have left him little time. As, however, he 
 was so facile a workman he had contributed no 
 less than 300 designs to the Figaro and could 
 dash off his designs rapidly, one is not inclined to 
 lay much stress upon this. On April 20th, on the 
 eve of the appearance of the second number, he was 
 found to have committed suicide. This he carried 
 out in the most deliberate manner. He retired to a 
 
 which is now before us has great cleverness, but he runs closely 
 upon some leading hounds in the humorous pack, and when he 
 gives tongue (perchance a vulgar tongue) he reminds you of the 
 bay of several deep dogs who have gone before. The ' Pickwick 
 Papers ' are in part made up of two pounds of Smollett, three 
 ounces of Sterne, a handful of Hook, a dash of a grammatical 
 Pierce Egan, incidents at pleasure served with an original sauce."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 35 
 
 summer-house in the back garden of his house at 
 Islington, and, attaching a string to the trigger of 
 a fowling-piece, shot himself through the head. 
 Much commiseration was shown for the fate of 
 the unfortunate artist, and the following accounts 
 appeared in the papers : 
 
 " Mr. R. Seymour, the caricaturist, it appears, 
 with all his relish for and quick perception 
 of the humorous, was subject to dreadful 
 fits of despondency and melancholy, in one of 
 which he committed suicide. He was undoubtedly 
 a man of considerable talent, at his outset there 
 was too much of mannerism in his designs, and 
 that mannerism was not original. But latterly, 
 especially, in his illustrations of the ' Book of 
 Christmas ' and the c Library of Fiction,' he 
 gave good promise of being a distinguished artist. 
 He supplied, we believe, from its commencement 
 to his death, a period of nearly five years, the 
 political sketches of the Figaro." 
 
 An address, dated April 27th, and written by 
 Dickens, was issued with the next number. It 
 spoke in sympathetic terms of the loss of the 
 artist : 
 
 "We do not allude to this distressing event in the 
 vain hope of adding by an eulogium of ours to the 
 respect in which Mr. Seymour's memory is held 
 by all who ever knew him. Arrangements are in 
 progress which will enable us to present the 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 ensuing number of the ' Pickwick Papers ' on an 
 improved plan which we trust will give entire 
 satisfaction to our readers." 
 
 After the artist's death, the connection was des- 
 tined to be the source of annoyance to the author. 
 Almost at once the family began to put forward a 
 claim that their deceased relative was entitled to 
 the credit of originating the idea of "Pickwick." 
 A pamphlet or leaflet of a few leaves only now 
 extraordinarily scarce, and for a single copy of 
 which ten pounds was asked some years ago 3 
 was circulated, in which this claim was seriously 
 maintained. Seymour, it urged, was an amateur 
 gardener, and his experiences and failures in this 
 direction suggested to him the subject of " Pick- 
 wick and his Club." He offered it to Mr. Spooner, 
 the well-known print-seller, and etched some 
 plates as a beginning. This' was in 1835. 
 In the following year Mr. Chapman called on 
 him and mentioned " Pickwick " to him, with a 
 proposal that it should be issued in half-guinea 
 volumes, but the artist insisted on the " numbers " 
 or "parts." " Boz " was, as we have seen, called in : 
 they concocted the details together, and Seymour 
 having one of his four plates before him, repre- 
 senting a poor author in a garret, suggested the 
 
 3 This seems an enormous price, but last year a copy was 
 sold at Mr. Mackenzie's sale for over seven times that 
 amount.
 
 TUB HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 37 
 
 subject of "The Stroller's Tale," which was 
 adopted. Dickens, he said, was to receive 15L a 
 month ; he himself, though reported to have 5Z. 
 for each drawing, really only had II. 15s. 
 " Pickwick " was already exhibited in a series 
 of plates called " The Heiress." One of his 
 plates he had brought to Dickens on a particular 
 Sunday, but returned home much discontented, 
 and from that time whatever time it was did 
 nothing more for " Pickwick," destroying all his 
 corrections, &c. 
 
 Such was this very incoherent story, which is 
 disposed of by Mr. Chapman's version already 
 given, and by the admission that the artist was 
 allowed the full credit of designing Mr. Winkle, 
 and of suggesting the sporting character of 
 the story. This idea, as Dickens said, was to 
 have been enlarged " for the benefit of Mr. Sey- 
 mour," so that his hitherto scattered caricatures 
 of this kind might now have a sort of cohesion, 
 owing to the advantage of narration. But nearly 
 thirty years later the claim was once more put 
 forward with more particularity : and, in an 
 indignant strain, the author wrote to the 
 Athenceum, on March 31st, 1866, to repudiate the 
 whole story : 
 
 " Mr. Seymour, the artist, never originated, 
 suggested, or in any way had to do with, save 
 as illustrator of what I devised, an incident, a
 
 38 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 character (except the sporting tastes of Mr. 
 "Winkle), a name, a phrase, or a word to be found 
 in the * Pickwick Papers.' 
 
 " I never saw Mr. Seymour's handwriting, I 
 believe, in my life. 
 
 " I never even saw Mr. Seymour but once in my 
 life, and that was within eight-and-forty hours of 
 his untimely death. Two persons, both still living, 
 were present on that short occasion. Mr. Sey- 
 mour died when only twenty-four printed pages 
 of the ' Pickwick Papers ' were published ; I think 
 before the next twenty-four pages were completely 
 written ; I am sure before one subsequent line of 
 the book was inserted." 
 
 In a letter to his son, the author throws some 
 more light on the subject : 
 
 " 6, Southwick Place, Hyde Park, 
 " April 4th, 1866. 
 
 " MY DEAR CHAELEY, There has been going on 
 for years an attempt on the part of Seymour's 
 widow, to extort money from me, by representing 
 that he had some inexplicable and ill-used part 
 in the invention of Pickwick ! ! ! I have dis- 
 regarded it until now, except that I took the 
 precaution some years ago, to leave among 
 my few papers Edward Chapman's testimony to 
 the gross falsehood and absurdity of the idea. 
 
 " But last week I wrote a letter to the Athenceum 
 about it, in consequence of Seymour's son re-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 39 
 
 viving the monstrosity. I stated in that letter 
 that I had never so much as seen Seymour but 
 once in my life, and that was some eight-and- 
 forty hours before his death. I stated also that 
 two persons still living were present at the short 
 interview. Those were your uncle Frederick and 
 your mother. I wish you would ask your mother 
 to write to you, for my preservation among the 
 aforesaid few papers, a note giving you her re- 
 membrance of that evening of Frederick's after- 
 wards knocking at our door before we were up, to 
 tell us that it was in the papers that Seymour had 
 shot himself, and of his perfect knowledge that the 
 poor little man and 1 looked upon each other for 
 the first and last time that night in Furnival's 
 Inn. It seems a superfluous precaution, but I take 
 it for the sake of our descendants long after. 
 " Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 "C. D." 
 
 In a new preface, added later, he also took 
 care to put on record his view of this transaction: 
 
 "It is with great unwillingness that I notice 
 some intangible and incoherent assertions which 
 have been made, professedly on behalf of Mr. Sey- 
 mour, to the effect that he had some share in the 
 invention of this book, or of anything in it, not 
 faithfully described in the foregoing paragraph. 
 With the moderation that is due equally to my 
 respect for the memory of a brother-artist and to
 
 4o THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 my self-respect, I confine myself to placing on 
 record here the facts : 
 
 " That Mr. Seymour never originated or sug- 
 gested an incident, a phrase, or a word, to be 
 found in this book. That Mr. Seymour died 
 when only twenty-four pages of this book were 
 published, and when assuredly not forty-eight 
 were written. That I believe I never saw Mr. 
 Seymour's handwriting in my life. That I never 
 saw Mr. Seymour but once in my life, and that 
 was on the night but one before his death, when 
 he certainly offered no suggestion whatsoever. 
 That I saw him then in the presence of two 
 persons both living, perfectly acquainted with all 
 these facts, and whose written testimony to them 
 I possess. Lastly, that Mr. Edward Chapman 
 (the survivor of the original firm of Chapman and 
 Hall) has set down in writing, for similar preser- 
 vation, his personal knowledge of the origin and 
 progress of this book, of the monstrosity of the 
 baseless assertions in question, and (tested by 
 details) even of the self-evident impossibility of 
 there being any truth in them. In the exercise 
 of the forbearance on which I have resolved, I do 
 not quote Mr. Edward Chapman's account of his 
 deceased partner's reception, on a certain occasion, 
 of the pretences in question." 
 
 Nothing but the brilliancy of the young author 
 and the spirit of the publishers could have saved
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 41 
 
 the venture after this serious check, at its 
 very starting. Yet the loss of Seymour, tragic 
 as were the circumstances, was certainly an 
 unmixed benefit ; for had he continued to be 
 connected with it, the "sporting" character of 
 the work must have developed ; and scenes and 
 situations would have had to be supplied, or " put 
 in for the benefit of Mr. Seymour ;" and the writer 
 have been unable to take that free, unfettered 
 course which has made the book what it is. 4 
 
 4 Seymour furnished some clever etchings to a little book, 
 published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall in 1835, and called 
 " The Squib Annual." One of the plates represents a sort of 
 prison yard, and the warder is somewhat of an anticipation of 
 Mr. Pickwick, having his short portly figure, low-crowned hat, 
 shorts and boots.
 
 III. 
 
 THE embarrassment caused to the new venture 
 by this casualty was excessive. An artist had to 
 be supplied at once, and it was difficult to know 
 to whom to apply. Who was now to work out the 
 "sporting-cockney" theme, for which Seymour 
 had such a gift ? In the new number the in- 
 dulgence of the public was humbly solicited : 
 
 " Some apology is due to our readers with only 
 three plates. When we say they comprise Mr. 
 Seymour's last efforts, and that upon one of them 
 in particular (the Stroller's Tale) he was engaged 
 to a late hour of the night preceding his death, 
 we feel confident the excuse will be deemed a 
 sufficient one. 
 
 " Some time must elapse before the void the 
 deceased gentleman has left can be filled up. 
 The blank his death has occasioned in the society 
 which his amiable nature won and his talents 
 adorned, we can hardly hope to see supplied." 
 
 In the dearth of suitable talent for the purpose 
 Cruikshank and Seymour were indeed the only
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 43 
 
 etchers of reputation the publishers esteemed 
 themselves fortunate in having selected an 
 artist of note viz. Mr. Buss. This gentle- 
 man was a painter of much merit, and had 
 exhibited at the Academy. He had a talent 
 for painting pictures suitable for engraving and 
 likely to hit the public taste. One of these, which 
 was highly popular, exhibited " Sir Walter Ealeigh 
 smoking his first pipe," where the consternation of 
 the servant on entering is humorously conveyed. 1 
 Mr. John Jackson, a well-known wood-engraver, 
 at the time working for the firm, had been applied 
 to, to help them out of their difficulty, and sug- 
 gested this artist, who was unacquainted with the 
 mystery of etching. He had been a pupil of that 
 capital theatrical portrait-painter, Clint, and was 
 employed to illustrate Cumberland's " British 
 Theatre" with sketches of Harley and other 
 comedians. We may suppose, however, from his 
 acquaintance with Jackson, that he could design 
 on the wood. Sixteen years later we find him, 
 in announcing a course of lectures, thus describing 
 himself : " Mr. R. W. Buss, painter, designer on 
 
 1 Another picture now in the possession of his son, the Rev. 
 Alfred Buss, was even more popular. It is entitled " Satis- 
 faction," and represents with bitter irony the issue of a duel, in 
 which one of the combatants has been killed and the other 
 mortally wounded. The scene is dramatically expressed, and 
 the costumes the long cloaks, caps, &c.,are quite Pickwickian.
 
 44 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 wood, and etcher, begs to inform the committee," 
 &c. 
 
 One of the firm now waited on him and ex- 
 plained their difficult situation, promising, more- 
 over, due consideration for his lack of practice. 
 His son, Mr. Alfred Buss, writes : " After much 
 pressure, he consented to put aside the picture he 
 was preparing for exhibition, and to undertake 
 the work. He began at once to practise the 
 various operations of etching and biting in. The 
 subjects were then selected. When, however, 
 he began to etch them on the plate, he found the 
 wax break up under the etching point, as he had 
 little or no experience in laying it. Time was 
 precious, but as the pressure was very great, and 
 the time so short, he secured the services of a 
 professional etcher." The result was the unsatis- 
 factory " Buss Plates " now found in a few copies 
 of the first edition, and which, by a curious com- 
 pensation, a,re sought for with as much avidity by 
 collectors as though they were rare gems of art. 
 One represented the " cricket match," with very 
 stout players, and an elderly gentleman " fielding," 
 the other Tupman and the " spinster aunt " in 
 the arbour, not very successful either in design 
 or execution. 2 
 
 2 I have seen many of his little experiments in pen and 
 ink, which are spirited enough, and dashed off with much 
 freedom.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 45 
 
 Among the artist's sketches and finished 
 drawings are several designs for these two scenes. 
 One of the cricketers is shown receiving a blow 
 of the ball on his face, which no doubt was found 
 too farcical. He confessed candidly enough that 
 " there was a vague impression on my mind that 
 these etchings were abominably bad, and utterly 
 devoid of promise and hope ;" so the result was 
 not surprising. 
 
 By the time the next number was ready a great 
 alteration had been made in the plan of the 
 undertaking. Before the dismissal of Mr. Buss, 
 a change was made in the length of each part 
 and number of illustrations, the pages being 
 increased to thirty-two, and the plates reduced to 
 two. This was announced in the following 
 address, dated May 30, 1836 : 
 
 " We announced in our last, that the ensuing 
 numbers of the ' Pickwick Papers ' would appear 
 in an improved form ; and we now beg to call the 
 attention of our readers to the fulfilment of our 
 promise. 
 
 " Acting upon a suggestion which has been 
 made to them from various influential quarters, 
 the Publishers have determined to increase the 
 quantity of letterpress in every monthly part, 
 and to diminish the number of plates. It will be 
 seen that the present number contains eight 
 additional pages of closely printed matter, and
 
 46 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 two engravings by Mr. Buss, a gentleman 
 already well known to the public as a very 
 humorous and talented artist. 
 
 " The alterations in the plan of the work entail 
 upon the Publishers a considerable expense, which 
 nothing but a large circulation would justify 
 them in incurring. They are happy to have it 
 in their power to state that the rapid sale of the 
 two first numbers, and the daily increasing 
 demand for the periodical, enables them to 
 acknowledge the patronage of the public in the 
 way which they hope will be deemed most accept- 
 able. 
 
 " May 30th, 1836." 
 
 The artist was now busy designing other plates 
 for the succeeding numbers among which were 
 the " tipsy scene " in Wardle's kitchen ; " The 
 elopement," which is curiously like Browne's plate, 
 and Winkle's accidental shooting of Tuprnan, all 
 three a vast improvement on the first attempts 
 when he received a communication that his 
 further services were to be dispensed with. This 
 dismissal was felt bitterly, and brought great 
 mortification. It must be said the fault was not 
 altogether his. In an elaborate statement which 
 he drew up for his children, he set out his case, 
 under a sense of having been dealt with unjustly. 3 
 
 3 With his son, the Eev. Alfred Buss, the Vicar of St. James's, 
 Curtain Koad, Shoreditch, I lately spent an agreeable morning,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 47 
 
 This feeling lay dormant for nearly forty years, 
 until it was awakened by an allusion in Mr. 
 Forster's " Life of Dickens." It must be said, 
 however, that his style of humour was unsuited 
 to that of " Pickwick," though it is quite clear that 
 he had to bear the consequences of his unlucky 
 ignorance of the art of etching. It is this part 
 of the work that is inferior. He gives this 
 account of the matter in his statement : 
 
 "I was in an evil hour induced to place my de- 
 signs in the hands of an engraver to be etched and 
 bitten in. The work he did very well indeed, but, 
 as might have been expected, had I time for 
 thought, the free touch of the original work was 
 entirely wanting. The etching itself failed, but 
 the biting in was admirably done. Time was 
 up. The plates must be placed at once in the 
 printers' hands. Thus my name appeared to 
 designs, not one touch of which was on the plates. 
 I felt greatly annoyed at all this, and, had I been 
 allowed time, would have cancelled these two 
 plates." He had carefully prepared a third 
 design, which he had submitted to the firm 
 as a specimen, and this is executed with some 
 delicacy and cleverness, and with humour too. 
 
 "I also got ready," he says, "a Pickwick 
 
 during the course of which he was kind enough to lay before 
 me all his father's papers, sketches, proofs, &c. ; on a careful 
 examination of which the account just given is based.
 
 48 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 design to try my power. It is taken from the de- 
 scription of Mr. Pickwick at the review, when he 
 was pushed forward by a crowd behind him, and 
 jammed backward by a tall grenadier. As might 
 be expected, it is thin and scratchy in exe- 
 cution." * Of this plate there are believed to be 
 only one or two copies. The others have been 
 reproduced. 
 
 The artist was later much employed as an 
 illustrator of books, and had considerable success. 
 Mr. Colburn engaged him to illustrate the 
 diverting story of Mrs. Trollope, " The Widow 
 Married," which " ran " in the Neiv Monthly. We 
 find his work also in the Penny Magazine. But 
 his more remarkable efforts, which have merit 
 for their drawing and etching, are his illustra- 
 tions to Captain Marryatt's " Peter Simple," 
 which show much spirit and correct colouring 
 in their costumes and incidents. There we 
 see in the limbs and attitudes his knowledge of 
 drawing. 5 
 
 The firm had fortunately secured another 
 illustrator, a difficult task indeed, though they 
 had offers enough. "I can remember," so Mr. 
 
 * Memoir. 
 
 6 He also was engaged to illustrate Mrs. Trollope's " Michael 
 Armstrong, ' and Harrison Ainsworth's " Court of James II.," 
 for the New Monthly, where he tried to imitate the grim, realistic 
 style of Cruikshank.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 49 
 
 Thackeray told the story at one of the Academy 
 dinners, " when Mr. Dickens was a very young 
 man, and had commenced delighting the world 
 with some charming humorous works, in covers 
 which were light green, and came out once a 
 month ; that this young man wanted an artist to 
 illustrate his writings. I recollect walking up 
 to his chambers in Furnival's Inn, with two or 
 three drawings in my hand, which strange to say, 
 he did not find suitable." Thackeray's sketches 
 for his own works have a certain attraction of 
 individuality and even humour, but they have 
 what may be called an "amateurish" air. 6 
 They are moreover uncertain, as though the 
 result did not answer the artist's intentions. 
 He would have been unsuited to the task. 7 
 
 By a fortunate chance, selection was made 
 of Mr. Hablot K. Browne, a most competent 
 person, whose work was exactly adapted to the 
 story, and who through his long connection with 
 Dickens showed an extraordinary flexibility and 
 genius, that was really invaluable for a work 
 that spread over so vast a field of adventure 
 and character. 
 
 6 Thackeray's style, Mr. Buss tells us, was founded on that 
 of the caricaturist Bunbury, and was therefore old-fashioned and 
 not original. 
 
 7 Another candidate was Leech, one of whose delicately drawn 
 sketches, for Tom Smart's story, is reproduced in the Victoria 
 edition.
 
 50 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Much interesting detail, as to " Phiz's " connec- 
 tion with Dickens, will be found in the hand- 
 some quarto volume, on " Phiz," written by Mr. 
 Thomson. 
 
 It was indeed later stated, that "Phiz " also, like 
 Buss, was inexperienced in the technical parts of 
 etching, and, like him, had to call in assistance. 8 
 Mr. Jackson, the engraver, however, states 
 that Phiz could etch perfectly, and mentions a 
 large plate of John Gilpin's ride, which was his 
 work. It would seem this very etching led to 
 his engagement. It was Mr. Jackson, it will be 
 recollected, who recommended Buss, and after 
 the latter was engaged, Mr. Chapman chanced to 
 call on Jackson, and was attracted by this picture. 
 " Mr. Chapman in common with every one who 
 had seen it, was delighted with it, and forthwith 
 applied to Browne." The truth, however, was 
 that Phiz was already a most competent artist, 
 having been long in Messrs. Finden's employment; 
 and only -transferred the work to an assistant 
 when he was pressed for time. 
 
 8 Mr. Buss, in his Memoir, speaks of some " proofs " of the 
 plates in " Nicholas Nickleby," which were " worked on only 
 by 'Phiz,' and which may be compared with their finished 
 state after they had been treated by Sands." The latter, who 
 was .an old friend of Buss's, naturally claimed as much credit as 
 he could for his assistance, and appeals to one of the drawings on 
 which this direction by Browne was written : " The outlines of 
 the figure I have etched in with a broad point, intentionally ; 
 bite them slightly that they may not be too hard."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 51 
 
 All the characters, indeed, who were attracted 
 to the bright and buoyant Dickens seemed to have 
 something of his spirit in their nature. The new 
 illustrator found for "Pickwick" was a young 
 fellow, just one-and-twenty, shrewdly observant, 
 and pleasant, and known as Hablot Knight 
 Browne. He was one of the youngest of fifteen 
 children. The family had good connections, and 
 two of his brothers distinguished themselves in 
 the army and in the Church. He was called 
 " Hablot " after a French officer who was engaged 
 to one of the family, and who was killed at 
 Waterloo. 
 
 In his line, Browne was as industrious and fertile 
 and as much in demand as Dickens. Two of his 
 early plates to " Pickwick " are marked with 
 " Nemo " in faint characters in the corner, but he 
 later adopted the well-known " Phiz," to be in 
 harmony with his collaborator "Boz." 9 He 
 became, indeed, the author's second self in the 
 designing of these pictures, adapting himself with 
 infinite resource to the hurried conditions of the 
 venture. Dickens used to tell how often he had 
 merely to explain to the artist in a few words, the 
 character of the situation, which the latter caught 
 
 9 " Phiz, whizz, or something of the kind," was T. Hook's joke. 
 "I think," said the artist, " I signed myself as 'Nemo' to my 
 first etchings, before adopting ' Phiz ' as my sobriquet, to 
 harmonize, I suppose, better with Dickens's ' Boz.' " 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 with admirable instinct and intelligence. On other 
 more fortunate occasions the proofs were read to 
 him. It need not be said that there is an art, not 
 merely in giving a representation of the described 
 scene, but in supplying what the public will accept 
 as expressing what they have read. Mr. Thomson 
 has some shrewd observations on this point. 
 
 It was felt that a work containing specimens of 
 three artists, two of whom were scarcely in 
 " touch " with the narrative, could not be con- 
 sidered as well harmonized. Buss's productions 
 impaired the effect as the leaves were turned over, 
 and it was determined that the industrious Browne 
 should supply substitutes for these. He accord- 
 ingly re-drew Seymour's plates in the early parts, 
 and substituted others for the two of Buss's. 
 Indeed the demand for the work was so great, 
 that three sets of the illustrations were etched. 
 When the work had run half its course, on issuing 
 the tenth number, for December, 1836, "Boz" 
 added this address to the reader, written without 
 any affectation : 
 
 "Ten months have now elapsed since the appear- 
 ance of the first number of the ' Pickwick Papers.' 
 At the close of the year, and the conclusion of half 
 his task, their author may perhaps without any 
 unwarrantable intrusion on the notice of the 
 public, venture to say a few words of himself. 
 
 " He has long been desirous to embrace the first
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 53 
 
 opportunity of announcing, that it is his intention 
 to adhere to his original pledge of confining this 
 work to twenty numbers. He has every tempta- 
 tion to exceed the limits he first assigned to 
 himself, the brilliant success, an enormous and 
 increasing sale, the kindest notice and the most 
 extensive popularity can hold out. They are one 
 and all sad temptations to an author ; but he has 
 determined to resist them ; firstly, because he 
 wishes to keep the strictest faith with his readers ; 
 and secondly, because he is most anxious that 
 when the posthumous papers of the Pickwick 
 Club form a complete work, the book may not 
 have to contend against the heavy disadvantage 
 of being prolonged beyond his original plan. 
 
 " For ten mouths longer, then, if the author be 
 permitted to retain his health and spirits, the 
 ' Pickwick Papers ' will be issued in their present 
 form, and will then be completed. By what 
 fresh adventures they may be succeeded is no 
 matter for present consideration. The author 
 merely hints that he has strong reason to believe 
 that a great variety of other documents still lie 
 hidden in the repository from which these were 
 taken, and that they may one day see the light. 
 
 " With this short speech Mr. Pickwick's stage 
 manager makes his most grateful bow, adding, on 
 behalf of himself and his publishers, what the late 
 eminent Mr. John Richardson, of Horsemonger
 
 54 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Lane, and the yellow caravan with the brass 
 knocker, always said on behalf of himself and 
 company, at the close of every performance, 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, for these marks of your 
 favour, we beg to return you our sincere thanks, 
 and allow us to inform you, that we shall keep 
 respectively going on, beginning again, and 
 regularly until the end of the fair." 
 
 The work, as we said, must have been prosper- 
 ing exceedingly to triumph over the periodical 
 shocks or blows that it received in its course. It 
 is rare that we find an undertaking planned to 
 exhibit the talents of a particular artist, all but 
 shipwrecked after starting, by the sudden death 
 of that person. But a greater danger even arises 
 from any interruption in supplying the public with 
 what it expects to receive, and has contracted for. 
 The general reader is touchy and capricious, and 
 resents such freedoms. 
 
 Dickens was tenderly attached to one of his 
 wife's sisters, Mary Hogarth, an interesting person. 
 It was in the month of May, 1837, when his 
 "Pickwick" was riding on the swelling tide of 
 popularity that this young lady died suddenly. 
 He felt the blow in an extraordinary way, and so 
 poignant was his grief that he found it impossible 
 to apply his thoughts to the humorous story he 
 was conducting. It was actually suspended to 
 the consternation of the publishers to wait his
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 55 
 
 return to composure. The first of the month 
 went by without the flutter of the customary 
 green leaves, and the fretted, eager public had 
 to wait all the month of June without their supply. 
 He found it necessary, with the July number, to 
 issue an address explaining the delay, and this 
 address, it may be said, showed that he was still 
 nervous and overwrought. 
 
 " 186, Strand, June 30, 1837. 
 " The author is desirous to take the opportunity 
 afforded him by his resumption of this work to 
 state once again, what he thought had been stated 
 sufficiently emphatically before, namely, that its 
 publication was interrupted by a severe domes- 
 tic affliction of no ordinary kind, that this was 
 the sole cause of the non-appearance of the 
 present number in its usual course, and that 
 henceforth it will continue to be published with its 
 accustomed regularity. However superfluous this 
 second notice may appear to many, it is rendered 
 necessary by various idle speculations and absurdi- 
 ties which have been industriously propagated 
 during the past month, which have reached 
 the author's ears from many quarters, and have 
 grieved him exceedingly. By one set of intimate 
 acquaintances, especially well informed, he has 
 been killed outright; by another driven mad; by 
 a third imprisoned for debt; by a fourth left per 
 steamer for the United States ; by a fifth rendered
 
 56 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 incapable of mental exertion for evermore ; by 
 all, in short, represented as doing anything but 
 seeking a few weeks' retirement, the restoration 
 of cheerfulness and peace, of which a sad be- 
 reavement has necessarily deprived him." 
 
 A curious form of " Address," with jocose com- 
 ments by the editor, had been used by Hood and 
 others in the London Magazine. They are too 
 familiar, but are in the spirit of the time. Our 
 author prints for his readers a ludicrous remon- 
 strance addressed to him, on the score of the cab- 
 man's supposed cruel treatment of his horse : 
 
 "If it is carelessness only, it maybe corrected if 
 it be bad taste ; but perhaps you could in another 
 paper point out to the obtuse like myself, the wit 
 or humour of depicting the noblest of animals 
 faint, weary and over- driven, subjected to a brute, 
 only to be tolerated because he at least is ignorant 
 of the creature and his Creator." 
 
 " This is evidently," said the author, " a very 
 pleasant person, a fellow of infinite fancy. We 
 shall be happy to receive other communications 
 from the same source, and on the same terms, 
 that is to say, post paid." This is the style of 
 the "Mudfog" papers. 
 
 In November, 1837, the last number of "Pick- 
 wick " was issued, and the happy conclusion was 
 celebrated by a dinner, " with himself in the chair, 
 and Talfourdin the vice-chair, everybody in hearty 
 good-humour with every other body."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 57 
 
 In Mr. Forster's library at South Kensington 
 there is a handsome copy of " Pickwick," a pretty 
 specimen of binding, delicately tooled. There were 
 three copies sent to him by the publishers, " extra 
 super bound," as he called them, in the month 
 of December, 1837, the work being now com- 
 plete. He presented one to his wife, another to 
 Ains worth, and the third to Forster. 
 
 When the last number had been issued, and 
 the work was published in its final shape, the 
 pseudonym of " Boz " was discarded, and the 
 real name of the writer placed on the title- 
 page. 1 
 
 Another of the wonders connected with this 
 wonderful book is that while he was furnishing 
 his pleasant contingent of fun and humour, month 
 by month, and before he was half way through it, 
 he had begun, in January, 1837, another story, 
 " Oliver Twist." Thus, for eleven months there 
 were two streams of fun and humour gushing 
 forth, without the slightest sign of confusion, or of 
 flagging power and interest. He was also editing 
 a magazine. Nor was this all. He had actually 
 contracted with Macrone, the publisher, to fur- 
 nish him with a third novel ! 
 
 1 This epigram was in one of the magazines: 
 Who " the Dickens " " Boz " could be, 
 
 Puzzled many a learned elf, 
 But time unveiled the mystery, 
 
 And " Boz " appeared as Dickens' self.
 
 58 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " Monday, May 8, 1836. 
 
 "MY DEAR MACRONE, I shall have great 
 pleasure in accepting from you the sum of 200L 
 for the first edition of a work of fiction (in three 
 volumes of the usual type) to be written by me, 
 and to be entitled ' Gabriel Vardon, the Lock- 
 smith of London,' of which not more than 1000 
 copies are to be printed. 
 
 " I also understand that the before-mentioned 
 200L are to be paid by you, on delivery of the 
 entire manuscript on or before the 30th day of 
 November next, or as soon afterwards as I can 
 possibly complete it." 2 
 
 This impossible agreement was, however, can- 
 celled, at a heavy sacrifice. During this busy 
 year, the author also brought out two plays ! 3 
 
 Talfourd,an accomplished, many-sided character, 
 was a dramatic critic of delicacy, skill and power, 
 as also a writer of much finish and art in works 
 of " long breath," such as his life of Lamb. He 
 moreover worked at his profession with great 
 success, and on the circuit contended for the lead 
 with such an opponent as Maule. This versatile 
 
 2 Nearly two hundred letters of Dickens were in Mr. Ouvry's 
 possession, and, at his death, were disposed of to an American 
 newspaper. Some of these, including the one just quoted, were 
 published in the Times of November 2, 1883. 
 
 3 Nor, again, was this all. He wrote a pamphlet, " Sunday 
 under Three Heads," now literally worth more than its we ight in 
 gold!
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 59 
 
 man had recently entered Parliament, and, after 
 some minor efforts, had taken up a subject which 
 was near to Dickens's heart, viz. the right of 
 authors to enjoy the fruits of their labours, with 
 protection from pillage. Talfourd, who sat for his 
 native town, Heading, introduced his Copyright 
 Bill early in the year 1837, in a speech of singular 
 elegance and finish. It is likely indeed, from some 
 of the pathetic turns, that his friend aided him in 
 the composition. He, with the " trusty " Forster, 
 were the friends whom Dickens regarded with 
 most affection. He had watched over and fol- 
 lowed the career of Pickwick and his followers, 
 and at the happy close it was Talfourd who 
 presided at the dinner given in celebration of the 
 event. It was to Talfourd that he inscribed the 
 work, in a dedication breathing a warm affection 
 and gratitude. 
 
 " To SERGEANT TALFOURD, M.P., ETC., ETC. 
 " MY DEAR SIR, If I had not enjoyed the happi- 
 ness of your private friendship, I should still have 
 dedicated this work to you as a slight and most 
 inadequate acknowledgment of the inestimable 
 services you are rendering to the literature of your 
 country,, and of the lasting benefits you will confer 
 upon the authors of this and succeeding genera- 
 tions, by securing to them and their descendants a 
 permanent interest in the copyright of their works.
 
 60 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " Many a fevered head and palsied hand will 
 gather new vigour in the hour of sickness and 
 distress from your excellent exertions ; many a 
 widowed mother and orphan child, who would 
 otherwise reap nothing from the fame of departed 
 genius but the too frequent legacy of poverty and 
 suffering, will bear, in her altered condition, 
 higher testimony to the value of your labours 
 than the most lavish encomiums from lip or pen 
 could ever afford. 
 
 " Besides such tribute, any avowal of feeling 
 from me on the question to which you have 
 devoted the combined advantages of your elo- 
 quence, character and genius, would be powerless 
 indeed. Nevertheless, in thus publicly express- 
 ing my deep and grateful sense of your efforts 
 in behalf of English literature, and of those who 
 devote themselves to the most precarious of all 
 pursuits, I do but imperfect justice to your strong 
 feelings on the subject, if I do no service to you. 
 
 " These few sentences would have comprised all 
 I should have to say, if I had only known you in 
 your public character. On the score of private 
 feeling let me add a word more. 
 
 " Accept the dedication of this book, my dear 
 sir, as a mark of my warmest regard and esteem, 
 as a memorial of the most gratifying friendship I 
 have ever contracted, and of some of the pleasantest 
 hours I have ever spent, as a token of my fervent
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 61 
 
 admiration of every fine quality of your head and 
 heart, as an assurance of the truth and sincerity 
 with which I shall ever be, 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 " Most faithfully and sincerely yours, 
 
 " CHARLES DICKENS." 
 
 " 48, Doughty Street, 
 
 " September 27th, 1837." 
 
 Talfourd, un distracted from the serious pur- 
 pose of his life by his connection with the 
 stage, or his intimacy with this choice spirit of 
 literature, was eventually appointed a judge, and 
 it was in the year 1854, when holding the assizes 
 at Stafford, that he died suddenly under tragic 
 circumstances. The calendar was a heavy one, 
 and marked by an unusual amount of dreadful 
 crime. This seems to have affected him, and in 
 his address he spoke in a very feeling way of the 
 lack of sympathy that existed between the upper 
 and lower classes, urging the former to show 
 a livelier interest in those who were below them. 
 Suddenly he fell forward on his book, and, being 
 " carried from the Court by six gentlemen," was 
 found to have expired. 
 
 It is curious to find and many have been 
 perplexed at the omission that, when a new 
 edition of the story was issued in 1847, this affec- 
 tionate dedication to Talfourd was withdrawn ; 
 and a simple " inscription as a memorial of
 
 62 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 friendship" substituted. Even this has disappeared 
 from the later editions. Mr. Frederic Chapman 
 has, however, informed me, that this omission 
 was really owing to lack of room, when the 
 cheaper editions came to be issued. 
 
 "The popularity of 'Pickwick,' " wrote Mr. For- 
 ster, " outstripped at a bound that of all the most 
 famous books of the century. The charm of its 
 gaiety and good-humour, its inexhaustible fun, 
 its riotous overflow of animal spirits, its bright- 
 ness and keenness of observation, and, above all, 
 the incomparable ease of its many varieties of 
 enjoyment, fascinated everybody. Judges on the 
 bench, and boys in the street, gravity and folly, 
 the young and the old alike found it to be 
 irresistible." 
 
 This is sound and excellent criticism. Farther 
 on, he adds, " We had all become conscious in the 
 very thick of the extravagance of adventure and 
 fun set before us, that here were real people."
 
 IV. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY lias in our time become a regular 
 science and supplies a minute and logical system of 
 appraisement for settlingthe market value of books. 
 The original edition of " Pickwick" takes a high 
 place in the list of valuable books, but it engages 
 all the skill of an expert to settle if a particular 
 copy has all the requisite " points." This subject 
 of what Mrs. Malaprop might have called the 
 Biblio-idolatry of Dickens has of late years been 
 carried to an extraordinary pitch. There can be no 
 doubt there is a sort of fascination about it, which 
 is founded to a great extent on the superior artistic 
 merits of the books themselves, as specimens of 
 typography, as also on their history and associa- 
 tions. Further, "Pickwick" is so sincere and 
 genuine, so full of allusions and so characteristic 
 of its era, that it bears study and investigation, and 
 what might seem trivial helps to increase the 
 interest. The special form of issue in numbers or 
 parts, each number set off with illustrations of a
 
 64 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 high character, resulted in a volume of particular 
 form and character, which was a whole, and yet 
 at the same time had the air of a number of 
 separate episodes. The shape became, therefore, 
 rather peculiar and exceptional a large octavo, 
 in amount equal to two volumes bound together. 
 The paper was superfine, and the printing executed 
 with much care ; and the illustrations, when fresh, 
 and the plates unworn, have an attraction from 
 their spirit and brilliancy. It must be remem- 
 bered that the ordinary trade issues of our day are 
 often machined, and the plates electrotyped ; 
 whereas the delicacy of the original illustrations, 
 which are etchings, forms an adornment to a 
 volume. They are different from the hasty, 
 carelessly drawn engravings which set off the 
 common works of commerce. 
 
 It is indeed astonishing to find to what extent 
 the principles of Bibliography have been applied to 
 these works. There are already some half-dozen 
 books dealing in the most minute way with the 
 different editions and their illustrations. Such 
 are Mr. F. Kitton's " Dickensiana" Mr. Dexter's 
 " Memorial of Dickens," Mr. J. Cook's " Biblio- 
 graphy," Mr. E. Herne Shepherd's, Mr. 0. 
 Thomson's, and Mr. Johnson's volumes, all full of 
 research and comparison ; with Mr. Anderson's, 
 of the British Museum, ft Bibliography," the 
 fullest and most scientific of all.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 65 
 
 Mr. Plumptre Johnson, in his pretty volume, 
 speaks very seriously of the difficulties that beset 
 the collector, who yearns, like the owner of the 
 " blue " teapot, to live up to a proper copy of the 
 first edition of Pickwick. It might seem an easy 
 thing, on the first thought, to obtain such a 
 trouvaille, scarce though it may be : an order 
 to an experienced bookseller might readily secure 
 it. But there is as much difficult v here, as in 
 
 tt 
 
 being certain as to the originality of a picture. 
 The first object is to see that the work is in its 
 original numbers or parts, with the old green 
 covers on. This is at least primd facie evidence 
 of genuineness in the illustrations ; for later on 
 the book was issued complete. Next must be 
 pointed out the danger which besets the collector, 
 owing to three " states " of each illustration 
 being issued, after number 10 had appeared; and 
 these, being mixed together, are found indiscrimi- 
 nately in all the succeeding parts, the " first state " 
 of one plate being in the same number with the 
 " second state " of another. Mr. Johnson knew of 
 a collector who possessed four copies in numbers, 
 all in this unsatisfactory condition; but, by a 
 system of exchanges and purchases, he at last 
 succeeded at infinite toil in forming a perfect set, 
 homogeneous as it were, when all the plates were 
 of the same state. We may smile at this, but 
 as we said, the perfect article is a different thing 
 
 p
 
 66 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 altogether from the ordinary edition of commerce. 
 Everything, to be " desirable," should be com- 
 plete, in its best and most natural shape, and 
 in its proper order ; and degrees of merit are 
 found in every work that comes from man's 
 hand. 
 
 Another danger is from the spurious imitations 
 and forgeries. To meet the demand, shall we say, 
 of crazy amateurs, eager to have the two " sup- 
 pressed Buss plates," these have been reproduced 
 in different ways and offered as genuine. Evi- 
 dences of later editions have been removed from 
 the title-pages by the aid of chemicals ; portions 
 have been reprinted, and sets " made up," as it is 
 called, ingeniously " adulterated," as the old dry- 
 asdusts used to say of the Shakespearian Folios. 
 
 " Pickwick " was published, as Mr. C. Plumptre 
 Johnson tells us, " in twenty numbers, in green 
 wrappers, one of which should be preserved." 
 Of these seven plates were by Seymour, thirty-six 
 by Phiz, and two by Buss. The last two are 
 not essential as they were " suppressed," and two 
 others " The influence of the salmon," and the 
 " Arbour scene," by Phiz, substituted. The 
 collector should see that all these plates are good 
 impressions, and mark that they have no letterpress 
 descriptions under them. He should also see that 
 the plates by Buss are original impressions, as 
 they have been republished in so-called facsimile.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 67 
 
 The spurious plates were first issued on India 
 paper only, in which form they could deceive 
 nobody, but I have since seen copies on ordinary 
 paper. It is also desirable to have the four notices 
 issued with numbers 2, 3, 10 and 15 respectively. 
 Browne's first specimens were singularly suc- 
 cessful, and are now pleasing to look at, from the 
 softness of the treatment and delicacy of the tints. 
 These were " the upset," and the scene in the 
 White Hart Inn so interesting as a record of 
 the days when the inn yards, with picturesque 
 galleries running round in tiers, were frequented. 
 The faces are almost as delicate as those of Cruik- 
 shank's, whose work the plate suggests, and the 
 details are sketched in a very artistic style. It 
 is worth while putting one of the later copies 
 when the plate had been re-drawn, and re- 
 issued again and again, beside it. They are 
 virtually different works. There is a good deal 
 of persiflage, and perhaps contempt, displayed, 
 at the expense of amateurs who collect mezzotints 
 and engravings in different " states," who will give 
 twenty pounds for a proof impression, and reject 
 the ordinary engraving, though offered for five 
 shillings : the truth being that, placed side by 
 side, the inferior copy seems unendurable, half 
 the shadows being worn away, the other half 
 blackened and confused. The very dainty 
 and interesting volume written by Mr. Dexter, 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 entitled a " Dickens Memento," deals minutely 
 with all the little notes and varieties by which 
 the genuine plates and true first edition are to be 
 known. As he shows, Part I. contains four 
 etchings by Seymour ; " at least it should do 
 so, " but ninety-nine copies out of every hundred 
 have only Phiz's copies of these etchings. 
 Part II. has only three etchings by the same 
 artist, but these are not difficult to obtain as 
 they were used in all the sets in parts and also in 
 the first cloth issue." 
 
 The publishers, pressed by the demand for 
 copies, for which an insatiate, delighted public 
 were clamouring eagerly, were at their wits' 
 end to supply them. It has been often 
 repeated that they started with the modest 
 impression of 500 copies, but at the close 
 were furnishing 30,000. As in the case of 
 appreciating the value of money in old days, this 
 circulation, considering the restrained dimensions 
 of publishing, and the difficulties of dis- 
 seminating books, was certainly equivalent to 
 double that amount in our time. These figures 
 may be gathered from what was called " The 
 Pickwick Advertiser," the leaves sewed up at 
 the end of each number, and which, in number 
 18, for Oct. 2, 1837, sets out that, " The impres- 
 sion of the advertising sheet is limited to 20,000, 
 but the circulation of the work being 29,000, that
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 69 
 
 number of bills is required." It will be seen 
 that before the close the work must have risen by 
 another 1000. 
 
 We have spoken of the curious variations that 
 occur in the replicas of the plates : and it may 
 be asked how these are to be accounted for. As 
 mere slavish copying, whether in writing or draw- 
 ing, is found infinitely more tedious than original 
 work, our artist copied rather freely and with such 
 improvements and variations as occurred to him. 
 Hence is opened up a great field for collectors, 
 who must look warily to see that their plates are 
 
 A> 
 
 in the first or second state, as it may be. 1 The 
 
 1 Dr. Brougham, the Dean of Lismore, an enthusiastic 
 Pickwickian, has kindly collated for me the variations of 
 the etchings in his three copies, with this result : 
 
 " Frontispiece. A. and B. the same, and signed " Phiz fecit." 
 In C. it is signed "Phiz del." In C.Pickwick's footstool is 
 different, and his glass is empty, also the faces on the pillars 
 differ from those in A. and B. Opposite picture in A. and B. 
 "Phiz fecit." In C. "Phiz feet;" also the Marquis of 
 Granby's pigtail is different, and TFeller is spelt with W. 
 instead of V. as in A. and B. 
 
 p. 69. Cricket match at Dingley Dell f ' drawn and etch'd 
 by S. W. Buss/' not in A. or C. 
 
 p. 74. Arbour scene in B. " Drawn and etch'd by S. W. 
 Buss," a totally different version of same scene by "Phiz" in 
 A. and C. 
 
 p. 313. Skating scene. Same in A. and B. In C. Winkle's 
 skates and gloves are given, also a stake in the ice, at right 
 front. Snodgrass's face, and Emily Wardle's bonnet strings are 
 also different, and there is a little church steeple in background. 
 
 p. 343. The Valentine, same in A, andB In C. Sam's face.
 
 7o THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 truth is, the whole impression was mixed, the 
 publishers issuing such plates as they had to hand, 
 
 and the buttons on old Weller's coat are different, and there is 
 a bow on the bell cord, which is not in A. and B. " Grimes " 
 is misspelt in all, and the (j in Dublin is turned wrong. 
 
 p. 354. The Trial. Missing from C. A. differs from B. in 
 the figures of the lawyers in back benches, the face of Buzfuz 
 and the shape of his brief. Mr. Perker's hat is beside him in 
 B. but not in A., and they differ in several small details in 
 foreground. 
 
 p. 409. A. and C. the same. B. is different in book-case in 
 background ; man's face at window ; position of Mr. Winkle's 
 cigar, and the spoon in his tumbler. Bob Sawyer's face is also 
 different in B. from A. and C. 
 
 p. 434. A. and C. the same. In B. the window is different, 
 also the hands of the clock, the back of Pickwick's chair, and 
 the pewter on floor in front. 
 
 p. 441. "The Zephyr." Same in A. and C. ; in B. the 
 clothes on the line are different \ also the bedclothes to right ; 
 the Zephyr's cap and face of man singing. In A. and C. there 
 are two balls in front ; in C. it looks like a glass. 
 
 p. 453. A. differs from B. and C., first in the potato falling from 
 Job Trotter's dish, the face of the girl watering the flowers, the 
 faces of the old man and child in front. A. is signed "Phiz," 
 but B. and C. " Phiz del." 
 
 p. 495. Contents of basket in foreground, and Mrs. Cluppins' 
 profile, different in A. from B. and C. 
 
 p. 533. (Bob Sawyer on top of chaise.) In B. the man cheer- 
 ing in background has a bundle hanging on his stick. This is 
 not in A. and C. ; also the following are same in A. and C. 
 and different from B. : Sam Weller's cuffs, the face of the 
 coachman and man beside him. Left leg of fallen child in fore- 
 ground. 
 
 p. 553. " The rival Editors." Missing from C. In A., 
 " Phiz del." (very small) ; in B., "Phiz del." All the details 
 in these, contents of dresser, mantlepiece, differ.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 71 
 
 whether of the first or second state. In many 
 copies, which are apparently first editions, the 
 plates of the last portion of the volume are the re- 
 engraved ones, and this is known by their having a 
 description under each plate, whereas the earliest 
 set of plates had only a reference to the page. 
 
 Browne soon acquired freedom and boldness 
 of touch, and his plates appear to have been 
 re-engraved in a dashing, rapid style, and in 
 rough, vigorous fashion ; though the faint, delicate 
 strokes, the velvety textures, have disappeared, 
 every line is thick, strong, and black ; witness the 
 stretched reins of the horse in Winkle's scene 
 with the " tall quadruped." Thus, a large cir- 
 culation has its drawbacks. 
 
 Some of these variations which ingenious 
 students have puzzled out, are certainly curious 
 and interesting. Such, for instance, as the 
 scene of Mr. Pickwick seated in his wheel- 
 
 p. 579. A. and B. the same. In C. Mary has no shoe- 
 strings, and one of the hind legs of the fat boy's chair is seen, 
 which is not in A. and B. 
 
 p. 590. In A. and B. there is a little bottle beside Mr. Pell's 
 glass, not in C. The oyster shells on floor and table are the 
 same in A. and B., but different in C. 
 
 It is curious how sometimes A. and B. differ from C., and 
 sometimes A. and C. from B. ; and also, how much oftener 
 these differences occur in the beginning and end, than towards 
 the middle of the work." 
 
 Thus far the Dean : but at the close of the work we shall 
 return to the subject.
 
 72 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 barrow in the pound, where there were origi- 
 nally two donkeys, but one was later "taken 
 out." 
 
 Some editions have at the bottom of the title- 
 page, " Phiz feet.," and the amateur must look to 
 it that it is thus abbreviated. In other editions 
 over the inn door there is read in legible 
 characters, " Tony Veller, licensed to sell beer, 
 spirits, tobacco." In the first edition we find 
 " PHIZ fecit " in large characters and in full ; 
 while " Tony Veller " only, can be made out over 
 the door. The frontispiece has " Phiz Feet." 
 on the left hand at the bottom. On some 
 frontispieces " Phiz " is on one side of the 
 shield, and " feet." on the other. This informa- 
 tion we owe to Mr. Morris of Eastbourne. 
 Unluckily, there is no certainty in the matter, 
 and the point of priority is hotly debated. 
 
 Bat even these varieties, carefully ascertained, 
 do not bring rest or security. Some urge that 
 the true first edition should have " Feller" on 
 the signboard; other copies have " TFeller." 
 This was carrying idiomatic particularity too far, 
 as the sign-painter must have spelled the name 
 correctly : for we have Mr. Weller's own 
 authority, " put it down a Wee." 
 
 A true copy of "Pickwick," with all the condi- 
 tions and in a fine state, was lately sold at Sotheby's 
 for over 201. But here is a choice (S well-found "
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 73 
 
 copy which Messrs. Robson and Kerslake were 
 " offering " some time ago : 
 
 "Pickwick Papers, 1837. Bound in 2 vols., 
 and containing 2 cancelled plates by Buss, in 
 addition to those substituted for them ; 1 un- 
 published plate by Buss (" The Review "), in two 
 states, plain and coloured; a set of 32 extra 
 coloured plates by Onwhyn ; 2 sets of Pailthorpe's 
 Illustrations, India proofs and coloured ; a set of 
 extra coloured plates by Crowquill; a set of 
 4 Original Illustrations to the Pickwick Papers,' 
 being 16 wood engravings ; a set of coloured 
 plates by Phiz, from the Household Edition ; 2 
 India-proof plates by F. Barnard; 2 engraved 
 vignettes; 6 very pretty full-page wood engrav- 
 ings, by Phiz; frontispiece to the 'Charles Dickens' 
 edition, by Leslie ; and specially printed titles." 
 
 This shows what " capability," as Mr. Robins 
 used to say, there lies in our good and sound 
 Pickwick. It can be developed to any extent, 
 a " swellin' wisibly" by all sorts of adornments. 
 A list of the artists who have illustrated 
 "Pickwick" would be a long one. It would 
 include Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Onwhyn, 
 Pailthorpe, Crowquill, Barnafd, Leslie ; besides 
 many American and Australian artists. 
 
 There is a curious mystery, or it may be finality, 
 in this connection of original illustrations with 
 the text, from which, bad, indifferent or good, they
 
 74 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 are not to be divorced. They have been engen- 
 dered with it : they have come, in response 
 to the author's ideal ; he at least has accepted 
 them. They have been produced under his 
 prompting and direction. Such are strong 
 recommendations; but a more important cause 
 for their acceptance is that the reader has 
 come to know the characters and scenes in this 
 shape. The newer designs have no authenticity, 
 and are distasteful because strange. Within the 
 last few years Mr. F. Barnard, a clever artist, 
 has issued some elaborately finished drawings of 
 some of Dickens' leading characters. They are 
 full of force, and, being on a large scale, the 
 expression of the features is brought out with many 
 minute and distinct touches. Yet somehow this 
 very precision seems to remove them from us to 
 a distance. They are not like our old favourites, 
 which were generalized by a few vigorous strokes. 
 This artist, has, for instance, given a capital 
 portrait of the housebreaking ruffian in " Oliver 
 Twist," but it is not our Sikes. So has Mr. Frith 
 done Dolly Yarden and Kate Nickleby, very 
 charming and popular portraits ; but we find 
 ourselves objecting that Dolly's mouth is " not 
 like," or not like what we expected. 
 
 In truth we must feel to these posthumous 
 illustrations much as we do in the case of some 
 celebrated person whom we are to meet, and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 75 
 
 whom we have been hearing of all our lives, but 
 whose face and figure do not correspond, be- 
 cause our imagination has formed for us another 
 ideal. Nothing physical, indeed, could correspond 
 to the fanciful sketch of our imagination. But 
 when the idea and the expression have grown 
 together, they harmonize. It is so with the 
 illustrations which have been presented to us 
 in company with the writer's fancies. 
 
 The later illustrator of " Pickwick " should 
 hardly venture to touch scenes that have been 
 already treated ; they seem sacred. But it might 
 be allowable to treat others that have not been 
 attempted, provided they are treated in the 
 same style. Thus Mr. Pailthorpe has done some 
 etchings on this principle, which, when bound 
 up, match very fairly with the original series. 
 There is one plate happily selected, depicting a 
 truly humorous incident, when Mr. Pickwick is 
 refused hospitality at an inn, being suspected of 
 having stolen the " tall quadruped," and which 
 is worthy of all praise. 
 
 Many years ago " Phiz " was employed to 
 illustrate a cheap edition of " Pickwick " which 
 Messrs Chapman and Hall were about to issue. 
 These drawings were on the wood, and offer 
 a curious contrast to the original work of the 
 artist. We look in vain for the familiar lineaments 
 of the various " Pickwickians." There was little
 
 76 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 attempt to carry out the accepted likeness of 
 Pickwick, Winkle, &c., and any faces or figures 
 that occurred to him seem to have been dashed 
 in or off, as hurriedly as possible. The only 
 solution is that the artist had lost his former 
 " cunning," and, what was more sad, only eager 
 to earn his crust, with as little exertion of his 
 talents as possible. 
 
 Dickens had marvellous tact in appreciating 
 the nice proprieties of illustration, and freely 
 made objection and suggestions when he was not 
 satisfied. These were often written on the draw- 
 ing itself. As when the plate of Mrs. Leo Hunter 
 at her party was sent to him : "I think it would 
 be better," he wrote, fc if Pickwick had hold of 
 the Bandit's arm. If Minerva tried to look a 
 little younger, more like Mrs. Pott, who is perfect, 
 I think it would be an additional improvement." 
 The hostess had been represented as tall and 
 rather stout. It is pleasant to have glimpses of 
 these councils. 
 
 One naturally believes that if a writer minutely 
 and carefully describe his scene in such a way 
 that it rises to the mind's eye, the artist can 
 have no difficulty. But the more minutely the 
 writer describes the scene, the harder will it be 
 for the artist to give effect to the description. If 
 the writer mark the principal characters well, 
 and leave the remainder of the incident in what
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 77 
 
 artists call " mystery," the task of the illustrator 
 is comparatively easy. But when the author enters 
 into details, and describes with care what he 
 wishes to impress on the readers, the labour of the 
 draughtsman rises in proportion. The artist has 
 to be careful to follow all the points brought 
 forward by the writer, and to see that each 
 detail is subordinate to the whole. When 
 the author is precise, the illustrator has to be 
 general ; when the writer is vague, the artist is 
 free. 
 
 For these reasons the failure of the Buss plates 
 was not so much owing to the failure of artistic 
 power as to the sentiment of the writer being 
 missed. The expression fails to satisfy the reader 
 who has just read the description.
 
 y. 
 
 ONE of the chief attractions of " Pickwick," 
 and a secret of its popularity, is the singular 
 flavour of its descriptions. This is really extra- 
 ordinary, and denotes a rare power, and a 
 vivid dramatic sentiment. The characteristic 
 costumes, old-fashioned and effective, which 
 enter into, and colour the story, the bits of 
 description of Old London, legitimately helping 
 on the narrative, the admirable painting of such 
 things as inn life in country towns, coaching, with 
 a hundred other touches, all add to the charm. 
 There are some places, however, which live again 
 for us, as they did sixty years ago, with a singular 
 and effective vitality, such as Rochester and Bath. 
 The colours here are " laid " with some of the 
 tranquil grace of Miss Austen : there is little 
 personal description, and in every movement and 
 every touch we are conscious of that peculiar note 
 of its own which distinguishes every place, and 
 gives it a special charm, though but few possess 
 the gift of discovering or describing it. It is much 
 the same in the case of painting. We often turn 
 to a collection of " Views of the Cathedrals of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 79 
 
 England," either engraved or photographed, and 
 
 hich seem to us so many imposing buildings of 
 
 merit, and of many varieties ; yet who has not 
 
 felt, after a visit say to Salisbury or Canterbury, 
 
 that he has hitherto had little idea of the charm of 
 
 the building ? It is the peculiar tone of the place, 
 
 its surroundings, its relation to the town, its 
 
 skies and colouring that is wanting. No pictured 
 
 " elevation " of Salisbury Cathedral can furnish 
 
 an idea of the fane itself, with its acute spire and 
 
 peculiar tint, its strange air of solitariness, its 
 
 retired close. But the painter, Constable, has 
 
 pierced to the true note, and his fine picture brings 
 
 before us the whole poetry of the scene, the airy, 
 
 hovering clouds, the peculiar greens of the place, 
 
 the relation of the trees and skies to the central 
 
 object. It is the same with these old-fashioned, 
 
 slumbering towns, round which still hover old 
 
 and ghostly glories. 
 
 Rochester, and the neighbouring Chatham, is 
 but little changed from the Pickwickian days. The 
 old High Street has still a tranquil " snoozing " 
 air, with its overhanging houses ; and the old inns 
 look very much as they did when the coach drove 
 up to the Bull Inn with Mr. Pickwick and his 
 friends on the outside. If we visit Rochester, we 
 feel, as Sam says, that "we have knowd him 
 afore," so perfectly has the tone been caught in the 
 story. We have exactly the same sensations as
 
 8o THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the party Lad, when we are set down, arriving as 
 strangers at the snug "Bull." While dinner is 
 getting ready there is no excitement, but still 
 pleasure of a curious kind. As we dine we hear 
 Mr. Jingle asking the waiter : 
 
 " Devil of a mess on the staircase, waiter," 
 said the stranger. " Forms going up carpenters 
 coming down lamps, glasses, harps. What's 
 going forward ? " 
 
 " Ball, sir," said the waiter. 
 
 " Assembly, eh ? " 
 
 " No, sir, not Assembly, sir. Ball for the 
 benefit of a charity, sir." 
 
 Three of the guests secure tickets. " Mr. Tracy 
 Tupman and the stranger entered the ball-room. 
 
 " It was a long room, with crimson-covered 
 benches, and wax candles in glass chandeliers. 
 The musicians were securely confined in an 
 elevated den, and quadrilles were being systema- 
 tically got through by two or three sets of 
 dancers. Two card-tables were made up in the 
 adjoining card-room, and two pair of old ladies 
 and a corresponding number of stout gentlemen 
 were executing whist therein." 
 
 The room is still shown, and how curious is the 
 feeling of looking at one of these rare hotel ball- 
 rooms ! The " elevated den " is still there. 
 
 Many years ago, in the lifetime of the author, 
 when staying at Gadshill, I walked betimes on
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 81 
 
 one Sunday morning, into the old town, where, 
 for the moment, I seemed to become one of the 
 Pickwickians. Everything was redolent of the 
 story. The pleasant green lanes, rather than 
 roads, rose up and down : occasionally I 
 encountered a gig, and a stray waggon or van. 
 There was to be a race or a fair on the Monday, 
 and here was a two-wheeled cart, the proprietor 
 of which walked by his vehicle in a Sunday cloak 
 made out of the gauzy and dappled oilcloth which 
 served as his roulette board. After three or four 
 miles, the great river and the bridge came in sight. 
 And there, as the spectator stood upon the 
 bridge, was a striking view indeed. Pressing on, I 
 entered the little old town, which seemed a snake- 
 shaped street with old rustic inns and posting 
 yards, and a few ancient framed houses, their 
 thin old bones and joints well looked to, and kept 
 as fresh as paint could make them. Everything 
 was as bright and clean as a Dutch town, even to 
 the one policeman who, having little to do, began 
 an affable conversation >. Taking another bend, the 
 little old town showed me its well-rusted Queen 
 Anne Town Hall with yellow stone corners, and 
 a high French roof, and a delightful old clock, 
 that hung out a great way over the street, in 
 a mass of florid carving. Behind was a nicbe 
 and a flamboyant statue of a naval officer, in 
 gauntlets, pointing probably to the French, the 
 
 G
 
 82 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 brave old Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel. 
 Further on was a low edifice, unmistakable in 
 character, with a portico and pillars, the Theatre 
 Royal, with some faded bills, which I approached 
 to read with interest. I found that, say, "Mr. 
 George Jenby," the eminent character actor and 
 vocalist, was to give two nights in this, 
 
 His NATIVE TOWN. 
 Being assisted by 
 
 Miss Mary Jenby (of the London concerts), 
 
 Miss Susan Jenby (of the London and suburban concerts), 
 
 Mr. William Jenby (who was of no concerts at all), 
 
 and by 
 The infant, Marie Jenby. 
 
 I wished the Jenby family all success, for I. 
 was worked into sympathy with their efforts, by a 
 pathetic quotation subjoined to the Bill, that 
 
 As the hare whom hounds and horns pursue, 
 Pants to the spot from where at first it flew, 
 
 so had worthy Jenby and his family come to 
 ask support from his " native town " l As was 
 to be expected the host of Gadshill was delighted 
 with this little touch. 
 
 Among the agreeable books written on the 
 places described by Dickens, Mr. Langton's 
 
 1 This quaint little Rochester playhouse, which had an extra- 
 ordinary Pickwickian air, has long since ceased to " function," 
 and has been altered into some institution, a Conservative 
 club, I believe.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 83 
 
 account of Rochester and the author's associations 
 with it, is the most interesting. As we said, this 
 subject seems to have a sort of fascination, and 
 we find writers of all sorts and conditions return- 
 ing again and again to it. Connected himself 
 with Rochester and Chatham, this gentleman has 
 related some interesting particulars of Dickens's 
 youth, showing also how he delighted to enshrine 
 in his writings all his early and most cherished 
 associations. It will be recollected that a retired 
 spot " behind Fort Pitt " at Chatham was selected 
 as the scene of Mr. Winkle's duel. This place, 
 it appears, was the favourite ground for settling 
 disputes that arose between the four schools of 
 the town, to one of which Dickens had been sent, 
 and with which he was no doubt familiar. The 
 scholars at these seats of education were described 
 in a popular distich, as : 
 
 Baker's Bull-dogs, 
 
 Giles' cats, 
 New Road Scrubbers, 
 
 Troy Town rats. 
 
 Dickens was at Giles' Academy. 
 
 Rochester with its inn, the latter minutely 
 described, figures in one of the " Sketches by Boz," 
 called " The Great Winglebury Duel." It was 
 strangely entitled " The Blue Lion and Stomach 
 Warmer," and had its " elegant and commodious " 
 assembly-rooms. The tale is further curious as 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 an anticipation of certain portions of Pickwick, 
 there being a duel to come off, while a young 
 lady, Miss Manners, visits the mayor, just as Miss 
 Withersfield did Mr. Nupkins. The boots of the 
 Blue Lion is placed on guard over one of the 
 combatants, as Sam was over Mr. "Winkle. 
 
 There is also another account of the scenes 
 described by Dickens, a special "Pickwickian 
 Pilgrimage," by an American, Mr. Hassard, and 
 written in a very genial spirit. For this gentle- 
 man Rochester and the opening scenes had most 
 attraction. 
 
 There is no doubt that this vivid conjunction of 
 known localities with the characters has imparted 
 a living force and a new interest to the story. 
 It has made the Pickwickians live, move, and have 
 their being in a very extraordinary degree. Dr. 
 Slammer's second gave the clearest directions to 
 the unhappy Winkle. " You know Fort Pitt; 
 turn into the field which borders the trench, take 
 the footpath when you arrive at an angle of the 
 fortification, and keep straight on.'* " Following 
 these instructions, we find ourselves in a rather 
 lonely region of open meadow, with a clump of trees 
 in the distance, much less secluded than it was in 
 Mr. Winkle's time, for the houses are in full view." 
 
 The youthful and brilliant writer had taken 
 stock of the manners and society of the place 
 where he had been a boy, and from what we 
 know of one specimen, it is likely that all the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 85 
 
 characters were drawn from life. Slammer, the 
 " P e PP er j" doctor, was sketched from a Dr. Sam 
 Piper, whom an old friend and brother officer 
 describes as " a worthy, honest, single-minded 
 man of the old school, given to swearing and other 
 peculiarities, who was one of the ( characters ' of 
 Chatham upon my first going there in 1836. He 
 belonged to the Provisional Battalion of Chatham 
 in days long ago. Upon the occasion of * Pick- 
 wick ' being published, and the allusion to the 
 Rochester Bah 1 , with Slammer's name, the latter, 
 in the first instance, ' naturally ' thought of 
 calling out the author, and, on second thoughts, 
 of prosecuting him for libel. His true friends, 
 however, strongly advised against this step." 
 Looking over some papers lately, this remiuiscent 
 gentleman found a letter of his ancient comrade, 
 which is quite in the " Slammer" style : 
 
 "New Hill: March 17, '58. 
 " You, the two undermentioned officers, are 
 hereby required to attend at my house, to-morrow, 
 Thursday, at six o'clock, to meet only Dr. and 
 
 Mrs. , also to masticate and wash down your 
 
 food with good and wholesome wine. In neglect 
 of, or disobeying this order, you are liable to be 
 sworn at. 
 
 " Gentlemen, yours sincerely, 
 
 " SAM PIPER." 2 
 
 2 This was communicated to me by General Kent, an old 
 friend of Dr. Piper's brother officer.
 
 86 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The model for the " Fat Boy " was also supplied 
 from Chatham, and the tradition there as I 
 have heard from several sources is, that he 
 was one James Budden, whose father kept the 
 Red Lion Inn. He used to assist in the bar, as 
 Mr. Kitton tells us, " his remarkable obesity at- 
 tracting general attention ; but it is probably 
 doubtful if he possessed the other remarkable 
 characteristic that of going to sleep in all sorts 
 of places and attitudes. He acquired an esta- 
 blishment of his own in High Street, Chatham, 
 where, on more than one occasion, he was hon- 
 oured by Dickens' s presence as a guest." In one 
 of the " Sketches by Boz," entitled " Mr. Minns 
 and his Cousin," there is a Mr. Octavius Budden 
 (a retired corn-chandler), and his wife and son, 
 who are said to have been members of the same 
 family. Captain Budden was lately owner of 
 Gadshill. 
 
 It may be added that Dickens was partial to 
 Kentish names. Upwich, the greengrocer jury- 
 man, was named after a little town in that county, 
 and Mrs. Pott's " body-guard " possibly received 
 hers from the Goodwin Sands. 
 
 The walk to Cobham, a charming bit of Kent, is 
 described in " Pickwick : " 
 
 " A delightful walk it was : for it was a pleasant 
 afternoon in June, and their way lay through a 
 deep and shady wood, cooled by the light wind
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 87 
 
 which gently rustled the thick foliage, and 
 enlivened by the songs of the birds that 
 perched upon the boughs. The ivy and the moss 
 crept in thick clusters over the old trees, and the 
 soft green turf overspread the ground like a silken 
 mat. They emerged upon an open park, with an 
 ancient hall, displaying the quaint and picturesque 
 architecture of Elizabeth's time. Long vistas of 
 stately oaks and elm-trees appeared on every side : 
 large herds of deer were cropping the fresh grass ; 
 and occasionally a startled hare scoured along the 
 ground, with the speed of the shadows thrown by 
 the light clouds which swept across a sunny land- 
 scape like a passing breath of summer. 
 
 " ' And really,' added Mr. Pickwick, after half 
 an hour's walking had brought them to the village, 
 ' really, for a misanthrope's choice, this is one of 
 the prettiest and most desirable places of residence 
 I ever met ,with.' Having been directed to the 
 Leather Bottle, a clean and commodious village 
 ale-house, the three travellers entered, and at once 
 inquired fora gentleman of the name of Tupman. 
 
 " ' Show the gentlemen into the parlour, Tom,' 
 said the landlady." 
 
 It may be added here that there is a dread- 
 ful tragedy also associated with Cobham Park. 
 A well-known painter of the day came down with 
 his father, and, decoying him into the woods 
 murdered him. He fled to the Continent, but
 
 88 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 was captured and confined for life in an asylum, 
 where Mr. John Forster often saw him on his 
 visits of inspection. 
 
 A delightful walk which we took recently, 
 starting from breezy Gravesend, up by Windmill 
 Hill, thence across field-paths the whole way to 
 Cobham, and from Cobham on to Rochester a 
 stretch of about ten miles kindled afresh these 
 Pickwickian recollections to an extraordinary 
 degree. The district is in itself a charming 
 specimen of what may be called the snug Kentish 
 scenery, with its mixture of sober greens and 
 mellow, well-ripened brick colour ; its sylvan 
 lanes, low woods, and hop-poles stacked effec- 
 tively in pyramids. Cobham has a peculiar grace 
 of its own, an air of shelter and antique retire- 
 ment. The stately Elizabethan pile, Cobham 
 Hall, with its cheerful red towers and innumerable 
 chimneys and gables, is the centre of the whole. 
 As we stood and looked, the memories of a walk 
 many years old rose up, when the genial author 
 himself led the way, and did the honours of his 
 country in showing all the choicest and most at- 
 tractive bits. "We see him trudging on before, in 
 the earnest, straightforward fashion he did every- 
 thing, delighted with what he had seen a hundred 
 times before. "We stand now as we did then, at 
 the entrance of the great lime-tree avenue, across 
 which a chain was mysteriously stretched, the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 89 
 
 noble owner, as he explained to him, having to 
 deny himself the use of this approach to gratify 
 the prejudice or superstition of his lowly neigh- 
 bours. This privilege he was allowed to enjoy on 
 one occasion only that of his own obsequies 
 when his remains were to be borne in state down 
 the tabooed avenue to its final resting-place. 
 The village adjoining had a charming, nestling air, 
 a little gently winding street of quaint red-brick 
 houses, old inns chiefly; at the furthest end of 
 which, after passing " The Ship," and of course 
 " The Darnley Arms," stood the modest " Leather 
 Bottle." 
 
 A pretty, compact, white little tenement it is, 
 with a sign swinging over the door, portraying 
 Mr. Pickwick, his hands under his coat-tails, and 
 the inscription, " Dickens' Old Pickwiclc Leather 
 Bottle Hotel." There is an overhanging, well- 
 tiled roof, a lamp over the door, little shuttered 
 windows at each side, and a general air of cosi- 
 ness ; luncheons, dinners, we are told, are " ar- 
 ranged on the shortest notice," and it is " all 
 among the cherries, apples, and hops," and also 
 "clean and commodious (vide Pickwick) ; Cobham, 
 Kent, opposite the Church and College, the 
 favourite resort of the late Charles Dickens," an 
 ambiguous but allowable exaggeration. There is 
 " an Ordinary every Sunday at half-past one, at 
 2s." each, and the telegraphic address is " Pick-
 
 9O THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 wick Cobham." Entering, we find a snug little 
 bar, and, some good ale being drawn, the land- 
 lord suggests that it should be quaffed in " the 
 Pickwick room," to give it the suitable flavour. 
 
 From the chronicle, which is with us, we learn 
 that " A stout country lad opened a door at the 
 end of the passage, and the three friends entered 
 a long, low-roofed room, furnished with a large 
 number of high-backed, leather-cushioned chairs 
 of fantastic shapes, and embellished with a great 
 variety of old portraits and roughly-coloured 
 prints of some antiquity. At the upper end of 
 the room was a table with a white cloth upon it, 
 well covered with a roast fowl, bacon, ale, and et 
 ceteras." And there it is still ; the passage, and 
 the door at the end of the passage, and a charm- 
 ing old room of some size, very low, and with a 
 sort of framed ceiling, its yellow walls grimed 
 with the smoke and steam of a hundred " ordi- 
 narys." There are the old, high-backed chairs, no 
 doubt bought in Rochester to add " local colour " 
 and to correspond with the text an old portrait of 
 the teaboard-pattern, with an ancient clock, en- 
 gravings and photographs of " Boz." From the 
 centre there used to hang a bottle or gourd ; but 
 the "Leather Bottle" is clearly our old friend 
 Cf the Black Jack," now found in museums. It 
 is pleasant to find after over fifty years everything 
 corresponding so exactly and so naturally. The
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 91 
 
 " Leather Bottle," however, had a narrow escape 
 of being burnt down, a few years ago. 
 
 Four or five miles trudging brought us to the 
 river and to the noble view of Rochester, with its 
 castle and church, and to the three bridges 
 which cross it in such awkward companionship. 
 On the right after crossing the bridge, we came 
 to a large and mellowed chocolate-coloured 
 building, with a long range of windows, an inn of 
 importance, the old Pickwickian " Bull." A large 
 gateway supported by two columns shows a huge 
 courtyard within, and over the door is a solid 
 " Eoyal Arms," with a little bull on the top of 
 the lamp. But, alas ! there is a sign that the 
 " Bull " is faltering in its Pickwickian allegiance, 
 or " wobbling," as politicians have it, for on each 
 side of the gateway is a board with this inscrip- 
 tion in gold characters : 
 
 " LAWRENCE'S VICTORIA AND BULL INN; " 
 an intrusion, however loyal, which will assuredly 
 end in displacing the older sign. We wandered 
 in. On the right and left were the doors leading 
 into coffee-rooms and offices, while down the yard 
 were bowed windows and the " Assembly Room," 
 overhead, supported on pillars. There was in- 
 finite accommodation in a spacious yard for post- 
 chaises and gentlemen's private carriages of the 
 old days. On the left, by the coffee-room, was 
 the hall and flight of stairs that flight, how
 
 92 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 familiar it seemed ! For the moment we caught 
 ourselves saying, " Here Jingle actually stood and 
 bearded the peppery Dr. Slammer," just as we see 
 the pair in the etching. It was, indeed, exactly 
 as it appeared in those times, with a pleasant 
 flavour of very old fashion a black japanned 
 clock standing at the top of the stairs, with 
 venerable carpets, and several landings. Some- 
 what timorously a demand was made to be shown 
 the ball or assembly-room ; but the spirit of the 
 request was understood, and, indeed, received as 
 flattering. We thought of the Pickwickians at 
 their dinner in one of the rooms below. A waiter 
 led the way, and threw open a door to the left, 
 close to the top of the stairs. There was the old 
 assembly-room, not very large, where some forty 
 or fifty could dance with comfort. There was an 
 air of faded old fashion about it ; its three spindly 
 glass chandeliers hanging in the centre, exactly 
 as they had lighted the august Clubbers and the 
 Hon. Mr. Snipe, as again for the moment we 
 firmly believed. At the end, only a foot or so 
 over our head, was a little attenuated railing or 
 balcony, with curtains drawn behind, in which 
 the musicians fiddle away to this hour. 
 
 " It was a long room, with crimson-covered 
 benches, and wax candles in glass chandeliers. 
 The musicians were securely confined in an 
 elevated den, and quadrilles were being systema-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 93 
 
 tically got through by two or three sets of dancers. 
 Two card-tables were made up in the adjoining 
 card-room, and two pair of old ladies, and a 
 corresponding number of stout gentlemen, were 
 executing whist therein." 
 
 It was astonishing how exactly everything cor- 
 responded to this description, save that there 
 were circular rows of cane chairs instead of the 
 crimson benches. The waiter, alas ! knew no- 
 thing of "Pickwick;" fancied some architectural 
 aim or purpose, and tried impartially to carry out 
 his guide or showman business. There were 
 dances, he said, often given here " in the season." 
 A curious, indescribable impression was left as 
 we surveyed this faded old chamber. One would 
 like to halt for the night at the Bull (or future 
 Victoria), for the old town is stored with at- 
 tractions. The Town Hall and Corn Exchange are 
 fine crusted specimens of ripe brick ; there are also 
 the memories of Edwin Drood, of the Minor Canon 
 Row, the Castle, and the Seven Poor Travellers. 3 
 
 8 There are other Pickwickian Inns such as the Great 
 "White Horse at Ipswich. It is evidence of the extraordinary 
 vitality of the story, that such works as Murray's Hand- 
 books, and the A. B.C. Railway guide, gravely record, as 
 if communicating a fact of actual historical interest, that at 
 this house (the White Horse), " occurred Mr. Pickwick's 
 remarkable adventure with the lady in yellow curl-papers," 
 while the Bull " was honoured by the visit of Mr. Pick- 
 wick." The inn-keepers themselves, in their advertisements,
 
 94 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Dorking, in spite of its two railway stations, 
 stands pretty much where it did fifty years ago, 
 and retains its air of pleasant rurality. The High 
 Street is as drowsy and old fashioned as the lover 
 of good old crusted rusticity could ^desire, while 
 the arrival of the "Dorking Coach" at mid-day 
 during the season, the bugle performing its fanta- 
 sias with a forced hilarity to impart a theatrical 
 effect, offers a counterfeit of the old coaching 
 days. There is an abundance of framed houses, 
 sound and in good working condition, in and 
 about the place ; but the number of inns is 
 phenomenal. It has its "White Horses, Black 
 Horses, Red Lions, Old Rams, Old Bulls, to say 
 nothing of Crowns, King's Heads, Bells, Wheat- 
 Sheaves and others. As it is, Wellers abound, 
 and on various boards and shop-fronts the name 
 meets the stranger's eye. The amateur's first 
 thought is to settle the identity of Mr. Weller's 
 inn, but claims are conflicting. A local guide- 
 book stoutly insists on the King's Head in West 
 
 quaintly invite attention to the fact "that Mr. Pickwick and 
 his friends had stayed at this house." Mr. Hissey asked the 
 landlord of the Great White Horse if this were not the hotel 
 Mr. Pickwick is supposed to have put up at. " Supposed ! " 
 was the indignant reply, " I've the very carving knife and fork 
 he used ivhen he ivas here : ivory mounted they are ; they go 
 with the hotel, and were handed to me when I took it." 
 No other known work of fiction has imparted this extraordinary 
 feeling of reality.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 95 
 
 Street ; others set up the Three Tuns, about 
 the middle of the High Street, while a third 
 section are for the familiar Old White Horse. 
 It is disheartening, however, to find it contended 
 that Weller's inn was actually not in Dorking, 
 and that the candidate inn was scarcely pre- 
 tentious enough to suggest a Marquis of Granby. 
 " The Marquis of Granby," we are told, " in Mr. 
 "Weller's time was quite a model of a roadside 
 public-house of the better class, just large enough 
 to be convenient, and small enough to be snug. 
 On the opposite side of the road was a large sign- 
 board on a high post, representing the head and 
 shoulders of a gentleman with an apoplectic 
 countenance, in a red coat, with deep blue facings, 
 and a touch of the same blue over his three- 
 cornered hat, for a sky." All the now claiming 
 inns would probably repudiate the description 
 of "a roadside public-house of the better 
 class," even though complimented with being 
 " quite a model " in that category ; neither could 
 the White Horse or Three Tuns be correctlv de- 
 
 tf 
 
 scribed as " roadside," nor would their position in 
 the High Street admit of the sign-board being 
 hung on the other side, which would be objected 
 to by tradesmen opposite. The White Horse 
 too, has more ambitious aims than the satisfying 
 the requirements of " convenience " merely, and 
 though snug enough, does not supply the " snug-
 
 96 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 ness " that comes from smallness of accommo- 
 dation. The King's Head, however, seems to 
 have the fairest claim ; the picture resembles it ; 
 and in a number of All the Year Round, in 1869, 
 and which passed under Dickens' eye, it is 
 stated that the King's Head was the inn intended. 
 
 The truth, however, is that the inimitable 
 Charles, like a true artist, generalized, selecting a 
 bit here and a bit there, and compounding the 
 whole according to his wants. An American writer 
 maintains that the " Markis o' Granby " lately 
 standing at Esher, was intended. But alas ! for 
 such speculations, when Dickens was a child 
 there was in Chatham a Marquis of Granby, kept 
 by Thomas Weller, and this no doubt was in his 
 mind. Sawyer is another Pickwickian name dis- 
 played here ; there is even pointed out the actual 
 locale of Mr. Wardle's shooting party, which Mr. 
 Pickwick attended, it will be remembered, in a 
 wheel-barrow. My friend Mr. Marcus Stone 
 tells me that once, when he was walking with the 
 author of " Pickwick " along the green lanes near 
 G-adshill, a vegetable cart drove past, on which 
 was the name "Weller." He remarked the 
 coincidence. " Coincidence," exclaimed Dickens, 
 " why, it is the man ! " meaning that the name 
 had been suggested by a shop in Chatham. 
 
 Desperate efforts have been made to identify 
 the localities of Dingley Dell, Muggleton, and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 97 
 
 Eatauswill, corrupted, we may presume, from 
 Eat-and-swill. This latter town offered really 
 nothing individual, and the election was of but a 
 common type, many of which Dickens had wit- 
 nessed. The author at the opening of chapter 
 thirteen somewhat laboriously tries to show that 
 he has no particular town in his eye : 
 
 " We will frankly acknowledge, that up to the 
 period of our being first immersed in the volumi- 
 nous papers of the Pickwick Club, we had never 
 heard of Eatanswill. We are therefore led to 
 believe that Mr. Pickwick purposely substituted 
 a fictitious designation, for the real name of the 
 place in which his observations were made. In 
 Mr. Pickwick's note-book, we can just trace an 
 entry of the fact, that the places of himself and 
 followers were booked by the Norwich coach; 
 but this entry was lined through." From this we 
 might be inclined to infer that the borough of 
 IPSWICH was in Dickens' mind. 
 
 It may have been that Eatanswill was intended 
 for EXETER, whither, in 1835, Dickens repaired 
 " to * take ' the speech of Lord John Russell, in 
 the midst of a lively fight, maintained by all the 
 vagabonds in the county." An aristocrat, it 
 will be recollected, was one of the candidates. 
 It was here that he so humorously described his 
 reporting under difficulties, two colleagues holding 
 a handkerchief over his notes to keep off the rain. 
 
 H
 
 98 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The son of the author is inclined to fix on 
 Town Mailing as the original of Muggleton, 
 it being always a great cricketing place. 
 But the author gives a further indication which 
 would be of help to those familiar with the 
 politics of the time, that " Muggleton was 
 an ancient and loyal borough, mingling a 
 zealous advocacy of Christian principles with 
 a devoted attachment to commercial rights ; 
 in demonstration whereof, the mayor, corpora- 
 tion, and other inhabitants, have presented at 
 divers times no fewer than one thousand four 
 hundred and twenty petitions against the con- 
 tinuance of negro slavery abroad, and an equal 
 number against any interference with the factory 
 system at home ; sixty-eight in favour of the 
 sale of livings in the Church, and eighty-six for 
 abolishing Sunday trading in the street." 
 
 Mr. Frost, who travelled over Kent, visiting the 
 various localities associated with Dickens, made 
 what may be called a thoroughly scientific exami- 
 nation of these knotty points. Again it may be 
 asked, does not this show how extraordinary is 
 the hold which everything connected with " Pick- 
 wick " has on the public mind ? He says : 
 
 " Dingley Dell, if it is to be found at all, must 
 be sought, therefore, east of the Medway, between 
 the two lines of railway, and west of a curved 
 line drawn from Judd's Hill to Paddock Wood,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 99 
 
 through Otterden and Staplehurst ; and in that 
 portion of Kent, though there may be many spots 
 the seclusion and picturesqueness of which might 
 suggest such a name as Dingley Dell, there is no 
 town to correspond to Muggleton. All the 
 localities mentioned by Dickens in his narrative 
 of the Pickwickians' journey and their sojourns at 
 Manor Farm must be regarded, therefore, as being 
 equally with Mr. "Wardle and the fat boy the 
 creations of his fancy." 
 
 But it is BATH that, most of all, seems to live 
 again in his pages. That stately city, always 
 attractive, has now entered on a new revival of 
 life, but cannot shake itself free from the old 
 associations of Miss Burney, Miss Austen, and 
 Dickens. How pleasantly quaint the names of 
 the streets, the Parade, the Eoyal Crescent, the 
 Circus, Queen's Square, Great Pulteney Street ; 
 with the Pump-Room, the Assembly-Rooms, the 
 "White Hart ! The visitor, as he wanders about, 
 thinks how appropriate it is that Mr. Pickwick and 
 his friends should have lodged at the Crescent, 
 and have joined with the Dowlers in taking the 
 whole suite from Mrs. Craddock, the landlady. 
 The great pump-room has or had a curious 
 faded air of fashion, and is now, as then, " a spa- 
 cious saloon, ornamented with Corinthian pillars, 
 and a music-gallery, and a Tompion clock, and a 
 statue of Nash, and a golden inscription, to which 
 
 \ 2
 
 ioo THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 all the water-drinkers should attend, for it appeals 
 to them in the cause of a deserving charity." 
 
 Then the Assembly-Kooms ; stately, well-de- 
 signed chambers, where there are forlorn concerts 
 and entertainments now given, and which seem 
 charged with the old glories. Once attending 
 these solemnities, I seemed to see the gay company 
 again, and in one of the little rooms could call up 
 the card-tables, and Mr. Pickwick seated at whist 
 with the terrible, feathered old ladies. 
 
 The scenes at this assembly, the glitter and 
 bustle and va et vient, are admirable ; witness the 
 little talk with Lord Mutanhed, in his " wed mail 
 cart," just of the length and complexion which 
 would occur in a crowded ball-room. Bantam 
 the M.C., is farcical enough, but excellent. 
 
 There have been some changes in the place 
 since the days of the Pickwickians. The White 
 Hart Hotel, which stood in Stall Street, ap- 
 pears to have been replaced by the present 
 Grand Pump-room Hotel. As already mentioned, 
 the White Hart was kept by Eleazer Pickwick, 
 who had been a post-boy at the Bear. The 
 old figure of the White Hart that used to be 
 over the entrance, is now, or was lately, to be 
 seen over the refreshment-rooms opposite the 
 Memorial Hospital. The waiters, Dickens tells 
 us, "might be mistaken for Westminster boys," 
 from their costume an allusion that must have 
 puzzled many. Mr. Peach explains that the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 101 
 
 waiters then wore breeches and silk stockings, 
 and the maids a peculiar, close-fitting dress. This 
 traditional costume of the inn was maintained 
 almost to its closing in 1864. Lord Lytton and 
 Lord Beaconsfield, in their youthful days, were 
 fond of patronizing the White Hart. 
 
 It was during Lord John Russell's candidature, 
 in 1835, that Dickens was sent to Bath to report 
 a dinner, at which the candidate was to speak. 
 He stayed at the Bush Inn at Bristol, to which 
 Mr. Winkle fled,- since pulled down. One of his 
 most spirited feats is connected with this trip, 
 and proves that he would have been conspicuous 
 in any walk of life. 
 
 " The report of the Bath dinner shall be for- 
 warded by the first Bath coach on Thursday 
 morning what time it starts we have no means 
 of ascertaining till we reach Bath ; but you will 
 receive it as early as possible, as we will indorse 
 the parcel 'Pay the porter 2s. 6d. extra for 
 immediate delivery.' I need not say that it will 
 be sharp work, and will require two of us ; for 
 we shall both be up the whole of the previous 
 night, and shall have to sit up all night again to 
 get it off in time. 
 
 " Pray direct to one of us at the White Hart, 
 Bath, and inform us in a parcel sent by the FIRST 
 COACH after you receive this, exactly at what hour 
 it arrived. Do not fail on any account." 
 
 Almost on the eve of his death, Dickens
 
 iO2 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 wandered back to Bath, and it is curious to con- 
 trast the impression then left upon him, compared 
 with the jocund, almost riotous spirit of nearly 
 forty years before. " Lander's ghost," he wrote, 
 "goes along the silent streets here before me. 
 The place to me looks like a cemetery, which 
 the dead have succeeded in rising and taking. 
 Having built streets of their old gravestones, 
 they wander about scantly, trying to look alive, 
 a dead failure." These grim images scarcely 
 answer to our notions of the stately city. 
 Though the Bathonians were displeased at this 
 unfavourable description, they should find com- 
 pensation in the thought that it was in the house 
 No. 35, St. James's Square, at a birthday 
 dinner, the idea of "Little Nell" was first 
 conceived. 
 
 A pleasantly grotesque sketch is that of Bantam 
 as M.O., and though it may have been that Dickens 
 did not intend to portray the actual holder of 
 the office, he could not have been ignorant that, 
 for this very reason, it would be considered as a 
 portrait. The office was held at the time, and 
 until 1849, by Colonel, afterwards General Jervois, 
 who later was appointed Governor of Hong Kong 
 We could scarcely fancy Mr. Bantam filling such 
 an office. Further, Mr. Peach of Bath, who recalls 
 Colonel Jervois, writes that he cannot perceive the 
 slightest resemblance or verisimilitude to Jervois.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 103 
 
 The George arid Vulture, as we know, was Mr. 
 Pickwick's favourite house when he was in town, 
 and he was perpetually arriving there or depart- 
 ing thence. The name has a quaint, pleasant 
 ring, and also illustrates forcibly the changes of 
 social life. Now-a-days no one in Mr. Pickwick's 
 position would dream of putting up at a place 
 with a sign, though there are still some old houses 
 left in Holborn, such as THE OLD BELL, and in 
 the Borough, which are comfortable inns of the 
 country pattern. A pilgrimage to the George and 
 Vulture is the duty of every ardent Pickwickian ; 
 and the hostelry in question will be found near 
 Lombard Street, close to the Bank of England. 
 
 This old tavern, as we now see it, closes up the 
 end of a small court, with dull-coloured walls, 
 and grimed bricks ; an archway leads under or 
 through it to the street beyond ; while flanking 
 it is the new and palatial-like building just con- 
 structed for the Berlin Bank. It has been said 
 that this is not the veritable old "George;" but 
 there stands the old house, with the name and title; 
 and its hotel-like air. Now it is a city chop-house, 
 with a narrow, squeezed and tortuous entry, and the 
 low ceiling and " boxes " are to be seen through 
 the dingy panes. In the face of these facts, the 
 burden of proof seems to lie upon the objectors. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting of these Pick- 
 wickian inns, is the old one in the High Street,
 
 iO4 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Borough, the White Hart, which till lately tottered 
 on in a very crazy state, in company with its fellows 
 of the same pattern, up and down the street, the 
 King's Head, the Queen's Head, and others. It 
 is interesting, even on other grounds, to pay a 
 visit to these relics of a bygone style of travelling, 
 and at some hour of the day there is generally to 
 be seen some American stranger, often standing 
 in the centre of the yard, and looking up at the 
 ruined galleries. There is almost a firm faith 
 that a real Pickwick, Wardle, and Perker stood 
 there over fifty years ago, questioning Sam ; such 
 has been the vitality of the story. It is astonish- 
 ing that some of the great railway companies had 
 riot secured it as a " Goods Depot," the general 
 final stage ; but there it stood, decayed and 
 abandoned. 
 
 A very interesting and learned work has re- 
 cently been published, on the " Inns of Old South- 
 wark," by Messrs Rendle and Norman, in which 
 is set out the whole history of the White Hart, 
 which is an extraordinary one, dating from the 
 time of Jack Cade. The antiquarian authors 
 declare that not a word could be added to 
 Dickens' perfect description. " The sober his- 
 torian who wished to describe faithfully the place 
 as it was, could not do it better, if so well. 
 Dickens has filled in particulars evidently from the 
 life. In only one little detail does he deviate
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK 105 
 
 from strict topographical accuracy. The galleries 
 were on three sides of the yard instead of two, as 
 he states." . . . " Till September, 1884, the old 
 galleries were let out in tenements, and the pre- 
 sence of the inmates gave life and movement to 
 the scene. Here every afternoon might be seen 
 a solitary omnibus which plied to Clapham, the 
 last descendant of the old coaches. The inner 
 yard is now finally closed." 
 
 It will be recollected that after his excited 
 interview with Dodson and Fogg, Mr. Pickwick, 
 turning into Cheapside from Cornhill, asked his 
 servant where he could obtain a restorative. 
 ".Second court on the right-hand side," was the 
 reply, " last house but vun on the same side the 
 way. Take the box as stands in the first fire- 
 place," &c. This turn is Freeman's Court, nearly 
 opposite Bow Church, a dark little flagged 
 passage, and the " last house but vun " is now 
 old Burton's coffee-house. 
 
 Another Pickwickian inn which has not suffered 
 the least change is the " Spaniards " on the top 
 of Hampstead Hill, not far from the Jack Straw's 
 Castle, where " Boz " and his friend had so many 
 pleasant " shoemakers' holidays." We can see 
 the tea-gardens, with their bowery alcoves, 
 where Mrs. Bardell and her friends enjoyed 
 themselves, and, for the moment, can almost 
 fancy we see the very spot where Mr. Jackson
 
 io6 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 pointed the party out to the bailiff. This im- 
 pression of reality is as extraordinary here as in 
 other spots, and I fancy is owing to the author's 
 perfect instinct of appropriation. He fitted his 
 characters exactly to the localities and vice 
 versa. No other place would have suited the 
 scene so perfectly. 
 
 It was from the Bull Inn, "Whitechapel, that 
 Mr. Pickwick started for Ipswich, on a coach 
 driven by his servant's father. This was in the 
 old days the regular point of departure for 
 coaches going north-east. The old inn is still, 
 or was very lately, to be seen, not much altered, 
 and was visited by Mr. Hassard. 
 
 The Groldeii Cross, at Charing Cross, whence 
 the Pickwickians started on May 13th, 1827, by 
 the Rochester coach (and there is something De- 
 foe like in this particularity of date), is now an 
 important and decorous family hotel. But for 
 some years after the date of the journey it was the 
 great starting-point for the coaches, and displayed 
 a sign. We can see still the outline of the very low 
 archway which invited Mr. Jingle's warning : 
 
 " Terrible place dangerous work other day 
 five children mother tall lady, eating sand- 
 wiches forgot the arch crash knock chil- 
 dren look round mother's head off sandwich 
 in her hand no mouth to put it in head of a 
 family off shocking shocking."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 107 
 
 The Great White Horse Inn, Ipswich, is still 
 what it was, and dates, Mr. Hissey says, from the 
 sixteenth century. " It is a building of many 
 passages and staircases ; the courtyard is grass- 
 covered, with a fountain playing and ferns 
 around." A friend of the present writer lately 
 visited it, and was much struck with the low, 
 large chambers and rambling passages, where 
 the guest would lose his way, exactly as Mr. 
 Pickwick did. 4 
 
 Recently the writer made a careful search in the 
 squalid purlieus of Clare Market, for the tavern 
 frequented by Perker's clerk, Lowten. "At 
 the back of the New Inn," I found a couple of very 
 ancient well grimed -taverns, close together and 
 not unpicturesque. Either would " serve." One is 
 The Old George the Fourth, a strange tottering place 
 propped over the street, and thus making a sort 
 of arcade, on wooden columns ; near it is the 
 sombre, desolate-looking Black Jack, even yet 
 more decayed and grimed, the name almost 
 illegible, the windows admitting little light. 
 
 4 This lady a true Pickwickian has had a number of 
 photographs taken of the old hostel, which are now before me, 
 and give an excellent idea of the place. To Mr. Hissey this 
 old doggrell was repeated : 
 
 " The White Horse " shall kick " The Bear," 
 
 And make " The Griffin " fly, 
 Shall turn " The Bell " upside down, 
 
 And drink the " Three Tuns " dry.
 
 loS THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 There is, however, an actual Magpie and Sturap 
 to be seen in Fetter Lane. It is minutely de- 
 scribed by the author, in his graphic fashion. 
 
 " In the lower windows, which were decorated 
 with curtains of a saffron hue, dangled . two or 
 three printed cards, bearing reference to Devon- 
 shire cyder and Dantzic spruce, while a large black 
 board, announcing in white letters to an enlightened 
 public that there were 500,000 barrels of double 
 stout in the cellars of the establishment, left the 
 mind in a state of not unpleasing doubt and un- 
 certainty as to the precise direction in the bowels 
 of the earth in which this mighty cavern might 
 be supposed to extend." 
 
 The extraordinary propriety in nearly all 
 instances of Dickens's selections of localities was 
 never better illustrated than by his choice of 
 " Lant Street, Borough," as the place of residence 
 for a medical student. There is something even in 
 the name, and still more in the dingy forlornness 
 and air of shabbiness and abandonment which it 
 now offers. This vivid impression he had gathered 
 from his own dismal juvenile recollections, and 
 which he sometimes transfers to his readers, 
 for, as we know, Dickens, when a boy, lodged 
 in this street at the time his father was imprisoned 
 in the Marshalsea. The house stood on part of the 
 site now occupied by the Board School adjoining 
 No. 46. " A back attic was found for me at the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 109 
 
 house of an insolvent-court agent, who lived in 
 Lant Street, in the Borough, where Bob Saivyer 
 lodged many years afterwards. A bed and bed- 
 ding were sent over for me, and made up on the 
 floor. The little window had a pleasant prospect 
 of a timber-yard; and when I took possession of 
 my new abode, I thought it was a Paradise." 
 
 This opinion of his boyhood seems to have been 
 somewhat changed fifteen years later, when Mr. 
 Robert Sawyer had taken up his residence in the 
 locality. " There is an air of repose about Lant 
 Street, in the Borough, which sheds a gentle 
 melancholy upon the soul. A house in Lant 
 Street would not come within the denomination 
 of a first-rate residence, in the strict acceptation 
 of the term ; but it is a most desirable spot 
 nevertheless. If a man wished to abstract him- 
 self from the world, to remove himself from 
 within the reach of temptation, to place himself 
 beyond the possibility of any inducement to look 
 out of the window, he should by all means go to 
 Lant Street." 
 
 This exactly describes the tone and aspect of 
 Lant Street at this hour, its air of waste, lonely 
 dinginess, and shabby gentility. On the right as 
 we' go down, there is a row of houses, such as 
 are seen in country towns, with very narrow, 
 prim-looking doors, all of the same pattern, but in 
 sound if shabby condition. Here was certainly
 
 no THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer's apartment; on the other side is a 
 row of a much meaner sort, and where, it is to be 
 feared, the little boy lodged, in the old disastrous 
 days. Part of the street, close to the High Street, 
 has been levelled, and a Board School has been 
 erected. It is a depressing place altogether. 
 
 The Pickwickian Pilgrim will own that Gos- 
 well Eoad, the former Goswell Street where 
 Mr. Pickwick lodged, is unsatisfactory in its 
 power of reviving Pickwickian memories. We 
 imagine nay, require a dull, comfortable-looking, 
 old-fashioned, retired street ; but, instead, find a 
 busy, noisy thoroughfare, a long hill crowded with 
 tramcars and omnibuses, given over to shops 
 rather ill formed, and suggesting a street in some 
 manufacturing town.
 
 VI. 
 
 ONE of the TTiost attractive sides of " Pickwick " 
 is the complete picture it offers of an old English 
 state of manners which has now disappeared or 
 faded out. These characters and incidents belong 
 to the state of society that then existed nay, are 
 its product. Thus the slow and deliberate mode 
 of travelling by coach, the putting up at inns, 
 enforced a sort of fellowship and contact, and 
 led to ready acquaintanceship and to a display of 
 peculiarities. The same conditions of travel, too, 
 promoted a species of adventure, often not without 
 its farce. Now, with the various changes has 
 come an orderly uniformity, reflected in the dramas 
 of our time, which contrast as strongly with the 
 old boisterous humour of the ancient farces. In 
 country houses, cut off from regular contact with 
 the metropolis, simple, unsophisticated characters 
 such as were found at Dingley Dell were not at 
 all improbable. Mistakes in double-bedded rooms, 
 cordial acceptance of adventurers and impostors, 
 like Captain Fitz-Marshall picked up at an 
 assembly rout, elopements, duels, were, as can be 
 seen from the newspapers of the time, ordinary
 
 H2 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 incidents enough. The vivid yet unaffected style 
 in which these now abolished incidents are brought 
 before us is extraordinary. Nothing could be more 
 perfect as a complete picture than the account of 
 the Fleet Prison, the fashion of life there, the sin- 
 gular characters, their reckless originality ; yet all 
 contributing entertainment as they forwarded the 
 strict " business " of the piece. We know as 
 much of the Fleet as if we had resided there for 
 months. As we have shown, our author caught-the 
 whole flavour of Bath, with its assemblies, master 
 of ceremonies, footmen, &c., so that even now a 
 visitor for the first time finds himself in a manner 
 familiar with it, and feels the peculiar tone of digni- 
 fied old fashion which had been described to him. 
 
 It might seem paradoxical to say, that one 
 reason for the extraordinary vitality of the book 
 is found in so much of it being drawn from 
 transient events that were then exciting public 
 attention, and going on about the author; such 
 as the state of the prisons, the general corruption 
 at elections, the violence of counsel, and various 
 follies of fashion ; with sketches of not a few 
 foolish people, and their " fads." 
 
 At the time " Pickwick " was appearing the 
 treatment of debtors was attracting much atten- 
 tion, and the House of Commons had been ordering 
 returns. In the month in which the first number 
 appeared, the "warden" of the Fleet wrote to the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 113 
 
 Times to deny that " he was aware that a guinea 
 and a half was often paid for a room ;" or that 
 four or five persons were crammed into a single 
 apartment. These guarded denials may have 
 attracted the young author's eye; he had besides 
 his own dismal recollections. 
 
 As we stand at Ludgate Circus, looking to St. 
 Paul's, we shall see facing us, on our left, inFarring- 
 don Street, an imposing Congregational Hall. 
 This, with the buildings adjoining, stands upon 
 part of the ground once occupied by the " Fleet " 
 prison. It stretches back to the ground, or to a 
 portion of it, now occupied by some large printing 
 offices. A long blank wall, with a small central 
 block of entrance, ran along the street. Mr. Ash- 
 ton, who has written an account of the place, has 
 given a plan; but do we not know it better than 
 any plan could show it ? and could we not find our 
 way to the coffee-room flight, or to the racquet- 
 ground ? 
 
 Pierce Egan, in his " Life in London," described 
 Tom and Jerry being taken by their friend Bob 
 Logic, just as Mr. Pickwick was, to " a whistling 
 shop." It was customary not to ask for drink, 
 but to whistle, which was understood as an order. 
 The "Fleet" was finally closed about!842, and a few 
 years after the appearance of the story, the prison 
 was sold and levelled to the ground. It was 
 curious, too, that the pathetic history of the 
 
 I
 
 ii4 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 chancery prisoner should have been more than 
 justified by a piteous tale which came out at an 
 inquest held on a poor woman who was for years 
 confined in the Queen's Bench prison. It was 
 related that, after this long immurement, she had 
 died from fever brought 011 by anxiety and hope 
 deferred. Imprisonment for debt was not prac- 
 tically abolished until 1864. Many years later 
 Dickens described the interior of another prison, 
 the Marshalsea, of which he had many painful 
 memories. This was done in his later manner, 
 when he had completely changed his style, and it 
 would be interesting to compare the effect of 
 the descriptions of the two places. It must be 
 said the later account is not nearly so effective 
 as the first, though infinitely more minute and 
 elaborate. It is often a mistake to imagine that 
 the most detailed "inventory" of a place con- 
 veys a perfect idea of it ; a few bold, vigorous 
 strokes will be far more effective. The Marshalsea 
 is painted almost laboriously, but somehow the 
 Chiverys who are "on the lock" and the collegians, 
 and the scene of the signing of the address in 
 Mr. Dorrit's room, have an artificial air, beside 
 the masterly picture, done with a few bold, natural 
 strokes, of the precious trio, the butcher and his 
 friend, and the parson, whose noisome room in the 
 Fleet Mr. Pickwick came to take. The squalor, 
 the meanness consequent upon imprisonment
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 115 
 
 for debt, the white walls and long galleries, de- 
 scribed with a sort of pride to Mr. Pickwick when 
 he was introduced : " this is the coffee-room 
 flight ;" the bare background of the lodge, lit up, 
 into which Mrs. Bardell was brought, all have 
 an extraordinary, life-like air. 
 
 In " The Old Man's Tale of the Queer Client," 
 the author described what he had seen in his 
 childhood : 
 
 "In the Borough High Street, near Saint 
 George's Church, and on the same side of the 
 way, stands, as most people know, the smallest of 
 our debtors' prisons, the Marshalsea. Although 
 in later times it has been a very different place 
 from the sink of filth and dirt it once was, even 
 its improved condition holds out but little tempta- 
 tion to the extravagant, or consolation to the im- 
 provident. It may be my fancy, or it may be that 
 I cannot separate the place from the old recol- 
 lections associated with it, but this part of London 
 I cannot bear. Want and misfortune are pent up 
 in the narrow prison ; an air of gloom and dreari- 
 ness seems, in my eyes at least, to hang about the 
 scene, and to impart to it a squalid and sickly hue." 
 
 The tragic story that follows is certainly 
 a reminiscence, as is also the scene at the 
 funeral. 
 
 We find that, not only in the Pickwick Club, 
 but in other productions written about the same 
 
 I 2
 
 n6 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 time, our author exercised much good-humoured 
 satire on the subject of learned societies and their 
 " Transactions." In the " Mudfog Papers," which 
 he wrote when he was editor of Bentley's Miscellany, 
 there is much ridicule, carried out in a very elabo- 
 rate way, of the scientific meetings at Mudfog, 
 with specimens of the papers read, discussions by 
 Professors Dosey and Wheazy, not, it must be said, 
 in his lightest manner. The opening chapter 
 of " Pickwick," it will be recollected, contains 
 persiflage of the same kind, with a special ridicule 
 of the " letters " which many such societies 
 attach to their names. Later on came the well- 
 known discovery of the stone with inscribed 
 characters, which some of the profane insisted 011 
 interpreting as Bill Stumps, &c. This persistent 
 satire of one subject, it is likely enough, was 
 excited by some more than ordinary exhibition of 
 absurdity ; and I find that the period in question 
 was marked by a sort of rage for founding new 
 societies. Within half a dozen years had come into 
 being the Geographical Society, the United Service 
 Institute ; the Harveian Society, the Entomolo- 
 gical, Statistical, Numismatic and Ornithological 
 Societies. But the society that seems specially to 
 have excited his satire was the British Association, 
 founded in 1831, and whose progresses about the 
 country are so ludicrously paraded in the Mudfog 
 Papers. The " Pickwick " opening chapter seems 
 to have been intended to ridicule this now popular
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 117 
 
 association. In this way many a pleasant passage 
 in the story, when made thus intelligible, becomes 
 doubly acceptable. 
 
 Thus some reference of the kind was clearly 
 intended in the second page. " The travelling 
 members were to correspond with the society, and 
 requested to forward, from time to time, authentic 
 accounts of their journeys and investigations, to- 
 gether with all tales and papers, which local scenery 
 associations may give rise to." Dickens was 
 fond of this sort of machinery for his works, and 
 tried to adapt it to Master Humphrey's Clock. 
 But in "Pickwick" it was found too pedantic 
 and constraining a process, and he almost at once 
 abandoned it, though occasionally the original 
 notion seemed to recur ; as when he would 
 present Mr. Pickwick making notes of his day's 
 proceedings, or collecting tales. Mr. Snod- 
 grass also made records ; " we frankly say that 
 to the note-book of Mr. Snodgrass we are 
 indebted for the particulars recorded in this and 
 the succeeding chapters." This was but a 
 cramping, roundabout process after all. The 
 novelist has the privilege of being invisibly 
 present to witness the serious or humorous turn 
 of events ; but it was difficult to imagine that, for 
 all such shrewd observations and droll comments, 
 we were indebted to Mr. Snodgrass's diary. 
 " The Pickwick papers are our New River Head. 
 The labours of others have raised for us an
 
 n8 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 immense reservoir of facts. We merely lay them 
 on." 
 
 It is curious indeed to note the escape we have 
 had of what might have been failure, owing to 
 the adoption of .a forced style, based on this 
 sort of humour. The established magazine 
 treatment of the time was a kind of subdued 
 burlesque, aiming at the description of serious 
 matter in a tone of mock gravity, but which after a 
 time became fatiguing. The account of the club 
 discussion at the opening is in this formal 
 manner, a good illustration- of which is the 
 conceit of the letters " C.M.P.C." put after every 
 name, again and again explained in a note to 
 mean " Corresponding Member of the Pickwick 
 Club." This was, at the time, a form of humour. 
 So with the rather formal headings of the chap- 
 ters, such as, " How the Piclcwichians made and 
 cultivated the acquaintance of a couple of nice young 
 men belonging to one of the Liberal Professions, 
 Sfc. ; " while another chapter, " llecords a 
 touching act of delicate feeling, achieved and 
 performed by Messrs. Dodson and Fogg," which 
 has a laboured air. But the whole antiquarian 
 element was an inconsistency. The " Bill Stumps 
 his mark " incident, as every one will recall, was 
 treated in a comedy spirit in the " Antiquary," 
 where we all recall the old Monkbarns expatiating 
 on the inscribed stone with the four letters :
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 119 
 
 A.D.L.L. 
 
 which he interpreted Agricola dicavit libens liibens, 
 but which, as the Bedesman explained, meant 
 " Adam Drum's lang ladle." There is also a story 
 told of a hoax played off on a brother antiquary, 
 by Steevens, who had a tablet engraved with 
 Saxon characters, and exposed in a broker's shop, 
 where it was discovered, and purchased by the 
 credulous virtuoso. 
 
 Few things have been so often quoted as the 
 apologetic explanation of the expression * a 
 Pickwickian sense.' This happy phrase was 
 suggested by " the parliamentary sense," by which 
 orators in the House of Commons protested they 
 meant nothing offensive. Not long before Sir 
 Robert Peel had called Mr. Hume to account for 
 some language of the kind, and the latter had 
 made some lame explanation, which Dickens may 
 have had before him. 
 
 One of the author's original ideas was certainly 
 to find material in the lighter absurdities of the 
 day, illustrated by Jingle's anecdote of Ponto's 
 sagacity. This was no doubt one of Seymour's 
 pictorial suggestions, and the author seemed to 
 excuse its introduction in a note withdrawn in 
 later editions : 
 
 " Although we find this circumstance recorded, 
 as a singular one in Mr. Pickwick's note-book, 
 we cannot refrain from humbly expressing our
 
 I2O THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 dissent from that learned authority ; the stranger's 
 anecdote is not one quarter so wonderful as some 
 of Mr. Jesse's ' Gleanings.' Ponto sinks into 
 utter insignificance before the dogs whose actions 
 be there records." 
 
 The subject of this little hit was the well- 
 known naturalist, who, like Mr. Pickwick's 
 original, later lived at Richmond, and was one of 
 the lights of the pleasant society of that place. 
 
 The incidents described at the Eatanswill 
 election, the locking up and pumping on voters, 
 the upsetting them into ponds, and such dis- 
 orders, had been occupying public attention 
 only a year or two before. Much time in Parlia- 
 ment was taken up investigating such excesses, 
 and the cases of Ipswich and Norwich, and 
 Stafford particularly, had caused many scandals. 
 It is impossible not to admire the judicious tone 
 he adopted in dealing with these points, a 
 satirical, half-sarcastic description for, as in 
 the instance of the Fleet, he rarely speaks in his 
 own person, but lets his personages and incidents 
 speak for themselves. Stiggins, and others of 
 his character, he despatched and ridiculed with a 
 hearty relish, that showed how keenly he felt. 
 In later works he revived the type several 
 times in the persons of Snawley and Chadband. 
 It is likely that in early life he had suffered from 
 one of these sanctimonious impostors, and it is
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 121 
 
 probable that his father and mother may have 
 been partial to such persons. 
 
 The elaborate sketch of Stiggins, which is, 
 however, exaggerated in some portions witness 
 his drunkenness at the public tea, when he must 
 have lost his character is on the whole admirable; 
 and his scene with the widower and his son, and 
 his gradual doubtful approaches, capital. A 
 scrupulous person, shocked at the " profanity " of 
 the sketch, wrote six years later to remonstrate ; 
 and the author explained his design, which was 
 to show " how sacred things are degraded, 
 vulgarized, and rendered absurd, when persons 
 who are utterly incompetent to teach the 
 commonest things, take upon themselves to ex- 
 pound such mysteries, and how, in making mere 
 cant phrases of divine words, these persons miss 
 the spirit in which they had their origin." " I have 
 seen a good deal of this sort of thing in many 
 parts of England. . . . That every man who seeks 
 heaven must be born again, I sincerely believe. 
 That it is expedient for every hound to say so in a 
 certain snuffling form of words to which he attaches 
 no good meaning, I do not believe." This is a 
 capital comment. 
 
 Mrs. Leo Hunter, a delightful character in its 
 way, seems to have been sketched from life, and 
 there is little doubt was intended for an enor- 
 mously rich, "lion-hunting" lady living in Portland
 
 122 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Place, but who eventually became poor. The fancy 
 fete at " the Den " was a curious illustration of 
 social manners fancy dresses being worn in 
 broad daylight. These, too, were the days of the 
 " Annuals," "Talismans," "Winter's Wreath," 
 " Books of Beauty," which were filled with verses 
 from noble and genteel amateurs, often as 
 ridiculous as the " Ode to the expiring frog." 
 
 Here too will be noted the tall figure of Mr. 
 Pott as a Russian, with his knout. In the early 
 plates there was an absurd likeness in the 
 nose and face to Lord Brougham, but in succes- 
 sive impressions a shaggy beard was added, and 
 the whole disguised. Dickens, no doubt, did not 
 wish it to be thought that he was ridiculing one 
 who was his and Forster's friend. 
 
 It may be added here, that Grad's Hill Place 
 formerly belonged to Mrs. Lynn Linton's family. 
 Old Weller, according to her recollection, was 
 well known on the road between London and 
 Rochester, bearing the name in the flesh of " Old 
 Chomley," and who was at once recognized by the 
 neighbourhood as the original. Indeed all his 
 best, most spirited characters were inspired by his 
 own recollections: "Pickwick" is stored with 
 such. Stareleigh, Buzfuz, Snubbin Pott beyond 
 question, though unidentified, with the other 
 characters we have mentioned ; to say nothing of 
 Micawber, Skimpole, Boythorn, the Cheerybles, 
 and many more.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 123 
 
 It may be doubted if Jingle and his follower 
 Job are as successful characters as the rest. 
 They rather belong to the stage, and Jingle's 
 utterances seem meant for the footlights, from 
 their peculiar form; neither is the character 
 quite original, though useful in conducting the 
 narrative, as through the story he draws out and 
 plays upon the Pickwickian weakness and cre- 
 dulity. Charles Mathews the Elder, had a fa- 
 vourite figure in his entertainment, one Major 
 Longbow, who told Munchausen stories much in 
 the same style. One of the Major's favourite 
 tales, was that of the lady in India burnt by 
 some accident, and whom the husband called in 
 his servants to " sweep up." This may have 
 suggested Quanko Samba and his fate. Again, 
 we find, that a year or so before, Lemaitre had 
 brought Robert Macaire and Jacques Strop to 
 London. The grotesque devotion of the latter 
 to his master no doubt furnished hints to 
 Dickens, who must have seen -the piece. Still 
 there is great art in presenting Jingle as an 
 " agreeable rattle," with nothing repulsive. The 
 buoyant humour of the writer carries him along. 
 In reality Jingle was a common swindler, yet 
 we never think of this harsh term in connection 
 with him. 
 
 For his many life-like sketches of " limbs of the 
 law," he must have drawn on his own memory. 
 Nothing can be more varied, more distinct, than
 
 124 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 these various types. On leaving school he was 
 for a time in the office of Messrs. Ellis and Black- 
 more, Solicitors of Gray's Inn. Indeed Mr. Kitton 
 says that Mr. Blackmore, the junior partner, 
 afterwards recognized several incidents that 
 occurred in this office and also some of the 
 characters. He had a fellow-clerk named Potter, 
 who was partial to theatricals, whom Mr. George 
 Lear, who was one of Dickens' fellow-clerks, 
 fancied was the original of Jingle.
 
 VII. 
 
 So buoyant and tumultuous is the spirit in 
 which the story is carried on, that the author 
 often falls into some oddities and incongruities 
 which, according to the old stage phrase, 
 he " bustles through " by sheer force of good 
 spirits. Thus, at starting he got his dates con- 
 fused, the proceedings of the Club preparatory 
 to the expedition being put in the year 1817. 
 This may have appeared too far back, so a 
 little further on we have the year 1827, which 
 was the proper starting-point of the Odyssey. 
 But when Mr. Jingle was on the coach going to 
 Rochester, it will be recollected he described his 
 writing a poem on " the revolution of July." 
 " Present ? think I was ! fired a musket, fired 
 with an idea," &c. Extrication here was literally 
 hopeless ; it would be absurd to alter the date of 
 the whole story for the convenience of a little 
 anecdote. So the lively author took the most sensi- 
 ble course, left it as it was, adding this jocose note 
 in later editions, " A remarkable instance of the 
 prophetic force of Mr. Jingle's imagination : this 
 dialogue occurred in the year 1827, and the 
 Revolution in 1830."
 
 126 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 When Dodson and Fogg served their notice on 
 Mr. Pickwick, the author may have had this 
 mistake in his mind, and dated it 1830. It was 
 evident, however, that it had occurred only a few 
 months after the party had started on their tour in 
 1827 ; so the date had to be put back to that year. 
 
 Our pleasant author, always one of the most scru- 
 pulously accurate in all that concerned his "proofs," 
 made a few little slips in the course of his work. 
 This is not surprising in what was so gigantic an 
 enterprise from the vast number of characters, 
 incidents, names, relations, localities, with a hun- 
 dred other things which had to be kept in view. 
 The result were some oversights of a pleasant sort, 
 and which we note here, not from any foolish wish 
 of detecting blemishes, but to increase the sense 
 of humorous enjoyment. In the first edition 
 there was a list of errata, which is entertaining 
 in its way : 
 
 P. 1, line 9, for 1817, real 1827. 
 
 P. 185, line 25, for 1830, read 1827. 
 
 P. 202, line 30, for 1830, read 1827. 
 
 P. 278, line 40, for " the elder Mr. Samuel," read "the elder 
 Mr. Weller." ' 
 
 P. 342, line 5, for " S. Weller, Esquire, senior/' read " Tony 
 Veller, Esq." 
 
 P. 541, line 12, for "Sun Court, Cornhill," read "George 
 Yard, Lombard Street." 
 
 These little slips are characteristic. 
 
 In chapter 28, when he is describing the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 127 
 
 marriage festivities at Dingley Dell, lie portrays 
 the old lady, Mr. Wardle's mother, seated at 
 the top of the table " with her newly married 
 daughter on one side." This was of course her 
 granddaughter. In chapter 27, we find Sam 
 speaking of his father's second wife as his 
 " mother-in-law," meaning thereby his " step- 
 mother." Even the printers occasionally nodded, 
 as we find two " chapter 28's," one of which is 
 distinguished by a star. 
 
 Not unnaturally he sometimes found himself con- 
 fusing the twoWellers. But a more curious mistake 
 was the making Mr. Pickwick give his London 
 address to Mr. Winkle, senior, as the " George 
 and Vulture," in "Sun Court, Cornhill," instead 
 of George Yard, Lombard Street. The same mis- 
 take occurs also in chapter 30, when " Mr. Jack- 
 son bent his steps direct to Sun Court, and 
 walked straight into the George and Vulture." 
 Sun Court was, however, not far off. 
 
 Another mistake of dates is found in the account 
 of the visit to Mr. Pott's house, who, in 1327, 
 orders a file of the Gazette for 1828 to be brought 
 up to him. " Here," says Charles Dickens the 
 younger, "Mr. Pott falls into the same sort 
 of prophetic mistake as that to which the author 
 calls attention in the case of Mr. Jingle in the 
 footnote to chapter 2, which was added in later 
 editions."
 
 128 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 "Mr. Pickwick's adventures began with his 
 departure from Goswell Street, 13th May, 1827, 
 and the Eatanswill Election evidently took place 
 in the same year. Messrs. Dodson and Fogg's first 
 letter to Mr. Pickwick was dated August 28th, 1827, 
 and was necessarily written after these events." 
 
 There is one form of mechanism in the manage- 
 ment of his story for which the author had a strong 
 penchant, namely, the introduction of an occasional 
 tale. This was too often contrived a propos de 
 bottes. A coach is upset in the snow, and the 
 travellers have to sit round the inn fire ; or Mr. 
 Pickwick opens a drawer as he is going to bed 
 and finds a MS. ; or in the commercial room some 
 one relates a "Bagman's Tale;" or there is some 
 one on a bridge who gives him a story to read at 
 his leisure, or Sam relates another which Mr. Pick- 
 wick takes down and edits. Through the course 
 of " Pickwick" we meet no less than a dozen of 
 these tales. One is inclined to suspect that 
 they were unused magazine stories lying by 
 the author, with which he filled in his number, 
 if time failed or inspiration flagged. But 
 the truth is, Dickens always had a fancy 
 for this old-fashioned device. His introduction 
 to "Master Humphrey's Clock" he made a sort 
 of miscellany for short stories ; and in the 
 numerous " Christmas Numbers " of House' 
 hold Words and All the Year Round he
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 129 
 
 reverted to his pet idea, and snowed much 
 ingenuity in devising machinery or " framework " 
 for the same purpose. Some of the "Pickwick " 
 stories, however, we would not willingly part 
 with, notably the ghostly mail-coach legend, 
 which is highly original, and even in a sort of 
 keeping with the narrative. 
 
 Some of the feats of walking, described in these 
 memoirs, are indeed of an extraordinary kind. 
 Thus it is somewhat astonishingto read that, " after 
 dinner they met again, after a five-and-twenty mile 
 walk, undertaken by the males at "Wardle's recom- 
 mendation, to get rid of the effects of . the wine 
 at breakfast," an amazing feat considering that 
 some of " the males' ' were elderly, stout, and 
 plethoric. But it is exactly what the genial 
 author himself would have thought a trifle under 
 such circumstances. These unconsidered state- 
 ments were after all only proofs of the buoyancy 
 and enthusiasm of his narrative, and no one 
 pauses to consider the incongruity. Again, when 
 Mr. Pickwick took out the Legend of Prince 
 Bladud, to read before going to bed, we are told 
 expressly, " he lighted his bedroom candle, that it 
 might burn up well by the time he finished " odd 
 evidence, by the way, of the inferior chandlery of 
 the day but when, with many yawns, and "a 
 countenance expressive of the utmost weariness," 
 he had got to the end of the story, " he lighted his
 
 130 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 chamber candle," already, as we were told, 
 alight. When the mistake was laughingly 
 pointed out to the gifted author, he refused to 
 credit it. 1 
 
 Another singular incident for which no explana- 
 tion can be given was the conveying of Mrs. Clup- 
 pins with Mrs. Bardell to the Fleet prison and 
 there locking her up ; for on "this lady Messrs. Dod- 
 son and Fogg had no claim whatever, and they left* 
 the other members of the party, such as Mrs. 
 Rogers, unmolested. Mrs. Cluppins would have 
 had good grounds for an action against those 
 astute gentlemen. 
 
 In the obstreperous scene at Bath, when Mr. 
 Winkle, in his dressing-gown, was shut out 
 into the -street, the landlady had seen from the 
 drawing-room window Mr. Winkle " bolt " into 
 Mrs. Dowler's sedan chair. She then rushed 
 to call Mr. Dowler, shrieking " that his wife was 
 running away." Now that gentleman had to come 
 
 1 It was Mr. Charles Kent who made the discovery. He 
 pleasantly describes Dickens' burlesque indignation, vehement 
 denial, and half astonishment at the idea even of such an over- 
 sight. " No I No ! NO ! " he exclaimed. An appeal was made 
 to the book itself. We can see the twinkle in his eye, and the 
 simulated comic fury with which he made as though he were 
 about to hurl the volume at his friend. Then, rushing to the 
 top of the steps that led down into the garden, he called to 
 some -of his family who were walking there, "Come! Come! 
 Come up quick ! " to show them the discovery. The mistake 
 Was certainly of an amusing kind, but he never amended it.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 131 
 
 from his bedroom, and throw up the window, " yet 
 the first object that met his gaze was Mr. Winkle 
 bolting into the sedan chair." It may be added 
 here, that the arrangement of this scene was the 
 subject of much consultation between artist and 
 writer; there were many figures to be brought 
 in, and Mr. Pickwick was to have thrown up the 
 window on the story above, which would have 
 placed him too high. "Phiz" writes, " Shall I 
 leave Pickwick where he is, or put him under the 
 bedclothes ? I could not carry him so high as the 
 second floor." The author replied, " Winkle 
 should be holding the candlestick above his head, 
 I think. It looks more comical, the light having 
 gone out. A fat chairman, so short as our friend 
 here, never drew breath in Bath. I would leave 
 him where he is, decidedly. Is the lady full 
 dressed? she ought to be. C. D." 
 
 On arriving at old Wardle's after the accidents 
 on the road, and after a glass of cherry brandy, 
 we have a curious specimen of the manners of the 
 time ; for we are told of the party " being joined 
 by Mr. Tupman, who had lingered behind" to 
 snatch a "kiss from Emma" (the maid), for 
 which he had been duly rewarded " with sundry 
 pushings and scratchings," an extraordinary pro- 
 ceeding on the part of a very stout, elderly gentle- 
 man who was a new guest, and had barely entered 
 the house. The Pickwickians too had been on the 
 
 x 2
 
 132 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 road the whole day, had had a long, weary walk of 
 at least ten miles, and yet were offered no refresh- 
 ment, save a glass of cherry brandy ; after which 
 they were at once set down to a game of cards 
 until supper came. These are traits of social life. 
 
 Sometimes, in his pleasant exuberance, the 
 author forgets an element or incident, in his de- 
 scription, and introduces something that appears 
 inconsistent with what has gone before. Thus, 
 when Mr. Pickwick is found in the garden of Miss 
 Tomkins' Ladies' School at Bury St. Edmund's, 
 and admitted to the house, he is locked up in " a 
 closet in which the day-boarders hung their 
 bonnets and sandwich-bags." Yet further on we 
 read : " Mr. Pickwick sat down in the closet, 
 beneath a grove of sandwich-bags, and awaited 
 the return of the messengers," &c. In the 
 middle of the night the sandwich bags would be 
 at the day-boarders' homes. 
 
 "When Mr. Pickwick was on the bridge at Ro- 
 chester, he encountered "dismal Jemmy," who had 
 read the story of the stroller to the party the night 
 before. Not content with this, Jemmy made a 
 proposal, " Would you communicate it to the club, 
 of which you have spoken so frequently ? " " Cer- 
 tainly," replied Mr. Pickwick, " if you wished it ; 
 and it would be entered on their transactions." 
 " You shall have it," replied the dismal man. 
 "Your address?"
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 133 
 
 Here was of course promise of another tale, 
 which it was not convenient to introduce at the 
 moment. It is amusing to find that the author 
 altogether forgot this engagement until the close 
 of his story, when he found an adroit excuse. As 
 Mr. Pickwick was saying farewell to Jingle, he 
 finds that " Jemmy " turns out to be Job Trotter's 
 brother, who had emigrated to America. " That 
 accounts for my not having received the ' page 
 from the romance of real life, 5 which he promised 
 me one morning when he appeared to be contem- 
 plating suicide on Rochester bridge, I suppose," 
 said Mr. Pickwick, smiling. This was the best 
 that could be done under the circumstances. 
 
 When the ice broke under Mr. Pickwick, he 
 sank completely under the water, and dis- 
 appeared for some time, which had to be ac- 
 counted for by his saying, " that he fell upon 
 his back." Why Mr. Allen and his friend should 
 during the crisis, have consulted seriously about 
 bleeding the company generally, is not clear. 
 
 At the Raddle supper party, when the hot 
 water was ordered up, it will be remembered that 
 the landlady had ordered the fire to be raked out. 
 "You can't have no warm water," said the girl. 
 But at the beginning of the night, the "first 
 instalment of punch in a white jug " was brought 
 in, and after supper " another jug of punch was 
 put on the table ; it had been ready made in a red
 
 134 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 pan." This might be an oversight, or it may be 
 that punch had then a stricter and more limited 
 sense, meaning the " materials " simply. 
 
 There is a slight anticipation of Sam's mode of 
 illustration, in the extraordinary, original speech 
 addressed by the ostler to Mr. Pickwick, when 
 about to drive to Dingly Dell. " Shy ? he 
 wouldn't shy if he was to meet a waggon-load of 
 monkeys, with their tails burnt off." The scene 
 where Sam is writing his valentine under the easy 
 criticism of his father, suggests the well-known 
 one in " The Rivals,' 5 where Acres is writing his 
 challenge. Actors nearly always introduce a 
 " gag," which they may have borrowed from Mr. 
 "Weller; "addressing the same lady" being 
 malaproped into " undressing." We find the 
 same idea in Sam's letter. " I feel myself 
 ashamed, and completely circumscribed in a 
 dressin' of you." A careful study of this ad- 
 mirably drawn character will show that at the 
 opening the author had not quite grasped its 
 capabilities. It was only after two or three 
 numbers' progress that he found himself develop- 
 ing his happy varieties of humour and illustration, 
 which ripened as he went along. Sam at the 
 " Old White Hart " was rather a flippant and 
 even uncongenial person, and his answers pert 
 rather than humorous. We wonder, too, how the 
 son of the proprietor of a flourishing inn, and so
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 135 
 
 superior in his gifts, should have found himself 
 reduced so low as to accept the post of " boots " 
 in a borough inn. But it is likely that Weller 
 senior, his inn, and his widow were after- 
 thoughts suggested by Sam's successful develop- 
 ment. 
 
 It may be noted, to show that Sam's character 
 was then not quite fixed in the author's mind, 
 that he probably intended to make him more 
 of a vagabond ; for we find the impatient land- 
 lady calling him from one of the galleries, 
 " "Where's that lazy, idle Why, Sam oh ! there 
 you are!- why don't you answer?" And the 
 Boots did answer pertly enough, " Wouldn't be 
 genteel to answer till you'd done talking." Here 
 was still the " wagginer's boy," undeveloped till 
 he took service with Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 As "Pickwick " was itself full of odd allusions 
 and originalities, so it was destined to be associated 
 with a chain of still more curious coincidences. 
 What could be more singular than that the 
 author should have become, many years later 
 most intimate with a family of Wellers. one 
 of whom married his brother ? Another of the 
 ladies married Mr. Thompson, and became the 
 mother of Lady Butler, the artist. Weller is an 
 invaluable, effective name. A more direct sugges- 
 tion of the name is found in the fact that his 
 nurse's name is said to have been Mary Weller.
 
 136 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The name, therefore, under all the varied con- 
 ditions, seemed almost to invite his selection. 
 
 As regards the " origin " of Sam Weller, 2 
 it is said that there was a popular actor 
 tempore " Pickwick," named Sam Yale, who per- 
 formed Simon Splatterdash, in an old piece 
 of Beazley's, the theatrical architect, called, " The 
 Boarding House." There is certainly a suggestion 
 in the name, and Sam Vale seems like Sam 
 " Veller." . In the farce, the servant of the 
 Boarding House is represented as interlarding 
 his conversation with metaphorical illustrations, 
 such as : 
 
 " Let every one take care of themselves," as the 
 jackass said when he danced among the chickens. 
 
 "I am down upon you," as the extinguisher 
 said to the rushlight. 
 
 " Come on," as the man said to the tight boot. 
 
 " Where shall we fly ?" as the bullet said to the 
 trigger. 
 
 " Sharp work for the eyes," as the devil said 
 when a broad-wheeled waggon went over his nose. 
 
 " Why, here we are all mustered," as the roast 
 beef said to the welsh rabbit. 
 
 *' Nibbled to death with ducks," as the worm 
 said to the fisherman. 
 
 2 People now bearing this name seem to like to christen their 
 children Samuel ; and not long since, at a concert, we heard 
 a young postman, announced as " Mr. Samuel Weller," troll 
 forth a song.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 137 
 
 These specimens, it will be seen, are of a rude 
 and vulgar type, and cannot be put beside the 
 sagacious and apt utterances of Sam. 
 
 Stiggins might well have held the elder 
 Weller in a sort of holy horror, and have been 
 frightened away from the inn; for Mr. Weller 
 attacked him no less than three times in the 
 course of the story; first when he assailed the 
 shepherd, giving him two or three for himself and 
 then " two or three more for the man with the red 
 nose ; " then at the Brick Lane meeting, when he 
 drove Stiggins into a corner, and danced round, 
 " tapping him " on the head ; to say nothing of 
 the last assault, when he kicked him out, and 
 held his head in the trough. 
 
 It might have been a question in Mr 
 Calverly's set of questions, " Who first used the 
 expression, ' Life isn't all beer and skittles,' and 
 on what occasion ? " It is to Sam we owe that oft- 
 quoted proverb, though a little altered in the use, 
 but which few suspect that he uttered. " It's a 
 regular holiday to them," he said in the Fleet, * all 
 porter and skittles." It has been objected, how- 
 ever to Sam, that in his anxiety to display his 
 sagacity, the author credited him with more 
 knowledge than he could have had opportunity of 
 acquiring. Not many will recall his own account 
 of himself ; he was " a carrier's boy at startin', then 
 a wagginer's, then a helper, then a Boots, now 
 he's a gen'1'man's servant." This sort of rustic
 
 138 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 education, and familiarity with horses, shows that 
 it may have been intended to make him a sort of 
 element in the " sporting '' direction ; but the 
 truth is we do not think of Sam in such a con- 
 nection, and the passage may be accepted as an 
 oversight, like Jingle's share in the French 
 Revolution of 1830. 
 
 The objection, however, to Sam's knowledge 
 of all kinds, is not well founded. There is a vast 
 deal of knowledge of the names of things, with- 
 out actual knowledge, which quick and sagacious 
 observers pick up. Such is Sam's allusion to 
 " the perpetual motion." Not to be thus justified, 
 however, is his acquaintance with Mr. Sterne's 
 Sentimental Journey. " No man," he says, " never 
 see a dead donkey 'cept the gentleman in the 
 black silk smalls, as know'd the young 'ooman 
 as kept a goat, and that wos a French donkey." 
 Here we see he knew not only the " dead ass " 
 of Nampont, but the passage where Mr. Sterne 
 describes his own dress ; and also " Maria of 
 Moulines " ! This is astounding in the ci-devant 
 " wagginer's boy." It must be said, however, 
 that plates of these interesting scenes were often 
 seen in the shop windows, and the inquisitive 
 might have been attracted by the one in which 
 the dead donkey figures. So with his speech on 
 disappointed men, who he says, "if they were 
 gen'lmen you'd call 'em misantropes." Occa- 
 sionally Weller senior indulges in his son's peculiar
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 139 
 
 form of metaphor, as when lie tells him he will be 
 wiser when he is married, " but vether it's vorth 
 while goin' through so much to learn so little, as 
 the charity boy said ven he got to the end of the 
 alphabet, is a matter of taste." We find Sam 
 also anticipating Mr. Crummies' prodigy, and 
 calling a boy " an infant phenomenon." 
 
 It was said by several writers that in some points 
 his humour was founded on, or suggested by, that 
 of Washington Irving, whose little tale of the 
 " Stout Gentleman " was named as being his model. 
 No doubt he vastly admired the American writer, 
 and it may be admitted that the machinery of " The 
 Sketch Book" and " Bracebridge Hall," which 
 was original enough, and conveniently offered a 
 mode of "setting" short tales in a romantic 
 frame, was before his mind. For both writers 
 scenes of affectionate enjoyment and revelry in 
 old mansions had a kind of fascination. But the 
 humour of Irving was of a very mild, tempered 
 character: he had little fertility; in fact comparison 
 on this point is almost ludicrous. 
 
 Mr. Ward, in his account of Dickens, notes the 
 amount of feasting and enjoyment of victuals 
 and drinking through the work. But as he says 
 truly, Dickens " loved merely the paraphernalia of 
 good cheer, and talking about wassail bowls and 
 good punch ; in practice he was most abstemious." 3 
 
 3 This we can testify from our own experience, and there 
 was something quaint in this contrast of precept and practice.
 
 140 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 In a conversation with his father, Sam Weller 
 accuses him of " prophesying away like a red-faced 
 Nixon," which provokes Mr. "Weller to ask, " Who 
 wos he ? " and he is answered, without much 
 filial feeling, " Never mind who he wos he 
 wosn't a coachman, that's enough for you." 
 The inquiring reader will also naturally ask 
 " Who wos he ? " This " red-faced Nixon " was 
 a mysterious allusion enough ; but lately, in a 
 bookseller's catalogue, we came upon the follow- 
 ing, which explains it: "Nixon's Cheshire 
 Prophecy, with the prophecy at large. Coloured 
 folding frontispiece representing Nixon " 
 probably with "a dab" of carmine on his 
 cheeks. 
 
 Count Smorltork, one of Mrs. Leo Hunter's 
 guests, is drawn in a few touches, and the dialogue 
 between him and Mr. Pickwick is perfect in its 
 appropriateness and humour such is his reply to 
 the former's courteous remark, " Politics comprises 
 in itself a subject of no inconsiderable magnitude," 
 " Poltic surprises in himself, ver good." This 
 foreigner was modelled on Prince Puckler-Muskau, 
 who only a year or so before had travelled through 
 England, paying visits to the nobility and gentry, 
 furnished with a note-book, the contents of which 
 filled out his volumes. This hurried scampering 
 over the country brought him much ridicule, and 
 by jesters of the poorer sort he was dubbed 
 " pickled mustard."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 141 
 
 Sam's odd story of the " buttered muffins," is 
 excellent, and dramatically told, particularly in the 
 conversation between the doctor and the patient. 
 This propriety in the short sketches, where the 
 writer completely disappears, is one of the best 
 things in the book. A story nearly similar is 
 
 found in Boswell, where we are told that " Mr. , 
 
 who loved buttered muffins, but durst not eat 
 them because they disagreed with his stomach, 
 resolved to shoot himself, and then ate three 
 buttered muffins before breakfast, knowing that he 
 should not be troubled with indigestion." This 
 unfortunate gentleman had two pistols ; one was 
 found lying charged upon the table by him after 
 he had shot himself with the other. Sam's friend 
 had eaten three shillings' worth. 
 
 The worthy Hain Fris well's comment on this 
 is characteristic, and would have "arrided" the 
 writer himself : " That appetite must indeed be 
 morbid which is willing to purchase a solitary 
 gratification, such as eating buttered muffins, at 
 the expense of life itself ! " 
 
 Cricket at this time had not developed into a 
 science, and hence we meet with some odd 
 technical phrases connected with the game. 
 The fielders are called " scouts," who were to 
 "look out " in different parts of the field. What 
 was more odd, there were two bowlers, one for 
 each wicket, which we may suppose was the 
 custom at the time.
 
 VIII. 
 
 FROM an eminent Counsel, Mr. Bompas, Q.C., 
 I have received this interesting and amusing 
 letter in reference to the original of the learned 
 Sergeant Buzfuz, in the memorable " Trial :" 
 
 " I am the youngest son of Sergeant Bompas, 
 and have never heard it doubted that the name 
 Sergeant Buzfuz was taken from my father, who was 
 at the time considered a most successful advocate. 
 I think that he may have been chosen for the suc- 
 cessful advocate because my father was so success- 
 ful ; but I have never been able to ascertain that 
 there was any other special resemblance. I do not 
 remember my father myself; he died when I was 
 eight years old, but I am told I am like him in 
 face. He was tall (5 feet 10 ins.) and a large man, 
 very popular and very excitable in his cases, so that 
 I am told that counsel against him used to urge 
 him, out of friendship, not to get so excited. A 
 connection of mine who knew him well, went over 
 to hear Charles Dickens, sen., read the trial scene, 
 to see if he at all imitated him in voice or 
 manner, but told me that he did not do so at all.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 143 
 
 I think, therefore, having chosen his name as a 
 writer might now that of Sir C. Russell, he then 
 drew a general type of barrister, as he thought it 
 might be satirized. If I can give you any other 
 information, I will gladly do so. My father, like 
 myself, was on the Western Circuit, and leader of 
 it at the time of his death. I had a curious 
 coincidence happen to me once. A client wrote 
 to apply to the court to excuse a juror on 
 the ground that he was a chemist, and had no 
 assistant who understood the drugs. It was not 
 till 1 made the application, and the court began 
 to laugh, that I remembered the Pickwick trial. I 
 believe the application was quite bond fide, and 
 not at all in imitation of it. 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " JOHN BOMPAS." 
 
 " Mr. Justice Stareleigh," writes Mr. Croker, 
 "is an admirable likeness of an ex-judge, who, with 
 many admirable and valuable qualities of head and 
 heart, had made himself a legitimate object of ridi- 
 cule by his explosions on the bench." This is quite 
 true ; for the little judge, as is well known, was a 
 sketch from life, being the portrait of the oddly 
 named Mr. Justice Gazelee, a name which is clearly 
 suggested by Stareleigh. In his readings, Mr. 
 Dickens chose for his model, as he himself assured 
 me, the cavernous, sepulchral tones of " old
 
 144 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Rogers," whom he could take off to the life. 1 It 
 is curious that the judge should have resigned his 
 office in 1837, the very year in which the " Trial " 
 appeared. I have always heard that Serjeant 
 Talfourd revised " Bardell v. Pickwick," and had 
 drawn Dickens' attention to some existing legal 
 absurdities. 
 
 " It is generally believed," goes on Croker, " that 
 the counsel in * Bardell v. Pickwick ' are portraits, 
 but we have tried in vain to discover more than a 
 very faint resemblance in either of them, and Ser- 
 jeant Buzfuz's speech is certainly not in the manner 
 of the gentleman supposedto be intended under the 
 name. It is simply a clever quiz on a style of 
 oratory which was finally quizzed out of fashion 
 by Lord Brougham." He adds, however, that the 
 sketch of the judge might also apply to Lord 
 Tenterden, whose precision in keeping witnesses 
 to the point was illustrated by his question to 
 a young counsel at dinner : " Would he have 
 venison ? " The reply being that he was going to 
 take some boiled chicken, the Judge said, " That 
 is not an answer to my question, sir." 
 
 A portion was a satire on the cause celebre of 
 " Norton v. Melbourne," in which heavy damages 
 
 1 Sir Stephen Gazelee was a Judge of the Court of Common 
 Pleas for fourteen years, having the reputation of heing a very 
 " painstaking, upright judge, and in his private capacity a 
 worthy and henevolent man." He died in 1839.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 145 
 
 had been sought. The counsel for the plaintiff, 
 Sir "W. Follett, laid much stress on three scraps, 
 or notelets, of the most harmless kind addressed to 
 Mrs. Norton. The exaggerated tone of his speech 
 suggests many points of the learned Serjeant's. 
 
 Thus he very gravely urged that " the letters 
 showed a great and unwarrantable degree of 
 affection, because they did not begin and end 
 with the words ' My dear Mrs. Norton.' ' And 
 he added that " it seems there may be latent love 
 like latent heat in these productions," which is 
 one of the points of the serjeant " A mere 
 cover for hidden fire," &c. The signature too, 
 "Yours, Pickwick," is like "Yours, Melbourne." 
 He proceeded : 
 
 " These three notes relate to his hours of calling, 
 but there is something in the style of these 
 trivial notes which leads at least to something 
 like suspicion. Here is one of them ' I will call 
 about half-past four. Yours.' There is no regular 
 beginning to the letters ; they do not commence 
 with ' My dear Mrs. Norton,' as is usual. 
 Here is another of the notes. ' How are you ? ' 
 Again, there is no beginning, as you see (' which 
 is in itself suspicious,' said Serjeant Buzfuz). 
 
 " The third runs thus : ' No house to-day. 
 I shall call after the Levee, about four or half-past. 
 If you wish it later, let me know. I shall then 
 explain about going to Vauxhall.' These are 
 
 L
 
 146 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the only notes which have been found. They 
 seem to impart much more than the mere words 
 convey." 
 
 The whole description of the trial of Bardell 
 v. Pickwick, seems conceived in the best 
 spirit of satire ; and it can be even better 
 appreciated by members of the legal profes- 
 sion, or by those accustomed to attend courts of 
 justice. Exaggerated as the points may seem, 
 the exaggeration is perfectly legitimate, and 
 the farcical instances offered stand for a whole 
 class. Thus the highly illogical reason given 
 by the judge for the accuracy of his note of 
 Mr. Winkle's name is a " common form," and 
 often witnessed at trials. " What's your Christian 
 name ? " " Nathaniel, sir." " Daniel ? Any 
 other name? " " Nathaniel, sir my lord, I mean." 
 " Nathaniel Daniel, or Daniel Nathaniel ? " " No, 
 my lord, only Nathaniel, not Daniel at all." 
 " What did you tell me it was Daniel for, then, 
 sir?" "I didn't, my lord." "You did, sir," 
 replied the judge, with a severe frown. " How 
 could I have got Daniel on my notes unless you 
 told me, sir ? " This appeal to " my notes," as 
 though they must be independent testimony, 
 has been often heard in courts. 
 
 Another formula offers when Mrs. Cluppins 
 is giving her evidence. " When I see Mrs. 
 Bardell's street door on the jar."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 147 
 
 " On the what ? " exclaimed the little judge. 
 
 "Partly open, my lord," said Serjeant Snubbin. 
 
 " She said on the jar," said the little judge, 
 with a cunning look. 
 
 " It's all the same my lord," said Serjeant 
 Snubbin. 
 
 The little judge seemed doubtful, and said 
 " he'd make a note of it." 
 
 It is not the practice now, by the way, for the 
 judge or counsel to ask witnesses their names, 
 this formula being gone through by the officers of 
 the court. 
 
 By a sort of hyper-criticism, Mr. Winkle's and 
 Sam Weller's examinations have been objected 
 to as unprofessional, no counsel being allowed 
 to cross-examine their " own witnesses," unless 
 they prove themselves " hostile." 
 
 No professional man can ever tire of Serjeant 
 Buzfuz's speech, which, as a piece of large and 
 comprehensive satire, is as good in its way as 
 James Smith's imitation of Scott in the "Rejected 
 Addresses." In a small compass the hackneyed 
 points, so invariably enforced in a trial for 
 "breach" are gathered together and put in the 
 most humorous fashion, and yet with an air of 
 vraisemblance that seems to carry conviction. 
 
 After a few words as to the tremendous re- 
 sponsibilities which rested on him, 
 
 " You have heard from my learned friend, gen- 
 L 2
 
 148 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 tlemen," continued Serjeanfc Buzfuz, well knowing 
 that, from the learned friend alluded to, the gen- 
 tlemen of the jury had heard just nothing at all 
 " you have heard from my learned friend, gentle- 
 men, that this is an action for a breach of promise 
 of marriage, in which the damages are laid at 1510L 
 But you have not heard from my learned friend, inas- 
 much as it did not come within my learned friend's 
 province to tell you, what are the facts and circum- 
 stances of the case. Those facts and circum- 
 stances, gentlemen, you shall hear detailed by me, 
 and proved by the unimpeachable female whom 
 I will place in that box before you." Again, 
 " She placed in her front parlour- window a written 
 placard, bearing this inscription ' Apartments 
 furnished for a single gentleman. Inquire 
 within.' ' Here Serjeant Buzfuz paused while 
 several gentlemen of the jury took a note of the docu- 
 ment. 
 
 " There is no date to that, is there ? " inquired a 
 juror. 
 
 " There is no date, gentlemen," replied Ser- 
 jeant Buzfuz ; " but I am instructed to say that 
 it was put in the plaintiff's parlour-window just 
 this time three years." 
 
 Who that has attended a trial has not heard the 
 intelligent juryman's question, to the full as absurd 
 as the one quoted, " There is no date to that, is 
 there ? " wishing to display his intelligence ; with
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 149 
 
 the friendly gravity of the counsel, who treats it 
 au grand serieux. 
 
 Excellent and natural too is the mode in which 
 the learned Buzfuz is beguiled by Sam. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Weller," said Serjeant Buzfuz. 
 
 " Now, sir," replied Sam. 
 
 " I believe you are in the service of Mr. Pick- 
 wick, the defendant in this case. Speak up, if you 
 phase, Mr. Weller." 
 
 "I mean to speak up, sir," replied Sam; "I 
 am in the service o' that ere gen'1'man, and a 
 wery good service it is." 
 
 " Little to do, and plenty to get, I suppose ? " 
 said Serjeant Buzfuz, with jocularity. 
 
 " Oh, quite enough to get, sir, as the soldier 
 said ven they ordered him three hundred and fifty 
 lashes," replied Sam. 
 
 " You must not tell us what the soldier or any 
 other man said, sir," interposed the judge, " it's not 
 evidence." 
 
 This delightful hit has always received deserved 
 admiration, being a happy satire on the system of 
 dealing with " secondary evidence " at trials. Yet 
 technical as the allusion is, at the Readings it was 
 always received with a roar. It is actually 
 quoted in a legal text-book, " Taylor on Evidence." 
 It is astonishing that the reader should have 
 added to the little judge's speech, "unless he be 
 present in court and dressed in full regimentals."
 
 150 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 This really took away the point, as such a con- 
 dition would not make the evidence admissible. 
 The remark about the " warming-pan," is a speci- 
 men of that sort of lawyers' nonsensical comment, 
 which has absolutely no meaning whatever, but is 
 carried off by a sort of undisguised plausibility. 
 " Don't trouble yourself about the warming-pan ! " 
 words spoken very slowly and with an air of indig- 
 nant surprise. Then the burst : " Why, gentlemen, 
 who does trouble himself about the warming- 
 pan?" 2 
 
 Admirably caught, also, is the tone of the 
 examination of witnesses, and the perfectly pro- 
 fessional style of counsel. " And you listened, I 
 believe, Mrs. Cluppins." " Beggin' your pardon, 
 sir, I would scorn the haction." When Mr. 
 Winkle was being questioned, we are told that 
 Mr. Skimpin inclined his head to listen with 
 great sharpness to the answer, and he glanced at 
 the jury as if to imply that Mr. Winkle's natural 
 taste for perjury would induce him to give some 
 name that did not belong to him." 
 
 The charge of this learned judge, though short, 
 is not the least effective portion of the satire. 
 
 2 Not long since I heard a London preacher, expatiating on 
 the advantages of prayer, to be gained with little exertion, 
 use this illustration : " In fact, as Sergeant Buzfuz said to 
 Sam Weller, in the trial of Bardell v. Pickwick, there is little 
 to do, and plenty to get."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 151 
 
 Who that has " sat on a jury," after being be- 
 wildered by long and intricate details, has not 
 been enlightened by the judge announcing, with 
 an air of scientific discovery, that, " It is for you, 
 gentlemen, to decide. If you accept the testi- 
 mony of the plaintiff's witnesses why, then," &c. 
 
 " Mr. Justice Stareleigh summed up, in the old- 
 established and most approved form. He read as 
 much of his notes to the jury as he could decipher 
 on so short a notice, and made running comments 
 on the evidence as he went along. If Mrs. Bar- 
 dell were right, it was perfectly clear that Mr. 
 Pickwick was wrong, and if they thought the evi- 
 dence of Mrs. Cluppins worthy of credence, they 
 would believe it ; and if they didn't, why they 
 wouldn't. If they were satisfied that a breach of 
 promise of marriage had been committed, they 
 would find for the plaintiff with such damages as 
 they thought proper ; and if, on the other hand, it 
 appeared to them that no promise of marriage 
 had ever been given, they would find for the 
 defendant with no damages at all." 
 
 In this view a distinguished counsel, who 
 heartily appreciates his " Pickwick," has given me 
 his " advice and opinion " on the Trial : 
 
 " I have no doubt," he writes to me, " that if 
 now tried, it would be held there was no case to go 
 to the jury, and the plaintiff would be non-suited. 
 But it could not arise now, because now both par-
 
 152 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 ties can be examined in a breach of promise case; 
 but even if a plaintiff swear to a promise in such a 
 case, it must be to some extent corroborated. The 
 reason that were the case now tried (assuming the 
 parties could not be examined) it would be held 
 that there was no case, is because when the facts 
 proved are equally consistent with two states of 
 fact (i.e. of there having been, or not having been a 
 promise), they are held not to be evidence of either. 
 Dickens must have seen and appreciated the ab- 
 surdity of the law as it stood before parties could 
 be examined, and worked up very cleverly the am- 
 biguous position, which, whilst quite consistent 
 with no promise, might be held by a Jury to prove 
 them ; and I daresay that in those days many a 
 verdict was obtained without any sounder founda- 
 tion of fact or law to rest on. There is a story told 
 of a gentleman who, having been sued on a forged 
 bill of exchange, instructed his attorney to defend 
 on that ground, and found when the day of trial 
 came,thathis counsel got up and expressly admitted 
 that his client signed the bill. He then, however, 
 produced a witness to prove that he was present 
 when it was paid, and also proved a forged 
 memorandum purporting to be signed by the 
 plaintiff, stating that he could not find the bill, 
 but would return it to the defendant when signed." 
 All this sort of thing has now ceased to exist, with 
 * the merits ' on what are called suits are now
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 153 
 
 tried, but with as much perjury as before. So 
 also is it notoriously in the Divorce Court." 
 
 Passing from " the Trial," we find an allusion 
 in the speech delivered by Mr. Pickwick at his 
 club : " But this he would say, that if ever the 
 fire of self-importance broke out in his bosom, the 
 desire to benefit the human race in preference 
 effectually quenched it. The praise of mankind 
 was his Swing; philanthropy was his insurance 
 office. (Vehement cheering.)" 
 
 Nowwhat was his " Swing "? From the "Annual 
 Register," and other usual works of reference, we 
 find that a year or so before, there were many 
 burnings of hayricks and farm produce which were 
 set down to a sort of genuine personage called 
 Swing. For everything Swing was accountable. 
 Hence the sort of proverbial " your Swing." 3 
 
 Dickens was a profound admirer of Washington 
 Irving' s writings, and I have little doubt that the 
 name of Winkle was suggested to him by that 
 writer's powerful tale of Rip Van Winkle. It 
 is no common name. His natural wish to 
 secure realistic effect made him resort to the most 
 familiar channels for the selection of his names. 
 Lowten the clerk, Wardle, Dowler, Trotter, 
 
 3 But here, again, it has been discovered that " Swing," thus 
 alluded to, oratorically, in 1827, did not begin his hayrick 
 burning until 1832 or 1833 !
 
 154 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Clarke, Allen, Martin, all appear in the report of 
 the Duke of York's notorious trial : and in Huish's 
 account of " Orator " Hunt I have found some- 
 thing very like Dodson and Fogg, in the name of 
 the firm of Dawes and Fogg. 4 
 
 4 To prove the faithfulness of the Pickwickian types and 
 how they recur, I will quote here the sketch of the eccentric 
 Sergeant Arabin, given by the late Sergeant Eobinson, in his 
 agreeable " Kecollections." Judge : " "Well, witness, your name 
 is John Tomkins." Witness : " No, my lord, John Taylor." 
 Judge : " Ah, I see, you are a sailor, and you live in the New 
 Cut." Witness : " No, my lord, I live at Wapping." Judge : 
 "\N"ever mind your being out shopping. Had you your 
 watch?" &c.
 
 IX. 
 
 MR. FOESTER, the last of the old well-grounded 
 school of critics, and who had a personal 
 share in the revising of Dickens' writings, 
 did not rate " Pickwick " so highly as its 
 successors. While sharing the general admi- 
 ration for its humour, spirit, and characters, he 
 held that in form and treatment it fell short 
 of the highest standard. The wish was indeed 
 often expressed, " "Why not write another 
 * Pickwick ' ? " to which only a writer of expe- 
 rience could give an answer. The novelist is 
 passive, and must write as he is inspired, or 
 has material. Had he yielded to this pressure, 
 there would have been a second "Pickwick" 
 indeed, but which might have been only a replica 
 or imitation of the first. 
 
 In all good spirited story-telling 1 believe that 
 " the note " of every character is taken from 
 life. No author, great or small, can do anything 
 worth notice, without being thus assisted. 
 There is a vulgar notion that it is enough to transfer 
 the original character, bodily and coarsely, to the 
 book, but this is a journeyman's idea. The copy
 
 156 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 in the hands of a skilful artist may not be in the 
 least like the original, and yet suggestion may 
 have produced the character. Some one in real 
 life offers eccentric forms of speech or manner 
 which the writer may altogether alter for some- 
 thing more effective, though the form may be 
 left. The very manner of viewing things may be 
 borrowed, though the application be different. 
 Late in life our author found himself evolving 
 characters from his imagination, which were not 
 so true to nature as the old types. 1 
 
 And here arises a curious reflection connected 
 with this wonderful book, that it is almost the 
 only one that has informally registered and re- 
 corded the social life and manners of its era, 
 This is done in a vivid, but unofficial way. It 
 would almost need notes and a regular commen- 
 tary to explain the curious bygone allusions and 
 customs, the well-known personages who are 
 sketched, and the events then exciting public 
 interest, and which he turned to profit for his 
 story. 
 
 1 There is hardly a writer who has not drawn from life that 
 is in the way I have described. Some turn of speech has 
 furnished a suggestion or inspiration, and the invention went to 
 work on this basis. I am convinced that the great masters of 
 fiction have always worked in this way. " My father," says Mrs. 
 Kitchie of Mr. Thackeray, "scarcely ever put real characters 
 into his books, though he, of course, found suggestions among 
 the people with whom he was thrown."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 157 
 
 The influence of Seymour Lad extended even 
 beyond sporting characteristics. His coarse, 
 broad style of humour, and necessary exagge- 
 ration, insensibly directed the composition of the 
 early numbers. Costumes and manner had to be 
 unduly and farcically emphasized : as where Mr. 
 Snodgrass is shown seated at the club, " poetically 
 enveloped in a mysterious blue cloak with a 
 canine skin collar," or where Mr. Pickwick is 
 described as " having traced to their source the 
 mighty ponds of Hampstead, and agitated 
 the world with his theory of Tittlebats." This 
 sort of thing boded a sort of Pangloss or a fresh 
 Dr. Syntax on his tour. What was meditated 
 was no doubt farcical and boisterous adven- 
 tures, accidents and embarrassments arising from 
 unsophisticated enthusiasm, of which the " Bill 
 Stumps" incident was a faint adumbration. 
 There was already a successful venture of the 
 same kind, which to a certain degree had taken 
 the town, viz. the adventures of " Tom and Jerry," 
 and their friend" Bob Logic," who travelled about 
 London and other places in search of adventure. 
 The lowness and vulgarity of this production is 
 incredible, and puts it beyond criticism; but it had 
 prepared the public to welcome something that 
 turned upon peripatetic adventure. It is curious to 
 think of the different forms which fiction has at times 
 assumed ; how at one time, as in the case of Jane
 
 158 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 E jre, it seeks for characters of strong mental emo- 
 tion ; at another can tolerate only stirring adven- 
 ture, with sieges, battles, and rescues ; at another 
 vehement love-making. At the present moment 
 it is not likely that any writer would be tolerated 
 who sent off a party of his heroes, by rail and 
 road, to travel through England in search of 
 adventures. Of course the social arrangements 
 of the time were more adapted to this sort of 
 excitement than now ; for travelling was a 
 more serious business then, and the remote parts 
 of England were a terra incognita to many. 
 
 Within a very short time the better spirit of 
 comedy overpowered the Seymour style of bur- 
 lesque; and Mr. Pickwick gradually crystallized 
 into his most amiable shape. Nay, we might 
 almost say that the incidents in which he figured 
 actually seem to have moulded and developed the 
 better side of his nature, precisely as such in- 
 fluences would operate in real life. The writer 
 who works under inspiration, often becomes an 
 unconscious instrument, in the hands of his 
 character, is swayed by the events which he has 
 himself created. Identifying himself with his own 
 personages, and "feeling" them thoroughly, he 
 finds himself unconsciously bettered, like a living 
 person. Mr. Pickwick himself, Vhen winding up 
 his course, confesses that this process had gone 
 on in his case, and that he was " a wiser and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 159 
 
 better man " from all he had experienced. Nothing 
 better shows the complete change in the treatment 
 of Mr. Pickwick than the passage quoted from 
 his note descriptive of Chatham. " It is truly 
 delightful to a philanthropic mind to see these 
 gallant men (the soldiers) staggering along 
 under the influence of an overflow both of 
 
 animal and ardent spirits Nothing can 
 
 exceed their good- humour. . . . One of them had 
 been most grossly insulted in the house of a publican . 
 The barmaid had positively refused to draw him 
 any more liquor, in return for which he had 
 (merely in playfulness) drawn his bayonet and 
 wounded the girl in the shoulder. And yet this 
 fine fellow was the very first to go down to the 
 house next morning and express his readiness to 
 overlookthe matter and forget what had occurred." 
 This strain, meant for humorous burlesque, is 
 quite inconsistent; for it either represents 
 Mr. Pickwick as favouring drunkenness and 
 violence, or as laughing at it. These trifles, it may 
 be repeated, are not pointed out by way of any 
 disparagement, but to show how the irresistible 
 power of the author carried him through every- 
 thing. In this spirit it may be further noticed 
 that in Mr. Pickwick's awkward scene with Mrs. 
 Bardell, Sam was in the passage; but at the 
 trial Mrs. Cluppins deposed that she was on the 
 stairs, having found the door "on the jar."
 
 160 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The Pickwickians too seem to have noted the 
 compromising situation at the same moment as 
 Mrs. Cluppins, so she must have been surprised 
 in the act of listening, much as " she scorned the 
 haction." 
 
 Mr. Pickwick, in the earlier portions of the work, 
 occasionally displayed a violence that was extra- 
 ordinary. Thus, when Jingle tossed the licence 
 to him at the White Hart, "he hurled the 
 inkstand madly forward, and followed it up 
 himself." He also, it will be remembered, struck 
 the person in the Fleet, who had taken his 
 nightcap, a smart blow in the chest, and invited 
 him to " come on." 
 
 We find his bosom friend Tupman, resenting 
 the epithets " fat " and " old " applied to him, 
 about to inflict chastisement on his person, and 
 Mr. Pickwick again challenging him to " Come 
 on." Once more, when the testy Dr. Tappleton 
 declared that he would pull every man's nose in 
 the company, " He rushed forward with fury in his 
 looks, and fire in his eye. His hand was upon the 
 lock of the door ; in another instant it would have 
 been on the throat of Doctor Payne of the 43rd, 
 had not Mr. Snodgrass seized his revered leader 
 by the coat-tail, and dragged him backwards. 
 
 " ' Restrain him,' cried Mr. Snodgrass, ' Winkle, 
 Tupman he must not peril his distinguished life 
 in such a cause as this.'
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 161 
 
 " ' Let me go,' said Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 "'Hold him tight,' shouted Mr. Snodgrass." 
 
 In his first scenes with Dodson and Fogg he 
 clenched his fist, so that those gentlemen thought 
 he was about to assault them. He was also 
 not without difficulty restrained from assaulting 
 the same " Firm " on at least two other occasions. 
 
 In the plate which introduces the Club at their 
 meeting will be noted the intensely sporting 
 character of the whole, further emphasized by a 
 collection of fishing implements, rod, basket, 
 fowling-piece, &c., laid down ostentatiously, and it 
 must be said rather inappropriately, on the floor, 
 in front of the table. The prints hung round the 
 room display " sporting " subjects of horses, and 
 over one of the windows is a stag's head. The 
 cover shows Mr. Pickwick asleep and fishing in a 
 punt down at Putney, whose church we descry. 
 
 It is sad to have to admit that the correct Mr. 
 Pickwick set a bad example in one respect, and 
 exhibited himself on two or three occasions in a 
 state of deplorable inebriety. Thus on returning 
 after the cricket match, he was seen in the 
 kitchen, " his hands in his pockets, leaning 
 against the dresser, shaking his head from side to 
 side, and producing a constant succession of his 
 blandest and most benevolent smiles;" and when 
 it was suggested that "he should be carried to 
 bed," vociferating that "no living boy should 
 
 M
 
 1 62 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 carry him." At the same house, at the shooting 
 party, he indulged in cold punch to such a 
 degree that " he expressed a strong desire to 
 recollect a song which he had heard in his 
 infancy, and, the attempt proving abortive, sought 
 to stimulate his memory with more glasses of 
 punch, which appeared to have quite a contrary 
 effect ; for, from forgetting the words of the 
 song, he began to forget how to articulate any 
 words at all ; and finally, after rising to his 
 legs to address the company in an eloquent 
 speech, he fell into the barrow, and fast asleep, 
 simultaneously." 
 
 On the occasion of going to the country to see 
 Mr. Winkle, sen., this amiable being, again, 
 drank so much cold punch and other liquids as 
 to become mellow and affectionate. And it is 
 curious evidence of the tone of the times that 
 these constant excesses seemed to be considered 
 quite matters of course, and a harmless weak- 
 ness in this eminent man. Mr. Ben Allen was 
 always in a state of hopeless " fuddle." He and 
 his friend Sawyer, it may be added, went to 
 Bengal, where, as we are told, they had the yellow 
 fever fourteen times, though the malady is usually 
 confined to the West Indies. 
 
 Returning now to Sam Weller, we find 
 that the general appreciation of Sam Weller 
 seems to rest on the ingenious and apposite
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 163 
 
 illustrations with which he used so often 
 to enliven his discourse, such as, " As the 
 soldier said when they ordered him, &c." 
 This form is in truth rather a farcical one, and 
 its constant repetition belongs more to a 
 fashion in vogue upon the stage, where it is 
 thought necessary to insist on such a "note " of 
 character, and the audience expects that such 
 peculiarities must be exhibited in almost every 
 expression that is uttered. In real life so fer- 
 tile a gift of illustration would be impossible, 
 and require an amount of ability and know- 
 ledge and reading, as would have been beyond 
 the opportunities of a person like Sam, whose 
 early education had been that of a waif and 
 stray. This sort of metaphorical spirit is also 
 rather inconsistent with his eminently practical 
 character, and in fact formed an oppor- 
 tunity for the exhibition of the author's own 
 lively and exuberant powers, showing, as we said, 
 an amount of ability somewhat of the school of 
 De la Rochefoucauld. Granting even that a person 
 in Sam's station had this particular and irresistible 
 turn, the illustrations would have been of a more 
 homely cast, and would have been occasionally 
 inappropriate or halting ; for the valet mind is of a 
 peculiar cast, singularly loose and inaccurate in 
 its appreciations. This criticism may seem far- 
 fetched, and perhaps crotchety; but it is really 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 urged in favour of what is otherwise an admirable 
 character drawn with the finest and broadest 
 touches. 
 
 In the case of every favourite character, as it 
 is also in the case of every story, after the first 
 tumult of popularity, a sort of revision of 
 judgment often takes place. Some works lose, 
 or grow in favour. The truth is, it is only 
 really good, large work that will last ; all artificial 
 forms of humour, and surface peculiarities fur- 
 nish only temporary entertainment. Some sort 
 of process of this kind has been going on steadily 
 since Dickens' death. His first work, "Pickwick," 
 may be considered to be advancing in favour, and 
 has roused a new interest and favour. The 
 popularity of the various characters are affected 
 in the same way. Sam Weller once the universal 
 idol for his " modern instances," seems now 
 to offer a rather antique form of wit, and to be 
 free and smart, rather than humorous. These 
 " Wellerisms " have been collected and published 
 as a gathering of wise sayings and proverbs, w.ith 
 an introduction by Mr. Charles Kent. But 
 on the other hand, the appreciation of Sam's 
 real sagacity and sound good sense, exhibited on a 
 hundred occasions ; his shrewd observation ; his 
 appropriate view of every situation that presents 
 itself ; his capability on all occasions ; his pleasant 
 replies, and stories, always ready ; his unflagging
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 165 
 
 good-lmniour ; his spirited share in any conversa- 
 tion that was going on, has grown and ripened. 
 So with his fidelity to his master and his friends, 
 and his many amiable qualities. These are the 
 sterling points of character and treatment which 
 will last, like the characters of Fielding, being 
 independent of the manners and eccentricities 
 of a generation that passes away, and which 
 cannot change with a new one. 
 
 The dialogue in this book has much of that 
 double charm which is the attraction of Goldsmith 
 and Sheridan in their comedies. The business of 
 the situation is carried forward, while at the same 
 time entertainment is provided by unexpected 
 turns, and humorous associations. A good speci- 
 men is when Mr. Pickwick is first introduced to 
 his unattractive bedroom in the Fleet. The 
 situation is this. The turnkey wished to 
 make the most of what he had to offer, 
 and in return desired to enlist the feelings of 
 the persons who were to enjoy his favours. 
 With what few yet skilful touches is the scene 
 presented ! 
 
 " ' There,' said Mr. Roker, holding the door 
 open, and looking triumphantly round at Mr. 
 Pickwick, * There's a room ! ' 
 
 "Mr. Pick wick's face, however, betokened such 
 a very trifling portion of satisfaction at the 
 appearance of his lodging, that Mr. Roker looked
 
 'i 66 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 for a reciprocity of feeling into the countenance 
 of Samuel Weller, who, until now, had observed a 
 dignified silence. 
 
 " ' There's a room, young man,' observed Mr. 
 Roker. 
 
 " ( I see it,' said Sam, with a placid nod of his 
 head." 
 
 Could any reply be more significant ? 
 
 " ' You wouldn't think to find such a room as 
 this in the Farringdon Hotel, would you ? ' 
 
 " To this Mr. Weller replied with an easy and 
 unstudied closing of one eye, which might be 
 considered to mean, either that he would have 
 thought it, or that he would not have thought it, 
 or that he had never thought anything at all about 
 it, as the observer's imagination suggested." 
 
 And here should be noted Dickens' happy 
 fashion of lighting up, as it were, and enriching 
 a trifling incident of this kind with a grotesque 
 speculative comment, which seems to impart the 
 notion of character or thought. Another would 
 have said merely "winked," and left it to speak 
 for itself. Mr. Weller then inquired where was 
 the individual bedstead that Mr. Eoker had so 
 flatteringly described as " an out and outer." 
 
 " ' That's it,' replied Mr. Eoker, pointing to a 
 very rusty one in the corner. ' It would make 
 any one go to sleep, that bedstead would, whether 
 they wanted to or not.'
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 167 
 
 " * I should think,' said Sam, eyeing the piece 
 of furniture in question, with a look of excessive- 
 disgust, ' poppies was nothin' to it.' 
 
 " ' Nothing at all,' said Mr. Roker. 
 
 " ' And I s'pose,' said Sam, ' I s'pose the other 
 gen'l'm'n as sleeps here are genTm'n?' 
 
 " ' Nothing but it,' said Mr. Roker. < One of 
 'em takes his twelve pints of ale a day, and never 
 leaves off smoking, even at his meals.' 
 
 " ' He must be a first-rater,' said Sam. 
 
 " ' A 1,' said Mr. Roker." 
 
 This short dialogue brings everything before us, 
 and is better than a page of description. It will 
 be noted that the patrcn of the bed is not daunted 
 by the disparagement of the article, but rallies with 
 spirit to its support. There is a world of meaning 
 in Sam's phrase, " I should think poppies was 
 nothin' to it." 
 
 It has been said sometimes, by way of rather 
 disparaging praise, that the merit of the book lies 
 in its unflagging spirit and boisterous fun, to the 
 exclusion, as it were, of wit and of the higher sort of 
 humour. But with the vivacity and high spirits 
 there is wit, and wit of a very genuine kind ; such 
 as old Weller's remark when Sam was condoling 
 with him on the loss of Mrs. Weller the second, 
 " Yell, sooner or later we must all come to it, one 
 day or another." 
 
 " So we must, Sammy."
 
 1 68 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " There's a Providence in it all," said Sam. 
 
 " Of course there is," said his father, with a nod 
 of grave approval. " What 'ud become of the 
 undertakers vithout it, Sammy ? " 
 
 This Sterne might have put in " Tristram 
 Shandy " with credit. Mr. Weller said it with a 
 perfect sincerity, yet what a grotesque image ! 
 
 The scene at the end of the story between old 
 "Weller and Mr. Pickwick is in the best style of 
 the best comedy, and really offers a fine drama- 
 tic interest, from the various situations it offers. 
 The delicacy and good feeling shown by the 
 rough father, and his son, are only the least of 
 its merits. Mr. Weller, sen., wished Mr. Pick- 
 wick to take charge of his money, and pressed 
 it on him, believing that he was in want of 
 it, for "that 'ere conviction," so he considered 
 the verdict in the civil action. He had him- 
 self arranged to undertake the nervous duty 
 of opening the matter to Mr. Pickwick, but 
 was left unassisted by his son. His impatience 
 at this desertion, and his relief when aid is 
 given, is excellent. " This here money," said 
 Sam, " he is anxious to put someveres, vere he 
 knows it 'ill be safe ; if he keeps it, he'll go a lend- 
 in' it to somebody, or droppin' his pocket-book 
 down a airy, or making an Egyptian Mummy of 
 hisself in some vay or another." 
 
 " Wery good, Samivel," observed Mr. Weller, in
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 169 
 
 as complacent a manner as if Sam had been pass- 
 ing the highest eulogiums on his prudence and fore- 
 thought, " wery good." A.n admirable original 
 stroke worthy of Fielding. The money being forced 
 on the reluctant Mr. Pickwick, who agrees to take 
 care of it, the latter seizes the opportunity to 
 speak to the father about his son's marriage. The 
 change that follows shows true knowledge of 
 character. Much flattered on being told his 
 advice was desired, Mr. Weller listens to the 
 proposal ; and most natural is the process shown 
 in his reception of it. When Mr. Pickwick tells 
 him that the young woman is attached to his 
 son, he takes it as a sort of warning: "It's 
 nat'ral," he said, after some consideration, " but 
 rayther alarmin'. Sammy must be careful care- 
 ful that he don't say nothin' to her, wery careful 
 that he ain't led away in an innocent moment, to 
 say any thin' as may lead to a conviction for breach. 
 You're never safe vith 'em, Mr. Pickwick, ven 
 they vunce has designs on you." This view he 
 naturally fancied must be acceptable to Mr. Pick- 
 wick, and the sketch is true comedy. When 
 he is at last brought round, there is another 
 most characteristic turn. Sam being called 
 in, his father felt that he was now associated with 
 Mr. Pickwick in the purpose which he had 
 before opposed, and he puts on a special dignity 
 in consequence.
 
 170 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " Your father and I have been having some 
 conversation about you," said Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 " About you, Samivel," said Mr. Weller, in a 
 patronizing and impressive voice, and this tone 
 of dignity he maintained, supporting Mr. Pickwick 
 in enforcing his views. A fresh turn is Sam's 
 touching exhibition of fidelity when he posi- 
 tively declines to leave his master. Nothing 
 is more unaffectedly natural than his declaration, 
 " Wery good. If you vant a more polished sort 
 o' feller, veil and good, have him ; but vages or no 
 vages, notice or no notice, board or no board, 
 lodgin' or no lodgin', Sam Veller as you took from 
 the old inn in the Borough, sticks by you, come 
 what may ; and let everythin' and everybody do 
 their wery fiercest, nothin' shall ever perwent it." 
 The perfect truth and appropriateness of this 
 touching speech is surely one of the reasons for 
 the affection in which Sam has been always held. 
 The whole scene is one of infinite art, and should 
 be studied by every writer who would learn how 
 to deal with character. 
 
 Dickens seems to have been conscious that this 
 rustic training scarcely harmonized with Sam's 
 speeches; for he makes his father tell Mr. Pickwick 
 later on, that he let him " run in the streets, when 
 he was wery young." Few, save Pickwickian 
 students will recall, that he introduces allusions 
 to other members of his family, besides his father.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 171 
 
 That he had a brother ; an uncle who drank 
 himself to death ; that his mother's name was 
 Clarke : these matters being dropped naturally and 
 carelessly, as they would be in real life, and 
 not officially announced by the narrator. Another 
 *' hand " would have told us, " Mr. Samuel Weller 
 was Mr. Weller's son by his first wife, whose name 
 was Clarke ; one of his brothers had not turned 
 out very well, and having become addicted to 
 strong liquors, &c." It is astonishing how the 
 other mode adds to the vraisemblance. 
 
 What really captivated the public and fixed 
 Sam for ever in the affections of the people, was 
 this perfect fidelity to his master, shown always 
 in the most practical way, and without the least 
 affectation. The contrast to his often farcical 
 behaviour shows the highest art, and the mode 
 in which this fidelity is testified is exhibited 
 in the most natural and unexpected style. 
 One is inclined to believe that in the drawing of 
 such natural scenes, and spontaneous dialogues 
 there must be a sort of inspiration to secure an 
 effect ; utterances and turns of speech seem 
 not to be devised, but suggested to the writer as 
 by another. When it was proposed to Sam by 
 his master that he should not attend him in the 
 Fleet, a less skilled observer would have made 
 him offer objections or entreaties ; but how 
 natural that he should adopt a sort of imprac-
 
 172 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 ticable surliness and even insolence, but still the 
 insolence of wounded attachment ! 
 
 "Now I'll tell you wot it is, sir," said Mr. 
 Weller, in a grave and solemn voice. " This here 
 sort o' thing won't do at all, so don't let's hear no 
 more about it." 
 
 " I am serious, and resolved, Sam," said Mr. 
 Pickwick. 
 
 "You air, air you, sir ? " inquired Mr. Weller, 
 firmly. " Wery good, sir. Then so am I." 
 
 Thus speaking, Mr. Weller fixed his hat on his 
 head with great precision, and abruptly left the 
 room. 
 
 " Sam ! " cried Mr. Pickwick, calling after him, 
 "Sam! Here!" 
 
 This much-admired character has been naturally 
 claimed by contending districts, eager for the 
 honour of having engendered such a credit to 
 humanity. We have seen what are the preten- 
 sions of Sam Yale ; but there lately reached me 
 from the country, this modest plea for an old and 
 almost forgotten local character. 
 
 " It may be interesting to you to know that Sam 
 Weller was 'Boots' at the 'Bull' Inn, Sitting- 
 bourne. I lived at Sittingbourne from 1829 to 
 1841. The * Bull' was a very comfortable commer- 
 cial inn, and it was kept by a Mrs. Hogben. 
 The Boots was called ' Bob,' and I think that his 
 surname was Erenden, but I cannot be sure.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 173 
 
 ' Bob ' was a very pert and flippant person, 
 rather what we called a wag. I remember the 
 man well, for he used to bring the dinner beer to 
 our house daily. "We always looked out for Bob, 
 and he was pretty certain to have a joke ready for 
 us youngsters, and especially for our maid- servant. 
 My parents and other relations who lived at 
 Sittingbourne at that time, never had any doubt 
 that Dickens had met * Bob ' and put him into 
 ' Pickwick ' as Sam Weller. I can now see ' Bob ' 
 coming into the house and marching through to 
 the kitchen with the beer, with his tall hat on one 
 side and with the cheeky cut. I have no doubt 
 that Dickens stayed at the ' Bull ' when at 
 Sittingbourne. The ' Bull ' was a very snug, 
 comfortable house. The time from 1829 to 1841 
 was, as you may know, the very hey-day of the 
 coaching and posting time." 
 
 Mr. Jerdan, the well-known critic and editor 
 of the Literary Gazette, was accustomed to claim 
 some share in the development of Sam Weller. 
 
 " I was so charmed," he writes in his autobio- 
 graphy, " with the creation of Sam Weller, that I 
 could not resist the impulse to write to the author 
 expressing my admiration, and counselling him to 
 develop the character largely to the utmost." 
 No doubt this encouragement, coming from so 
 important a critic had its effect. When the 
 story was finished and the event was to be cele-
 
 174 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 brated by a dinner, Jerdaii was thus warmly 
 invited by the author, " I depend upon you above 
 everybody." 
 
 It will be recollected that Sam describes in 
 humorous fashion his father's arrangement with 
 an election committee for upsetting a number of 
 voters whom he was to bring down on his coach. 
 Here Dickens had in view the very corrupt borough 
 of Great Yarmouth, where extraordinary modes of 
 dealing with voters were rife. There were no 
 less than 800 non-resident voters who had to be 
 brought from a distance, and Mr. Langton states 
 that the tradition of a casualty thus described, 
 prevails in Yarmouth to this day. 1 
 
 Tupman, according to the American, Dr. Shelton 
 Mackenzie, was thought to be sketched from 
 a certain Mr. Winter, a stout and elderly 
 " Buck," noted for his attentions to the other sex: 2 
 
 1 A description of a groom he had in Devonshire terrace 
 recalls Sam Weller : f ' 1 1 vent to the club this mornin', sir, 
 There vorn't no letters, sir.' ' Very good, Topping.' 'How's 
 missis, sir ? ' ' Pretty well, Topping.' ' Glad to hear it, sir. 
 My missis ain't very well, sir.' ' No ! ' ' No, sir, she's a goin', 
 sir, to have a hincrease very soon, and it makes her rather 
 nervous, sir ; and ven a young woman gets at all down in sich 
 a time, sir, she goes down wery deep, sir.' To this, sentiment 
 I replied affirmatively ; and then, he adds, as he stirs the fire 
 (as if he were thinking out aloud), ' Wot a mystery it is ! Wot 
 a go is natur ! ' ' ( Vide Mr. Koker's speech.) 
 
 2 We find a family " The Tupmans," in Miss Austin's 
 " Emma."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 175 
 
 and Mrs. Bardell, it was said, was drawn from 
 a buxoin Mrs. Anne Ellis, who kept an eating- 
 house close to Doctors' Commons. This, however, 
 seems carrying the "realism" of the story a little 
 too far, as Mrs. Bardell is of a very general type. 
 At the same time it is certain that for a versatile 
 writer, a simple hint, as it were, supplied from 
 real life or character, a casual encounter in train 
 or omnibus, will furnish the basis of a regular 
 character. 3 
 
 3 Mrs. Lirriper, the lodging-house keeper, was thus accidentally 
 suggested, and the author told me that he could have filled out 
 the character to proportions suited to one of his regular stories.
 
 X. 
 
 THERE is something at once pleasing and interest- 
 ing in the way in which the author has enshrined 
 his earliest recollections in his work : thus 
 securing a sort of vitality and inspiration. These 
 little touches we meet everywhere, and might 
 escape the ordinary observer. They seem, how- 
 ever, to have been more directly for his own 
 satisfaction, by way of record, or reminder of 
 some old association. Thus one of the cricketers 
 at the famous Dingley Dell match was Mr. 
 Struggles, whom Mr. Langton identifies as an 
 old schoolfellow of the writer's whose name was 
 Stroughill pronounced Struggle. The Boarding 
 House at Bury St. Edmund's, the scene of 
 Mr. Pickwick's grotesque adventure, is called 
 Westgate House, and there is now, or was a few 
 years back, a school for young ladies, bearing the 
 same name. One of the most painful passages in 
 his childhood was associated with "Warren's 
 Blacking, and in " Pickwick " and in many other of 
 his works, there are allusions to this sore point, to 
 the poet who was kept to celebrate the article in
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 177 
 
 " poetry," the whimsicality of the recollection 
 overpowering the more dismal associations. 
 
 The vivacious chronicle of " Pickwick " is so 
 closely associated with the rather limited stock of 
 public pleasure, that we must look with a sort of 
 affection on the places of what Elia would call 
 its " kindly engendure." The first portion was 
 written in Furnival's Inn, a number or so at 
 Chalk in Kent, and at Broadstairs, and the last 
 part in Doughty Street. The old Furnival's 
 Inn, a picturesque mass of low-roofed, heavily- 
 eaved, shaggy-browed brick, facing Holborn, was 
 removed nearly a century ago, and the present 
 tame, uninteresting structure substituted. Enter- 
 ing through a low, tunnel-shaped archway, we find 
 ourselves in a retired square with a general tone 
 of dinginess, in the centre of which is a statue of 
 the late Mr. Peto, of contracting memory, who 
 looks forlorn enough. Behind him is an hotel with 
 a cheerful-looking coffee-room " Wood's Hotel," 
 which has a snug, old-fashioned air enough. No 
 doubt the Wardles and other countrified folk of 
 our time, when they come to town, repair to 
 Wood's Hotel, and are "entreated" comfortably. 
 
 Here it was that the young and brilliant 
 " Boz," then in the first flush of his prosperity, 
 and working on the Chronicle, took rooms. 
 Lately the books of the old Inn were laid open 
 before me by Mr. Price (of the firm of Messrs. 
 
 N
 
 178 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Rose, who manage its business), and in one of 
 them I read : 
 
 No. 13. THREE-PAIR BACK. 
 Mr. Charles Dickens. 
 
 Came Christmas, 1834 35 5 
 
 Paid. 
 
 The door of No. 13 is squeezed into a corner of 
 the square, on the right as we enter ; and its 
 steep darkened stair leads up to his modest rooms, 
 almost at the top, now occupied by Mr. Slagg. 
 It consists of a suite of three small chambers. 
 He lived a year at No. 13, the " three-pair back," 
 and thence shifted his quarters to No. 15, the house 
 which now displays one of the tablets of the 
 Society of Arts. This little change has not been 
 hitherto known. Now we find a new account 
 opened : 
 
 No. 15. THREE-PAIR FLOOR SOUTH. 
 
 At 50 a year. For three years certain. 
 
 From Christmas, 1835 35 15 
 
 On Jan. 3, 1837 paid 50 
 
 Nov. 20 3710 
 
 May, 1838 25 
 
 Dec., do 1210 
 
 Feb. 11, 1839 25 
 
 Such was his little account. He was married in 
 April, 1836, and removed to a house in Doughty 
 Street in February, 1837 ; so that for two years 
 he was paying rent for two separate establish- 
 ments,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 179 
 
 No. 15 is on the right, nearer the archway, and 
 is of more pretentious character. Not long since 
 this set was in possession of the lively writer who 
 signed himself "0. P. Q. Philander Smiff." 
 There is no change since " Boz's " time, even to 
 the smooth, brass-bound rail on the stone stair. 
 It is notable that next to the Inn, outside, stands 
 one of the few genuine old Pickwickian taverns 
 left in London Ridler's with its low coffee-room 
 and bow windows of the pattern of the destroyed 
 Saracen's Head. There are not half a dozen of 
 this type of tavern in the metropolis now. 1 
 
 Looking from Mecklenburgh Square long the 
 residence of one of " Boz's " own merry men, 
 the genial Sala towards the pleasant Gray's Inn 
 Gardens, whose trees can be seen waving over 
 their wall, we find a compact, tidy-looking street, 
 of small two-storied houses, all of the same pat- 
 tern, and yclept Doughty Street. It is protected 
 against waggons and heavy traffic by a bar, though 
 
 1 The present proprietor of " Wood's," Mr. Whaley, when 
 I furnished this little sketch of Furnival's to the St. James's 
 Gazette, with natural pride, put in a claim for his Hotel, which 
 it is pleasant to recognize : " I may state that he occupied the 
 sitting and bed-room, Nos. 58 and 59, immediately over 
 the entrance of Wood's Hotel, for a period of six months ; and 
 it is not long since the old waiter died who attended to Charles 
 Dickens and who had great pride in showing the rooms to the 
 visitors of the hotel, informing them that he had the pleasure 
 of attending to Mr. Dickens's wants." 
 
 N 2
 
 180 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 a board at the top announces a gracious dispen- 
 sation in favour of the tenants by the lord of the 
 soil, " Sir James Doughty Tichborne, Bart," 
 that is, between certain hours. It was in 1837 
 that Dickens came here, to No. 48. I felt a 
 curiosity to see the interior where the last half of 
 "Pickwick" and the first of " Oliver Twist" 
 were written. There were "Apartments to let" 
 which had a very Bardell-like air. A sort of 
 " little marchioness " came to open the door, and 
 positively refused admittance ; but a second 
 attempt was successful. It was a comfortable 
 tenement, and more spacious than it appeared 
 outside, with a roomy stair and moderate hall. 
 A " lodger," practising the piano in the parlour, 
 kindly admitted the curious intruder, and, not 
 without pride, did the honours. The back room 
 a rather contracted but snug chamber, giving 
 on a small yard or garden had been the novelist's 
 study. As one looked on the whitened wall, the 
 faint lean stucco and skimpy mantelpiece, and 
 other furnishings, one could imagine those bright 
 intelligent eyes gazing upwards, seeking the 
 images of Sam, and Winkle, and the rest. The 
 walls of the stair display the old marble paper of 
 his time, grimed to a mahogany yellow. There is, 
 it seems, a general tendency in all the adjoining 
 houses to set up as Dickens's own house, and 
 hesitating lodgers are often influenced by being
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 181 
 
 artfully told " it were his very room that you're 
 now a-standin' in." 
 
 The chronology of " Pickwick," as it may be 
 termed, is one of the most curious phenomena in 
 fiction it is so mysteriously disposed. Yet it has 
 a sort of interest of its own, and the amazing spirit 
 and genius of the writer as in the case of Shake- 
 speare seems to triumph over the technicalities of 
 time and space. The earlier incidents follow so 
 naturally and in such gay profusion, that we 
 seem to have been living with the Pickwickians for 
 years : whereas, on strict examination, it will be 
 found that only a few weeks have passed over : 
 thus suggesting the 'Eastern fairy tale of the man 
 who dipped his head into a tub of water, when he 
 passed through a long life, was married, had 
 children, was sold into captivity, &c., all before 
 he drew his head out again ! The innumerable 
 incidents of the early portion, or more than a third 
 of the book, all took place within a period of three 
 weeks ! Yet during that short span we have 
 lived with, talked with, listened to and grown as 
 familiar with these characters, as if we had 
 known them all our lives. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the curious changes 
 in dates made by the author, in successive editions 
 somewhat hurriedly it must be said with a 
 view of extricating himself from a particular 
 erabarassment. These, however, did not oure the
 
 1 82 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 difficulties, and, as often happens, were only the 
 cause of fresh confusion. What added to the 
 embroglio, was the minute and natural way in 
 which dates were set down for every proceed- 
 ing, which adds an extraordinary air of vrai- 
 semblance and reality to the whole. We would 
 not part with this, even to gain perfect symmetry 
 and correctness. 
 
 The narrative commences with the meeting of 
 the Club, when the travelling party was com- 
 missioned, as it were. Here is the sequence of 
 events, with their dates : 
 
 1827. 
 
 May 12. Meeting of the Club. 
 13. The start Arrival at Rochester The Ball. 
 14. Winkle's Duel. 
 15. The Review. 
 ,, 16. The Drive to Manor Farm. 
 17. The Rook Shooting, and Cricket Match. 
 18. Jingle's Disclosure to the Spinster Aunt. 
 19.1 
 
 20. LThe Plot. 
 21. J 
 
 22. The Elopement. 
 23. Arrival of Wardle and Mr. Pickwick at the " White 
 
 Hart." 
 
 24. Return to Manor Farm. 
 25. The " Leather Bottle." 
 26. Return to Town. 
 
 On the 25th, at the " Leather Bottle," Mr. 
 Pickwick stated that the Eatanswill Election was 
 to take place " in a few days " say within three 
 which brings us to the day before :
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 183 
 
 May 28. Scene with Mrs. Bardell. 
 
 29. Departure for Eatanswill. 
 
 ,, 30. The Nomination. 
 June 2. The Election. 
 
 It is at this point, when every tiling was going 
 so smoothly, in almost diary-fashion, that we find 
 our author, of a sudden, taking a leap forward of 
 some two years. For Mr. Pott, it will be 
 remembered, to amuse Mr. Pickwick, directs 
 " Jane " to bring him " the file of the Gazette for 
 eighteen hundred and twenty-eight," thus set out 
 at length. The file was of course for the year 
 preceding the one in which it was called for, 
 which last must have been 1829. But to resume 
 our chronological table : 
 
 June 5. " Third morning after the Election " Visit from 
 
 Mr. Leo Hunter. 
 
 ,, 6. Mrs. Leo Hunter's Party. 
 8. Bury St. Edmunds. 
 9. Adventure at the Boarding School. 
 
 " ' I Mr. Pickwick confined to his bed. 
 
 it !* J 
 
 12. Eeads aloud the Story of the Parish Clerk. 
 
 ,, 13. Arrival of Winkle and Tupman. 
 
 Here our chronology again grows confused. 
 Winkle and Tupman remained at Mrs. Pott's, we 
 are told, for " two days after the breakfast at Mrs. 
 Leo Hunter's," that is during the 8th and 9th, 
 on the morning of the 10th, Mr. Pott's display 
 of jealousy took place, and at noon the departure 
 of the two Pickwickians, who reached Bury that
 
 184 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 evening. Our author makes the day the 13th. 
 But this is a trifle to what follows. "While they 
 are at dinner, Dodson and Fogg's " notice of 
 action " arrives, dated August 28th, 1830, an 
 advance of another year. It seemed likely that 
 this date was fixed on to reconcile events with 
 Jingle's allusion to the revolution of 1830, 
 though the two incidents were too close to each 
 other to cure the matter. At any rate, even if we 
 ignore the year, we have to jump from June 13 
 to the 1st of September, fixed by " the commence- 
 ment of the shooting season." 
 
 Sept. 1. The Shooting Party. 
 
 2. " Thursday " Mr. Pickwick goes to London. 
 
 3. " Friday " Interview with Dodson and Fogg. 
 
 5. Ipswich Adventure in the Double-Bedded Koom. 
 
 6. Scene with Nupkins. 
 
 7. Return to Town. 
 
 I:} 
 
 . Sam's Visit to Dorking. 
 9. 
 
 At this point our chronology again becomes 
 wild. The party separated for a " short time," 
 each going home, to " prepare " for a visit to 
 Dingley Dell at Christmas. These preparations, 
 however elaborate, could not engross more than 
 two or three weeks at most say even a month 
 which would bring us to the middle of October. 
 But our author wished to get to his Christmas 
 festivities at once, or had no adventures ready 
 to fill up the interval. So we find the four
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 185 
 
 Pickwickians starting on December 22nd, " in the 
 year of grace " mark this " in which these, their 
 faithfully recorded adventures were undertaken 
 and accomplished " ! Thus we are wonderfully put 
 back again from 1830 to 1827 ! But to resume : 
 
 Dec. 23. Trundle's Wedding. 
 
 24. The Gabriel Grub Story. 
 
 25. Christmas Day Introduction of Bob Sawyer. 
 
 26. Eeturn to London. 
 
 1828. 
 
 Jan. 8. "Ten days or a fortnight after his Eeturn," 
 service of subpoena by Jackson. 
 
 9. Visit to Perker. 
 
 10. Bob Sawyer's Party ("the Invitation was given at 
 
 Dingley Dell for Thursday Fortnight.") 
 Feb. 13. Sam's Valentine. 
 
 14. The Trial Bardell v. Pickivick. 
 
 16. Departure for, and arrival at Bath, "to stay two 
 months." 
 
 17. Ball at the Assembly Kooms. 
 
 20. Mr. Pickwick moved to the Eoyal Crescent. 
 
 Mr. Pickwick, we are told, returned to town at 
 the expiration of the first week "in Trinity 
 Term" which would have fixed his arrival at 
 about June 24th. He had thus remained four 
 months at Bath. 
 
 June 27. " The third morning after his Arrival," Arrest of 
 
 Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 July 24. Arrest of Mrs. Bardell. 
 25. Mr. Pickwick leaves the Fleet Prison. 
 
 He had thus been confined not a month. Yet 
 we are assured that " for three long months he
 
 1 86 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 remained shut up " in the prison. Again it 
 must be said, that these little oversights are not 
 pointed out with any view of disparaging 
 what is not to be disparaged, but as a sort of 
 entertainment. Nay, we would rather have them 
 with us than not, or than a precise, mathematical 
 or pedantic adherence to all the formalities. 
 The writer himself would have assuredly given 
 one of his hearty and jovial laughs, were they 
 pointed out to him. 
 
 July 22. Arabella Allen married to Winkle. 
 
 ,, 26. Mr. Pickwick goes down to Bristol. 
 
 27. Goes to Birmingham. 
 
 ,, 28. At the Saracen's Head, Towcester. 
 
 29. Returns to Town. 
 August 1. At Osborne's Hotel, Adelphi. 
 
 Here our author makes one more demivolt, and 
 speaks of "the healthy, fine October mornings." 
 For " a week " Mr. Pickwick was busy engaging the 
 house at Dulwich, which he announces, forgetting 
 "the fine October mornings," when on 
 
 August 8. the Dinner at Osborne's. 
 
 On this occasion, he declares that he had 
 ft devoted the greater part of two years " to his 
 adventures. It will have been seen that the time 
 covered was just one year and three months. 
 Putting aside the trivial oversights which it has 
 been an agreeable pastime to point out, it may be 
 said that in no other work of fiction can be found
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 187 
 
 so natural, and probable, and even consistent an 
 arrangement and sequence of events. 
 
 It is recorded that an eminent composer 
 writing an opera for his family, amongst whom 
 there was a member who could not sing, contrived 
 a part in which not a note was required, but in 
 which he had periodically to give a yawn, or 
 monosyllable, we forget which, and which was 
 contrived to fit in with the measure. Something 
 after this principle, there is one utterly silent 
 character in " Pickwick " as a friend has 
 pointed out to me who figures prominently, 
 taking his regular part in the drama, marries 
 one of the young ladies, and yet from the first 
 to the last page never once opens his mouth ! 
 Here is another " puzzler " which might have 
 been " set " at Mr. Calverley's examination, and 
 we will venture to say that few readers could find 
 the answer off hand. This silent personage 
 was Mr. Trundle, Wardle's son-in-law, whose 
 marriage was celebrated with such festivities. 
 Even on this occasion it is not recorded that he 
 returned thanks for the bride though Mr. 
 Pickwick's speech is given in full. 
 
 " The Bagman's Story " somewhat reflects the 
 influence of Washington Irving and there is one of 
 his stories, " The Adventures of my Uncle," which 
 has something but a very little something of 
 the same cast. " Gabriel Grub," however, may
 
 i88 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 have been written in imitation of that remarkable 
 legend of " Rip Van Winkle; " and the return of 
 Gabriel after ten years, and his drunkenness are 
 suggested by similar points in the American 
 author's story. 2 
 
 2 The scene of this story is laid in " an old abbey town in 
 this part of the country," which we identify by the illustration 
 as St. Albans. Dingley Dell is thus shifted from Kent to 
 Hertfordshire. In an old book, called Angelo's " Picnic," there 
 is a place described, called " Dingle Dell." It may be added 
 that M. Magnus's "blue" spectacles become "green" after a 
 few pages, a droll oversight.
 
 XI. 
 
 THE most dramatic and genuine scenes in 
 " Pickwick " are the legal ones. We have only to 
 think of the number of the figures, and the nice 
 and perfect fashion in which they are discrimi- 
 nated, the distinctness with which they present 
 themselves to the memory ,'to acknowledge the won- 
 derful knowledge and observation displayed by our 
 author. We may name Dodson and Fogg, the 
 scheming attorneys ; Mr. Pell, a delightful type 
 of the low practitioner ; Jackson, Lowten and the 
 other clerks ; Justice Stareleigh and the counsel in 
 the famous trial ; Perker, the family solicitor. All 
 these were suggested by his own experience and 
 familiarity with the business. Every touch is put 
 in with a rich variety, and every turn and point 
 of character is legitimately connected with pro- 
 fessional influences and habits. There is nothing 
 out of place or out of keeping ; though the Edin- 
 burgh Review wrote, on the appearance of " Bleak 
 House," that " his legal knowledge was only that 
 of attorney's clerk, and that he could describe the 
 swearing of an affidavit correctly, but nothing 
 
 more "
 
 190 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Dodson and Fogg are delightful in their perfect 
 naturalness, even to the refined and subtle and 
 most original strokes by which their knavery is 
 exhibited. As when Mr. Pickwick in his innocence 
 appeals to the candour and good feeling of the firm : 
 "You will permit me to assure you that I am a most 
 unfortunate man, so far as this case is concerned," 
 how characteristic is Dodson's mode of meet- 
 ing the point ! " The writ, sir, which commences 
 the action was issued regularly. Mr. Fogg, 
 where is the Prcecipe book ? . . . Here is the 
 entry. Middlesex Capias. Martha Bardell, 
 widow, v. Samuel Pickwick, Dodson and Fogg for 
 the plaintiff. August 28th, 1830. All regular, 
 sir, perfectly." This " regularity " was their mode 
 of acting fairly. The incident suggested itself, 
 not long since, on my receiving a somewhat 
 heavy " Bill of costs " from a firm of solicitors. 
 On making some remonstrance, the senior partner 
 of the firm wrote in defence of his charges, 
 adding, " To show you how anxious I am to 
 meet your wishes, my partner, on receipt of your 
 letter, went through all the items of our costs, 
 and I am glad to tell you, joins with me in think- 
 ing them moderate in the extreme." This appeal 
 from one partner to the other is quite in the 
 Pickwickian firm's style ; " Give me the prcecipe 
 book ; all regular ;" and shows how little exag- 
 geration there is in Dickens' sketches. The scene
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 191 
 
 at the close, when the costs were being paid 
 in Perker's chambers, is in the best spirit of 
 comedy, and based on the profoundest know- 
 ledge of character. Their jocularity and offensive 
 familiarity is exactly what stupid villains would 
 assume must be accepted as complimentary. 
 " I don't think you are looking quite so stout 
 as when I had the pleasure of seeing you last," 
 Dodson said " in an affable manner." And 
 later when they were going, " I hope," said 
 Fogg, softened by the cheque, " you don't 
 think so badly of us, Mr. Pickwick, as when 
 we first had the pleasure of seeing you." " I 
 hope not," said Dodson, with the high tone 
 of calumniated virtue ; " Mr. Pickwick now 
 knows us better, I trust. I beg to assure 
 you, sir, I have no vindictive feelings for the 
 sentiments you thought to express of us," &c. 
 
 Any one who has ever met such of the 
 common practitioners as furnish their services at 
 the Police Courts, will own to the truth of the 
 sketch of Mr. Pell, with his taste for rum-hot, 
 his friendships, and his repeated references to the 
 lucky circumstance that they had come to him, 
 and not fallen into the hands of some other 
 practitioner. When he describes the compliments 
 his " noble friend " was in the habit of paying 
 him, we have a delicate touch of character : 
 
 " You natter me, my lord," he said. " Pell, if I
 
 192 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 do, I'm damned." Mr. Weller objected to this 
 phrase, seeming to think it inconsistent with the 
 dignity of the personage, and conveying, perhaps, 
 a doubt of the narrative. " Gro on, sir, he said. 
 "No, sir, I will not go on. You have reminded me, 
 sir, that this conversation was private, private and 
 confidential. G-entlemen, I'm a professional man. 
 It may be that I am a good deal looked up to in 
 my profession. It may be that I am not. Most 
 people know. I say nothing. Observations have 
 already been made in this room injurious to the 
 reputation of my noble friend. You will excuse 
 me, gentlemen, I was imprudent." The natural, 
 grave way in which this is put carries off what 
 would otherwise be far-fetched and verging on 
 burlesque. Indeed all the scenes with the 
 coachmen, when Mr. Pell exhibited his boastings, 
 become plausible enough, as we think that this 
 practitioner knew well he was dealing with open- 
 mouthed, simple-minded men who were awed by 
 their contact with the law and one of its instru- 
 ments. 
 
 Dickens' art was shown in his way of indicating 
 a character by broad outlines with a masterly 
 reserve, just touching on the special peculiarity 
 and leaving it to the reader to fill in the rest for 
 himself. Take, for instance, the character of 
 Magnus, with whom Mr. Pickwick travelled to 
 Ipswich. There is nothing very marked in what
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 193 
 
 he says or does, his speeches have nothing very 
 peculiar : but somehow the impression is left that 
 we have met a very pretentious, foolish person, 
 who yet conveys the idea of one who makes 
 himself important. There is a genuineness in his 
 confidences. " Curious circumstance," he says, 
 " about these initials, sir; you will observe, P.M., 
 post meridian. In hasty notes to intimate 
 acquaintances, I sometimes sign myself " After- 
 noon." This absurdity touches caricature, but 
 how natural when he adds, " It amuses my friends 
 very much, Mr. Pickwick." When they arrive 
 at the inn, he asks, " Do you stop here, sir ? " 
 " Dear me ! " said Mr. Magnus, "I never knew 
 anything like these extraordinary coincidences. 
 Why, I stop here too ! I hope we dine together." 
 This is exactly the exuberant wonder and garrulity 
 of a frivolous man. This may be contrasted with 
 the author's later or last manner, when such a 
 person would be fitted with a stock phrase, which 
 would be iterated, and the sense would be 
 conveyed by long speeches. 
 
 The same reserve is shown in Magnus' later 
 conversation. " After sundry accounts of himself 
 his family, his business, andhis brothers (most talk- 
 ative men, have a great deal to say about their 
 brothers)," &c., he tells Mr. Pickwick he has come 
 down to propose to a lady. " I think an Inn is 
 a good sort of place to propose to a single woman 
 
 o
 
 194 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 in, Mr. Pickwick. She is more likely to feel the 
 loneliness of her situation in travelling." An 
 amusing speech, equal to whole pages of descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 It would be a difficult thing to decide, of all the 
 characters in this varied gallery, which is the 
 best drawn and most skilfully touched. In a 
 story, it is but a small thing to present a charac- 
 ter ; no matter how effectively drawn, to be 
 shown effectively, it must be itself part of the story, 
 produce incidents and be itself developed by the 
 incidents produced. This is what we see in real 
 life, and indeed it is only by events and incidents 
 that we learn what a person's character is. We 
 see much of this in " Pickwick," where most of the 
 characters are shown in action, and help on the 
 story. Adopting this test, we should be inclined 
 to pronounce Mr. Pott, the editor, not only the 
 most amusing and original, but in every way the 
 best drawn of the characters. He has many 
 " sides," and is developed in a very remarkable 
 way. Nothing is more entertaining than the 
 contrast between his editorial ferocity, and his 
 meekness to his wife, whose contempt for his 
 newspaper is not the least of the good touches. 
 His jealousy of Winkle is founded not on any par- 
 ticular regard for his lady, but because it furnishes 
 the rival journal with a topic for ridicule. We 
 almost see him in the flesh, and know him
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 195 
 
 thoroughly, and read the portion that concerns him, 
 much as we look on a good picture, with the sense 
 of discovering something new every time. The 
 incident of the war between the two newspapers is 
 truly admirable and laughter-moving to a degree, 
 and shows the profoundest knowledge of provin- 
 cial press quarrels. In the lines to " A Brass 
 Pot," is caught in a most accurate way the 
 personality of such things ; and the leader begin- 
 ning " Our obscure and filthy contemporary," with 
 the one headed " Hole and Corner Buffoonery," 
 are exquisite even in. their exaggeration. What a 
 capital 'touch is the editor's reply to Mr. 
 Pickwick, " Is the Independent still in being ? " 
 " The Independent, sir, is still dragging on a 
 wretched and lingering career, abhorred and 
 despised by even the few who are cognizant of 
 its miserable and disgraceful existence : stifled by 
 the very filth which it so profusely scatters ; 
 rendered deaf and blind by the exhalations of 
 its own slime; the obscene journal is rapidly 
 sinking," &c. " Having delivered this mani- 
 festo (which formed a portion of his last week's 
 leader)," &c. 
 
 How truly founded on human nature is this 
 ludicrous journalistic animosity, will be seen from 
 a specimen which turned up in the most casual 
 way, and had not to be sought for. It will be agreed 
 that it rather goes beyond the two Eatanswill 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 organs in scurrility. It is taken from the Andover 
 Standard : 
 
 " That Thug of Journalism and Judas Oracle 
 
 (thanking thee for the word) The , the latest 
 
 of the gutter efforts of the Metropolitan Radicals 
 in the newspaper line, is a stain on this country's 
 face, and a blot in the writing of her name. The 
 only possible redeeming feature of this pot-house 
 swaggerer is its utility in showing to what depths 
 of crapulous deviltry a mercenary mind can sink 
 in lickspittling to the thievish and rowdy interests 
 of a " political" faction whose orb if for a moment 
 it feebly sparkled into publicity has now set again 
 for ever before the risen sun of Unity. For the 
 benefit of our Hants readers, the common decency 
 of whose homes is happily unpolluted by the in- 
 vasion of this and kindred evening rice-wrappers, 
 we may say that its policy at the first sight has 
 the look of being rather fresh. The Hibernian 
 editorial heart of this halfpenny slobbery, would- 
 be-Bowery-style of literary street-walker, loves to 
 bleed over the fiendish inhumanity of the institu- 
 tion of property, the ' absurd old-maidish respect ' 
 which so awkwardly seems to exist towards social 
 law and order. Certes, if Swift's ' hospital for in- 
 curables ' were now open, at least one City scribe 
 might qualify with undoubted success for a certi- 
 ficate of admission as the finest single-handed liar 
 of the season. But this sort of tin-thunder and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 197 
 
 fustian,high-falutingets tame and ineffective with 
 the lapse of days, since this journalistic Roscius 
 apparently only owns one shirt, which he wears 
 white on Mondays, turns into striped cambric with 
 a ha'porthof blue crayon on Tuesday, intersperses 
 with red on "Wednesday, and so forth. We have 
 seen a strayed copy or two lately exposed for sale 
 on an Andover counter. It is the duty of re- 
 spectable folk to boycott criminals, fools and 
 traitors, though this will hardly be necessary in 
 this case within our own walls, on the principle 
 that vermin by instinct leave a sinking ship, 
 and because in this Division the rotten raft of 
 Radicalism has to-day hardly a stick left peeping 
 above the waters of oblivion." 
 
 The whole picture of life at Bath is filled 
 in with many perfect touches, and furnishes a 
 further proof of the author's admirable art in 
 making distinct and perfectly individual species 
 of the same genus. Footmen and servants 
 generally from their office, offer little that is 
 distinct ; they are usually servile enough in 
 following the traditions of their kind. Yet who 
 does not think with delight of the specimens offered 
 here in such brilliant profusion, and touched in a 
 Hogarthian spirit of comedy ! This again gains 
 strength from the appropriateness of the situation, 
 for Bath was the fitting locale for the humours of 
 the footman- world. One reads with wonder, akin
 
 198 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 to pleasure, the gaiety, the spirit, the broad strokes 
 with which these amusing beings are sketched. 
 It will hardly be believed that there are some 
 seven or eight of these gentry exhibited, all more 
 or less distinct and amusing. Need we name 
 Mr. John Smauker a quaint character, with his 
 fox's-head snuff-box, and explanation of the 
 " killibeate " which, read for the thousandth time, 
 always moves a smile. 
 
 Another scene unpretending in its way, but which 
 is most original, and which we recall with delight, 
 is that of the arrival of Mrs. Cluppins and the 
 Raddles' for tea at Mrs. Bardell's. This amounted 
 to no more than a party in a cab or fly, driving 
 up, and mistaking the hall door. Yet what a 
 display of character and human weakness ! 
 
 " Stop at the house with a green door, driver," 
 said the heavy gentleman. 
 
 " Oh ! You perwerse creetur ! " exclaimed one 
 of the vixenish ladies. " Drive to the ouse with 
 the yellow door, cabmin." 
 
 " Upon this the cabman, who in a sudden effort 
 to pull up at the house with the green door, had 
 pulled the horse up so high that he nearly pulled 
 him backward into the cabriolet, let the animal's 
 fore legs down to the ground again, and paused. 
 
 " Now vere am I to pull up ? " inquired the 
 driver. " Settle it among yourselves. All I ask 
 is, vere ? "
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 199 
 
 " Most wotes carries the day ! " said one of the 
 vixenish ladies at length. " The ouse with the 
 yellow door, cabmin." 
 
 " But after the cabriolet had dashed up, in 
 splendid style, to the house with the yellow door : 
 " making," as one of the vixenish ladies 
 triumphantly said, " acterrally more noise than if 
 one had come in one's own carriage" and after 
 the driver had dismounted to assist the ladies in 
 getting out the small round head of Master 
 Thomas Bardell was thrust out of the one pair 
 window of a house with a red door, a few numbers 
 off. 
 
 " Aggrawatin' thing ! " said the vixenish lady 
 last mentioned, darting a withering glance at the 
 heavy gentleman. 
 
 "My dear, it's not my fault," said the gentle- 
 man. 
 
 " Don't talk to me, you creetur, don't," retorted 
 the lady. " The house with the red door, cabmin. 
 Oh ! If ever a woman was troubled with a 
 ruffinly creetur, that takes a pride and a pleasure 
 in disgracing his wife on every possible occasion 
 afore strangers, I am that woman ! " 
 
 " While this dialogue was going on, the driver 
 was most ignominiously leading the horse, by the 
 bridle, up to the house with the red door, which 
 Master Bardell had already opened. Here was a 
 mean and low way of arriving at a friend's house !
 
 200 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 No dashing up, with all the fire and fury of the 
 animal ; no jumping down of the driver ; no loud 
 knocking at the door; no opening of the apron 
 with a crash at the very last moment, for fear of 
 the ladies sitting in a draught ; and then the man 
 handing the shawls out, afterwards, as if he were 
 a private coachman ! The whole edge of the thing 
 had been taken off; it was flatter- than walking." 
 
 If we analyze this sketch, it will be astonishing 
 how much is introduced, the conjugal dispute, the 
 cabman's disgust, the ludicrous caracoling up to the 
 wrong house : the real person in fault laying the 
 blame on another, and the comic final approach in 
 an ignominious way, in which lurks a sort of moral 
 as to a fable. And all arising out of a cab 
 driving up ! 
 
 The judicious mode in which Mr. Pickwick's 
 adventure in the double-bedded room is treated 
 is dramatic, and natural to a high degree. In other 
 hands it had become a boisterous farce ; here it is 
 comedy. All through, there is thehint of its being a 
 serious and even distressing situation, whose gra- 
 vity is not even disturbed by that ludicrous touch 
 of Mr. Pickwick putting on his hat " over his 
 night-cap, like one of the old watchmen." 
 Capital comedy too is his disregard of this 
 costume, in his chivalrous wish earnestly to explain 
 matters to the lady. 
 
 What a ludicrous image is often called up
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 201 
 
 by a single touch ! As when Mrs. Raddle was 
 turning out Bob Sawyer's guests. " You ought 
 to be ashamed of yourselves," said the voice of 
 Mr. Eaddle, " which appeared to proceed from 
 beneath some distant bedclothes." 
 
 A hundred other little instances might be 
 selected, to show the wit, humour, and gaiety 
 of the author. - As when Nupkins hesitated to 
 see the Pickwickians alone : " He was a public 
 man, and he turned pale at the thought of Julius 
 Ccesar and Mr. Percival." So Mr. Weller senior, 
 on Stiggins, who, he said, " gives out as he's a 
 persecuted saint, and says he hopes the heart of the 
 turncock as cut the water off '11 be softened and 
 turned in the right way, but he rayther thinks he's 
 booked for something uncomfortable." 
 
 This is as exquisitely funny as it is unex- 
 pected, founded too in human nature. Then : 
 " If I'd my way, Samivel, I'd just stick some of 
 these lazy shepherds behind a heavy wheelbarrow 
 and run 'em up and down a fourteen inch wide 
 plank all day." 
 
 What shrewd observation is there in the re- 
 marks on the two simple phrases, " never 
 mind," and " upon my word ! " the former 
 uttered by Mr. Magnus in his quarrel with Mr. 
 Pickwick ; the latter Mrs. Pott's adroit exclama- 
 tion in a conjugal quarrel. The analysis of the 
 inflection in both cases is an essay.
 
 XII. 
 
 IK its way one of the most satisfactory testi- 
 monies to the value and popularity of this work 
 is the well-known (to the curious at least in 
 such matters) examination paper, once " set " 
 at Cambridge in the year 1857, by the witty 
 Calverley. This humorist had a flavour of his 
 own quite unique, much as Elia has, and his 
 series of questions, like everything connected 
 with the "Pickwick," is in itself an entertain- 
 ment. The thing was gravely carried out in the 
 regular examination hall, and there were a 
 number of candidates. There is a singular 
 quaint feeling as we read, and even the most 
 profound student must feel his ignorance as he 
 reads. A few of the more difficult questions will 
 be found welcome. 
 
 " 1. Mention any occasions on which it is speci- 
 fied that the Fat Boy was not asleep ; and that (1) 
 Mr. Pickwick and (2) Mr. Weller, senior, ran. 
 Deduce from the expressions used, Mr. Pickwick's 
 maximum of speed. 
 
 t: 3. Who were Mr. Staple, Goodwin, Mr.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 203 
 
 Brooks, Villam, Mr. Bunkin, " Old Nobs," " Oast- 
 iron Head," Young Bantam ? 
 
 5. Give, approximately, the height of Mr. 
 Dubbley; and accurately the Christian names of 
 Mr. Grummer, Mrs. Raddle, and the Fat Boy, also 
 the surname of the Zephyr. 
 
 8. What Church was in the valentine that first 
 attracted Mr. Samuel's eye in the shop ? 
 
 9. Describe the common " Profeel machine." 
 30. Describe the component parts of Dogsnose, 
 
 and simplify the expression " taking a grinder." 
 
 16. State any incidents you know in the career 
 of Tom Merton, butcher, previous to his incar- 
 ceration. 
 
 17. Where was Mr. Weller's wife's will found ? 
 
 18. Show that there was at least three times as 
 many fiddles as harps in Muggleton at the time 
 of the Ball at Manor Farm. 
 
 20. Is there any ground for conjecturing that 
 Sam had more brothers than one ? 
 
 23. "She's a swelling wisibly." When did 
 the same phenomenon occur again, and what fluid 
 caused the pressure on the body in the latter case ? 
 
 26. Give some account of the word "fanteeg," 
 and hazard any conjecture explanatory of the 
 expression " My Prooshian Blue " applied by Mr. 
 Samuel to Mr. Tony Weller. 
 
 30. Who beside Mr. Pickwick is recorded to 
 have worn gaiters ?
 
 2O4 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 There is, we venture to say, a fine delicate hu- 
 mour here, worthy of the book. One of the 
 happiest and most puzzling is the question No. 
 20, as to Sam's having brothers. To be relished 
 also is No. 30, " Who besides Mr. Pickwick is 
 recorded to have worn gaiters ? " Who too could 
 say anything as to the identity of Messrs. Bunkin, 
 or Staple ? It is recorded that Mr. Besant obtained 
 the premium for best answering. 
 
 It is not so well known that at Oxford also 
 there appeared a jeu d'esprit of the same kind 
 but not nearly so witty, published many years 
 ago in a clever anonymous jeu d'esprit entitled 
 " The Student's G-uide to the School of Litterce 
 Fictitice, commonly called Novel- Literature." 
 The passmen were required to take up the " Pick- 
 wick Papers." 
 
 " Give some account of the game of cricket as 
 played in the West Indies ; and describe an 
 imaginary match between any number of blacks 
 (including Quanko Samba) and an eleven, in- 
 cluding Lillywhite. 
 
 " Collect passages which bear upon the theory of 
 ' Widders,' as enunciated from time to time by 
 Mr. Weller, senior. 
 
 " Show how far the fundamental principles of the 
 British Constitution are exhibited in the account 
 of the Eatanswill election ; and apply specially 
 (1) to the freedom of the press, as manifested by
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 205 
 
 the local papers ; (2) to the freedom of opinion, 
 as expressed in the language of the electors. 
 
 " Can you assign any probable grounds for the 
 popular representation of Mr. Pickwick under the 
 figure of an ' Aged Ram ' ? 
 
 " Give a succinct account of the trial, Bardell v. 
 Pickwick; and estimate the influence exercised 
 upon the minds of the jurors by (1) the eloquence 
 of Serjeant Buzfuz; (2) the confusion of Mr. 
 Winkle ; (3) the grammatical dogmatism of Mr. 
 Weller, senior ; (4) the arrangement of Master 
 Bardell's buttons. 
 
 " Can the fragments of the poetry in the * Pick- 
 wick Papers ' be reduced to any system of classi- 
 fication ? If so assign to their respective classes 
 (1) < The Ivy Green ; ' (2) the lines To a Frog,' 
 by Mrs. Leo Hunter; (3) the Goblin's song; (4) 
 the romance of Dick Turpin ; (5) the conclusion 
 of Mr. Samuel Weller' s love-letter. 
 
 " Show the beneficial effects of brandy-and- water 
 physically, ethically, and socially; and illustrate 
 by reference to the experience of Mr. Pickwick. 
 State in round numbers how many glasses of this 
 liquid Mr. Pickwick is recorded as having con- 
 sumed. 
 
 " What data have we for supposing that the 
 politics of Mr. A. Jingle were those of a Free- 
 trader ? 
 
 " Compare the faculties of Medicine and Law as
 
 206 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 treated of by your author ; and state how far 
 they severally affected the fortunes of Mr. Pick- 
 wick. 
 
 " Define ' alley tor,' ' alleybi,' ' commoney,' 
 ' killibeate,' c tap,' ' have-his-carcase,' ' a rig,' ' a 
 go,' ' reduced councils,' ' mizzle,' ' twopenny 
 rope,' ' small fire-arms,' ' flummoxed : ' and ex- 
 plain (1) ' Fruits is in, cats is out ; ' (2) ' Dash 
 my vescoat;' (3) 'A reg'lar soft-headed, ink- 
 red'lous turnip; ' (4) ' They're a twigging of you, 
 sir ; ' (5) ' You're a amicably disposed young 
 man, sir, I don't think.' ' 
 
 The very Preface to " Pickwick," as it proceeded 
 on its prosperous course from edition to edition, 
 has a little history of its own. It seemed that 
 the work was so stored with vitality, and excited 
 such interest as it went along, that the author 
 had to corne forward, as it were, speak, and 
 explain all that was connected, as " Elia " 
 would put it, " with its kindly engendure." There 
 were no less than three prefaces in succession : 
 and the variations and additions, set out in a 
 natural candid style, furnish some autobiogra- 
 phical details which add greatly to the interest of 
 the volume. The easy, unaffected mode, the 
 genial air of confidence with which the author 
 addressed his friends and readers, is akin to the 
 style shown in his letters ; and was always one of 
 the charms of this engaging character.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 207 
 
 As the first Preface is not found in the later 
 editions, the reader will be glad to have it here. 
 It ran : 
 
 " PREFACE. 
 
 " The author's object in this work was to place 
 before the reader a constant succession of charac- 
 ters and incidents ; to paint them in as vivid 
 colours as he could command ; and to render them 
 at the same time life-like and amusing. 
 
 " Deferring to the judgment of others in the 
 outset of the undertaking, he adopted the ma- 
 chinery of the Club, which was suggested as that 
 best adapted to his purpose ; but, finding that it 
 tended rather to his embarrassment than other- 
 wise, he gradually abandoned it, considering it 
 a matter of very little importance to the work 
 whether strictly epic justice were awarded to the 
 Club or not. 
 
 "Thepublicationof'thebookin monthly numbers, 
 containing only thirty-two pages in each, rendered 
 it an object of paramount importance, that while 
 the different incidents were linked together by a 
 chain of interest strong enough to prevent their 
 appearing unconnected or impossible, the general 
 design should be so simple as to sustain no 
 injury from this detached and desultory form of 
 publication extending over twenty months. In 
 short, it was necessary, or it appeared so to the
 
 208 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 author, that every number should be, to a certain 
 extent, complete in itself, and yet, that the whole 
 twenty numbers, when collected, should form one 
 tolerably harmonious whole, each leading to the 
 other by a gentle and not unnatural progress of 
 adventure. 
 
 " It is obvious that in a work published with a 
 view to such considerations, no artfully woven or 
 ingeniously complicated plot can with reason be 
 expected. The author ventures to express a hope 
 that he has successfully surmounted the difficulties 
 of his undertaking. And if it be objected to the 
 ' Pickwick Papers' that they are a mere series 
 of adventures in which the scenes are ever 
 changing, and the characters come and go like the 
 men and women we encounter in the real world, 
 he can only content himself with the reflection 
 that they claim to be nothing else, and that the 
 same objection has been made to the works of 
 some of the greatest novelists in the English 
 language. 
 
 " The following pages have been written from 
 time to time, almost as the periodical occasions 
 arose. Having been written for the most part in 
 the society of a very dear young friend who is 
 now no more, they are connected in the author's 
 mind at once with the happiest period of his life, 
 and with its saddest and most severe affliction. 
 
 " It is due to the gentleman whose designs
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK, 209 
 
 accompany the letter-press, to state that the 
 interval has been so short between the production 
 of each number in manuscript and its appearance 
 in print, that the greater portions of the illustra- 
 tions have been executed by the artist from the 
 author's mere verbal description of what he 
 intended to write. 
 
 " The almost unexampled kindness and favour 
 with which these papers have been received by 
 the public, will be a never-failing source of grati- 
 fying and pleasant recollections while this author 
 lives. He trusts that throughout his book no 
 incident or expression occurs which could call a 
 blush into the cheek, or wound the feelings of 
 the most sensitive person. If any of his im- 
 perfect descriptions, while they afford amusement 
 in the perusal, should induce only one reader to 
 think better of his fellow-men, and to look upon 
 the brighter and more kindly side of human 
 nature, he would indeed be proud and happy to 
 have led to such a result." 
 
 It will be noted what a pleasant vindication 
 is here of what is called the periodical form 
 of publication, which through his long course 
 he treated, as it were, on scientific principles. 
 Only a skilful hand and unwearied labour could 
 overcome the difficulty of furnishing a work, of 
 which each fragment should be full and complete 
 in its interest, yet which, taken as a whole should be 
 
 p
 
 2io THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 homogeneous in form, without having an air of 
 " scrappiness." Hence his efforts always to reach 
 a sort of juste milieu, and the restraint and 
 sacrifice of large portions which he thought sur- 
 plusage, with addition where he thought the 
 number was not " strong " enough. The happy 
 result is that the reader is hardly able to note the 
 joinings, and any one who makes the acquain- 
 tance of " Pickwick " for the first time will see few 
 signs that the work was issued in portions. 
 
 Not less interesting is his declaration that the 
 book was written as the demand for " copy " 
 arose, that is " from time to time almost as the 
 periodical occasion arose." This adds to our 
 wonder and admiration ; and we are told further 
 that it was under the inspiration of " the society 
 of a very dear young friend now no more." The 
 illustrator, as we are also told, showed equal 
 fertility and readiness, often dashing off his 
 sketches from mere description. One day would 
 often suffice for the drawing, and another for the 
 etching process. The last sentence speaks volumes 
 for the tender and unaffected nature of the young 
 author, when he declares that " he would be proud 
 and happy " if he induced a single reader to 
 look upon the brighter side of human life. This 
 is really an almost unique expression, and may 
 be contrasted with the practical purpose of the 
 average novelist, which is often to entertain or
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 211 
 
 make money ; and we may admire the manly 
 courage which prompted him to such a declaration, 
 as it was not unlikely to excite a smile of 
 incredulity. 
 
 Twenty years later, by which time the long 
 series of his best works had appeared, there 
 was issued a handsome Library Edition in post 
 octavo, two volumes being generally allotted to 
 each story. This involved the recasting of some 
 of the introductions ; the dedication to Talfourd 
 was withdrawn, and one to the " trusty friend," 
 Forster, substituted, which however belonged 
 to the whole series. Never was there a happier 
 or more appropriate term than, this, used in 
 his will when bequeathing his watch to this 
 true, steadfast, and lifelong friend and ally : 
 " This best edition of my books is, of right, 
 inscribed to my dear friend, JOHN FOKSTER, 
 biographer of Oliver Goldsmith, in grateful re- 
 membrance of the many patient hours he has 
 devoted to the correction of the proof sheets of 
 the original editions ; and in affectionate acknow- 
 ledgment of his counsel, sympathy, and faithful 
 friendship doing my whole literary life." This 
 tribute, as I can testify, was well deserved, for the 
 careful scrutiny and sanguine care of this friend 
 literally watched over every sheet of his works. 1 
 
 1 One of my most cherished possessions is a " long " set of 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 In this pleasant introduction he gratified the 
 curiosity of his readers with, some interesting 
 details as to the origin and composition of the 
 work, thus following the example of Sir Walter 
 Scott in the forty-eight volume edition of the 
 Waverley Novels, one of the finest and most satis- 
 factory of the kind ever issued. 
 
 Extraordinary as was the impression made 
 upon the country by the story itself, more re- 
 markable it is to follow out what may be termed 
 the Pickwickian development, and the almost 
 exuberant shapes in which it has manifested its 
 influence. The reading .world in foreign countries 
 seems to have been fervently eager to share in the 
 general hilarity, and it was translated into every 
 language, even into those outside the regular 
 group of familiar tongues. In France it has 
 been several times translated : 
 
 " Le Club des Pickwickistes, Roman Comique 
 traduit librement par Madam E. Niboyet. 2 
 vols. 1838." 
 
 " Aventures de Monsieur Pickwick, traduit sous 
 la direction de P. Lorain, par P Grolier. 1859." 
 
 There have been also German, Russian, Dutch, 
 Danish, Hungarian and Spanish versions. Our 
 
 this edition of 1857 a fine, well printed one in octavo, which 
 he called "the best" which he presented to me, with an in- 
 scription in his own hand on the title-page, " This set of my 
 books to Percy FitzGerald Charles Dickens"
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 213 
 
 old friend looks odd and outlandish enough in 
 his foreign dress : 
 
 " Udtog af Pikvik-Klubbens, efterladte Papirer, 
 Frit oversat, af a Andresen, 2 Del. Kjbenhavn. 
 1881." 
 
 " Samuel Pickwick en Zijne Reisgenooten, C. 
 Mensing, Schiedam. 1868." 
 
 " Die Pickwickier, oder Herren Pickwick's und 
 der correspondirenden Mitglieder des Pickwick 
 Club's Kreuz-und Quer-ziige, Abentheuer und 
 Thaten. Von Boz, mit Federzeichnungen nach 
 Phiz." 
 
 The following appear to be Magyar and Swed- 
 ish versions : 
 
 " A Pickwick Klub, hatrahagyott iratai. (Kot 
 1-3). Pest. 1862." 
 
 " Klub Pickwickia, Przeklad z angielskiego. 
 2 toms. 1869." 
 
 " Pickwick Klubbens, Efterlemnade Papper. 
 af L. Malmgren, Stockholm. 1861." 
 
 The German translator was hopelessly mystified 
 by the dialect and allusions, and seems to have 
 been led astray altogether by Sam's pronunciation 
 of particular words. Thus when he said, " Out 
 with it, as the father said to a child when he 
 swallowed a far den" we find him translating 
 this last word as " frog." More extraordinary 
 is his version of Mr. Tuckle's direction, " Take the 
 kiver off," which is oddly rendered, " Take down
 
 214 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the bell." Even more wonderful is the rendering 
 of "I should get the sack, I suppose," which 
 becomes, " He would foam like March beer " ! 
 Dickens, however, was destined to suffer yet more 
 severely from his translators, and many years 
 later wrote an indignant protest in his journal 
 against these distorters of his meaning, giving 
 also some ludicrous specimens. The truth was, 
 the foreign workmen found it impossible to deal 
 with the English argot, and either made the 
 blunders we have seen, or turned the difficulty 
 by leaving the passages out. Whole paragraphs 
 and even pages are thus dealt with. 
 
 Singular and unusual proofs of popularity 
 were the imitations that poured from the Grub 
 Street presses, and which, strange to say, enjoyed 
 a measure of success ; " The Posthumous Papers 
 of the Cadger Club." " The Posthumous papers 
 of the Wonderful Discovery Club, formerly of 
 Camden Town. Established by Sir Peter Patson. 
 With eleven illustrations designed by Squib 
 and engraved by Point." " The Posthumous 
 Notes of the Pickwickian Club. Edited by Bos. 
 132 engravings. 1839." 
 
 But the boldest of these rivals was Mr. Gr. W. 
 Reynolds, who brought out in regular numbers 
 "Pickwick Abroad, or the tour in France, with 
 forty-one plates by Alfred Crowquill. 1839;" 
 and "Pickwick in America." There was also
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 215 
 
 "The Penny Pickwick," which had a great 
 sale. 
 
 As for the popular variations on the one Pick- 
 wick note, they were literally endless. There 
 were : " Lloyd's Pickwickian Songster. 1837." 
 " The Pickwick Comic Almanac, 1838, with twelve 
 comic illustrations by R. Cruikshank." " The 
 Pickwick Collection of Songs, Illustrated. 1837." 
 "Pickwick's Treasury of "Wit, Dublin, 1840." 
 " Sam Weller's Favourite Song Book. 1837." 
 " Sam Weller's Pickwick Jest Book," with illus- 
 trations by Cruikshank, and Portraits of all the 
 Pickwick Characters. 1837." " Mr. Sam Weller's 
 Scrap Sheet, with 40 wood-cut Characters." 
 
 It is remarkable that this work alone has 
 received the compliment of being produced not 
 merely at the lowest conceivable price, but at an 
 absolute loss. Two or three years ago the 
 hucksters' carts in Cheapside and other streets 
 near the Mansion House appeared of a sudden 
 laden with copies of " Pickwick." These were 
 vended at the extraordinarily low price of a penny. 
 This marvel of cheap production, well printed, 
 on decent paper, consisted of some 200 pages, 
 and contained on computation 350,000 words. It 
 comprised seven sheets of twenty-eight pages each, 
 and weighed some ounces. Messrs. Chapman & 
 Hall issued a shilling " Pickwick," which was 
 thought a marvel of cheapness; but the penny
 
 216 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " Pickwick " was astounding. The force of cheap- 
 ness could not farther go. There was, however, 
 a little bit of secret history connected with it. 
 A Leeds firm of purveyors, ", Goodhall, Back- 
 house and Co.," who were proprietors of a well- 
 known sauce, " The Yorkshire Relish," whereof, 
 we are assured, " six millions bottles are sold 
 annually," was stimulated into this reprint by the 
 hope of doing a good turn to their business. 
 Half a million copies of " Pickwick" at a penny 
 were printed, every page bearing at foot the name 
 of some ap/cialite of. the firm's, a baking powder, or 
 it might be, mushroom ketchup. It need hardly be 
 said that such a work could only be published at a 
 loss. The sixpenny Pickwick was vended at4|d, 
 which left a profit : so the publishers must have 
 produced it at something under threepence. A 
 penny Testament was issued by a Bible Society at 
 a loss, it costing them nearly twopence. The 
 penny Pickwick must have been issued at three- 
 farthings, or possibly at a halfpenny. On the 
 back, or the cover, the enterprising proprietors 
 had depicted The Piclcwiclc Club discussing the 
 merits of GoodhaWs household specialities I This 
 curious book is now introuvable, and will by-and- 
 by become a curiosity. 
 
 A work so dramatic did not of course escape the 
 adapters. There were some half a dozen plays 
 founded upon it, of which the most successful
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 217 
 
 was, " Sam Weller ; or, The Pickwickians. A 
 drama in three acts. By "W. F. Moncrieff. 
 1837." 
 
 Then followed " The Pickwickians ; or, The 
 Peregrinations of Sam Weller." 
 
 " The Pickwick Club. A burletta in three acts. 
 By E. Sterling. 1837." 
 
 " The Peregrinations of Pickwick. An acting 
 drama. By W. Lemon Rede. 1837." 
 
 The most successful of these was Moncrieff 's 
 " Sam Weller," given at the Strand Theatre, and 
 which had a great run ; Hammond making a 
 great success in " Sam." 
 
 "The Pickwickians " was the work of an actor 
 and playwright, Mr. Edward Sterling, who still 
 flourishes. There is a criticism of this perform- 
 ance written by Dickens or by Talfourd, in the 
 Examiner, which must reflect the author's opinion. 
 It is not known that Dickens at this time occasion- 
 ally " did " theatrical criticisms for his friends, and 
 there is a note of his among the Forster papers at 
 Kensington, in which he speaks of his review of 
 pieces at " Droory Lane," and the " 'Delphi." 
 Indeed, I am inclined to think, from the severity of 
 the style and his known hatred of such piratical 
 attempts, that this may have been of his writing. 
 He speaks of " the modest address prefixed to 
 the Play Bill in which he pays compliment to, and 
 gives a eulogium of the author," apologizing for
 
 218 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 what the critic calls " his own sheer nonsense 
 and vulgarity." Mr. Pickwick was " execrable, 
 a third rate-actor in nankeen pantaloons, a high 
 collar and a night-cap, with a narrow fringe of 
 hair behind." The whole was nothing but " the 
 boisterous pantomime of the half a dozen 
 miserable performers of a minor theatre." He 
 excepted from this censure two performers, 
 Reeve's "Sam Weller," Hall as the elder 
 Weller, " whose face, dress, and manner, were 
 those of the old coachman to perfection. 
 Dowton in his brightest day never played with 
 more raciness." 
 
 " As it is, the house is crowded every night, 
 and the audience have expressed ' unequivocal 
 satisfaction,' notwithstanding that the burletta 
 is some half -hour longer than a five act tragedy, 
 and in spite of the execrable acting of Mr. J. 
 Lee, who f does ' Jingle and perpetrates certain 
 scraps of mawkish sentimentality in the last 
 act, which are eminently repulsive and dis- 
 agreeable. Mr. Pickwick, at the termination of the 
 last scene, tells them by way of congratulation 
 that all they have to do now is to live and be 
 happy, which we believe is all that most people 
 have to do at any time, if they can only manage 
 to accomplish it." 
 
 The version of " Pickwick " dramatized for the 
 City Theatre was done by a wretched creature
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 219 
 
 who was under contract to furnish the manage- 
 ment with seven melodramas for five pounds, 
 " to enable him to do which a room had been hired 
 in a gin-shop close by." There he was per- 
 petually drunk, and did not fulfil his contract. 
 "Well," said our author, "if it has been the 
 means of putting a few shillings in the vermin- 
 eaten pockets of so miserable a creature, let him 
 empty out his little pot of filth and welcome." 
 
 Down to our time the taste for some theatrical 
 version of "Pickwick" continues unsatiated. 
 Under Mr. Bateman's management, an adaptation 
 was brought out, rather boisterous and hearty, by 
 Mr. Albery, with a view to set forth the quainter 
 side of Mr. Irving's talent as " Jingle." This 
 arrangement descended into farce instead of 
 comedy, and only the more pantomimic scenes 
 were selected, such as the elopement, with a 
 real horse and chaise, &c., in fact, rather sug- 
 gesting Jeremy Diddler. Now Jingle is associated 
 with scenes of genuine comedy ; and the ball at 
 Rochester would lend itself admirably to the stage. 
 It should be noted that so rich are Dickens' 
 stories in varied character, that a dozen dramas 
 could be made out of any one of them, according 
 to the point of view taken. 
 
 The " Trial " has had extraordinary popularity, 
 and is constantly being acted or read all over the 
 country. The reading has its traditions handed
 
 22o THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 down, and even its " gags." Mr. Toole excels as 
 the Serjeant, and has often selected the Trial for 
 his morning performances. Mr. James Fernandez 
 is, in our opinion, the best of the Buzf uzes. There 
 have been full half a dozen versions of the 
 Trial. 
 
 The musicians also have been busy with the 
 subject, and have " set " it as an opera. Such is 
 "The Great Pickwick Case, arranged as a comic 
 operetta. The words of the songs by Robert 
 Pollit, the music by T. Rawson, 1884." 
 
 The last of these is being presented as I write, 
 an operetta, styled "Pickwick," written by the 
 buoyant and versatile F. C. Burnand, with music 
 by Mr. Solomon. 
 
 In Mr. Burnand' s writings there is often a 
 Dickens' tone, as in his " Happy Thoughts," 
 where one situation at least is quite in the 
 master's style. I mean where the hero dreads 
 the effect of a boisterous friend's manners on a 
 prim and precise aunt, and is astonished to find 
 the new arrival's unceremonious proceedings re- 
 garded with favour and indulgence, while he 
 himself is dislodged. 
 
 Mr. Calverley might have put the questions, 
 " Who was the Baker ? was he single or mar- 
 ried ? did he marry ? with whom did he keep 
 company? &c., the fact being that he was an 
 admirer of Mrs. Bardell's. Few Pickwickians
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 221 
 
 are likely to have noted this subtle allusion, from 
 which "F.C.B." has extracted a story much 
 as the "third murderer" is speculated over by 
 Shakespearian commentators. 
 
 And then the songs in " Pickwick," the " Ivy 
 Green," the " Christmas Song." These have all 
 been set and set again. The most popular was, of 
 course, Henry Russell's, who voiced it at his enter- 
 tainments with much energy. There were other 
 settings, too, by Mrs. F. Dale, A. de Belcour, &c. 
 Then Gabriel Grub was somehow transformed into 
 a " Cantata seria Buffa " so lately as the year 1881, 
 by George Fox. There was " A Song of the Pick- 
 wickians; or, Sam "Weller's Adventures," all 
 which reads wonderfully, and are amazing 
 testimonies to the fruitfulness of the work.
 
 XIII. 
 
 IT is always an interesting question to settle, 
 whether Dickens introduced a new individual 
 style, that took the public by surprise, or whether 
 he improved on what was in fashion. There were 
 then in favour two kinds of story, one the " novel 
 of fashionable life," utterly ridiculous in its 
 descriptions of drawing-rooms, wardrobes, and 
 exquisites, and of a sentimental cast: the other, 
 a sort of rollicking, boisterous narration, in which 
 Theodore Hook revelled. The latter descended 
 to the middle classes and low life, taking the 
 same view as Dickens, his descriptions being 
 of the same kind, but with what a difference ! 
 Hook could only see the vulgarities of this couclie 
 sociale, whether bodily or mental, but Dickens 
 may be really said to have created a new style by 
 supplying the refinements and graces of humanity 
 to " low life," and making interesting what would 
 otherwise be repulsive. There is, of course, no 
 comparison for a moment between Hook's "pan- 
 tomime rallies," in which the "fun" turns on
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 223 
 
 practical jokes, such as the clown stealing legs of 
 mutton, or the fall of a porter carrying crockery 
 on his head. 
 
 The truth is, Hook presented only a series of 
 tableaux of farcical, awkward accidents, blunders, 
 &c., such as are seen in pantomimes, where the 
 clown burns himself with a red-hot poker, or 
 lies down at the door of a shop, so as to cause 
 the tradesman to tumble over him. 
 
 As regards the likeness to older novelists, Mr. 
 Whipple, the American critic, points out with 
 much truth that " he revived the novel of prac- 
 tical life as it existed in the works of Fielding, 
 Smollett and Goldsmith. Fielding delineates 
 with more exquisite art, standing more as the 
 spectator of his personages, and commenting on their 
 actions with an ironical humour and a seeming 
 innocence of insight laying bare their most un- 
 conscious scenes of action, and in every instance 
 indicating that he understands them better than 
 they understand themselves. Dickens' eye for 
 the forms of things is as accurate as Fielding's ; 
 but he does not probe so profoundly into the 
 heart of what he sees, and he is more led away 
 from the simplicity of truth by a tricky spirit of 
 fantastic exaggeration." 1 
 
 1 Professor Minto has pointed out that, when a boy at Chatham 
 Dickens devoured all Smollett's and Fielding's novels, with other
 
 224 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 It is significant to find that almost all 
 critics of established power and authority, 
 pronounced strongly, " were dead against," as it 
 is called, the new writer. They seemed to take 
 him as belonging to " the irregular horse " of 
 literature; he did not work according to the 
 canons, and, exactly as in the case of the Bailiff 
 scenes in Goldsmith comedy, his scenes were 
 pronounced " low " and vulgar. A certain vivid 
 power of depicting life was admitted; but this 
 was owing to his flow of spirits. The Edinburgh, 
 Quarterly, and Westminster Review's, Fraser's 
 and the Law Magazine, with others, took the 
 same tone. In Fraser a bitter attack was 
 made upon him, which may have been the work 
 of Dr. Maginn or of a certain Mr. Coalpitts 
 Child, who later published a pamphlet against 
 the author and his story. Some allowance, 
 however, must always be made for the hostile 
 reception of what is novel, and the public has 
 gradually to learn to admire. This has been the 
 case in all reforms and novelties in literature, arts 
 and sciences, with Wagner, Corot, Constable, 
 Turner, Stephenson, and many more who have had 
 to suffer from such grudging reception. As he 
 grew into favour, the tone seemed that of Dr. John- 
 old novels in which humorous character is exhibited. This 
 broad and racy school of fiction naturally influenced his taste,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 225 
 
 son, who said of a writer growing popular, " I 
 suppose, sir, his nonsense suited their nonsense." 
 A prophecy of a very "slashing" kind has 
 been often, very unfairly, attributed to Mr. 
 Croker, who has been ridiculed for an owl-like 
 lack of sagacity, in saying of our author that 
 " he has risen like a rocket and will come down 
 like the stick." It is generally repeated that the 
 reviewer had tried to extinguish the young author, 
 just as he tried to demolish Lady Morgan, and so 
 many others. The truth is that for Croker, it was 
 really a favourable and appropriate notice ; though 
 fault was found: it is evident that he thought 
 Dickens a young man of great talents. It is 
 really the only review which deals successfully 
 with Dickens' character as a writer ; the com- 
 parison with Fielding, Smollett, and others, and 
 the specimens furnished for comparison from 
 Theodore Hook's novels, are interesting. It is 
 only fair to give his "rocket" passage in full, 
 which winds up the article, and it will be seen 
 that the metaphor is used by way of serious 
 warning : " The fact is, Mr. Dickens writes too 
 often and too fast; on the principle, we presume, 
 of making hay while the sun shines, he seems 
 to have accepted at once all the engagements 
 offered to him, and the consequence is that, in 
 too many instances, he has put forth in their 
 crude, unfinished, undigested state, thoughts, 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 feelings, observations, plans, which it required 
 time and study to mature or supply the allotted 
 number of pages with original matter of the most 
 commonplace description, or hints caught from 
 others, or diluted to make them pass for his own. 
 If he persist much longer in this course, it 
 requires no gift of prophecy to foretell his fate, 
 he has risen like a rocket, and he will come down 
 like the stick ; but let him give his capacity fair 
 play, and it is rich, vigorous, and versatile enough 
 to ensure him a high and enduring reputation." 
 
 Mr. Croker made one acute and far-reaching 
 criticism which no one else, as far as we know, 
 has given. He points out a certain distinction 
 between Fielding and other writers, and the 
 modern Dickens. " The former, when describing 
 ' low ' company and habits, seemed to con- 
 descend, to take a superior air. They appear to 
 have apprehended that they would be assumed to 
 know this class too well. But Dickens moves as 
 easily and naturally amongst his favourite charac- 
 ters, and no more dreams of being accused of coarse- 
 ness than a Wilson or Gainsborough would dream 
 of incurring such a penalty for placing a pig- 
 stye in a landscape. This perfect good faith and 
 straightfonvardness on his part greatly enhances the 
 probability and effect of his delineations, and 
 there is moreover a healthy, manly, independent 
 spirit diffused over them positively refreshing."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 227 
 
 Nothing could be more just or accurate than 
 this, as all admirers of Dickens will admit, and his 
 manly, cheery straightforwardness was as con- 
 spicuous in his dealings with his characters as it 
 was in his dealings with real persons. 
 
 It is almost amusing to find a reviewer in the 
 Westminster making an apology for preferring 
 the new writer to the well-established favourite, 
 Mr. Theodore Hook : " While we acknowledge 
 the pleasure which we have occasionally derived 
 from Theodore Hook's writings, we cannot by 
 any means place him on a level with ' Boz.' The 
 latter stands to him in the relation of the writer 
 of good comedy to one of broad farce. Even 
 when they describe the same things, the style of 
 ' Boz ' always presents a contrast of remarkable 
 simplicity and truth to nature ; the humour is 
 always less broad and more easy ; there is an 
 abundance of wit, of which the other gives no 
 proof ; there is an absence of exaggeration, of 
 coarseness, and of effort, and a constant indication 
 of a kindly and refined feeling." 
 
 A writer in Fraser deals with our author's Pre- 
 face unceremoniously enough : "When he informs 
 us that the same objection which the perusal of 
 his pleasant scenes will draw forth have been 
 made to the works of some of the greatest 
 English novelists, we do not think he is aware 
 of what the objections to him as a novelist are. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 No critic objects to a series of adventures in 
 which ' the scenes are ever changing, and the 
 characters come and go like the men and women 
 of the real world.' What the critical reader 
 objects to is that whatever we may think of 
 the 4 come-and-go ' characters, the ' standing 5 
 characters are not like men and women of the 
 real world. Mr. Pickwick's first appearance is 
 that of a vain old fool, gravely occupied in the 
 serene investigation of frivolous trifles. His 
 opening speech is in accordance with this worn- 
 out opening burlesque." The critic then goes on 
 to inveigh against the inconsistencies of the cha- 
 racters. Mr. Pickwick at the beginning is " a mere 
 ass "(/) " in the hand of Boz he commences as a 
 bore the same idiotic lump of blockheadedness, 
 and yet ends as a sort of hero. Nothing can 
 show more dignity and propriety than his speech 
 to Mr. Nupkins, but this is not the Mr. Pickwick of 
 tittlebat fame, who is rolled in a wheelbarrow into 
 a pound, or who makes speeches out of the top of 
 a sedan, or who is hailed by ironical epithets of 
 'that immortal man,' that heroic-moulded man,' 
 and so forth ; but a gentleman who acts with 
 decision, and speaks with sense, and after figuring 
 with pathos at the Dulwich wedding, his 
 countenance lighted up with smiles which no 
 man or woman could resist." 
 
 " Is this the Mr. Pickwick," the critic asks,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 229 
 
 " of the fight with the cabman, the hunt after the 
 hat, the drive to Dingley Dell, the breakdown in 
 the chaise of Jingle, the tender scene with his 
 landlady, the hiding in the boarding school gar- 
 den, the double-bedded room with the middle-aged 
 lady, the court of Queen's Bench ? We rayther 
 think not." 
 
 " The Pickwickians," he adds, " are not furnished 
 with a single gentlemanlike accomplishment, or 
 possessed of a single gentlemanlike feeling. As 
 for honour, of pathos or common sense, it must be 
 wholly out of the question." 
 
 This coarse strain of vituperation, it will be seen, 
 is based on the old objection of the scenes and 
 characters being "low." The bear should dance 
 only to the genteelest of tunes. 
 
 One of the best, almost contemporaneous ac- 
 counts, more valuable because reflecting the early 
 impressions before familiarity had supervened, was 
 in the Dublin Review. After saying that the 
 success was more astonishing, because there was 
 no regular story, " all the ordinary sources of 
 interest are disregarded, there was little love, and 
 less sentiment. Most of the characters are every- 
 day people, saying and doing every-day things. 
 Through the whole there was a distinct and 
 clearly distinguishable personality. There is 
 no mixing up of qualities, no repetition, as in 
 Byron, of the same character in a new form.
 
 230 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 He possesses the rare faculty of entering, even in 
 the most minute and trifling details, into the 
 feelings and pursuits of the various personages 
 he portrays. His personages never forget them- 
 selves. It would be impossible, for instance, to 
 confound the attorney's clerk and the city shop- 
 man, nearly as they might seem allied." 
 
 The writer in the Edinburgh gives this rather 
 mixed judgment on the Pickwick characters : 
 
 "Pickwick's companions, Winkle, Snodgrass, 
 and Tupman, are very uninteresting personages, 
 having peculiarities rather than characters, useless 
 incumbrances which the author seems to have 
 admitted hastily among his dramatis personce 
 without well knowing what to do with' them. 
 The swindler Jingle and his companion want 
 reality : the young ladies are nonentities : the 
 blustering Dowler and the M.C. at Bath are mere 
 caricatures, The medical students are coarsely 
 and disagreeably drawn." 
 
 This sort of free, severe criticism seems to us 
 now almost profane. It is true enough that on 
 rigid analysis, Mr. Pickwick's followers will be 
 found to be selfish, cowardly and ridiculous 
 persons : but, in defiance of all laws and customs 
 of fiction, they excite interest, sympathy and 
 amusement ; one of the most astonishing feats of 
 the author. 
 
 " Wardle, though a tolerably good country
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 231 
 
 squire, is hardly a modern one ; and it may be 
 doubted if Mr. Weller, senior, can be accepted as 
 the representative of anything more recent than 
 the last generation of stage coachmen." 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Pickwick is pronounced 
 to be "a most amiable and eccentric combination 
 of irritability, benevolence, simplicity, shrewd- 
 ness, folly and good sense, frequently ridiculous 
 but never contemptible." How nicely accurate 
 is this distinction ! " "Weller is a character which 
 we do not remember to have seen attempted 
 before/' " His legal characters also are touched, 
 though slightly, yet all with spirit and a strong 
 appearance of truth." 
 
 " Ludicrous circumstances are those which he 
 touches most happily, such as the equestrian 
 distress of Pickwick and his companions in 
 pursuit of Jingle, and Pickwick's night adventures. 
 Incidents richly comic and worthy of Smollett, 
 and which are narrated with Smollett's spirit, 
 without his coarseness."
 
 XIV. 
 
 " PICKWICK," as was before pointed out, apart from 
 its humour, is interesting as a picture of manners 
 and social habits which have insensibly altered, 
 and a regular commentary on the work, pointing 
 out these changes, would be interesting. It will 
 have been noticed that personal chastisement 
 on the spot, even in the case of friends and 
 acquaintances, suggested itself frequently as a 
 satisfaction for grievance or offence. Mr. 
 Pickwick, as we have seen, was often ready to 
 resort to this prompt mode of vindicating him- 
 self, and other personages of the story were 
 with difficulty restrained from pursuing the same 
 method. We have already noted the tendency 
 to duelling which recurs through the story. 
 Mr. Winkle, timorous as he was, "went out" 
 with Dr. Slammer, and was prepared to " go out " 
 with Mr. Dowler. Mr. Pickwick was ready to 
 meet Mr. Magnus. The scorbutic youth threat- 
 ened to send a friend to a fellow medical student ; 
 Mr. Slumkey challenged Mr. Fizkin on the 
 hustings ; and Mr Sawyer wished to call out his 
 rival. This shows how familiar then was this mode
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 233 
 
 of settling differences in society. Mr. Winkle's 
 appearance in the field did credit to his courage, 
 and is rather inconsistent with his later behaviour : 
 and the author is driven to account for it by a 
 fanciful theory that the seconds often omitted to 
 put bullets in the pistols. 
 
 Frequenting taverns, too, was an odd element 
 in social life, and it would now seem strange to find 
 a gentleman in Mr. Pickwick's position repairing 
 to a sort of pot-house, like the " Magpie and 
 Stump," and sitting down with the habitues of the 
 place. No legal practitioner would now drink with 
 his clients, in the style Mr. Pell was accustomed 
 to do : and the mode of doing business adopted 
 by Mr. Wilkins Flasher, who was betting with his 
 friends, killing flies with a ruler, while the clients 
 were waiting to sell their stock, would now seem 
 extraordinary indeed. 
 
 Another remarkable change often noted in our 
 time, has been the alteration in the standard of 
 age. A young lady's "dear old thing" of fifty 
 years ago, is now considered to be rather a 
 " youngish " man. Mr. Pickwick was looked 
 upon then as we would now look upon a hale 
 and vigorous old person of seventy years old. 
 Spectacles and gaiters were then the regular 
 accompaniments of age. Yet his real age could 
 have been no more than forty-five or fifty at the 
 most. He tells us that he had not slided for thirty
 
 234 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 years, and that he used to do so on the gutters 
 when a boy. In the same way Wardle is 
 described as " a stout old gentleman," apparently 
 between sixty and seventy. But, as Perker told 
 Jingle, Mrs. "Wardle, " old " Wardle' s mother, 
 was but seventy-two, which would make her son 
 at the most no more than fifty-three or four. His 
 sister, the spinster aunt, was fifty according to 
 his statement, quite " a young thing," of our time. 
 At the Bath assembly we find the young ladies 
 dutifully coming to their mammas, engaged at 
 the card-table, to ask their approbation in the 
 choice of partners. 1 
 
 It may be said that the choice of names in a story 
 is an instinct, and more depends on a well-chosen 
 name than would be supposed. An ill-named 
 character checks the author all through the story. 
 The old system of names expressing the nature of 
 the character, such as Lady Sneerwell, and Sir 
 Pertiuax Macsycophant, has happily passed away, 
 as being artificial and unnatural. Dickens very 
 
 1 This the Miss Wugsby's did. Wugsby was a good name 
 for a colonel's lady, "Mrs. Colonel "Wugsby," and nothing 
 could be better than "Miss Bolo "for a card-playing spinster, 
 Lady Snuphanuph that is Lady Snutf-enough, was a little 
 far-fetched, as are one or two other names in the book ; such 
 as the " Slummintowkens," but in all the rest there is an 
 almost perfect appropriateness, particularly in the case of the 
 minor characters such as Smangle, Roker, Pell, and "Mr. 
 "Watty," the baffled insolvent who called on Perker so often.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 235 
 
 seldom adopted it, though in his later works he is 
 fond of choosing, or compounding grotesque 
 names, betokening quaintness or oddity, and not 
 to be found in real life. But as we said, all the 
 Pickwickian names are good, with just a faint 
 suggestion of farce. This appropriateness is not 
 confined to the names merely. The reality of 
 the story is further emphasized by the strange 
 harmony of the places described with the scenes 
 and characters. Sir Walter Scott and others 
 used to usher in a chapter with a formal, 
 elaborate description of a landscape, castle, or 
 town, and the narrative was suspended while the 
 author thus exerted his imagination. But in 
 Pickwick this is done in the most natural way : the 
 place seems to grow about us; the characters, as it 
 were, describe it to us. 
 
 The smallest touch in the description of Bath 
 manners brings a whole scene before us. As when 
 Mr. Tuckle speaks of his bath chair : 
 
 " Well, they tell me I am looking pretty 
 blooming," said the man with the cocked hat, 
 " and it's a wonder too. I've been following our 
 old woman about, two hours a day, for the last 
 fortnight ; and if a constant contemplation of the 
 manner in which she hooks-and-eyes that infernal 
 lavender-coloured old gown of hers behind, isn't 
 enough to throw anybody into a low state of 
 despondency for life, stop my quarter's salary."
 
 236 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 This brings before us the procession of chairs 
 the old lady sitting up stiff and stately, and 
 thus displaying the hooks and eyes of "the in- 
 fernal old lavender gown " the wearing of the 
 same dress the gorgeous, bright crimson livery 
 and cocked hat of the menial who was propelling 
 the chair for two hours daily. How quaint the 
 glimpse of the " valet mind," and how natural too, 
 he being likely to resent the monotony of that 
 hook-and-eye display. 
 
 In no way was the skill of the writer better 
 displayed than in surmounting the difficulty of 
 the extraordinary, anomalous authority assumed 
 by Mr. Pickwick over his companions. This was 
 akin to that of a schoolmaster over his pupils. 
 Winkle, indeed, who was of mature age, considered 
 Mr. Pickwick " as in some degree his guardian and 
 adviser," and Mr. Winkle, sen., reproached Mr. 
 Pickwick with not having looked after him pro- 
 perly. Tupman was an elderly bachelor, of nearly 
 the same age as his chief. Snodgrass appears to 
 have been about as old as his friend Winkle. Yet 
 Mr. Pickwick's direction was of the most arbitrary 
 kind; he spoke of the party as "my followers " 
 he directed Sam to pursue Winkle to lock him 
 up, and "knock him down " if he resisted. Mr. 
 Tupman, when about to assume the bandit's dress, 
 he overwhelmed with reproaches and ridicule on 
 the ground of an insult to his dignity, from his
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 237 
 
 appearing " in my presence in a two-inch tail." The 
 only ground for this despotism was a commis- 
 sion from the club ; but Mr. Pickwick was the 
 club, and had virtually " commissioned " himself. 
 Yet such is the art of our author, that these 
 " doubts " do not occur to us for a moment. It 
 seems the most natural thing in the world. We 
 never question Mr. Pickwick's authority. The 
 reality is such, that we accept it as the legiti- 
 mate influence of a superior mind. The " Head 
 of the party," as he is called, is quite in his 
 place, ruling the trio that were under his 
 command. 
 
 It has been often repeated that the humour of 
 "Pickwick "is of a rough and boisterous kind 
 throughout, which contrasts with the more re- 
 fined style the author adopted later. However 
 this may be, the book is stored with delicate 
 strokes and shadings, which are likely to escape 
 the reader in the general hilarity. Take, for 
 instance, the deportment of Mrs. Rogers, that 
 well named, dignified lodger, who had taken Mr. 
 Pickwick's rooms. 
 
 " ' Why, Mrs. Rogers, ma'am,' said Mrs. 
 Bardell, ' you've never been introduced, I de- 
 clare ! Mr. Raddle, ma'am ; Mrs. Cluppins, 
 ma'am ; Mrs. Raddle, ma'am.' 
 
 " ' Which is Mrs. Cluppins's sister,' suggested 
 Mrs. Sanders.
 
 238 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " * Oh, indeed ! " said Mrs. Rogers, graciously ; 
 for she was the lodger, and her servant was in 
 waiting, so she was more gracious than intimate, 
 in right of her position. ' Oh, indeed ! ' 
 
 This "Ob, indeed!" is significant and appro- 
 priate, betokening a polite reserve and generality. 
 Every succeeding remark of " Mrs. Rogers " is in 
 the same spirit. 
 
 What finesse and originality, too, in Mr. 
 Weller's remark on a suspicion of his son's going 
 to be married, " to see you a dilluded wictim, 
 and thinltirf in your innocence that it's all wery 
 capital" 
 
 Stiggins on the " moral pocket handker- 
 chiefs " happy term ! is admirable. 
 
 "'What's a moral pocket ankercher?' said 
 Sam ; ' I never see one o' them articles o' 
 furniter.' 
 
 '"Those which combine amusement with 
 instruction, my young friend,' replied Mr. 
 Stiggins : ' blending select tales with wood- 
 cuts: " 
 
 This light touch may be compared with his 
 later treatment of the same topic in " Bleak 
 House," which is more elaborate and laboured, 
 and, it must be said, not so effective. Others of 
 these slighter strokes are mirthful to a degree, 
 if not witty; such as the description of Jingle's 
 licence : " having procured a highly flattering
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 239 
 
 address from the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
 his trusty amj. well beloved Alfred Jingle and 
 Rachael Wardle, greeting." So with the descrip- 
 tion of Mr. Solomon Lucas' fancy dress ware- 
 house a capital name, by the way, for a Jew 
 costumier : 
 
 "His wardrobe was extensive very extensive 
 not strictly classical perhaps, or quite new, nor 
 did it contain any one garment made precisely after 
 the fashion of any age or time," where note the 
 ironical force of the word " precisely." Again : 
 " * Well, if you come to that,' said Mr. Winkle, 
 * how dare you call me a serpent ? ' 
 
 " ' Because you are one,' replied Mr. Potts. 
 Prone it, sir,' said Mr. Winkle, warmly, 
 ' prove it.' ' 
 
 It is impossible not to laugh at this natural, but 
 absurd challenge. 
 
 We should note, too, the variety of the forms 
 of humour offered ; and the gay originality and 
 sportiveness of his devices. Contrast with the 
 invitation to "prove" that you are a serpent, the 
 following happy stroke which touches another 
 note altogether. When Mr. Tupman was about 
 making his declaration to the spinster aunt in the 
 arbour, in her agitation she " took up a large 
 watering pot which lay in one corner, and was 
 about to leave the place." There is something 
 grotesquely funny, and yet natural, in this simple
 
 240 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 act. But with what unenforced humour the 
 author heightens the absurdity ! She trembled, we 
 are told, " till some pebbles which had accidentally 
 found their way into the large watering pot, shook 
 like an infant's rattle."" 
 
 The sly appropriateness of this metaphor to 
 the spinster aunt, adds not a little to the drollery. 
 Smollett could not have put it better, though not 
 so delicately. 
 
 One of the slightest but most perfect 
 sketches is that of Martin, the "long game- 
 keeper." His description exactly fits with his 
 utterances ; his appearance, actions and remarks 
 are all in keeping. Given the notions of an 
 ignorant sportsman, and the good-humoured con- 
 tempt with which such are regarded by game- 
 keepers, nothing could be better than the 
 dialogue, which gives the quintessence of the 
 whole situation. 
 
 " * I'll tell you what I shall do, to get up my 
 shooting again,' said Mr. "Winkle, who was eating 
 bread and ham with a pocket-knife. ' I'll put a 
 stuffed partridge on the top of a post, and 
 practise at it, beginning at a short distance, and 
 lengthening it by degrees. I understand it's 
 capital practice.' ' 
 
 This cutting slices of bread and ham with a 
 pocket-knife somehow seems appropriate to a vain 
 and complacent state of mind, and the words
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 241 
 
 " get up ray shooting again " are delightfully 
 absurd. 
 
 Lisping characters of foolish exquisites have 
 been often attempted in fiction ; but their lisp 
 soon becomes tedious. We have Sleary or 
 "Thleary" in " Hard Times ;" but there is 
 nothing for a short sketch to be found anywhere 
 so good as Lord Mutanhed at Bath. The art of 
 our author is shown in presenting him with a 
 sort of toad-eater, the Hon. Mr. Crushton, who 
 extracts, as it were, his peculiarities ; as when he 
 asks, " had they seen his lordship's new mail cart." 
 
 " ' Gwacious heavens ! ' said his lordship, ' I 
 thought evewebody had seen the new mail cart ; 
 it's the neatest, pwettiest, gwacefullest thing that 
 ever wan upon wheels. Painted wed, with a 
 cweam piebald.' 
 
 " * With a real box for the letters, and all 
 complete,' said the Honourable Mr. Crushton. 
 
 " f And a little seat infwont, with an iwon wail, 
 for the dwiver,' added his lordship. ' I dwove it 
 over to Bwistol the other morning, in a cwimson 
 coat, with two servants widing a quarter of a 
 mile behind ; and confound me if the people 
 didn't wush out of their cottages, and awwest 
 my pwogwess, to know if I wasn't the post. 
 Glorwious / Glorwious ! " 
 
 This sketch is almost perfect, for it shows the 
 lisp to be a note of a mind that also lisps. The 
 
 R
 
 242 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 best stroke is the enthusiastic mention of the 
 "little seat in fwont, with an iwon wail, for the 
 dwiver," as though that were a novelty, and also 
 the delightful and appropriate burst, " Glorwious, 
 Glorwious ! " 
 
 A touch worthy of one of the best old 
 comedies is the scene in which Winkle relates 
 the incidents of Pott's jealousy, which roused 
 Mr. Pickwick's anger. 
 
 " ' Is it not a wonderful circumstance,' said Mr. 
 Pickwick, ' that we seem destined to enter no 
 man's house without involving him in some 
 degree of trouble ? Does it not, I ask, bespeak 
 the indiscretion, or, worse than that, the black- 
 ness of heart that I should say so ! of my 
 followers, that, beneath whatever roof they 
 locate, they disturb the peace of mind and happi- 
 ness of some confiding female ? Is it not, I 
 say" 
 
 At which moment Sam brings in Dodson and 
 Fogg's notice of Mrs. Bardell's action, and Mr. 
 Winkle " murmurs with an air of abstraction, 
 * Peace of mind and happiness of confiding 
 females.' ' 
 
 Another of the attractions of the book is the 
 unexpectedness of the strokes, the sort of 
 extreme surprise from contrast, which is the 
 foundation of all wit. Thus when Mr. Pickwick 
 fell into the water, we are told that " Mr.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 243 
 
 Snodgrass and Mr. Winkle grasped each, other 
 by the hand, and gazed at the spot where their 
 leader had gone down, while Mr. Tupman, by 
 way of rendering the promptest assistance, and 
 at the same time conveying to any persons who 
 might be within hearing, the clearest possible 
 notion of the catastrophe, ran off across the 
 country at his utmost speed, screaming * Fire ! " 
 with all his might." 
 
 This " conceit " is as diverting as it is un- 
 expected. The " shepherd " is described as always 
 bringing to the Marquis of Granby " a flat bottle 
 as holds about a pint and a half," which he filled 
 regularly before going away. " And empties it 
 before he comes back, I s'pose ? " said Sam. 
 
 "Clean," replied Mr. Weller, "never leaves 
 nothing in it but the cork and the smell, trust 
 him for that, Samuel." 
 
 Quaint and humorous as this figure is, how 
 appropriate it is to the speaker, as is also Sam's 
 happy phrase, " I'd give him somethin' as 'ud 
 turpentine and beesvax his memory for the next 
 ten years or so." Here is another short 
 sketch. " The secretary was Mr. Josiah 
 Mudge, chandler's shopkeeper, an enthusias- 
 tic and disinterested vessel, who sold tea to the 
 members." How farcical too, Bob Sawyer's 
 preparation of the jorum of punch, where, how- 
 ever, the farce is legitimate, as it arises out of the 
 
 E 2
 
 244 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 deficiency in the household appliances. "Order- 
 ing in the largest mortar in the shop; stirring 
 up and amalgamating the materials in a very 
 creditable and apothecary-like manner." 
 
 The one tumbler was assigned to Mr. Winkle, 
 and how comic the picture that follows : " Mr. 
 Ben Allen being accommodated with a funnel 
 with a cork in the narrow end, and Bob Sawyer 
 contenting himself with one of the wide-lipped 
 crystal vessels inscribed with a variety of ca- 
 balistic characters." When Sam knocked off 
 the sheriff's officer's hat, how fitting his pro- 
 test, " Observe this, Mr. Pickwick, I have been 
 assaulted in the execution of my dooty by your 
 servant. Tm in bodily fear." There is surely 
 wit in this importation of legal jargon as part of 
 ordinary conversation. So with the art of suggest- 
 ing a whole character in a sentence, and at the 
 same time in the most humorous way. " In 
 proof of Bob Sawyer's being one of the funniest 
 fellows alive, he proceeded to give Mr. Pickwick 
 a long and circumstantial account how that gentle- 
 man once drank himself into a fever and got his 
 head shaved." Here there is the other inconse- 
 quence between the " fun " and the fever, with 
 the suggestion of what is the consequence of such 
 "fun" in past life. Pell's description of Mrs. 
 Pell: "Mrs. Pell was a tall figure, a splendid 
 woman, with a noble shape, and a nose, gentle-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 245 
 
 men, formed to command, and be majestic. She 
 was very much attached to me highly connected 
 too her mother's brother, gentlemen, failed for 
 eight hundred pound, as a Law Stationer." About 
 this last touch there is a genuineness in the form 
 and phrase, the amount, and calling of the 
 bankrupt which supplies entire verisimilitude. 
 It is not a comic flight of the author's, but we 
 listen to Mr. Pell himself, who quite believes that 
 it is a real illustration of Mrs. Pell's gentility. 
 
 In short, taking all these varieties of humour, 
 where the simplest fact is made either to suggest 
 a trait of character or a humorous image, or to 
 help the story on in some way, or merely 
 inspire gaiety or a passing smile, we may say 
 there is no other work whose mechanism and 
 humour is so incessantly brilliant without 
 fatiguing. We have not space to give examples, 
 but it could be shown that whereas most 
 humorists have but one method and process, 
 the " inimitable " has a score at command, 
 now touching broad farce, now humour, now wit, 
 now a " conceit," now images or metaphors. And 
 this was a young man of three- and-twenty ! 
 
 There are some allusions in " Pickwick " which 
 would escape the ordinary reader, which are asso- 
 ciated with certain painful memories of Dickens's 
 childhood. We find Mr. Weller, sen!, declaring that 
 " no man ever talked poetry 'cept a beadle on
 
 246 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Boxin' day," an odd presentation of what was 
 then a familiar figure, and adding, " or Warren's 
 blackin.' ' No one, alas ! knew so much of 
 " Warren's blackin' " as the poor lad who spent 
 his weary days in pasting on the labels at No. 30 
 Hungerford Stairs, Strand. What torture he 
 suffered here, he said later, " was beyond his 
 powers to tell." In many of his works he intro- 
 duces this topic of " advertising verses, " as 
 though he liked to remind himself of having 
 escaped from such horrors. It has been noted 
 that he recurs to this topic in other of his stories, 
 as though it had a sort of fascination for him. 
 
 There is another significant allusion in Mr. 
 Roker's reminiscence of Tom Martin, the butcher 
 (there are three characters in the story named 
 Martin, the " long gamekeeper," the " surly man," 
 and this butcher), and the passage is exquisitely 
 humorous, as an illustration of grotesque senti- 
 mentality : 
 
 " ' Bless my dear eyes ! ' said Mr. Roker, shaking 
 his head slowly from side to side, and gazing 
 abstractedly out of the grated windows before him, 
 as if he were fondly recalling some peaceful scene of 
 his early youth ; f it seems but yesterday that he 
 whopped the coal-heaver down Fox-under-the- 
 Hill by the wharf there. I think I can see him 
 now, a-coming up the Strand between the two 
 street-keepers, a little sobered by the bruising
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 247 
 
 with a patch o' winegar and brown paper over his 
 right eyelid, and that 'ere lovely bulldog, as pinned 
 the little boy arterwards, a-following at his heels. 
 What a rum thing Time is, ain't it, Neddy ? ' 
 
 We may here note the term " street-keepers." 
 This " Fox-under-the-Hill " was a tavern in the 
 disorderly quarter just below the Adelphi Terrace, 
 where the child Dickens was often glad to 
 obtain a welcome glass of ale. 
 
 Another house well known to Dickens was the 
 old White Horse Cellar, to this hour a great 
 coaching centre. 
 
 Up to a few years ago the White Horse Cellar 
 was familiar to every Londoner, and remained in 
 almost exactly the state it was in Dickens's time. 
 The white horse was over the door, and the whole 
 presented an antique, rather dilapidated aspect. 
 Within the last few years it was taken down, and 
 a new, rather " palatial " (as it is called) edifice 
 erected in its stead, where persons of high fashion 
 resort for dinners en partie fine. Thus all our 
 cherished Dickens memorials are departing one by 
 one. 
 
 When Mr. Pickwick was so seriously providing 
 for Jingle, Perker took a rather dubious view of 
 the chances of his reforming. 
 
 " ' However,' he added, * your object is equally 
 honourable, whatever the result is. Whether that 
 species of benevolence which is so very cautious
 
 248 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 and long-sighted that it is seldom exercised at all, 
 lest its owner should be imposed upon, and so 
 wounded in his self-love, be real charity or a 
 worldly counterfeit, I leave to wiser heads than 
 mine to determine.' ' 
 
 This wise remark embodied a favourite doctrine 
 of Dickens's, and which in one of his letters he 
 truly urged should be the basis of real charity. 
 
 At this wedding scene there are some curious 
 reminders of exploded customs, such as "taking 
 wine" and " taking in" other persons, and the 
 custom that still prevailed, of the " happy pair " 
 remaining with their family. I have a strong 
 suspicion that " Emma," one of " the girls " at 
 Manor Farm, was originally designed for Sam ; 
 for the author introduces her on several occasions 
 with an undue emphasis. Mr.Tupmanhad shown 
 his admiration for Emma, and Emma admired 
 Sam. Mary, however, is a much nicer girl, and 
 we could not spare her, for she belongs to the 
 Pickwickian party. 
 
 Smart, good-humoured girls of this pattern 
 Dickens described with particular skill, and in 
 this book we find quite a variety of the character. 
 Such was the barmaid who treated Mr. Namby so 
 contemptuously ; Tom Smart's innkeeper, " a 
 very plump and conformable person," and Emma 
 and Mary aforesaid.
 
 XV. 
 
 No one, as we learn from Dickens's " life," lived 
 so entirely in the company of his characters, 
 while he was writing their history and progress : 
 and to this faith in their reality much of the 
 inspiration and variety is owing. In fiction, as 
 in real life, character produces situations more 
 frequently than a situation will produce charac- 
 ter ; but a skilled novelist will work in both ways. 
 Thus Dickens, pondering over, living and 
 travelling with his Pickwickians, saw what 
 situations could be engendered by their many- 
 sided dispositions ; and though quaint and original 
 situations would have been suggested to him, 
 independently of his characters, these were really 
 developed and moulded by the characters. 
 Stories and incidents are, of course, essential for 
 the true development of character, and " bring 
 out," as it is called, the various turns of humorous 
 idiosyncrasy. A good illustration of this dis- 
 tinction will be found in that masterly creation of 
 Macklin's, "The Man of the World," where a 
 single character, Sir Pertinax Macsycophant, 
 with its varied exhibitions, contains, as it were,
 
 250 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the whole story. The meanness, greed, un- 
 scrupulous wickedness, are necessary develop- 
 ments, and these qualities in themselves form a 
 story. In the same way the Pickwickian cha- 
 racters give rise in the most natural way to the 
 adventures in which they are concerned, and the 
 author found it impossible to dwell upon their 
 qualities, apart from some exhibition of them in 
 droll or humorous situations. 
 
 But the mere display of character, however, 
 divorced from the stimulant of action, generally 
 checks its development. It ceases to have 
 vitality, and becomes an anatomical study. This 
 can be illustrated in a very curious way by 
 an attempt which our gifted author later made 
 to revive his Pickwickian group. When " Master 
 Humphrey's Clock " first appeared, his idea was 
 to issue a sort of miscellany in weekly numbers, 
 at three half -pence each, and which was to contain 
 a number of short stories, by himself and others. 
 These were supposed to be found in the old clock, 
 and the model before him was clearly something 
 of the kind adopted by Washington Irving in the 
 Sketch Book and other works. After a few 
 numbers the plan was not found very attractive, 
 and when Gog and Magog and other narrators, 
 had told their stories, it occurred to him to 
 re-introduce Mr. Pickwick and the two Wellers. 
 Our old friend was invited to join the club of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 251 
 
 story-tellers, and presently with much hesitation 
 contributed his little narrative. This " Sequel to 
 Pickwick," for such it was, was continued for 
 some numbers, and was eventually found unsatis- 
 factory, owing to the reasons given above, viz. 
 that there was no story to kindle the writer's 
 imagination, or to develop the characters. They 
 had simply to talk. There is a great deal of 
 conversation of a humorous cast between the 
 Wellers, father and son, and a precocious child, 
 Sam's son. There is an old housekeeper, to whom 
 Mr. Weller is paying his addresses ; and evidently 
 the author intended that, in the course of events, 
 the retired coachman should venture on a third 
 marriage with this lady. Fortunately the author 
 had started his beautiful story of " The Old 
 Curiosity Shop," which became so attractive to 
 himself and to his readers, that he abruptly cut 
 short the Pickwickian narrative, and left Mr. 
 Weller senior in the midst of his courtship, the 
 issue of which was never known. 
 
 He, however, supplied Sam with some stories 
 in the old vein, but which, being introduced 
 without much apropos, seem to lack the old 
 spontaneousness. The author's heart was evi- 
 dently not in the work, and his pen travelled 
 languidly. These stories seem to exhibit the 
 author's personality and humorous mode of look- 
 ing at things rather than Sam's. They are
 
 252 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 introduced by a conversation between the father 
 and son about a local barber, one Slitters, which 
 it is curious to contrast with the old vivacious 
 dialogue of " Pickwick." 
 
 Sam on offering to relate a story about a barber, 
 in presence of Mr. Slitters, his father interrupted 
 him, " Samivel, address your obserwations to the 
 cheer, sir, and not to priwate individuals." " An' 
 if I might rise to order," said the barber in a soft 
 voice, " I would suggest that barber is not 
 exactly the kind of language which is agreeable 
 and soothing to our feelings. You, sir, will 
 correct me, if I am wrong, but I believe there is 
 such a word in the dictionary as hairdresser." 
 
 " Well, but suppose he wasn't a hairdresser," 
 said Sam. " Wy then, sir, be parliamentary and 
 call him vun all the more. In the same vay as 
 every genelman in another place is a honorable, 
 ev'ry barber in this place is a hairdresser. Ven 
 you read the speeches in the papers and see as 
 vun gen'lman says of another, ' the honorable 
 member, if he vill allow me to call him so,' so yer 
 vill understand, sir, that that means, if he vill 
 allow me to keep up that 'ere pleasant and 
 uniwersal fiction." 
 
 Now this is hardly recognizable as Mr. Weller's 
 utterances; as we said, it is the author speaking 
 in his own person. Sam's two stories are about 
 barbers one, named Jinkinson, an enthusiast
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 253 
 
 on the subject of his Bears and Bear's Grease, a 
 toilet article long since fallen out of fashion. 
 The barber, it seems, had " spent all his money in 
 bears, and run in debt for 'em besides, and there 
 they wos a growlin' avay down in the front 
 celler all day long and ineffectooally gnashin' 
 their teeth, vile the grease o' their relations and 
 friends wos being retailed in gallipots in the shop 
 above, and the first-floor window wos ornamented 
 with their heads, not to speak o' the dreadful 
 aggrawation it must have been to 'em to see a 
 man always a-walkin' up and down the pavement 
 outside, vith the portrait o' a bear in his last 
 agonies, and underneath in large letters ' Another 
 fine animal wos slaughtered yesterday at Jin- 
 kinson's.' ' 
 
 When the " Old Curiosity Shop " was brought 
 to a close, our author again could not resist his 
 old penchant for some ** machinery " or other for 
 introducing the next story. Accordingly Master 
 Humphrey has to find his way to St. Paul's, and 
 there lights on the MS. of " Barnaby Rudge " 
 up in one of the towers. This he proceeds to 
 read to the club. " Jack informed us softly that 
 Mr. Weller's Watch had adjourned its sittings 
 from the kitchen, and regularly met outside our 
 door," so they were invited to walk in and hear 
 the narrative under more comfortable conditions. 
 Old Pickwickians must have been surprised to
 
 254 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 find their favourites, the coachman and his 
 vivacious son, thus engaged. "What Mr. Weller 
 senior could have thought of his John Chester and 
 the other humours of the piece can hardly be 
 imagined. The idea of the pair even listening to 
 so long a story, the reading of which must have 
 taken months, is inconceivable. 
 
 The amiable and energetic author, always tho- 
 rough in his literary work, held valiantly on to his 
 favourite "framework" to the very last. When 
 " Barnaby Rudge " was concluded, Master Hum- 
 phrey dies, and Mr. Pickwick is again introduced 
 to become his executor. Mr. Weller senior pro- 
 nounces a sort of funeral eulogium over him : " And 
 the sweet old creetur', sir, has bolted ! Him as 
 had no wice and was so free from temper that a 
 infant might ha' drove him, has been took at last 
 with that 'ere unawoidable fit o' staggers as we 
 must all come to ! Gone off his feed for ever. I 
 says to Samivel, s My boy, the grey's a goin' at 
 the knees;' and now my predilection's fatally weri- 
 fied ; him I could never do enough to serve, or 
 show my liking for, is up the great universal spout 
 o' natur'." This, as was said, is more in Mrs. 
 Gamp's vein than in Mr. Weller' s. Winding up 
 the whole, the author then tells us that the barber 
 and the housekeeper are likely to make a match 
 of it. For old Weller " had conjured his son,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 255 
 
 with tears in his eyes, that in the event of his 
 ever becoming amorous again, he will put him in 
 a straight waistcoat until the fit is passed. Such 
 was this resuscitation and disappearance of Mr. 
 Pickwick and his friends. In due time, as we have 
 seen, the author felt they were but incumbrances, 
 and discarded the whole, just as he had discarded 
 the machinery of the Pickwick Club itself. 
 
 We can trace in the early " Sketches by Boz," 
 many little hints, and characters to, which he 
 returned in " Pickwick," and worked into impor- 
 tant figures. Thus, in " The Tuggs' at Rams- 
 gate " we find in Captain and Mrs. Captain Waters 
 an anticipation of Dowler and his ferocity, with 
 his captivating wife, while " Cymon " Tuggs, 
 like Winkle, is the object of the Captain's ven- 
 geance. The hurried concealment of Cymon 
 behind the curtain and his discovery suggests Mr. 
 Snodgrass' detection at Osborne's Hotel in the 
 Adelphi. Jones, in " Mr. Minns and his Cousin," 
 has a story about Sheridan which he never can 
 succeed in introducing, like the guest at Bob 
 Sawyer's party. Mr. Budden's speech, too, is 
 helped out " with every feeling every senti- 
 ment of of" "gratification," suggested the friend 
 of the family, just as Jingle helps out the speech- 
 maker at the cricket match. In "Sentiment" 
 there is a dancing party that, with the arrival of
 
 256 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the writing master and his wife, anticipates the 
 doctor at the Rochester ball. " Horatio Spar- 
 kins," turns upon the same point as the incident 
 of Jingle's imposition on the Nupkins'. In " Mr. 
 Watkins Tottle " we have a minutely described 
 account of a sponging house, where some of the 
 characters are almost the same as those in " Pick- 
 wick." "Well, Mr. Willis," continued the 
 facetious prisoner, addressing the young man with 
 the cigar, " you seem rather down to-day. Never 
 say die, you know." " Oh, I'm all right," replied 
 the smoker, " I shall be bailed out to-morrow." 
 Readers will recall the young man, in " Pickwick," 
 who was under the same delusion, that he was to 
 be " bailed out to-morrow." " The Christmas 
 Dinner "is in the same key as the Christmas at 
 Dingley Dell : there is the sketch of the old stiff 
 grandmamma and the " poor relations : " and 
 the old lady softens and relents just as 
 old Mrs. Wardle does to her granddaughter. 
 To these may be added the sketch of the cab- 
 driver, who, on being tendered eighteenpeuce, 
 assaults his fare, on the principle of having the 
 worth of his money " out of him," even if he got 
 six months for it. These, however, are all the 
 merest indications and outlines : indeed, nothing is 
 more remarkable than the contrast between these 
 rather crude touchings and the firm, bold, and 
 satisfactory delineations found in " Pickwick."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 257 
 
 The author here found himself in the heart of his 
 story, surrounded by figures that lived and moved, 
 every movement suggesting some touch of 
 character. Mere detached or separate sketches 
 cannot supply this inspiration. 
 
 The frontispiece offers proof of the author's 
 art and power of suggestion. As we know, it 
 exhibits Mr. Pickwick seated, in his retirement 
 at Dulwich, the faithful Sam beside him reading 
 aloud. His old master listens with a placid 
 benevolence. On the wall overhead is a pic- 
 ture of an old lady in spectacles, probably of 
 the owner's mother. On the top of the cabinet 
 are some helmets, and other objects of antiquarian 
 interest. The curtains are drawn aside, to give 
 us a view of this interesting interior ; while below 
 there are two vignettes of Snodgrass and Winkle 
 the former humorously crowned with a wreath of 
 bays, in allusion to his poetical tastes. Now the 
 art of this scene, as we said, is in its sugges- 
 tive power. The author had wound up his 
 narrative; yet he here contrived to project us 
 forward, into the future, and furnish us with a 
 happy picture of the retired life of his amiable 
 hero : which is shown as being of a pensive, 
 serious cast, contrasting with the humours that 
 have gone before, and suitable to the even- 
 ing of worthy Mr. Pickwick's life. We never 
 look at this sketch without some feelings of 
 
 s
 
 258 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 this kind : and the story seems to commence 
 afresh. 1 
 
 1 A significant circumstance is connected with the title of 
 this work. Familiar as it is, it is not every reader who can 
 give it in its proper shape. Most commonly the book is 
 spoken of as " The Pickwick Papers," often as " The Pickwick 
 Club :" but the most familiar and best known shape is 
 " Pickwick " simply. The true original form, however, is " The 
 Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Being a faithful 
 Kecord of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels, Adventures and 
 Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding Members." This 
 rather laboured title the author discarded in his first complete 
 edition, that of 1858, and it has since always stood as " The 
 Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club." "Pickwick" 
 pure and simple is the common and most acceptable form, a 
 convenient generality which covers the adventures of all con- 
 cerned including Mr. Pickwick himself : as though it meant 
 "the Pickwickiad." This change shows the hold the Book 
 has on the affections of the public. In nearly all cases it is 
 satisfied to accept the author's title as he gave it : and none of 
 Scott's or Thackeray's have been in the least changed for popu- 
 lar use.
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE Pickwick " mania," as some might call 
 it we might rather say the Pickwickian 
 " Fanteeg" or extravagant appreciation has 
 reached an extreme point within the last two 
 years. In 1889, a sale has taken place at Messrs. 
 Sotheby's, the well-known auctioneers, when two 
 trifling Pickwickian " lots " were " submitted to 
 public competition." The first of these consisted 
 of six sketches by the ill-fated Seymour, with two 
 or three of his etchings, and the original of the 
 author's letter to the artist, already quoted in this 
 volume. The lot was described as "loosely 
 arranged in five or six pages of a scrap book, and 
 the entire could be comfortably stowed away in 
 the waistcoat pocket." Seymour's drawings, as 
 we have shown, are graceful and artistic : but 
 their market value, as drawings, could not 
 exceed a few pounds. A letter of Dickens ought 
 to be procurable for a couple of pounds. 
 The reader will be astonished to hear of what 
 followed. Ten pounds was first offered : Mr. 
 Quaritch and Mr. Stevens, the American Book-
 
 260 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 seller, then began to compete : and the figure of 
 one hundred pounds was speedily reached. It will 
 hardly be credited, that, at last, the coveted 
 little batch was secured by Mr. Quaritch 
 acting, it is said, for a purchaser in 
 Paris for the enormous sum of FIVE HUNDRED 
 POUNDS ! l We hear of this with amazement, and 
 
 1 The unpretending "lot" is thus described in the 
 catalogue : 
 
 " This collection contains the original drawing for the first 
 illustration in Pickwick, representing that gentleman 
 'ADDRESSING THE CLUB,' which may be considered the 
 creation of that famous figure in fiction. Also the original 
 drawings of 'THE PUGNACIOUS CABMAN,' 'Dr. SLAMMER'S 
 DEFIANCE OP JINGLE," and ' THE DYING CLOWN.' There are 
 besides, two drawings that were not published, one represent- 
 ing the incident of ' THE RUNAWAY CHAISE ' and the other 
 'THE PICKWICKIANS IN MR. WARDLE'S KITCHEN.' All these 
 drawings are beautifully finished in sepia with the exception 
 of the ' DYING CLOWN,' which is evidently the first sketch, of 
 the subject. That of ' DR. SLAMMER'S DEFIANCE ' shows an 
 alteration in the attitude of the arm made at the suggestion of 
 Dickens." 
 
 With it was another Pickwickian relic, which brought 64Z.: 
 
 " Account of the origin of the Pickwick Papers, by Mrs. 
 Seymour, widow of the distinguished artist, who originated the 
 work, with Mr. Dickens' Version, and her reply thereto, 
 showing the fallacy of his statements ; also letters of her 
 husband's and other distinguished men, VERY SCARCE, having 
 been suppressed, beautifully clean copy, in the original state 
 printed for the author, n. d. 
 
 " This copy contains manuscript corrections by Mrs. Seymour, 
 a visiting card of her husband, and a note signed by E. Sey- 
 mour jun. : ' this is the only copy remaining in the possession 
 of myself the only remaining member of the family.' The 
 Mackenzie copy of this pamphlet realized 72/."
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 261 
 
 even bewilderment : but accept the explanation, 
 which is that this enormous price was owing to 
 interest, not in Seymour, or his drawings not 
 even in the gifted author himself, but solely and 
 exclusively to the mysterious fascination of 
 his story. Nothing could better justify the 
 elaborate investigation we have been making in 
 these pages into the secret of the charrn which 
 " Pickwick " exercises on the world. 
 
 It is astonishing, indeed, to see how the almost 
 fantastic rage for "Pickwick" memorials goes 
 on steadily increasing; and fresh evidences of 
 this greedy interest display themselves every day. 
 We take up an illustrated newspaper, and on a full 
 page is exhibited the scene of Mr. Pickwick's 
 disco very of the " Bill Stumps" inscription the 
 eager antiquarian being shown on his knees, 
 tenderly wiping the stone in front of the Cobham 
 cottage, his friends grouped about him : only the 
 incised characters are made to refer to a well- 
 known patent medicine. The passion is now for 
 the original Pickwickian illustrations, drawings, 
 &c. Later will come the turn of the engraved 
 illustrations, which now but rarely come into 
 the market. 
 
 We have mentioned the astonishing price 
 realized in the June of last year, by a few 
 Seymour drawings. But in the month of July, 
 a large collection of drawings by "Phiz" was
 
 262 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 submitted to competition, and brought even more 
 astonishing prices. 
 
 " The precarious fate of such memorials," says 
 a writer in the Daily Neivs, " may be assumed 
 from the circumstance that when the artist had 
 etched his designs on the plates, the originals 
 were thrown into the fire, or given away incon- 
 tinently to those of his friends who had the 
 temerity to ask for them. The illustrations to 
 Dickens have happily escaped this ordeal, and 
 their whereabouts may be satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained. The original designs by Seymour and 
 Phiz for the ' Pickwick Papers ' are in Paris, in 
 the possession of Mr. W. Wright, who has also 
 secured the * Pickwick vignette,' and several of 
 G. Cruikshank's designs for ' Sketches by Boz.' 
 Mr. Stuart Samuel owns, among others, part of 
 the " Boz " series, and these may at present be 
 studied by the curious at their ease in the galleries 
 of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water 
 Colours, in the Humorists' Exhibition. Several 
 of the sketches for c Oliver Twist,' ' Nicholas 
 Nickleby,' < The Old Curiosity Shop,' 'The 
 Christmas Carol,' and others may be there 
 seen, together with the whole of the original 
 drawings, as transferred to his plates by the 
 artist, for three of Dickens's novels, 'David 
 Copperfield,' ' Dombey and Son,' and * Bleak 
 House.' There also is the admirable series of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 263 
 
 water-colour drawings for c Oliver Twist,' made 
 somewhat late in life, by G. Cruikshank for his 
 patron, the late Mr. F. "W. Cosens, who also re- 
 joices in a unique series of illustrations in water- 
 colours executed by Hablot Knight Browne, 
 under similar circumstances, to illustrate nearly all 
 Dickens' s works. Another interesting souvenir is 
 the version by C. R. Leslie, R.A., painted for his 
 friend the author, of ' Mr. Pickwick surprised by 
 his friends with Mrs. Bardell in his arms.' This 
 mere sketch was sold at the Dickens' sale for 131 
 guineas ! Mrs. Cruikshank possibly treasures up 
 the two designs made by her husband over half a 
 century ago his artistic contributions to the 
 * Pic-Nic Papers,' and the six designs executed by 
 Phiz for the same work, as edited by Dickens, may 
 come into the market at any unexpected moment. 
 " The sum received by Seymour for the completed 
 drawings, including the plates etched by his hand, 
 probably did not exceed six guineas apiece. 
 H. K. Browne, through whose facile artistic 
 interpretation generations of Dickens's admirers 
 must realize the novelist's universally familiar 
 characters, it is believed, was satisfied to work for 
 no more extravagant remuneration ; the sale of 
 his original drawings, designed to illustrate 
 ' Martin Chuzzlewit ; ' and the water-colour 
 drawings for the * Phiz vignettes,' followed the 
 Seymour studies on the 9th of the present month.
 
 264 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 A few of these sketches brought prices which 
 might have astonished the illustrator no less than 
 the author. The well-known and elaborate 
 frontispiece, ' Tom Pinch afc the Organ/ was 
 carried off by Mr. Lever for 35L ; the buyer 
 secured a bargain in 'Mr. Pinch and Euth, 
 unconscious of a visitor,' the famous ' beef-steak 
 pudding ' episode, which was sold for the modest 
 figure of III. 10s. 'Mr. Pecksniff on his mis- 
 sion ' (to the abode of Mrs. Gamp) reached 15/. 
 15s.; the 'Pleasant little family party at Mr. 
 Pecksniff's ' brought 141. 10s. The design 
 showing the monthly nurse, Mrs. Gamp, with her 
 ' eye on the future,' illustrating the passage 
 ' "Would you be so good, my darling dovey of a 
 dear young married lady .... it's my card,' 
 fell to Mr. Wright for 151. 'Mrs. Gamp makes 
 Tea,' 'And quite a family it is to make tea for,' 
 said Mrs. Gamp, went for 18?. 18s. The most 
 spirited struggle was evoked over the famous gin- 
 and-tea-drinking symposium in Sairah's bed- 
 chamber, between Mrs. Gamp and that ' grace- 
 less renegade,' Betsy Prigg; 'Mrs. Gamp pro- 
 poses a Toast,' brought 35/. 10s., being secured 
 by Mr. Pearson, the purchaser of the preceding 
 lot. 
 
 " The ' Phiz ' vignettes, though smaller and of 
 more recent execution, have the extra attraction 
 of being tinted in colours. ' Little Nell and her
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 265 
 
 Grandfather in the Old Curiosity Shop ' went to 
 Mr. "Wright for 221.; Browne's version of ' Scrooge 
 and Marley's Ghost,' differing materially from 
 Leech's inimitable design on the same subject, 
 brought 15Z. ; ' The mad gentleman and Mrs. 
 Nickleby ' and * The Nickleby Family ' averaged 
 14Z. apiece ; ' The Pecksniff Family and Tom 
 Pinch ' fetched 13?. 5s. ; and the delightful 
 frontispiece to ' Pickwick from Italy,' one of 
 Phiz's most successful efforts of water-colour art, 
 was sold for the modest price of 81." 
 
 Even while I write, the old Inn in the Borough, 
 which was described early in these pages, is being 
 pulled down. The proprietors, Messrs. Manger, 
 hop merchants, could not allow the crazy fabric 
 to subsist longer, as the ground is valuable, and 
 the necessities of their business requires more 
 suitable accommodation. Gone, therefore, now are 
 the galleries, whence the landlady and chamber- 
 maids looked down into the yard, and called out 
 to " Sam," busily engaged cleaning boots. Gone 
 the short dark stair in the corner, up which the 
 Pickwickians were led to the spinster aunt's room. 
 Gone with the old Inn are the memories of the 
 real personages, and their adventures, who must 
 have figured here, for a couple of centuries. 
 Nobody cares for them ; but for the more real 
 Pickwickians, Sam, Wardle, Jingle and the rest, 
 who never set foot in the place.
 
 266 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 And here, the favourite " Fanteeg " asserts 
 itself. The worthy hop merchants, careless as 
 they might seem of the traditions of the place, 
 were not insensible to their commercial value. 
 The dismantled old galleries, with their sturdy- 
 looking balustrades, would be welcome to your 
 true Pickwickian, as a souvenir, and the present 
 writer was offered one " in good, sound condi- 
 tion," for the sum of one guinea a fair market 
 price under the circumstances.
 
 XVII. 
 
 IN the early part of the volume there was 
 given a sort of rough analysis of the characters 
 exhibited in this varied panorama. But a more 
 detailed and exact enumeration of all the 
 figures, "great and small," will furnish further 
 proof of the versatile powers of the author, and 
 the wonderful imagination that could bring to- 
 gether such a collection of original beings. In 
 this list, the important, finished characters are 
 marked in capitals, and those next in degree in 
 italics. It will be seen that the appreciation is 
 made, not according to the length or elaborate- 
 ness, but according to the finish and workman- 
 ship; a character that fills little space being 
 often more striking and important than one dealt 
 with at greater length. It may be repeated 
 that the professional workman must be lost in 
 admiration at the few brilliant touches with which 
 a figure is put in, and the perfect economy of 
 the strokes, and the exact selection of what is 
 fitting. This suggests the rules of etching, where 
 a single line conveys the essence, as it were, of the 
 object selected, divested of all details.
 
 268 
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 CHARACTERS IN " PICKWICK.' 
 
 1. MR. SAMUEL PICKWICK. 36. 
 
 2. The Secretary of the club. 37. 
 
 3. MR. TRACT TUPMAN. 38. 
 
 4. MR. AUGUSTUS SNODGRASS. 39. 
 
 5. MR. NATHANIEL WINKLE. 40. 
 
 6. The cabman. 41. 
 
 7. " Tommy," the waterman. 42. 
 
 8. Another cabman. 43. 
 
 9. The hot-pie man. 44. 
 
 10. MR. ALFRED JINGLE. 45. 
 
 11. The Eochester coachman. 46. 
 
 12. The mother. 47. 
 
 13. Ponto. 48. 
 
 14. Don Bolaro Fizzgig. 49. 
 
 15. Donna Christina. 50. 
 
 16. Handsome Englishman. 51. 
 
 17. The waiter at the Bull. 52. 
 
 18. Hon. Wilmot Snipe. 53. 
 
 19. The Clubbers. 54. 
 
 20. The Smithies. 55. 
 
 21. The Bulders. 56. 
 
 22. The brewer's wife, &c. 57. 
 
 23. Dr. Slammer. 58. 
 
 24. Mrs. Budger, the widow. 59. 
 
 25. Boots. 60. 
 
 26. Lieut. Tappleton. 61. 
 
 27. Dr. Payne. 62. 
 
 28. " Dismal Jemmy " (Mr. Hut- 63. 
 
 ley). 64. 
 
 29. The Stroller. 65. 
 
 30. His wife. 66. 
 
 31. The "shoving" man (at the 67. 
 
 Review. 68. 
 
 32. WARDLE. 69. 
 
 33. KACHEL. 70. 
 
 34. Emily. 71. 
 
 35. Isabella. 72. 
 
 Trundle. 
 
 The Fat Boy. 
 
 Ostler at the Bull. 
 
 The deputy-ostler. 
 
 Postboy. 
 
 The " red-headed man.' 
 
 The " tall, bony woman." 
 
 Emma. 
 
 Jane. 
 
 Mary. 
 
 Boot-cleaner. 
 
 Old MRS. WARDLB. 
 
 The clergyman. 
 
 His wife. 
 
 Hard-headed man. 
 
 Miller. 
 
 The fat man. 
 
 John Edmunds. 
 
 His wife and son. 
 
 Old man. 
 
 Eook-boys. 
 
 Stout gentleman. 
 
 Dumkins. 
 
 Podder. , 
 
 Luffey. 
 
 Struggles. 
 
 Sir Thomas Blazo. 
 
 Quanko Samba. 
 
 Mr. Staple. 
 
 Landlord of Blue Lion. 
 
 Ostler. 
 
 Pike-keeper. 
 
 Ostler. 
 
 Post-boy. 
 
 SAM WELLEE. 
 
 Chambermaid ("White Hart). 
 
 Landlady.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 269 
 
 73. PERKEB. 108. 
 
 74. Landlady of the Leather 109. 
 
 Bottle. 110- 
 
 75. Owner of " Bill Stumps." 111. 
 
 76. The madman. 112. 
 
 77. The girl. 113- 
 
 78. The rival. 114. 
 
 79. MRS. BARDELL. 
 
 80. Mr. Bardell. 115. 
 
 81. Tommy Bardell. 116. 
 
 81. Samuel Slumkey. 117. 
 
 82. Hon. Horatio Fizkin. 118. 
 
 83. Hoarse man in the balcony. 119. 
 
 84. Busy little man. 120. 
 
 85. The mob. 121. 
 
 86. Waiter. 122. 
 
 87. Fizkin's agent. 123. 
 
 88. MR. POTT. 124. 
 
 89. MRS. POTT. 125. 
 
 90. Jane. 126. 
 
 91. Independent voters (pumped 127. 
 
 over). 128. 
 
 92. Barmaid at the Town 129. 
 
 Arms. 130. 
 
 93. Gentlemen of Committee. 
 
 94. Small boys. 131. 
 
 95. Mayor. 132. 
 
 96. Voices in crowd. 133. 
 
 97. Whiffin. 134 ; 
 
 98. Proposer of Fizkin. 135. 
 
 99. The one-eyed man. 136. 
 
 100. The dirty-faced man. 137. 
 
 101. Ked-faced man. 138.' 
 
 102. The placid man. 139. 
 
 103. Tom Smart. 140. 
 
 104. Firm of Bilson and Slum. 141. 
 
 105. The bay mare. 142. 
 
 106. Barmaid. 143. 
 
 107. The widow landlady. 144. 
 
 The tall man. 
 
 The Ghost. 
 
 MR. LEO HUNTER. 
 
 Solomon Lucas. 
 
 MRS. LEO HUNTER. 
 
 Count Smoltork. 
 
 The four ( ' Somethingean " 
 singers. 
 
 The Contortionist. 
 
 JOB TROTTER. 
 
 Sarah. 
 
 Servant at Westgate House. 
 
 Miss Tomkins. 
 
 The cook. 
 
 The teachers. 
 
 Miss Smithers. 
 
 Nathaniel Pipkin. 
 
 OldLobbs. 
 
 Maria Lobbs. 
 
 Kate. 
 
 Henry. 
 
 Goodwin. 
 
 "The Lieutenant." 
 
 Martin, the LONG GAME- 
 KEEPER. 
 
 The boy. 
 
 Brookes the pieman. 
 
 Captain Boldwig. 
 
 Hunt the gardener) 
 
 Wilkins. 
 
 Mob. 
 
 Ramsey'. 
 
 DODSON 
 
 Foaal 
 
 Tom Cummins. 
 
 Bullman. 
 
 Jackson. 
 
 Wicks. 
 
 3rd Clerk.
 
 270 
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 145. ME. WELLER, SEN. 182. 
 
 146. Perker's laundress. 183. 
 
 147. Lowten. 184. 
 
 148. Hostess of Magpie and 185. 
 
 Stump. 186. 
 
 149. Charley, the pot-boy. 187. 
 
 150. Samkin and Green's clerk. 188. 
 
 151. Smithers and Price's clerk. 189. 
 
 152. Pimkin and Thomas' clerk. 190. 
 
 153. JackBamber. 191. 
 
 154. Mr. Grundy. 192. 
 
 155. Man with mosaic studs. 193. 
 
 156. The dirty young man. 194. 
 
 157. The tenant of chambers. 195. 
 
 158. Another tenant. 196. 
 
 159. The ghost. 197. 
 
 160. Queer client. 198. 
 
 161. The wife (Mary)/ 199. 
 
 162. Child. 200. 
 
 163. Heyling. 201. 
 
 164. London attorney. 
 
 165. Old man. 202. 
 
 166. The Shepherd. 203. 
 
 167. Stiggins. 204. 
 
 168. Mrs. Weller. 205. 
 
 169. MAGNUS. 206. 
 
 170. Villam. 207. 
 
 171. Pike-keeper. 208. 
 
 172. Waiter at the Great White 209. 
 
 Horse. 210. 
 
 173. Miss Witherfield. 211. 
 
 174. Chambermaid. 212. 
 
 175. Guests. 213. 
 
 176. MR. NUPKINS. 214. 
 
 177. Mr. JinJcs. 215. 
 
 178. MUZZLE. 216. 
 
 179. Grummer. 217. 
 
 180. The Beadle. 218. 
 
 181. Dubbley. 219. 
 
 The Specials. 
 Mrs. Nupkins. 
 Miss ISTupkins. 
 The Porkenhama. 
 Mr. Sidney Porkenham. 
 The Griggs. 
 The Slummintowkens. 
 The boy. 
 The "gal." 
 
 The cook (at Nupkins). 
 Mary. 
 The boy. 
 MRS. CLUPPINS. 
 Mrs. Sanders. 
 The guard. 
 Coachman. 
 
 The outside passengers. 
 The clergyman's wife. 
 The two poor relations. 
 Old gentleman with pig- 
 tail. 
 Jem. 
 
 Gabriel Grub. 
 Small boy. 
 The Goblin. 
 BOB SAWYER. 
 BEN A.LLEN. 
 
 Barmaid, George andVulture. 
 Sausage-maker. 
 Little thin old gentleman. 
 Mr. Watty. 
 Sergeant Snubbin. 
 MR. MALLARD. 
 Mr. Phuriky. 
 MRS. KADDLB. 
 Maid. 
 
 Jack Hopkins. 
 Slasher 
 Boy operated on.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 271 
 
 220. Child and " necklace." 257. 
 
 221. The " Prim Personage." 258. 
 
 222. Gentleman "with pink 259. 
 
 anchors." 260. 
 
 223. Scorbutic youth. 261. 
 
 224. Large-headed young man. 262. 
 
 225. Pale youth. 263. 
 
 226. Noddy. 264. 
 
 227. G-unter. 265. 
 
 228. Mr. Saddle. 266. 
 
 229. Boy with hairy cap. 267. 
 
 230. Barmaid, Blue Boar. 268. 
 
 231. Antony Humm. 269. 
 
 232. Mudge the chandler. 270. 
 
 233. Old lady tea-drinker. 271. 
 
 234. Brother Tadger. 272. 
 
 235. Foreman of Jury. 273. 
 
 236. Buzfuz. 274. 
 
 237. Justice Stareleigh. 275. 
 
 238. Officer of Court. 276. 
 
 239. Kichard Upwitch. 277. 
 
 240. TJwmas Groffin. 278. 
 
 241. Chemist's boy. 279. 
 
 242. Mr. Skimpin. 280. 
 
 243. Mrs. Mudberry. 
 
 244. Mrs. Budkin. 281. 
 
 245. The Baker. 282. 
 
 246. Booking-office clerk. 283. 
 
 247. Jews with fifty-bladedknives. 284. 
 
 248. Waiter. 285. 
 
 249. MR. DOWLER. 286. 
 
 250. Mrs. Dowler. 287. 
 
 251. Officer. 288. 
 
 252. Moses Pickwick. 289. 
 
 253. The " outsiders " (3). 290. 
 
 254. Oynis Bantam. 291. 
 
 255. Gentleman of Clapham 292. 
 
 Green. 293. 
 
 256. MR. JOHN SMAUKER. 294. 
 
 Lady Snuphanuph. 
 
 LORD MUTANHED. 
 
 Hon. Mr. Crushton. 
 
 Mrs. Colonel Wugsby. 
 
 Miss Bolo. 
 
 Miss Wugsbys (2). 
 
 Mr. Crawley. 
 
 Miss Matinter (2). 
 
 Mrs. Cradock. 
 
 Prince Bladud. 
 
 King Lud. 
 
 Daughter of an Athenian. 
 
 Lord Chamberlain. 
 
 A Reveller. 
 
 Long Chairman. 
 
 TUCKLE. 
 
 Harris. 
 
 MAN IN BLUE. 
 
 Man in green foil smalls. 
 
 Coachman. 
 
 Whiffers. 
 
 Old lady of the Bath- chair. 
 
 Young lady. 
 
 Bob Sawyer's boy (Bob 
 
 Cripps). 
 Lamplighter. 
 Occasional charwoman. 
 Chambermaid. 
 Surly groom. 
 Scientific gentleman. 
 Pruffle. 
 The horse. 
 Smouch. 
 Barmaid. 
 Mr. Ayresleigh. 
 Price. 
 Crookey. 
 Namby. 
 The Bail."
 
 272 
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 295. Clerk in spectacles. 327. 
 
 296. BoJcer. 328. 
 
 297. Tenants of the Fleet (3). 329. 
 
 298. Bill. 330. 
 
 299. " Number 20." 331. 
 
 300. Husband and wife. 332. 
 
 301. SMANGLE. 333. 
 
 302. Mivins. 334. 
 
 303. Tom Martin. 335. 
 
 304. Simpson. 336. 
 
 305. The Parson. 337. 
 
 306. Potboy. 338. 
 
 307. Neddy. 
 
 308. The Chancery prisoner. 339. 
 
 309. The racing countryman. 340. 
 
 310. Old man. 341. 
 
 311. Granddaughter. 342. 
 
 312. Characters in the Insolvent 343. 
 
 Court. 844. 
 
 313. MR. SOLOMON PELL. 345. 
 
 314. George, the coachman. 346. 
 
 315. The two coachmen (bro- 347. 
 
 thers). 348. 
 
 316. "The late Lord Chancel- 349. 
 ' lor." 350. 
 
 317. The boy with the blue bag. 351. 
 
 318. " Eed-faced Nixon." 352. 
 
 319. The man who died of eating 353. 
 
 crumpets. 
 
 320. His doctor. 354. 
 
 321. The Cobbler. 
 
 322. The young lady peeling 355. 
 
 potatoes. 356. 
 
 323. The boy calling for Weller. 357. 
 
 324. Owner of "Whistling 358. 
 
 Shop." 359. 
 
 325. Mrs. Bardell's cab-driver. 
 
 326. Mrs. Rogers. 360. 
 
 Waiter at " The Spaniards." 
 
 Isaac, the bailiff. 
 
 Mr. Snicks. 
 
 Mr. Prosee. 
 
 The pupil. 
 
 Martin. 
 
 The Bagman s uncle. 
 
 His mother. 
 
 The Baillie. 
 
 Mail guard. 
 
 The young lady. 
 
 The son of the Marquis de 
 
 Filletoville. 
 
 The ill-looking gentleman. 
 Irish Gentleman. 
 Mrs. Cripps. 
 Waiter. 
 Postboy. 
 
 Smart servant girl. 
 Mr. Winkle, senior. 
 Postboy. 
 
 Host of the Saracen's Head. 
 John the waiter. 
 Pott's reviewer. 
 Slurk. 
 
 The buxom cook. 
 Old woman with jam. 
 Old woman with camomile 
 
 tea. 
 Old woman with pot of 
 
 jelly. 
 
 Mrs. Pell. 
 
 Wilkins Flasher. 
 
 Simmery. 
 
 Boffer. 
 
 Daughter of Lady Tollimg- 
 
 lower. 
 Mr. Blotton (of Aldgate).
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 273 
 
 Some three hundred and sixty characters ! 
 And the marvel is that every one is distinct and 
 present to the memory, with their sayings and 
 doings, without confusion or nidistinctness. This 
 is surely one of the most astonishing feats in 
 literature. There is nothing like it on record, 
 as we shall find by comparing it with " Tom 
 Jones " or " Vanity Fair." 
 
 Not less astonishing is the enumeration of the 
 various contrasted scenes and episodes, which 
 form the narrative, each novel and interesting 
 in itself, to be read in detached shape, and yet 
 blending with the whole. It will be curious 
 to note the variety and originality of each 
 picture. 
 
 1. The meeting of the club. 
 
 2. Attack by the cabman and rescue. 
 
 3. Adventure at the ball. 
 
 4. Winkle's duel. 
 
 5. Dismal Jemmy's story. 
 
 6. The review. 
 
 7. The drive to Manor Farm. 
 
 8. The night at Manor Farm. 
 
 9. The convict's return, 
 
 10. The rook-shooting. 
 
 11. The cricket match. 
 
 12. The supplanting of Tupman. 
 
 13. The elopement. 
 
 14. Scene at the White Hart. 
 
 15. The madman's story. 
 
 16. The presumed proposal to Mrs. BardelL 
 
 17. Election days at Eatan swill. 
 
 T
 
 274 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 18. The bagman's story. 
 
 19. Mrs. Pott's party. 
 
 20. West Gate boarding-school. 
 
 21. Story of the parish clerk. 
 
 22. Quarrel with Mr. Pott. 
 
 23. Another shooting party. 
 
 24. Scene with Dodson and Fogg. 
 
 25. Stories of the old Inns of Court. 
 
 26. The double-bedded room. 
 
 27. The Nupkins episode. 
 
 28. Stiggins at Dorking. 
 
 29. The wedding at Manor Farm. 
 
 30. Story of Gabriel Grub. 
 
 31. Doings at Manor Farm. 
 
 32. Interview with Serjeant Snubbin. 
 
 33. Bob Sawyer's party. 
 
 34. The " Brick Lane Branch." 
 
 35. Bardell v. Pickiciclc. 
 
 36. Adventures at Bath. 
 
 37. Story of Prince Bladud. 
 
 38. Dowler and "Winkle, 
 
 39. The servants' " Swarry." 
 
 40. Winkle's interview with Miss Allen. 
 
 41. Incidents in the Fleet Prison. 
 
 42. Pell and the insolvent coachman. 
 
 43. Stiggins and the Wellers. 
 
 44. Arrest of Mrs. Bardell. 
 
 45. Release of Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 46. Scenes with Ben Allen's aunt. 
 
 47. Story of the bagman's uncle. 
 
 48. Mission to Mr. Winkle, sen. 
 
 49. Pott and Slurk. 
 
 50. Death of Mrs. Weller. 
 
 51. Interview with Dodson and Fogg. 
 
 52. Scene at Osborne's Hotel, Adelphi. 
 
 53. Pell proving Mrs. Weller's will. 
 
 54. Mr. Pickwick, and Sam's marriage. 
 
 55. Arabella and Mr. Winkle, sen. 
 
 56. Denouement.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 275 
 
 This shows that there are nearly three-score 
 episodes, all full, exuberant, dramatic, complete 
 and mirth-moving. Further, most of these can 
 be subdivided and are made up of smaller and 
 shorter episodes ; as in the chronicle of the Fleet 
 Prison life, where every page teems with inci- 
 dents. Under this single heading the scenes 
 might be thus classified : 
 
 In the Fleet Prison. 
 
 1. Mr. Pickwick's reception. " Sitting for his portrait." 
 
 2. The night with the Zephyr and Smangle. 
 
 3. Scene of his "getting up." 
 
 4. Scene with the butcher, parson, &c. 
 
 5. Jingle and Job. 
 
 6. Voluntary arrest of Sam. 
 
 7. The Chancery prisoner. 
 
 8. The cobbler. 
 
 9. Visit of Stiggins, &c. 
 
 Dickens pursued the system of choosing natural 
 and often " colourless " names, until " Martin 
 Chuzzlewit " was published. " Nickleby,'* in which 
 we find many episodes quite as good and fresh 
 as anything in " Pickwick," witness the sketches 
 of the country actors under Crummies' manage- 
 ment, offers a collection of names all " easy, 
 natural, affecting." Nothing could be better or 
 more appropriate to their respective characters 
 than Kenwigs, or Lillivick ; Folair and Lenville 
 are simply perfect, and Gride is good. On the 
 other hand, Cheeryble is a compounded, rather 
 artificial name, expressing the character ; Squeers 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 is not so probable a one ; Lord Frederick Veri- 
 sopht's is a quibble, as is Sir Mulberry Hawk's. 
 Count Smorltork is intended to suggest " small 
 talk," yet has an original Russian sound. But 
 with " Ohuzzlewit " began the reign of grotesque, 
 compounded names, such as Pecksniff, Sweedle- 
 pipes, &c. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the numerous trans- 
 lations of " The Pickwick Papers " which have 
 been executed in foreign countries. There have 
 been two into French. The first, issued in the year 
 1838, is a rude adaptation rather than a translation, 
 in which the most fantastic tricks are played with 
 the text, most of the dialogue being left out and 
 the whole compressed into two small volumes. It 
 is entitled " Le Club de Pickwickistes, Roman 
 comique, traduit librement de 1'anglais par Mdme. 
 Eugenie Giboyet." And "lilrement" translated it 
 certainly is ; there is an avowal of the method 
 adopted ; for the adapter not merely leaves out 
 whole pages of dialogue, but " improves " the 
 text by supplying passages entirely of her own 
 manufacture. The famous passage as to the 
 " Pickwickian sense " is thus treated : 
 
 "Pickwick reste ferme sur sa chaise, declare 
 qu'en effet 1'epithete d'epicier s'adressait a M 
 Blotton ; celui-ci se borne a dire qu'il rejette avec 
 mepris 1'accusation injurieuse de 1'honorable 
 membre (Applaudissements prolong es)." The
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 277 
 
 " Pickwickian sense " is entirely omitted. In the 
 account of the trial, the damages claimed are put 
 at 300,000 francs, or 12,OOOZ. sterling, and we are 
 informed that " MM. Snubbin et Finge arriverent } 
 puis Dodson et Fogg et leur avocat Buzfuz, qu 
 salua Snubbin en souriant, encore a la surprise de 
 Pickwick. Bientot entra le juge Stareledgh." 
 " Finge," it will be noted, represents our old 
 friend Mr. Phunkey, it being necessary to choose 
 a word that might sound like " singe," or 
 monkey. The well-known dialogue follows : 
 
 " Je me constitue pour le defendeur, mon 
 second est M. Finge," ajoute Snubbin. 
 
 " Messieurs Buzfuz et Skimpin, d'une part; 
 Snubbin et Singe de 1'autre," dit le President. 
 
 " Mon nom est Finge, M. le President." 
 
 " J'entends parfaitement, Singe. C'est la 
 premiere fois que vous prenez la parte devant 
 nous, Monsieur eu eur ? " 
 
 "Finge." 
 
 "Bien." 
 
 Buzfuz then opens his case : 
 
 "Voiis avez appris, messieurs, par mon savant 
 confrere (ils n'avaient rien appris du tout), que 
 1'affaire qui vous est soumise est relative a la 
 violation d'une promesse de mariage, acte sacre 
 dans lequel toute moralit^ est reDfermee, acte 
 d'ou naissent, . . . je m'arrete . . . . ou je n'irai 
 pas?"
 
 278 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " La plaignant, messieurs, est veuve depuis 
 trois ans, bien veuve. Son mari, estimable 
 douanier, qui avait tou jours joui de la confiance 
 de ses superieurs et de la solde de 1'Etat, dis- 
 parut inopinement de ce monde pour aller 
 chercher dans 1'autre la paix et le repos qui 
 manquent au douaniers." 
 
 The incident of the letters is thus represented : 
 
 " J'ai ici deux lettres qui prouvent cette 
 intimite passee, je ne demande qu'un moment 
 pour en faire lecture. Premiere lettre : 
 
 " ' Ma chere Madame Bardell, Des cotelettes a 
 la sauce aux tomates. Votre devoue PICKWICK.' 
 
 " Qui oserai ecrire ainsi a moins d'une grande 
 intimite ? Seconde lettre : 
 
 " ' Chere Madame Bardell, Je n'arriverai que 
 demain par la derniere diligence du soir. Ne 
 vous inquietez pas du chauffe-lit.' 
 
 "Qui est-ce qui parle d'un chaufie-lit sans 
 y attacher un double sens, messieurs ? qui ecrit 
 chauffe-lit quand c'est bassinoire qu'il faut 
 dire ? " 
 
 The translator also provides Mr. Pickwick with 
 an entirely new story to be read in the Fleet Prison, 
 called " Bill le Detenu " a rather low, farcical 
 narrative. This seems to be carrying the art 
 of translating " librement " beyond legitimate 
 limits. 
 
 Every one recalls " Bob Sawyer's party " and
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 279 
 
 the disturbing claims of his landlady, Mrs. Raddle. 
 In setting out her demands the translator found 
 it shorter to recompose the whole scene afresh. 
 After giving her the name of " Mistress BADDLE," 
 he makes her ask for security for her rent. " Your 
 watch?" she said. "It's in pawn." "Your 
 clothes ? " " They're all in rags." " Books ?" 
 "Lent." Here Mr. Pickwick entered. "Forgive 
 me, " he said, " I did not know you were engaged 
 with ladies." " I am the landlady," said Mrs. 
 Baddle. " How much does my friend Robert owe 
 you." " Two guineas three shillings and six- 
 pence,"said Mrs. Baddle. " There's your money," 
 and Mr. Pickwick paid it down. 
 
 Presently Jack Hopkins arrived. 
 
 "What, just come from the Hospital, Jack ?" 
 said his host. Pickwick stared at him, to see if 
 he had the look of a patient. " Yes," was the 
 reply, " from St. Bartholomew's, where I pass my 
 life." " Anything new ? " 4C A splendid case ; a 
 man fallen out of a four-story window, without 
 hurting himself, and they are going to trepan 
 him to see if his brain is all right." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Benjamin, throwing away 
 his cigar end, " suppose we learn a lesson of 
 anatomy on the joint?" "Agreed!" All sat 
 down. Robert brought the oysters, but one thing 
 was wanting they had forgotten to open them. 
 Each did what they could. Pickwick, who had
 
 280 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 always a store of ingenious expedients, suggested 
 a hammer. The beef was cold, the ham was 
 rancid, and the cheese, from its strength, was the 
 only article worthy of notice." 
 
 It was not until 1859 that some amende was 
 made for this rough treatment, when Messrs. 
 Hachette proposed to undertake a complete and 
 accurate translation of our author's works, 
 employing competent persons, under the direction 
 of M. Lahure. The series began with the 
 " Aventures de Monsieur Pickwick," a mistrans- 
 lation of the title to start with. The author 
 supplied an address to the French people written 
 in his own language. He wrote : 
 
 " I have long been desirous that a complete 
 French translation of the books I have written 
 should be made, and should be published in one 
 uniform series. Hitherto less fortunate in France 
 than in Germany, I have only been known 
 to French readers not thoroughly acquainted 
 with the English language, through occasional 
 fragmentary and unauthorized translations, over 
 which I had no control, and from which I have 
 derived no advantage. The present translation 
 of my writings was proposed to me by Messrs. 
 L. Hachette and Co., and Ch. Lahure, in a 
 manner equally spirited, liberal, and generous. 
 It has been made with the greatest care, and its 
 many difficulties have been combated with
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 281 
 
 unusual skill, intelligence, and perseverance." 
 Yet, strange to say, even the translation of this 
 preface was not very accurately made, as when 
 Dickens speaks of *' the manner " in which the 
 scheme was proposed as being spirited, &c., the 
 translator makes it " qui font honneur a leur 
 charactere eleve, liberal et genereux ; " while "its 
 many difficulties have been combated" is turned 
 into " vaincus : " alterations, no doubt, meant as 
 compliments to the publishers. 
 
 Dickens, however, has never been so appreciated 
 by the French as was his great predecessor, 
 Sir "Walter Scott, owing to the fact that many 
 points of his humour turn on local dialect and 
 peculiarities, which it is impossible to render 
 in another language. Thus in this careful trans- 
 lation Sam Weller's oddities of pronunciation 
 spelling, &c., vanish altogether, as the translator 
 found it hopeless to supply any forms that could 
 represent them. Sam becomes one of the in- 
 numerable free-and-easy valets who figure so 
 largely, like Sganerelle, in plays and stories. 
 This is in part one of the many problems of 
 translation. 
 
 The scene of Mrs. Leo Hunter's party will 
 show how fairly the difficulties have been over- 
 come. The hostess becomes Madame Chasselion. 
 
 Count Smorltork says : 
 
 " Comment vous tire, Madame Chasselion ?
 
 282 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Monsieur Pigwig, he ? ou Bigwig un avocat ? Je 
 voiSj c'est ga, Monsieur Bigwig," et le comte 
 allait enregistrer M. Pickwick sur ses tablefctes 
 comme un gentleman qui se chargeait de faire 
 les affaires des autres, et dont le nom etait 
 derive de sa profession, lorsque Mme. Chasselion 
 1'arreta. 
 
 " Non, M. le Comte. Pickwick." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! je vois. Pique, nom de bapteme ; 
 Figue, nom de famille. Tres fort bien. Tres fort 
 bien. Comment portez-vous, Figue? " 
 
 And again, when Mr. Pickwick says gravely, 
 
 " Le mot politique comprend en soi-meme 
 une etude difficile et d'une immense etendue." 
 
 " Ah ! s'ecria le comte en tirant ses tablettes, 
 " tres fort bon ! Beaux paroles pour commencer 
 un chapitre ! Le mot politique surprend en soi- 
 meme," &c. This is excellent and quite as 
 amusing as the original. 
 
 We turn for a moment to the " trial," and to 
 the sketch of the "little judge." 
 
 " II y a quelqu'un avec vous, Maitre Snubbin ? " 
 reprit le judge. 
 
 "M. Phunkey, milord." 
 
 "Maitre Buzfuz et Maitre Skimpin pour la 
 plaignante," en ecrivantles noms sur son livre des 
 notes et en articulant ce qu'il ecrivait. " Pour le 
 defendeur Maitre Snubbin et M. Tronquet." 
 
 Buzfuz's speech is capitally rendered. " Enfin,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 283 
 
 messieurs, que signifient ces paroles ? La voiture 
 est en retard " (slow coach). And then, the 
 peroration : 
 
 " Cependant, gentlemen, Pickwick, 1'infame 
 destructeur de cet oasis domestique, qui verdoyait 
 dans le desert de Goswell Street, Pickwick, qui 
 se presente devant vous aujourd'hui avec son 
 infernale sauce aux tomates, etson ignoblebassinoire t 
 Pickwick leve encore devant vous son front 
 d'airain, et contemple avec ferocite la ruine dont 
 il est 1'auteur." 
 
 It would almost be impossible to give a 
 full list of the numerous translations made 
 of "Pickwick." Mr. "Wright has, however, 
 gathered all that can be procured. On his 
 shelves are to be found translations in (1) 
 French, (2) German, (3) Russian, (4) Spanish, 
 (5) Italian, (6) Danish, (7) Swedish, (8) Dutch, 
 (9) Polish, (10) Hungarian, (11) Portuguese. 
 The Book is also said to have been translated 
 into Flemish, and I have heard, though on not 
 very good authority, that there is one in Japanese ! 
 Again, it may be asked, is not this an extra- 
 ordinary tribute to the general impression made 
 by the book ? 
 
 In the progress of " Pickwick," as number 
 followed number, the young author was encou- 
 raged and stimulated by " the cheers," as it were, 
 of clever and admiring friends, to whom, as we
 
 284 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 have seen, the proofs were read aloud, and who were 
 privileged to make suggestions. It was as though 
 some popular orator were making a speech, 
 stimulated, as he goes on, by the growing applause 
 of his favouring hearers. Among these none were 
 so cordial, so practical and valuable as two gifted 
 young men, litterateurs like himself, and who were 
 then working their way to success. These were 
 Talfourd and Forster, the one a graceful poet and 
 dramatist ; the other a sagacious critic. It was 
 Talfourd who presided at the dinner which cele- 
 brated the happy, triumphant conclusion of 
 " Pickwick : " and it was Forster who care- 
 fully watched the proofs in its progress, and who 
 in the grateful words of the author, had devoted 
 " many patient hours to the correction of the 
 original editions:" and had furnished "counsel, 
 sympathy and faithful friendship " to the writer. 
 The pair showed him indeed an extraordinary and 
 hearty sympathy, that amounted to affection, and 
 identified themselves wholly with his work. 
 
 This admiration and support was thoroughly 
 spontaneous, and though they and others of his 
 friends were connected with the press, the author 
 never condescended to invite or solicit the praise 
 of the newspapers. In an unpublished letter now 
 before me, and written from Doughty Street about 
 this time, I find him writing to Mr. George Cox : 
 " Let me say candidly in one word, that I have
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 285 
 
 never, either in my own behalf or that of my most 
 intimate friend, made a request of any kind the 
 most remotely connected with the noticing of a 
 work, to any reviewer I know, directly or in- 
 directly. I always most cautiously and carefully 
 abstain from doing so." 
 
 This appreciation of his two friends presently 
 found expression in sonnets, a graceful, but now 
 old-fashioned, form of compliment. Both are 
 pleasing specimens, and may be contrasted with 
 each other. Talf curd's exhibits a somewhat 
 recondite tone ; Forster's, a true, warm affection. 
 
 SONNET 
 
 To CHARL'ES DICKENS, ESQ., 
 On reading the completed "Oliver Twist." 
 
 Not only with the author's happiest praise 
 
 Thy work should be rewarded ; it is kin 
 
 To men's, who steeling finest nerves to win 
 
 Rare blessings for mankind, explored the maze 
 
 Black with the mists of centuries, through ways 
 
 Where grief unsoftened prompts its parent sin 
 
 To make unwonted music 'mid the din 
 
 Of passions ; in the guilty spirit raise 
 
 Sweet dreams of goodness, bid the irons fall, 
 
 And hail the slave a Brother, for within 
 
 Wan childhood's squalid haunts, who?e basest needs 
 
 Make tyranny more bitter, at thy call 
 
 An infant face with patient sadness pleads, 
 
 Admitted kindred to the heart of all. 
 
 IQth February, 1839.
 
 286 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Forster's sonnet is more familiar to the world, 
 indeed the last two lines have been often quoted. 
 It is less mystical, and more hearty in its 
 expression than Talfourd's : 
 
 To CHARLES DICKENS. 
 
 Genius and its rewards are briefly told : 
 
 A liberal nature and a niggard doom, 
 A difficult journey to a splendid tomb. 
 
 New writ, nor lightly weighed, that story old 
 In gentle Goldsmith's life I here unfold ; 
 
 Thro' other than lone wild or desert gloom 
 In its mere joy and pain, its blight and bloom 
 
 Adventurous. Come with me and behold 
 friend with heart as gentle for distress 
 
 As resolute with wise, true thoughts to bind 
 The happiest to the unhappiest of our kind, 
 
 That there is fiercer, crowded misery, 
 In garret toil and London loneliness 
 
 Than in cruel islands mid the far- off sea. 
 
 March, 1848.
 
 XVIII. 
 
 I MUST not pass over that interesting incident in 
 Dickens' career, when, to the gratification of all, 
 he consented to introduce the writer of his books, 
 as well as the books he wrote, to the public. It 
 might be assumed that the author must be the 
 best interpreter of his own works : indeed, it was 
 held to be beyond dispute, that the tones, 
 emphasis, action, thus presenting the authorized 
 version, as it were, must be the best and most 
 legitimate expression. But the same difficulty 
 that was pointed out in the case of the would-be 
 illustrator, applies here. The hearer has formed 
 an ideal of his own ; the reader presents another. 
 As we have shown, a true comedy character is 
 general and abstract : the interpreter, unless he 
 be a Garrick or a Coquelin, makes it particular, 
 and unreal. Wagner could not interpret his 
 own music nearly so efficiently as his lieutenant, 
 Richter. In many passages of Dickens' readings, 
 clever as they were, it was thus felt that the in- 
 terpretation was often not the correct one.
 
 288 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The most enlivening of all the " Readings," and 
 the one presented with most dramatic variety, was 
 the " Trial from Pickwick." It was full of contrast 
 and indeed introduced the leading Pickwickian 
 favourites, with whom all the world was familiar. 
 The extraordinary life and spirit infused into the 
 original, roused a corresponding life and spirit 
 in the Reader : and the perfect familiarity of the 
 audience with all the allusions and even sentences, 
 gave an irresistible entrain to the whole. It was 
 usually given on the same night with that entire, 
 perfect chrysolite, " The Christmas Carol," to 
 whose pensive and pathetic grace it affords a 
 happy contrast ; and which, as we have shown, 
 was suggested by a story in " Pickwick." In this 
 piece, he thoroughly identified himself with his 
 characters. As Mr. Kent says, who has made a 
 regular etude of the reading : " His evening 
 costume was a matter of no consideration ; the 
 flower in the button-hole, the paper-knife in his 
 hand, the book before him, the animated, mobile, 
 delightful face, that we all knew by heart were 
 equally of no account whatever. Watching him, 
 hearkening to him, while he stood there before 
 the audience, on the raised platform in the 
 glare of the gas burners shining down on him 
 from behind the pendant screen above his head, 
 his individuality disappeared. We were as 
 though we saw the bald head, the spectacles,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 289 
 
 the cloth gaiters of Mr. Pickwick. Even the 
 lesser characters were then at last brought to 
 the fore, and suddenly assumed to themselves a 
 distinct importance. Eeader and audience, about 
 equally one may say, revelled in the ' Trial from 
 Pickwick.' Every well-known person in the 
 comic drama was looked for eagerly, and when at 
 last Sergeant Buzfuz,as we were told, rosewithmore 
 importance than he had yet exhibited, if that 
 were possible, and said, " Call Samuel Weller" 
 a round of applause invariably greeted the 
 announcement." 
 
 The little judge with his sepulchral tones and 
 owlish face, and the Sergeant, were perhaps the 
 best of his sketches. Sam Weller seemed 
 scarcely to reach the general ideal; but then, 
 how difficult to reach that ideal ! There were little 
 strokes and touches of minor characters that 
 showed great art ; such as the nervous sincerity he 
 put into the tones of the conscientious juryman 
 when asking as to Mrs. Bardell's window bill : 
 " There is no date to that document, is there ? 
 There were other admirable little pantomimic 
 touches, such as the Sergeant appearing to draw 
 his gown up on his shoulders, and to set the tails of 
 his wig free, talking behind his hand to Dodson 
 and Fogg. The whole was pruned and compressed 
 with much tact, and knowledge of stage effect, 
 and the Sergeant's speech was altered all through 
 
 u
 
 290 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 to the first person, with excellent result. To 
 quote Mr. Kent again : 
 
 " Every point, however minute, told and told 
 effectually. More effectually than if eacli was heard 
 for the first time, because all were thoroughly 
 known, and therefore appreciated. There was 
 something comically absurd in the Sergeant's ex- 
 traordinarily precise, almost mincing pronuncia- 
 tion, as where he said that ' never, in the whole 
 course of his professional experience, had he 
 approached a case with such a heavy sense of 
 respon-see-bee-lee-ty a respons-ee-bee-lee-ty he 
 could never have supported," &c. 
 
 Another "reading " from " Pickwick" was the 
 " Bob Sawyer's party," always welcomed with en- 
 joyment. This,however, amusing asit was, had not 
 the same dramatic power as the trial. Jack Hop- 
 kins, with his short, Jingle-like sentences, " Sister 
 industrious girl cried eyes out at loss of neck- 
 luss : looked high and low for neclduss " was 
 not very striking. A stroke of genius, how- 
 ever, was the presentation of the Lodging House 
 drudge, who spoke with a wheezy solemnity her 
 mouth formed into an the tones coming deep 
 from the throat : " Please, miste' Soiyer, Mrs. 
 Raddle seys you can't have no hot whater ! '' 
 
 The Readings were continued by this spirited, 
 intrepid man for some ten years, entailing travel 
 over enormous distances, under every hardship
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 291 
 
 of climate and illness : yet without the least flag- 
 ging. The last note, however, of all, and which 
 ended the strange, eventful history, was " Pick- 
 wick," and the trial was given with more than his 
 usual spirit and force, ending with " Samivel, 
 Samivel ! vy warn't there an alleybi ? '' I recall 
 this last of the long- series, at St. James's 
 Hall, on March 15, 1870, when, I stood on the 
 platform, close to him, behind one of the violet 
 screens, and heard him utter his strangely signi- 
 ficant farewell ! " From these garish lights, I 
 vanish for evermore ! " Within a few weeks he 
 had indeed vanished for evermore and his loss 
 impoverished the public stock of harmless 
 pleasure. 
 
 Early in this volume, it was pointed out, how 
 much uncertainty and lack of plan there was on 
 the part of all concerned, when the work was 
 started. One thing alone seems to have been 
 kept in view that Seymour, having been supplied 
 with a plan capable of variety and expansion, 
 was expected to exert all his talent, and carry 
 the venture through. This is shown by the 
 large quantity of illustrations, in the opening 
 numbers, quite out of proportion to the printed 
 matter supplied. Thus, in the first number, which 
 consisted of twenty-six pages only, we find no less 
 than four elaborately done etchings : so that the 
 purchaser of the shilling's worth would probably 
 
 u 2
 
 2 92 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 buy it to amuse himself with the pictures, turn- 
 ing to the text for comment and explanation. 
 The plates were all sewn together, so that this 
 must certainly have been the intention : and it is 
 much the same with those who purchase a num- 
 ber of Punch, and who turn to the " Cartoon." 
 
 The second number was reduced by two pages, 
 and contained twenty-four pages, or a sheet and 
 a half, with three illustrations. With the third, 
 owing to the death of Seymour, the whole pur- 
 pose of the venture was changed ; it was no 
 longer to be a series of illustrations, " illustrated " 
 by the text ; the author stepped into the prominent 
 place, as indeed he was entitled to do from 
 the merit of his work, two sheets or thirty- 
 two pages were allotted to him, and only two 
 illustrations were furnished. This became the 
 official form of all his works. With these changes 
 before him, some future Dryasdust might work 
 out the early history of " Pickwick." 
 
 The original MS. of" Our Mutual Friend" is, we 
 believe, in America, while those of his other novels 
 were regularly transferred to Mr. Forster as they 
 came out, and are now to be seen at South Ken- 
 sington. Mr. Dexter possesses the interesting MS. 
 of the " Christmas Carol," and Mr. Wright that of 
 the " Battle of Life." It is curious to note the 
 change that gradually took place in the author's 
 handwriting and fashion of writing, in this
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 293 
 
 period of over thirty years, during which he was 
 engaged in composition ; and it is scarcely fanciful 
 to say, that it corresponded with the change in his 
 style. Mr. Forster has placed beside each other two 
 specimens one written in 1837, a passage from 
 " Oliver Twist," which would be the same as the 
 writing of "Pickwick," and the last page of 
 " Edwin Drood." The former is clear, open, 
 decided, and almost mercantile, with only three 
 corrections in the fourteen lines ; the other 
 crowded, hesitating in small characters, pro- 
 fusely corrected, interlined, and not very legible. 
 Nothing is more remarkable than the manly 
 decision of the first specimen, and its bright, 
 perfect legibility. 
 
 When he came to the printing of his work, no one 
 was so conscientious or workmanlike as Dickens. 
 His proofs display little more than omission of 
 paragraphs and the occasional alteration of a 
 word. In the revisal of his followers' proofs he 
 was unsparing altering, cutting, inserting, but 
 disturbing the arrangement of the form as little as 
 possible. He showed much ingenuity and clever- 
 ness in this process. " Cutting " was his grand 
 maxim, pruning down florid sentences and 
 adding little effective points of his own. We have 
 before us now slips of our own work, astonishingly 
 improved by these touchings a labyrinth of in- 
 sertions, transpositions, and erasures, all in his
 
 294 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 favourife blue ink, which he adopted when 
 " Copperfield " had run about half its course. The 
 original " copy " or MS. of nearly all his works, in 
 the Forster Library, is in great stout quartos. It 
 is curious to note how every line almost is carefully 
 amended or altered, and the substituted passages 
 written in the minutest characters. So close are 
 the lines and so " squeezed " the writing, that 
 the effect is bewildering ; but his printers knew 
 his way perfectly. Each page holds about forty 
 lines of close writing, and each line some twenty 
 words, making about 800 words in each page. 
 He followed one system, and never failed in the 
 practice to make the words erased illegible. 
 This must have cost him time and trouble ; for it 
 is done in thorough fashion. Instead of drawing 
 a line across, the sentence is laboriously effaced 
 by a series of minute flourishings. 
 
 We find here proof sheets of only two of his works 
 - t Copperfield" and "Edwin Drood." The 
 passages erased from the proof are interesting in 
 their way, and it is not difficult to find the reason 
 for their omission. They were mostly de trap, or 
 an amplification of some previous sentiment. 
 Among the most curious is the alteration of the 
 subject of Mr. Dick's monomania, which originally 
 took the shape of " the bull in the china shop." 
 " Do you recollect the date, 5 ' he asks, " when the 
 bull got into the china shop and did so much
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 295 
 
 mischief?" "I was very much surprised," says 
 David, " by the inquiry ; but remembering a song 
 about such an occurrence, that was once popular 
 at Salem House, and thinking he might want to 
 quote it, replied that I believed it was St. Patrick's 
 Day." "Yes, I know," said Mr. Dick, "in the 
 morning ; but what year ? " This notion of " the 
 bull and the china shop " was carried on for a 
 number or two ; but was carefully altered into 
 the more refined and natural idea of " King 
 Charles the First's head." Mr. Dick, on his first 
 introduction, was seen at the window, " putting 
 his tongue out against the glass, and carrying it 
 across the pane and back again : and, when his 
 eye caught mine, squinted at me in a most terrible 
 manner." This picture of lunacy was felt, no 
 doubt, to be disagreeable, or too realistic, and was 
 omitted. 
 
 As Mr. Forster has shown, the author set down 
 at the beginning of each chapter, a few hints and 
 catch-words for its treatment. Thus we find 
 " First chapter funny. Then on to Emily. 
 ' Going out with the tide.' Em'ly to go ? No. 
 Yes, and ruined? Next time. Miss Moucher, 
 impossible. No Steerforth, this time. Keep him 
 out." 
 
 There is a dialogue between Steerforth (who 
 was originally Steerford) and Mrs. Gummidge 
 which is worth restoring.
 
 296 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " Mrs. Gummidge, as usual, was taken poorly in 
 her spirits when we showed a disposition to be 
 merry; and was, as usual, adjured by Pegotty 
 to cheer up. " Mr. Dan'l," said Mrs. Gummidge, 
 shaking her head, " I gets worse and worse ; I 
 had far better go into the house to-morrow 
 morning, afore breakfast!" "No, no," said 
 Steerforth, " don't say so ; what's the matter?" 
 " You don't know me, sir," said the doleful 
 Gummidge, " or you wouldn't ask." " The loss is 
 mine," said Steerforth coaxingly; " but let us 
 know each other better. "What's the matter ? " 
 Mrs. Gummidge shed tears, and stated her un- 
 comfortable condition in the usual terms ; " I'm 
 a lone, lorn creetur and everythink goes contrairy 
 with me." " No, no," said Steerforth, " why, we 
 must be designed by heaven for each other. I'm 
 a lone, lorn creature myself, and everything has 
 gone contrary with me since my cradle. Mr. 
 Pegotty, will you change places and allow me to 
 sit next her?" The immediate effect of this on 
 Mrs. Gummidge was to make her laugh. " You 
 lone and lorn," said Mrs Gummidge, peevishly ; 
 " yes, you looks like it." " As like it as you are," 
 said Steerforth, taking his seat beside her. 
 " Indeed," said Mrs. Gummidge with another 
 laugh. " Ay, indeed," cried Steerforth, "let us 
 be lone and lorn together. Everything shall go 
 contiairy with us both, and we'll go contrairy
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 297 
 
 with all the world." It was in vain for Mrs. 
 Gummidge to resist this logic, or to try and push 
 him away. He sat thus all the rest of the 
 evening, and when Mrs. Gummidge began to 
 shake her head, repeated his proposal. The con- 
 sequence was that Mrs. Gummidge was constantly 
 laughing and pushing him." 
 
 Another speech of Steerforth's on proctors 
 was also erased. " I confess I think it a matter 
 of gammon and spinach, as my friend Miss 
 Moucher would say," he returned ; " a proctor's 
 a gentlemanly sort of fellow. I don't see any 
 objection to your being a proctor ; you shall take 
 out my marriage licence, in case I ever want one, 
 if that is any inducement to you, and you shall 
 separate my wife and me afterwards, and you 
 shall prove my will if you live long enough." 
 This is gay and spirited. The proctors were 
 originally to be named " Aiguille and Tan- 
 quille," after which he wrote, " No ; Spenlow 
 and Jorkins." Littimer, the valet, was Lirrimer 
 in the original. 
 
 Dickens, always eager to put down religious 
 " cant," at first thought of introducing some 
 severe " hits." Here is a passage which does 
 not appear in the printed editions. 
 
 " I heard that Mr. Creakle, on account of 
 certain religious opinions he held, was one of 
 the Elect and Chosen terms which certainly
 
 298 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 none of us understood in the least then, if any- 
 body understands them now and that the man 
 with the wooden leg was another. I heard that 
 the man with the wooden leg had (Traddles' 
 father, according to Traddles, had positively 
 heard him) frightened women into fits by 
 raving about a pit lie said lie saw, with I don't 
 know how many thousands of billion sand trillions 
 of pretty babes born for no other purpose than 
 to be cast into it." 
 
 He also intended to make Heep more of a 
 sanctimonious or praying hypocrite, as is evident 
 from various pious allusions struck out. Thus, 
 Heep says : " I passed an hour or two in the 
 evening sometimes with Mr. Tidd, and thought 
 myself in another and better world ; he is so clear, 
 Master Copperfield." Describing Copperfield's 
 youthful passion for Miss Larkins, Dickens wrote 
 in his proofs, " If the elder Miss Larkins would 
 drive a triumphal car down the High Street and 
 allow me to throw myself under the wheels as an 
 offering to her beauty, I should be proud to be 
 trampled under the horses' feet." And again, 
 " Sometimes I am persuaded she must have been 
 aware of it [my attachment] on account of my 
 agitation and the expression of my face when I 
 met her. Then I look in the glass, and getting 
 up that expression as nearly as 1 can," etc. The 
 Micawbers lived "in an unfurnished room like a
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 299 
 
 party of domesticated Arabs." A passage was 
 taken out of David's amusing account of his 
 tipsiness : " I was so far from wanting words 
 that I had only too many of them. I didn't know 
 what to do with them. I floundered among them 
 as if they were water in which I was splashing 
 about." When he was in love with Dora and 
 attending church, " a sermon was delivered 
 (about Dora, of course), beginning 'in the first 
 chapter of the Book of Dora you will find the 
 following word, Dora.' ' In David Copperfield's 
 account of his mother's funeral, there was this 
 pathetic passage ; 
 
 " I remember being awakened in the morning 
 by the sharp strokes of a spade ; that I looked 
 out of the window and saw men working in the 
 churchyard underneath the tree, and went to bed 
 and wept. I remember that I lay there sobbing 
 until Pegotty came up to help me to undress myself, 
 and that being in her black dress the first time she 
 wrung her hands, a thing that turned my very 
 blood to see her do." 
 
 In one of the Ouvry letters, he tells a friend 
 that the publisher's profits during three years 
 from 1836 to 1839 upon the sale of " Pickwick " 
 in numbers only, were 14,OOOL It will be interest- 
 ing to compare the bargain made, for " Nickleby," 
 which was based upon this result : 
 
 " First. They give me 1500Z. more for
 
 300 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 ' Nickleby.' Five hundred of this I have had, so 
 there is a thousand more to pay. 
 
 " Secondly. They pay me 50Z. a week for the 
 new work, out of which I pay for what assistance 
 I require, which, upon a liberal allowance, may 
 average 12L a week, but certainly not more. 
 They also pay all expenses of printing, advertis- 
 ing, and illustrations (the last being woodcuts 
 will be very expensive), and then of all profits 
 allow me one clear half not deducting the 
 expenses. 
 
 " By this arrangement, upon a sale of 20,000 
 copies I shall get nothing ; upon a sale of 40,000, 
 they get half the profit upon the additional 
 20,000, and I add the other half to my 50 1. you 
 understand ? If the work went on for two 
 years, and were to sell 50,000 (which Bradbury 
 and Evans think certain, but which I confess I 
 do not, though there is a good chance of it), my 
 profits would be between 10,OOOL and 11,0002. , 
 and theirs 5000Z. 
 
 " I think this very good as good as could be 
 and if the secret of the form and nature of the 
 new publication is rigidly kept, as no doubt it 
 will be, I hope it may make a tremendous stand. 
 If so, I don't despair of making a decent thing 
 out of some one of my works yet and as to time 
 if it continues to be popular, it may go on for 
 five years as well as for two."
 
 XIX. 
 
 IN the interesting Exhibition of " English 
 Humorist Artists," held last year, at the Institute, 
 Piccadilly, there were to be seen specimens of 
 illustrations from the days of Hogarth to those 
 of Mr. E. Caldecott. Here the inspiring influence 
 of Dickens was conspicuous, particularly in the 
 display of the figures and scenes from his 
 stories. These, after the brilliant efforts of 
 Rowlandson, formed unquestionably the most at- 
 tractive portion of the Exhibition. Here were to 
 be seen the sketches for "Oliver Twist," "Copper- 
 field," "Bleak House," "Edwin Drood," and many 
 more. Here we could make comparison between 
 the strength of the different illustrators. In the 
 earlier specimens of " Phiz " and Cruikshank, 
 there was a sort of inspiration, and a dramatic 
 feeling, that corresponded with the author's. 
 In Phiz's later efforts, this seemed lacking. 
 Many were the difficulties which Dickens ex- 
 perienced in the selection of an illustrator for 
 what unhappily proved to be his last work ; and, 
 after much hesitation, he selected a young artist
 
 302 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 of ability, engaged on an illustrated paper, the 
 Graphic, just then started. 1 
 
 It is with a particular interest that we pause 
 before an original coloured, full-length of Mr. 
 Pickwick, the work of "Phiz." This spirited 
 drawing was clearly intended by the artist to be 
 his "sketch model" and reference guide during 
 the progress of the work. There we see the full, 
 benevolent face, a little more florid, and perhaps 
 grosser, than we would expect ; but it must be 
 recollected that, in the plates, a face done on so 
 small a scale, is abstract and general. We could 
 not tell, for instance, what was the exact shape 
 or expression of the Pickwickian mouth, a simple 
 indication or dot being all that was attempted. 
 When we come to larger, detailed work, the 
 general likeness which was every one's ideal, be- 
 comes too emphasized and distinct in expression. 
 It cannot reach to the ideal of all. Thus, as we 
 have shown, no new illustrations, however well 
 executed, will be acceptable to all. In the corner 
 " Phiz " has set down some notes, descriptive of 
 the costume ; as : " Nankeen tights, black cloth 
 gaiters, white waistcoat, blue coat, brass buttons, 
 square cut in the tails." These stage directions 
 
 1 We recall a dinner-party given by our author (it was on 
 January 30th, 1870), at which were Sir Edwin Landseer, and 
 this young artist, now a Koyal Academician, our host informing 
 us, for the first time, that he was the illustrator he had selected 
 for the new work.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 303 
 
 were no doubt official, and furnished by the 
 author himself. So earnest was the artist in his 
 work, that we find in the top corner experiments 
 for Mr. Pickwick's hat. There are three sketches 
 of it, from various points of view. The figure 
 itself seems an enlargement of Seymour's first 
 sketch of Mr. Pickwick addressing the club on 
 his chair, the right arm being raised oratori- 
 cally, the left placed under his coat-tails, in 
 which attitude there is a capital dramatic signifi- 
 cance. It betokens that fervency and ardour 
 which redeemed so much of that amiable person's 
 mild absurdity. 
 
 It is curious to turn from the boldly-conceived 
 and even elaborate " Pickwick," this masterly 
 picture of character and manners, which supposed 
 the knowledge and experience of a lifetime, to 
 the portraits of the author done at the period. 
 Few would be prepared for that bright, boyish 
 face, full of vivacity, gracefully outlined, with the 
 abundance of flowing hair, and with an engaging 
 expression that was for his friends irresistible. 
 Here was found a vigorous, practical glance, 
 which might almost have seemed incompatible 
 with delicacy of humour and enjoyment. Yet 
 there is the same combination in "Pickwick," 
 where we find an airiness of touch, and occa- 
 sionally a tenderness, united with a business-like 
 vigour. As we have so often repeated, this was
 
 304 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the work of a young man of only three and 
 twenty ! 
 
 The subject of the Portraits of Dickens is 
 being dealt with in a sumptuous and compre- 
 hensive work, "Dickens in Pen and Pencil," now 
 being issued under Mr. Kitton's and Mr. Dexter's 
 direction. 
 
 This work has been entered upon with an ex- 
 traordinary enthusiasm and industry, with the 
 result that about a hundred portraits and sketches 
 have been gathered. The contrast between these 
 various counterfeit presentments is surprising ; 
 between the early boyish exuberance, and the 
 later rather " grizzled " type, suggesting, accord- 
 ing to Ary Scheffer's happy expression, some 
 grim Dutch Admiral of Van Tromp's day. Of the 
 portraits representing him at what we may call 
 this Pickwick era, the most notable are Lawrence's 
 crayon sketch done in 1837, and brilliantly 
 lithographed though somewhat heavy about the 
 mouth; Maclise's well-known picture ; and Count 
 D'Orsay's clever drawing, done in 1841. 
 
 Not the least interesting of the memorials to 
 be seen at the Humorists Exhibition, were the 
 rough pencil sketches of the author, dashed off 
 by Cruikshank, at convivial moments, and done 
 during the Pickwickian era. There is a sheet of 
 paper covered with attempts. There is a spirited 
 full-length, representing him seated, with five
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 305 
 
 heads, all of the same character the hair droop- 
 ing over the eyes. There is a curious suggestion 
 of his son Henry's features. 
 
 The genius of Dickens during his thirty years' 
 course may be said to have inspired the foremost 
 artists of his time. Though the designing of illus- 
 trations for stories is usually found incompatible 
 with the labours of the professional painter in 
 France it is a distinct branch his friends were 
 proud and eager to associate themselves with his 
 work. Half a dozen of his illustrators have become 
 Royal Academicians ; but of these Leslie and Sir 
 J. Gilbert only are associated with " Pickwick." 
 
 The absorbing interest of the subject has 
 indeed prompted all sorts and conditions of 
 illustration. On turning over these efforts, it is 
 curious to note how complete and universal is 
 the failure to reach the author's ideal. Shown 
 without preparation to a casual amateur, it 
 would be almost impossible to know that they 
 were associated with " Pickwick " at all. Neither 
 the faces nor the scenes themselves suggest 
 anything Pickwickian. Comparing the artists 
 engaged, we are compelled to acknowledge 
 
 z It may be noted here, that Leslie's monochrome oil sketch 
 is scarcely done justice to in the small woodcut prefixed to the 
 first cheap edition. It now belongs to Mr. Wright, and is 
 vigorously painted, though Mr. Pickwick's face has a rough or 
 testy expression, and the pleasant humour of the situation 
 the scene with Mrs. Bardell is scarcely brought out.
 
 306 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the amazing supremacy of "Phiz," and of 
 Seymour, and we must consider it part of the 
 unvarying good fortune of the author, that he 
 thus secured the best talent available for his 
 work. At the same time his own important 
 share in the direction of the illustrations by way 
 of suggestion and alteration, contributed to this 
 result. So that in this, it may be unique, 
 instance, the author became the inspirer and 
 director not only of his own legitimate depart- 
 ment, but of that of his coadjutor also. The 
 natural result has been that the plates reflect the 
 story, even in the most minute points. As Mr. 
 Grego has pointed out to me, the innumerable 
 plates which "Phiz" later furnished for Lever's 
 works do not correspond in many points with the 
 text, and are often founded on a misapprehension 
 of it : for Lever was living far away at Florence 
 or Spezia, and exercised no control over the 
 illustrations. 
 
 Sir John Gilbert, K..A., whose richly coloured 
 pictures, full of dash and bravura, are familiar to 
 amateurs, was for many years much in demand 
 as an illustrator of periodicals. Even now his 
 bold and picturesque designs for the stories 
 running in the London Journal are much 
 sought after by the judicious collector. To 
 " Pickwick" he furnished a series of no less than 
 thirty- two designs, which have a pleasing correct-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 307 
 
 ness ; but which pace so admirable an artist 
 are highly unpickwickian. There is no trace of 
 humour. It is Mr. Pickwick taken au plus grand 
 serieux ; or, as Elia has it, " with all the accuracy 
 of ocular admeasurement" All the grotesque 
 adventures seem actual critical situations. This 
 lack of the ironical sense is often found in 
 writers. As Lamb has explained it, a " sub in- 
 tention," that is, a delicate hint that you are 
 not to be taken seriously, is the secret of real 
 comedy. An illustrator of this literal turn 
 would present Mr. Pickwick in Miss Withersfield's 
 chamber as an actual intruder. The awkward- 
 ness of the situation becomes almost painful. But 
 " Phiz " seized on the precise comical point : who 
 shall forget the bewildered face of Mr. Pickwick, 
 the bed curtains drawn round it, and the un- 
 conscious spinster arranging her hair ! 
 
 In addition to the skilled commentators and 
 " comparative explorers," there are a number of 
 collectors who with a generous devotion gather 
 everything that is associated with the " god of 
 their idolatry." Among the most zealous and 
 enthusiastic of Pickwickians, is Mr. W. Wright, 
 who has spared neither labour nor expense in the 
 pursuit. He is the possessor of all " Phiz's " 
 original drawings for " Pickwick," with the ex- 
 ception of one of the frontispieces which cannot 
 be traced, and has always been mysteriously 
 
 x 2
 
 308 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 missing. According to the scale of prices that 
 have recently " ruled," these must be of extra- 
 ordinary value. Allusion has been made in the 
 text to the difficulty, if not impossibility, of settling 
 the priority of the different " states " of the plates, 
 an instance of which is the etched title-page, 
 which in some impressions displays " Tony 
 Yeller" on the sign-board, and in others " Tony 
 Weller." This, no doubt, is a trivial point 
 enough; but as the Bentleys and "Wakefields 
 contended fiercely over a dot or particle, so our 
 Pickwickian controversialists find themselves hotly 
 engaged over all that touches the exactness and 
 due authenticity of the text and illustrations. 
 These little controversies enliven the general 
 drudgery of the eager bibliophilist, and often 
 lead to important discoveries. This little 
 " Veller " point, is, however, all but settled, as it 
 appears to me, by a particular copy of " Pickwick " 
 in the possession of Mr. Wright, and to which a 
 singular interest attaches. Each number, as it 
 came out, was presented by the author to Miss 
 Mary Hogarth, to whom, as we have seen, he was 
 tenderly attached, and whose death was actually 
 the cause of the interruption of the story. In each 
 number was written an inscription from the 
 author, " Mary Hogarth, from hers most affec- 
 tionately, Charles Dickens," which is continued 
 until the thirteenth number, when her father's
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 309 
 
 name is substituted. The succeeding numbers 
 bear the initials of Miss Hogarth's friend, Miss 
 Walker. Thus the copy is of interest : 3 for it 
 seems certain that the author would have pre- 
 sented only the earliest copies of the numbers, 
 as they came from the publishers, to this friend. 
 Here we find *' Veller," not Weller, on the 
 sign-board. It is curious that, in the title of 
 Martin Chuzzlewit, there is also a mistake of the 
 same kind, in the inscription or " sign," where the 
 "" is placed after "100," instead of before. The 
 mistake was corrected, but it is evidence of the 
 very earliest edition. 
 
 A few weeks ago in Paris, when turning over 
 this interesting collection, Mr. Wright placed in 
 my hands a strangely interesting relic, associated 
 with Dickens' boyhood. This was a parchment- 
 bound cash-book, in which the clerks of Messrs. 
 Ellis and Blackmore, the firm of solicitors who 
 
 3 Mr. Wright's own account is as follows : 
 
 " Mr. George Hogarth, her father, whose name appears on a 
 number, gave them to her intimate friend and school com- 
 panion, Miss K. F. Walker, who completed the set. The 
 numbers afterwards came into the possession of their son, 
 Edward Walker, who took them with him to India and other 
 places, hence the salt-water stains on some of the leaves. In 
 1888, Mrs. Walker commissioned Miss Langley to sell them, 
 and I then became the owner of this unique copy of the 
 ' Pickwick Papers.' 
 
 "Paris, 1888."
 
 3io THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 employed him, entered regularly all their items of 
 legal expenditure. It begins in March, 1827, 
 when their young clerk was but fifteen, and here 
 he sets down in his clear, but not very steady 
 writing, what he paid away for swearing affidavits, 
 &c. From this little ledger he appears to have 
 received thirteen shillings and sixpence a week, 
 later increased to fifteen shillings and we have 
 such items as these : " One week in advance," 
 "4s. lid due to me," " Coach hire, to get will re- 
 gistered, 2s.," "March, 1827, to justify, 2s.," &c, 
 But there is something more interesting still to 
 be gathered from these entries. For here we find 
 various names of clients and of causes, which re- 
 curred to him, and seemed to him the most fitting 
 and natural for particular characters. It is 
 curious to think of these clinging to his memory for 
 over a dozen years, and of their being deliberately 
 chosen for their realistic effect. Thus we 
 find an entry, " Self to Eudge," a cause of 
 " Ruberough v. Corney," and "Madgwick v. 
 Dalley." In the cause of one Humphreys he 
 himself swore an affidavit. Sometimes the name 
 was slightly altered, as in a divorce suit of 
 " Barwell and "Wife," and a certain " Newman 
 Knott," whose name recurs very often once 
 with the note, " Paid N. Knott, and lent him 2s." 
 We have also " Breeds v. Sawyer," and the 
 name of " Wilkin." We find also a firm of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 311 
 
 solicitors, Prue and Freedland, doing business at 
 Canterbury, like Wickfield and Heep. 
 
 These and many other items, show what oppor- 
 tunities he enjoyed for learning the " practice " 
 of a solicitor's office ; being often despatched, 
 like Mr. "Wicks, Mr. Jackson, and the other clerks, 
 to swear affidavits, &c. To this we owe the 
 extraordinary dramatic vitality of these sketches 
 of the solicitor's life. Hence, too, it would seem 
 that in daily life so many touches occur, which 
 suggest and even warrant " Pickwick." 4 
 
 The relations of " Phiz" to his author, and the 
 important share taken by the latter in directing 
 the illustrations, have been fully set out by Mr. 
 
 4 Thus, in the days of the " Cock " tavern, Tennyson's 
 tavern, I once got into conversation with a .sort of decayed 
 solicitor, who dwelt on his familiar intimacy with a Commis- 
 sioner of Bankrupts, exactly as Mr. Pell did on his affectionate 
 friendship with "the Lord Chancellor." The dialogue, as 
 reported by the decayed solicitor, was something of this kind, 
 but with many variations : " Todd," said he, ' I must decide 
 the case against you.' ' Yery well, my Lord, you will decide 
 wrongly.' ' I don't care, Todd,' he said. ' We'll see, my 
 Lord,' said I. Well, sir, the case was reversed on appeal, when 
 he sent for me, ' Todd,' he said, ' you were right, and I was 
 wrong.' ' I knew you were, iny Lord,' I said. ' Todd,' he 
 said," &c. 
 
 Once our author was presenting the prizes at the Midland 
 Institute of Birmingham, of which he was President, when a 
 little girl came up, whose name, it was announced, was Winkle. 
 The chairman with his usual pleasant bonhomie, said, " So you 
 see, my dear you will have to change your name."
 
 312 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Croad Thomson, in a handsome quarto volume, 
 on the life and labours of Hablot Browne. Here 
 we are shown how truly fortunate was Dickens in 
 having so versatile a person at his command, 
 and one so prompt in carrying out his sugges- 
 tions. This artist, as is well known, was one of 
 the most prolific and industrious of illustrators, 
 and his plates for Lever's "rollicking" books, 
 where he was uncontrolled, show even a greater 
 brilliancy and dash. Here the artist was not 
 fettered by restraints, such as preserving the 
 likeness throughout, or of importing a particular 
 significance to a dramatic situation. As we have 
 seen, the drawings submitted to Dickens were 
 returned with marginal directions, and with 
 letters of particular instructions which the artist 
 generally contrived to carry out. 
 
 The first plate which " Phiz " drew for 
 " Pickwick " was the scene in the yard of ,the 
 White Hart Inn, which, however, in the book, is 
 placed after another, that of the overturn of 
 AYardle's chaise during the pursuit of Jingle. I 
 have before pointed out what delicacy and grace 
 there is in this etching, which is perhaps the best 
 of the artistic series. Mr. Thomson gives a 
 dramatic account of its execution. Mr. Young, 
 who is now alive, and residing in Furnival's 
 Inn, Dickens' old place of residence, was well 
 skilled in the important function of what is
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 313 
 
 called " biting in " etched plates, a task of nicety 
 and delicacy, as the effect depends on the time 
 the acid is allowed to work. 5 At this time " Phiz " 
 was lodging in Newman Street, and, as Mr. Young 
 relates, one evening he came rushing in; " Look 
 here, old fellow," he said; "will you come to 
 my rooms, to help ine with a plate I have to 
 etch?" He had just received his commission to 
 work on "Pickwick." " Mr. Young, being as 
 obliging a man as ever lived, readily agreeing to 
 go, the other bade him bring his key with him, 
 as they might be late. They sat up the whole 
 night to accomplish the work." I am glad to 
 find my opinion of the merits of this introductory 
 plate endorsed by so competent a judge as Mr. 
 Thomson, who pronounces it " an inimitable 
 composition, which must have made Dickens' 
 heart warm as he looked at it." 
 
 The elaborate nature of Dickens' promptings to 
 his artist will be seen from a single instance. As 
 he often said, he never took the slightest liberty 
 with his public, but supplied the very best work 
 he could command. Every one will recall the 
 picture of Mr. Dombey's introduction to Mrs. 
 Skewton on the "Parade " at Leamington, 
 
 6 Now-a-days, the artist is presumed to do this work himself, 
 as he can produce effects which a journeyman cannot attempt. 
 There are etchers also who actually print their own works, 
 which allows of other devices and effects being produced.
 
 314 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 through the agency of Major Bagstock. It 
 would seem an ordinary incident enough ; but 
 the author intended a deep and even mysterious 
 significance. Accordingly we find him writing to 
 his artist : " The first subject I am now going to 
 give is very important to the book. I should like 
 to see your sketch of it if possible. I should pre- 
 mise I want to make the Major, who is the in- 
 carnation of selfishness and small revenge, a kind 
 of comic Mephistophelian power in the book." 
 He then goes on to describe at length the scene of 
 the introduction of Mr. Dombey to Mrs. Skewton 
 and her daughter : " Mother usually shoved about 
 in a Bath chair, by a page who has rather out- 
 grown and out-shoved his strength, and butts it 
 behind like a ram, while his mistress steers it 
 languidly by a handle in front. Nothing the 
 matter with her to prevent her walking, only was 
 once a beauty ; sketched reclining in a barouche, 
 having outlived her beauty and the barouche. . . 
 The native in attendance bearing a camp stool and 
 the Major's great coat. Daughter has a parasol. 
 Native evidently afraid of the Major. If you like 
 it better, the scene may be in a street or in a green 
 lane. But a great deal will come of it ; and I want 
 the Major to express that, as much as possible in 
 his apoplectic, Mephistophelian observation of 
 the scene." 
 
 Returning to the " Pickwick " plates, we find
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 315 
 
 that enormous pains were taken with one illustra- 
 tion, that of Gabriel Grub and the goblin. No 
 less than three drawings were made, " a unique cir- 
 cumstance," says Mr. Thomson, " in the Dickens' 
 illustrations. The first scarcely follows the text : 
 the goblin's tongue is not out, his hat is not broad- 
 brimmed, nor are his legs crossed. In the second 
 the result is better ; the hat and legs are as de- 
 scribed, but the tongue is still not out. In the 
 third, the figure is exactly as described, and St. 
 Alban's Church is introduced in the background, 
 very delicately and beautifully." Two drawings 
 were made for the Warden's room, the first not 
 nearly so good as the present. 
 
 It is clear that many of the improvements were 
 suggested by the author himself while the plates 
 were being etched. Thus in the " Valentine " 
 drawing, Mr. Weller, senior, is shown without his 
 hat, and his coat does not lie on the chair ; and in 
 Bob Sawyer's surgery a skeleton is introduced ; 
 while in the picture of Bob on the top of the 
 chaise, the boy running after the chaise had a 
 bundle on his back, which was transferred to his 
 hand with more effect. 
 
 As I have said, nothing strikes us so forcibly 
 as we turn over these wonderful plates, as the 
 perfect propriety of illustration, the figures being 
 disposed exactly as they ought to be ; also the 
 extraordinarily humorous details, which are dis-
 
 316 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 played without intrusion. They will bear study 
 and examination, with the result of fresh dis- 
 coveries each time. It may be admitted that 
 they are a little unequal in design and execution ; 
 some have been " bitten in" a little too black, 
 but all show the same spirit. If we were to 
 select the best, for delicacy of execution, we should 
 name : (1) The yard of the White Hart. (2) The 
 scene in Nupkins' kitchen. (3) The bedroom 
 scene in the Fleet. (4) Winkle's confession of 
 his marriage. (5) Mary and the fat boy (where, 
 by the way, a cook is introduced who does not 
 figure in the text). 6 Other plates are remarkable 
 for the dramatic effect and grouping, such as the 
 picturesque scene of the ghostly mail coach legend, 
 which has quite a weird-like tone, and lingers in 
 the memory. A few, not half a dozen, are some- 
 what inexpressive and conventional, but the 
 whole series is admirable, and will bear the closest 
 criticism. 1 may note here, besides the varia- 
 tions in the plates noted by the Dean of Lismore, a 
 few more which Mr. Croad Thomson has pointed 
 out. These are; in the White Hart plate, in its first 
 shape, Wardle's smalls are dark and the dog black; 
 in the second both are light coloured. A Welling- 
 ton boot on the first step has been added. In the 
 
 6 In the battle between the Eatanswill editors, the cook, 
 kitchen-maid, and landlord are introduced, who were not 
 present, as " the house " had long since gone to bed.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 317 
 
 "elopement" or overturn, the second version 
 greatly varies, " the upraised arm of Wardle is 
 altered ; there are four horses seen ; no wheel is 
 lying in the foreground; the driver is not the 
 same man, and the carriages and foliage are 
 treated differently." In the sketch of the inter- 
 view with Sergeant Snubbin, Dickens has written 
 underneath: " I think the Sergeant should look 
 younger and a great deal more sly and knowing; 
 he should be looking at Pickwick too, smiling 
 compassionately at his innocence. The other 
 fellows are noble. C. D." This is now capitally 
 conveyed. On the plate entitled " Mr. Winkle 
 returns under extraordinary circumstances," he 
 writes : " Are Sam and the housemaid clearly 
 made out ? and would it not be better if he were 
 looking on, with his arm round Mary ? I rather 
 question the accuracy of the housemaid." Which 
 was accordingly done. 
 
 "The 'Eatanswill Election' varies greatly in 
 the two versions, the mayor stands with his legs 
 apart in the second plate, and in the crowd below 
 some of the figures are in different positions. A 
 minute variation is the boy's hat behind Pickwick ; 
 in some copies it has a cockade, thus making the 
 figure Sam Weller's. 
 
 " In the plate of Mr. Pickwick behind the door 
 of the young ladies' school, it is to be noted that 
 the bell is only in the second version. In Mrs.
 
 3i8 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Leo Hunter's party there are many variations. 
 In the first version there is a post in the fore- 
 ground and a birdcage in the tree, and (as was 
 before noted) a figure like Lord Brougham's. In 
 the second, the brigand has a hat and feathers, his 
 knees are bent, and Mr. Pickwick extends both 
 his arms. In the visit to Dodson and Fogg's 
 office, Sam's legs in the first plate are together ; 
 in the second, apart. In the first etching of 
 " Pickwick in the Pound," as we before noted, 
 there is a young ass not found in the second, and 
 there are also more boys. 
 
 "In the double-bedded room the lady is plumper 
 and younger in the second, and the dress thrown 
 over the chair is bright coloured. 
 
 " In the Christmas Eve at Mr. Wardle's, the 
 first version had a cat and dog not found either 
 in the drawing nor in the second version. In the 
 goblin scene there is a bone beside the skull in 
 one plate. The " Valentine " has a newspaper on 
 the ground in the foreground and in the trial 
 scene, Perker's hat is in one and not in the other. 
 The partition of the counsels' seats is much 
 higher." 
 
 The connection between Dickens and his 
 illustrator continued for over twenty years, when 
 our author was induced to try a new hand. 
 It must be said that by this time "Phiz" 
 had lost his cunning, or at least his sense of
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 319 
 
 humorous inspiration; his faces, figures, and 
 scenes offered a rather monotonous and conven- 
 tional air; he seemed to take no trouble with 
 the faces, and the general idea was rather indi- 
 cated than expressed. There was also an extrava- 
 gance in the drawing, and what was intended to 
 be humorous became caricature, such as is seen 
 in the comic papers. It was likely, however, that 
 the author's stories had now become so purely, 
 psychological as to be with difficulty represented 
 in black and white. Any one looking at " Phiz's " 
 last series will be constrained to admit that the 
 connection could not have been continued longer, 
 to the author's advantage. 7 
 
 " Phiz " survived his friend some twelve years, 
 dying in 1882. He will always be associated with 
 the " immortal Pickwick," and have his share in 
 the fame of that work. 8 
 
 7 In one of the " versions " of the scene with the " tall 
 quadruped," three forelegs of the animal can be made out 1 
 This was owing to an imperfect erasure of the artist's, who was 
 dissatisfied with one of the forelegs. 
 
 8 In a preceding page I confessed my astonishment at the 
 inferior character of a set of illustrations supplied by him for 
 the cheaper " Household Edition " of " Pickwick." It seemed 
 indeed almost impossible to believe that they were his work, so 
 rude and coarse were the designs. I did not know that there was 
 a sad but sufficient reason for this failure. Mr. Thomson tells 
 us, "that in 1867 he had sustained a severe shock of a kind of 
 paralysis, and for the remaining fifteen years of his life he was 
 never the same man again, either as a designer or a draughts-
 
 320 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 man. One of the things he began after his recovery was the 
 Household Edition of Dickens. In the feeble and childish 
 scrawls of these blocks may be seen the injury that had been 
 inflicted. ... So greatly was the power of the right hand 
 impaired that he had to support it on the left in order to get 
 the glass to his mouth." Hence he was obliged to hold his 
 pencil or brush in an extraordinary and clumsy fashion. As an 
 illustration of the good nature with which occasion is found to 
 help an old favourite, I may mention that Mr. Cozens, of 
 Melbury Eoad, gave " Phiz " a commission to prepare a coloured 
 ssries of the drawings that illustrate "Pickwick," "David 
 Copperfield," "Dombey," "Nicholas Nickleby," "Bleak 
 House," and " Little Dorrit ; " which were accordingly 
 executed, the artist furnishing a humorous written guarantee 
 with a pen-and-ink sketch, representing himself sketching Mr. 
 Pickwick, who is standing on a raised stage. These were, it is 
 believed, traced from the etchings and then lightly coloured. 
 It may be added that the Duchess of St. Albans is a great 
 amateur and collector of " Phiz's " drawings. The rage, however, 
 is for those which illustrate Dickens's works, which will by-and- 
 by be in great demand at high prices, being so limited in 
 number.
 
 XX. 
 
 have noted how the profane race of adap- 
 ters seized on " Pickwick," to the annoyance of 
 the author, as a special subject for the exercise 
 of their craft. It is remarkable indeed that every 
 one of Dickens' novels and the list is a long one 
 have been thus shaped for the stage : even his 
 slighter stories, such as the pretty Christmas 
 books, and the stories in the extra Christmas num- 
 bers of " All the Year Round," have found their 
 way to the stage. To the end, however, he never 
 favoured this process, and was with difficulty 
 induced to witness the performance. One reason 
 may have been that the task too often fell into 
 the hands of some rough-and-ready workman, 
 who treated the piece in rather coarse fashion. 
 On two occasions at most were skilled dramatists 
 employed, as when Mr. Tom Taylor prepared 
 a version of the " Tale of Two Cities," and Mr. 
 Andrew Halliday treated " David Copperfield." 
 Amusing as was this last adaptation, and admir- 
 ably acted (particularly the parts of Micawber, by 
 Rowe, and that of Pegotty by Emery) the gifted
 
 322 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 author was not wholly satisfied, and no doubt 
 found that the delicacy of his work had eva- 
 porated in the process. In one adaptation, that 
 of " No Thoroughfare," made by Mr. "Wilkie 
 Collins, he himself took some share, and also 
 superintended its production on the French stage. 
 It is impossible, we think, not to hold that 
 Dickens' stories and characters are essentially 
 dramatic ; but, at the same time, they require the 
 utmost skill to fit them for the stage. 
 
 It has been often said by the critics that 
 " Pickwick," being nothing but a series of 
 scarcely connected and fragmentary episodes, is 
 wholly unsuited for the stage. The great length, 
 too, and number of characters render it, as it 
 were, incompressible. But the answer to this 
 objection is that, as we recall the incidents, we 
 find a distinct story rising before us, marked by 
 many prominent passages. In true comedy, as 
 we have shown, character and the development of 
 character by even trifling incidents is a legitimate 
 source of dramatic interest ; and the exhibition of 
 Mr. Pickwick and his friend, under their various 
 trials his victimization by Jingle and Mrs. 
 Bardell would be sufficient to form a play, and 
 also constitute the framework, as it were, of the 
 piece. The other episodes are more or less 
 garnish, and unessential. But then it should be 
 treated by dramatists of the first skill, such as MM.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 323 
 
 Meilhac and Hale vy, who abstracted out of Goethe's 
 tremendous and unwieldy poem the play of 
 " Faust," which is the admiration and despair 
 of all professional dramatists. The scenes at 
 Rochester, the borrowing of the coat, the ball, 
 the duel, are not a bit more farcical than the 
 scenes in " The Rivals," with Acre's display of 
 timidity and his duel; indeed it might be said 
 that there is even less formal story in the 
 " Rivals " than in " Pickwick." 
 
 " Pickwick," as we have seen, had not run half 
 its course, having barely reached its thirtieth 
 chapter when the attack began, and the managers 
 of the Adelphi got their version ready with all 
 speed. 
 
 The bill of this performance is a singular 
 production, and must have been moral torture 
 to the author, in spite of the nauseous compliments 
 with which the adapters tried to propitiate him. 
 At the same time it is difficult not to be amused 
 at the ingenuity with which the writers made the 
 most of, and " beat out " as it were, the meagre 
 materials at their disposal. This mode, however, 
 of laying out a "good bill," and piquing the 
 readers with an anticipatory sketch of the plot, 
 was then in high fashion, even at theatres of better 
 standing. The bill is worthy of preservation as 
 a " curio." 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 THEATRE EO YAL, ADELPHI. 
 
 <|ir THE new piece of THE PEREGRINATIONS OF PICKWICK is 
 eminently successful. The personation of Pickwick, Jingle, 
 and Sam Weller, is unique. The roars of laughter are in- 
 cessant The serious interest intense The house full. 
 
 Monday, April 10th, and during the week, will be presented 
 an original, Serio-Comic Burletta, in three Acts, interspersed 
 with music founded on the celebrated Papers written by " Boz/' 
 and entitled the 
 
 PEREGRINATIONS OF PICKWICK. 
 
 The Papers upon which this Drama is principally founded 
 have obtained a celebrity wholly unexampled in that class of 
 literature. The proprietors of the Adelphi were anxious to pre- 
 sent it in the most favourable dramatic form to the public ; a 
 serious story (the incidents from an episode in the Papers) has 
 therefore been interwoven with the pre-ambulations (sic) of the 
 Pick wick ians. 
 
 A great portion of the comic dialogue is extracted from the 
 Papers ly the express permission of the author, O. Dickens, 
 Esq., better Icnown as "Boz." 
 
 ACT I. THE MISER FATHER. 
 
 Old Clutchley (a wealthy speculator], MR. 0. SMITH. 
 
 George Heyling, MR. HEMMING. 
 
 Maria (betrothed to Heyliny),-^JA.ftB. YATES. 
 
 Norah (attendant on Miss War die), MRS. FITZ WILLIAM. 
 
 THE CLUB. 
 
 Charing Cross (7a&-alistic doings A meeting A Journey. 
 Samuel Pickwick, Esq. (Founder of the P.O., a gentleman of 
 
 the inquiring sort) MR. YATES. 
 Augustus Snodgrass, Esq., M.P.C.j MR. STIRLING. 
 Tracy Tupman, Esq., M.P.C., MR. ISMAY. 
 Alfred Jingle (not) Esq. (a gentleman of a talkative sort), 
 
 MR. BUCKSTONE.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 325 
 
 THE ELOPEMENT. 
 
 Garden A Father's denunciation The Flight. 
 Air, " 0' Killarney's .lucid Lake " (Old Irish Melody), MRS. 
 
 FlTZWILLIAM. 
 
 THE BALL AT ROCHESTER. 
 
 Ante-room at Ball Arrival of visitors Pickwickians pleasuring 
 Cutting out and cutting in Fighting and Flirting. 
 
 A. Wardle, Esq., of Dingley Dell (an " Old English Gentle- 
 man ") MR. CULLENFORD. 
 
 Dr. Slammer, M.D., MR. SANDERS. 
 
 Joe (the fat boy a peripatetic somnambulist*), MR. DUNN. 
 Miss Wardle (maiden sister of Mr. Wardle) , MRS. Young. 
 Misses Wardle, Miss A. CON WAT and MRS. FORSYTHE. 
 
 Quadrille Another Elopement Pursuit. 
 
 Act II. WHITE HART INN, BOROUGH. 
 
 Arrival of Pursuers The Interview The Compromise. 
 Sam Wellcr (Boots with original notions respecting things in 
 
 general), MR. JOHN REEVE. 
 Mr. Perker (an Attorney), MR. YOUNQ. 
 Ostler, MR. GIFFORD. 
 Chambermaid, Miss CONWAT. 
 
 THE MARSHALSEA PRISON. 
 
 Destitution Unforgiving Father Generous Hibernian Cata- 
 strophe. 
 
 Air, " The Grave where the dear one died " (Irish Melody), 
 MRS. FITZWILLIAM. 
 
 Sportsmen (Country and Cockney). 
 
 The Banquet Precautions Effects of Punch and Speech 
 making. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Three years are supposed to have elapsed between the second 
 and third Acts. 
 
 Pickwick resumes his Peregrinations in search of anew wonder.
 
 326 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 AN APARTMENT. 
 
 An Irish Medley, by MRS. FITZWILLIAM. 
 
 Old "Weller (father of Sam, a long stage coachman), MR. 
 SANDERS). 
 
 A PRISON. 
 Marian, the restored maniac Kepentance Happiness. 
 
 THE FETE AT MR. WARDLE'S. 
 
 Christmas party Good news Denouement Finale and 
 
 dance. 
 
 Some of the touches here are worthy of Mr. 
 Crummies' management, and the absurd state- 
 ment, that with a view to present the story in 
 the most favourable dramatic form, " an episode " 
 from the papers " was ' interweaven ' with the 
 perambulations " of the Club, must have made the 
 author laugh heartily. It will be noted that a 
 later long-established favourite, Buckstone, played 
 Jingle ; and Yates, a favourite comedian of 
 much merit, Pickwick. The most amusing part 
 was the character written up or rather devised 
 for Mrs. Fitzwilliam. This lady, long after one 
 of the main stays of the Haymarket, was Irish, 
 and could sing Irish songs. She accordingly 
 became Norah, Miss Wardle's Irish maid, for 
 whom it was necessary to suspend the action while 
 she warbled no less than two "melodies " and a 
 " medley" ! One, as we see, was entitled "The 
 grave where the dear one died ! " There can be 
 little doubt that this suggested, however remotely, 
 passages in the Crummies' episode.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 327 
 
 Encouraged by this attempt, another theatre, 
 the new Strand, now took the book in hand, 
 calling in the aid of Moncrieff, whose adaptation 
 of the refined "Tom and Jerry" had drawn all 
 London. That a compliment was intended to the 
 authur by thus employing so eminent a " haud," 
 will be seen from an introduction where, we are 
 told, the piece was 
 
 "Arranged from the celebrated PICKWICK PAPERS, of the 
 inimitable Boz." 
 
 NEW STRAND THEATEE. 
 
 (Near Somerset House.) 
 
 ON Monday, July 10th, 1837, and during the week will be 
 presented for the first time, with new and extensive scenery 
 dresses, and decorations, &c., &e., an entirely new Peregrina- 
 ting Piece of incidents, characters and manners, interspersed 
 with Vaudevilles, called 
 
 SAM WELLEE, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 PICKWICKTANS, 
 
 founded on Boz's Posthumous Papers of the PICKWICK CLUB, by 
 the author of " Tom and Jerry." The scenery by Mr. Dearlove 
 and assistants ; the music arranged by Mr. Collins, the dresses 
 and decorations by Mr. Nallion, &c. The piece produced 
 under the sole direction of MR. W. J. HAMMOND. 
 
 i^" If the author should be considered to have overlooked, or 
 not to have perceived, any part he should have taken, he can 
 only plead in excuse that he has been obliged to perform his 
 work in the dark ! which he trusts will procure him pardon. 
 Late experience has enabled him to bring Mr. Pickwick's affairs 
 to a conclusion rather sooner than his gifted biographer has 
 done, if not so satisfactorily, at all events quite legally.
 
 328 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 This precious piece, which out-heroded its 
 predecessor, was the work of a dramatic " hack," 
 who had adapted, altered and disfigured a vast 
 number of works, and whose chief qualifications 
 was the having fitted for the stage Pierce Egan's 
 degrading chronicle of " Tom and Jerry, or Life 
 in London." In these congenial hands the Pick- 
 wickians became a set of jovial, rollicking fellows, 
 "jpre-ambulating " the country in search of ad- 
 ventures. Indeed, with much effrontery, the 
 admirers of Mr. Egan's story claimed that it had 
 supplied the model for Pickwick, and pointed to 
 his description of the King's Bench which became 
 the Fleet in the novel, and to an archery meeting, 
 instead of the shooting party. 1 
 
 This, however, ran but a few nights. Nothing 
 daunted, however, the spoilers proceeded with 
 their work; and presently brought out, " Sam 
 Weller's Tour ; or, the Pickwickians in France," 
 
 1 The author of " Charles Dickens : the Story of his 
 Life," has noted as a curious coincidence that, in " The Finish " 
 (a sequel to " Life in London ") one of the characters, " the 
 Fat Knight," is first met by " Corinthian Tom " at the village 
 of Pickwick. It would almost seem, indeed, that this name was 
 associated with him from his birth almost. The last coaching 
 stage on the Bath Road, where Moses Pickwick's coaches changed 
 horses, was "Pickwick," where was "Pickwick Lodge," Mr. 
 Dickenson's residence. It is stated that, in the Register at Ports- 
 mouth, under the date of May 8th, 1814, is found the baptism 
 of one Francis Pickwick, with immediately after it Francis 
 Dickens, followed by the name of Shakespeare.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 329 
 
 when the whole was taken over to Paris, where there 
 were scenes in the Palais Royal, &c., all set out 
 in the bills in the usual half-jocular and would- 
 be appetizing style. It wound up with a 
 spectacular pageant and procession, represent- 
 ing the coronation. A specimen or two from 
 this production will be found to more than 
 justify the author's indignation at the treatment of 
 his work. When the club is first setting out, Mr. 
 Pickwick thus addresses his friends : 
 
 " Now then, brother PickwicJcians, now then to 
 commence our memorable peregrinations. 
 
 Chorus OMXES. Air, " Vive le Roi" 
 Pickwick's on, o'er hill and dale, 
 
 We'll from all knowledge draw ; 
 Far and near, spread the tale, 
 
 Boys, hurrah ! boys, hurrah ! 
 Hearts that fame like ours inspires, 
 
 Critic frowns ne'er shall awe, 
 Till our Club's last name expires, 
 
 Boys, hurrah ! boys, hurrah ! 
 
 Exit OMNES, L. 
 
 But the denouement, which takes place in the 
 Fleet Prison, is more extraordinary : 
 
 Enter SAM and JINGLE, L. 
 
 SAM. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! Pack up your 
 things, sir ! 
 
 PICK. Sam Sam compose yourself I have 
 provided beds, a pair of bellows, and 
 
 SAM. Beds ! bellows I burn the beds and blow 
 the bellows. Hurrah! hurrah !
 
 33Q THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 PICK. Sam, you're mad ! My friends here wish 
 to walk with me awhile get my stick. 
 
 SAM. Stick you must cut your stick, and 
 prepare to take a very long walk. Hurrah ! 
 hurrah ! 
 
 PICK. Sam ! I have no hesitation in saying, I 
 can't walk without my stick ? 
 
 SAM. Beg pardon my heart's too full to speak 
 Mr. Jingle here is the very best scoundrel as 
 ever vas, and the long and short of it is, you're a 
 free man agin Mother Bardell is married the 
 rascally lawyers are in Newgate all a conspiracy 
 Jingle here proved it he's Mother Bardell's 
 husband ; here's your discharge (gives paper). 
 
 PICK. Amazement ! 
 
 SAM. And vhat's more three hundred pounds 
 to compromise the felony and all this clever 
 scoundrel Jingle's doings ! 
 
 JfNGLE. Friend Pickwick can't say much 
 feelings won't let me fact simply this account 
 your debtor ow'd you much yes much this, 
 per contract let us strike balance ; if in my 
 favour give me your note of hand (takes 
 hand). 
 
 PICK. This repays all, still all is not repaid ; 
 take this three hundred pounds 'tis fairly yours 
 it will release you live honest, and live 
 happy ! 
 
 JINGLE. Study new character play new part
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 331 
 
 eh ! give up the villains bad line of business 
 unprofitable, very ! I will, I will, bless you, old 
 fellow ! eternal blessings, repentance, gratitude ! 
 (repressing his feelings} Damme, I want the word 
 good-bye heaven bless you all ! 
 
 Exit, L. 
 
 An American actor was then playing at the 
 theatre, and entrancing the town with a song, the 
 burden of which was, " Turn about, and wheel 
 about, and jump Jim Crow." It was felt that this 
 might in some fashion be utilized for " Pickwick," 
 and we find Sam "Weller accordingly fitted with 
 a song, called " Rooks and Daws," which must 
 have been agony to the author. 
 
 Song. SAM. Air, " Jim Crow " 
 Rooks and daws must look out when 
 
 Kook shooting cockneys go, 
 For those who shoot at pigeons 
 
 Very often kills a crow. 
 Hop about and skip about 
 
 And jump jist so, 
 Keep for rooks a sharp look out 
 
 Nor kill the crow ! 
 
 Nor was this all. The perseverance of the 
 marauders was extraordinary. As soon as 
 " Nicholas Nickleby " appeared, it was also 
 seized upon, cut up, and distorted generally, under 
 the title of " Nicholas Nickleby and poor Smike ; 
 or the victim of the Yorkshire school ! " 
 
 The author's high-strung nature was deeply
 
 332 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 wounded by this series of deliberate outrages, 
 which he was powerless to hinder. Towards the 
 end of " Nickleby," we find Nicholas at Mr. 
 Crummies' supper, breaking out into excited pro- 
 test against the shameful doings of so-called 
 dramatists, and addressed to an astonished 
 " literary gentleman " who was of the party. 
 This protest was somewhat inartistic and out of 
 place at such a scene; but the author could not 
 resist the opportunity of gibbeting the person 
 who had done him such injury. Mr. Mon- 
 crieff must have felt uncomfortable as he read this 
 description of himself and his work. " There was 
 a literary gentleman present who had dramatized 
 in his time two hundred and forty-seven novels, 
 as fast as they had come out some of them 
 faster than they had come out and was a literary 
 gentleman in consequence. " What, dramatize a 
 book," said the literary gentleman, " that's fame 
 for its author." " Oh, indeed," said Nicholas. 
 " That's fame, sir," said the literary gentleman. 
 " So Richard Turpin, Tom King, and Jerry 
 Abershaw, have handed down to fame the names 
 of those on whom they have committed their 
 most impudent robberies." Then speaking of 
 Shakespere, he who embodied traditions and stories 
 in the magic circle of his genius, he went on, "You 
 drag within the magic circle of your dulness 
 subjects not at all adapted to the purposes of the
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 333 
 
 stage, and debase as he exalted. You take the 
 uncompleted boolcs of living authors fresh from their 
 hands, wet from the press, cut, hack, and carve 
 them to the powers and capabilities of your actors 
 and the capability of your theatres." 
 
 This very genuine and excited outburst must 
 have mystified many an ordinary reader, who could 
 not understand why the tranquil Nicholas should 
 feel so acutely on the subject. 
 
 He was even more enraged by the shameful 
 burlesques upon his work, the " Pickwick 
 Abroad," in America, &c. His annoyance and 
 anger at this treatment by these pirates is shown 
 by the fantastic address which he inserted in 
 Bentley's Magazine : 
 
 PROCLAMATION. 
 ZSf)ereaf we are the only true and lawful " Boz : " 
 
 And SKSJjmaS it hath been reported to us, who are com- 
 mencing a new work to be called the 
 
 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBT, 
 
 that some dishonest dullards, resident in the by-streets and 
 cellars of this town, impose upon the unwary and credulous 
 by producing cheap and wretched imitations of our delectable 
 works. And Z!lJ)mag we derive but small comfort under this 
 injury, from the knowledge that the dishonest dullards afore- 
 said cannot by reason of their mental smallness follow near 
 our heels, but are constrained to creep along by dirty and little 
 frequented ways, at a most respectful distance behind. 
 
 And WtytnaS, in like manner, as some other vermin are 
 not worth the killing for the sake of their carcases, so these
 
 334 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 kennel pirates are not worth the powder and shot of the law, 
 inasmuch as whatever damages they may commit, they are in 
 no condition to pay. 
 
 Cfjfe fe to gtbt notice: 
 
 Firstly to Pirates : 
 
 That we have at length devised a mode of execution for them, 
 so summary and terrible, that if any gang or gangs thereof pre- 
 sume to hoist but one shred of the colours of the good ship 
 " Nickleby," &c. ; and he threatens them with the gibbet ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 This is just as bitter as the attack on the 
 dramatic pirates in "Nicholas ISTickleby " itself.
 
 XXI. 
 
 ALL which suggests how curious it is to find this 
 humorous work, ever engendering other humours, 
 and bizarre situations as it were, by sheer conta- 
 gion. Sometimes the result took the shape of 
 something truly absurd, as where sham or spurious 
 humours would connect themselves with it, to 
 which we owe the imitation Pickwicks, and these 
 vulgar dramatic versions. But whatever it 
 touched there is certain to follow some grotesque 
 exhibition. As we have seen, there was something 
 comic in the reception of the book by the pundits 
 and sober persons of the day, who pronounced it 
 "low," and were shocked at the obstreperous 
 hilarity it caused. We cannot resist describing a 
 certain convivial meeting which took place as the 
 work was coming out in numbers, and which is 
 typical of much more that was going on in the 
 same spirit. Messrs. Longman, the eminent 
 publishers, gave a dinner to their friends at which 
 were assembled Sydney Smith, Mr. Hay ward, 
 Thomas Moore, Mr. Merivale, Canon Tate, Mr. 
 McCulloch and Dr. Lardner, known as 
 " Dionysius the tyrant." Now here was a fairly
 
 336 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 representative gathering, including the chief 
 wit of the day, the vivacious " Tommy Moore," 
 who had a pliant wit of his own, a good raconteur 
 who knew how " to cut a story down tothebone'' 
 with various critics, and men of vigorous mind. 
 Moore tells us how the conversation turned " on 
 Boz, the new comic writer," that is, on the new 
 " funny ' 3 young fellow who was writing those 
 trifling " things " which made people laugh. 
 Strange to say, Sydney Smith " cried him down," 
 and this too " without having given him a fair 
 trial," that is, having as it were skimmed his 
 pages and noted a good thing or two. It actually 
 appeared that the party, with the exception of 
 Mr. Hayward and Moore, took the same view. 
 Moore confesses (in his diary) that he was sorry 
 for this, and declares that he thought it proof of 
 good taste in the " masses " that they appreci- 
 ated " Pickwick," " there being," he says " some as 
 nice humour and fun in the c Papers ' as in any 
 work I have seen in our day." Mr. Hayward 
 supported him and asked him to dinner. This 
 criticism of Moore is characteristic and divert- 
 ing. "Nice humour" is good; as though he 
 should say, " very fair, very fair indeed, a very 
 promising young man ; " and the phrase somehow 
 recalls the compliment of the Bath Footman to 
 Sara when he told him that "without any 
 flattery at all, he seemed to have the makings
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 337 
 
 of a very nice fellow about him." The Fudge 
 Family is almost forgotten, but the " nice humour " 
 of Boz is still heartily relished. 
 
 As we have pointed out, Dickens seems to have 
 had the art of investing old inns generally 
 mouldy places enough with dramatic associations. 
 All the Pickwickian Inns we know thoroughly ; 
 have put up at, dined, slept, wandered through 
 their passages, and leave them with regret. They 
 live in our memories, and have each distinct asso- 
 ciations. In " Pickwick " they are the welcome 
 background of some of the pleasantest scenes. 
 Our author seemed to think with Dr. Johnson, 
 that " a tavern chair was the throne of human 
 felicity." It recalls the oft-quoted lines of Shen- 
 stone on the still inviting old " Red Lion " at 
 Henley : 
 
 " Whoe'er lias travelled life's dull round, 
 Where'er his wanderings may have been, 
 Will sigh to think he still has found 
 His warmest welcome at an Inn. " 
 
 How many inns will the reader suppose, are 
 introduced in Pickwick ? Each has a physiogno- 
 my of its own, as distinct as the man with his 
 "four cats in the wheelbarrow four distinct cats 
 I give you my honour, sir." They are twenty- 
 two in number ! 
 
 1. The Golden Cross, Charing Cross. 
 
 2. The Bull, Eochester. 
 
 3. The Bull, Whitechapel.
 
 338 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 4. The Blue Lion, Muggleton. 
 
 5. The White Hart, Boro'. 1 
 
 1 It was a surprise, and perhaps a shock, to find it seriously put 
 forward that the old, lately demolished White Hart Inn, of 
 the Borough, whose memory is so dear to all Pickwickians, 
 was not the one intended by " Boz," when he introduced his 
 travellers to Sam ! This may seem a trivial matter : but we 
 cannot thus lightly be divorced from one of the most cherished 
 associations of Pickwick. It is comforting to have to say that 
 there is no foundation for this rather rash assumption. Thus 
 shaken, our faith in the rest of the "Boz" topography 
 might fairly totter. Mr. J. Ashby Sterry, who has written 
 many agreeable papers on Dickens's " London," lately stated : 
 
 "I had especial opportunities for comparing the George and 
 the White Hart years ago, and in acquiring information from 
 those who were intimately acquainted with them in the days 
 of Pickwick ; and I have no hesitation in saying there is not 
 the slightest doubt that it was at the George, not the White 
 Hart, where Alfred Jingle and Miss Eachael were discovered 
 by the irate Squire Wardle. These changes, as your corre- 
 spondent remarks, were frequently made by Dickens. If I 
 mistake not, in his last work, 'Edwin Drood,' the Bull at 
 Rochester is described under the sign of the Blue Boar." 
 
 Another writer, Mr. Gordon Stephenson, adds that " it 
 is more than probable that Dickens simply borrowed the 
 name of the White Hart a sign which struck his fancy 
 and transferred it to another inn, the George, a little higher 
 up. If Mr. Fitzgerald will visit the George, he will see 
 " curious tiers of open galleries, and an open yard," similar to 
 those which existed at the White Hart ; and the spot where 
 Sam Weller used to dean the loots will be gravely pointed out 
 to him. He will also, upon inquiry, ascertain the fact that 
 coaches did not run from the White Hart, but from the 
 George. Dickens either intentionally or by accident fre- 
 quently made these changes." " If you like to go upstairs," 
 adds Mr. Sterry, " you can see the very room where Mr. Jingle 
 consented to forego all claims to the lady's hand for the con- 
 sideration of one hundred and twenty pounds. Cannot you
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 339 
 
 6. The Old Leather Bottle, Cobham. 
 
 7. The George and Vulture, Lombard Street. 
 
 8. Town Arms, Eatanswill. 
 
 9. The Peacock, Eatanswill. 
 
 10. The Angel, Bury. 
 
 11. The White Hart, Bath. 
 
 12. The Bush, Bristol. 
 
 13. The Great White Horse, Ipswich, 
 
 14. The Spaniards, Hampstead. 
 
 15. The Fox under the Hill, Adelphi. 
 
 16. The Magpie and Stump, London. 
 
 17. The Markis o' Granby, Dorking. 
 
 18. The Bell, Berkeley Heath. 
 
 19. The Hop-Pole, Tewksbery. 
 
 20. The old Koyal Hotel, Birmingham. 
 
 21. The Saracen's Head, Towcester. 
 
 22. Osborne's Hotel, Adelphi. 
 
 The marvel is, that these old hostelries, each and 
 all, awaken the most agreeable associations, being 
 the scenes of diverting adventures, which could 
 not have occurred anywhere else with propriety. 
 
 fancy too the landlady shouting instructions from the 
 galleries 1 " A rather fanciful picture that adds nothing 
 to the argument. As to the coaches plying from the George, 
 it may be said that Boz states distinctly that the coaches 
 had, at the period of his story, ceased using this inn, 
 which was given over to the waggons : and, within late years 
 we have often seen waggons lying up in order in the yard of 
 the White Hart. In fact little turns on the point, as we are 
 told that both Jingle and the Wardle party arrived iu chaises. 
 It seems inscrutable why Dickens should have wished to 
 call his inn by the name of the White Hart, and yet really 
 furnish the description of an inn only a few doors off. 
 Dickens, we are told by Mr. Sterry, tf changed the sign in order 
 that the place should not be too closely identified." But why 
 should notoriety be attached to the White Hart, from which the 
 
 z 2
 
 34-Q THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 Many of them still remain. But what cannot be 
 said of the sympathetic genius of the humorist, 
 who has contrived to make each distinct, and to 
 live in the memory without confusion ! 
 
 It has been shown how the current of daily 
 life is perpetually furnishing some illustration of 
 the truth and accuracy of our " Pickwick." As 
 these occur, the originalpassage, or apophthegm of 
 the story suggests itself, and, as it were, furnishes 
 an interpretation. Not a day passes without its 
 Pickwickian allusion. Thus, the counsel in the 
 Cronin case make this flourish : " Not content 
 
 George was to be shielded 1 In the case of the George and 
 Vulture, the Golden Cross, the score of inns above enu- 
 merated, he had no scruple in naming them tout bonnement. 
 The only argument given for the gratuitous assertion is the 
 instance of the Marquis of Granby, which was shifted from 
 either Chatham or Esher to Dorking. But the author had 
 good reasons for this, connected with his own family ; there 
 was beside a gain of pictorial effect. It is seriously urged that 
 " he did the same thing in ' Edwin Drood,' where the Bull is 
 described under the sign of the Blue Boar." But as Cloister- 
 ham was a fictitious title, its inns had to follow suit. It is a 
 different thing to transfer a real sign to another real inn. 
 
 The whole is in fact an assumption founded, not on any 
 discrepancy in the author, but on " Phiz's " picture which 
 appears to represent the yard of the George. But the 
 "White Hart passed through many phases of dilapidation before 
 its dissolution. Its galleries were filled up, portions torn 
 away. Even twenty years ago, it was in a state of decay. 
 The George is in a sound state, like the Bell at Holborn. But, 
 we may repeat it, Dickens states that the incidents occurred 
 at the White Hart, and in his time the White Hart stood there. 
 It is not worth while going beyond this.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 341 
 
 with having beat out his life, not content with 
 having laid him to rest in a server," when it was 
 noted that this suggested Sergeant Buzfuz's de- 
 scription of Mr. Bardell " peacefully gliding from 
 this world," having been knocked on the head 
 with a quart pot, in a cellar. The spirit of both 
 passages is the same. On the same day a half- 
 witted being is brought up in the police court, 
 and pleads that he was only looking up to the 
 sky. For what? " For Samuel Wetter." "Do 
 you mean the person we all know ? " asked the 
 magistrate. " Yes," said the man. Sergeant 
 Robinson, in his recently published " Reminis- 
 cences," describes a judge behaving exactly like 
 Mr. Justice Stareleigh. " Well, witness, your 
 name is John Tomkins." Witness: "No, my lord, 
 Joe Taylor." Judge : " Ah, I see you are a 
 sailor, and you live in the New Cut." Witness: 
 " No, my lord." 
 
 But few Pickwickian illustrations or " apoph- 
 thegms " have been so serviceable as that of the 
 " Pickwickian sense" which has been found valu- 
 able in explaining away an offensive expression. 
 I have stated that this passage was intended to 
 ridicule some such explanation given by Mr. 
 Joseph Hume. I have since discovered, in "The 
 Squib Annual," 1837, some satirical verses, which 
 prove that Dickens had this incident in his 
 mind.
 
 342 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 THE CODE OF HONOUR 
 From Sir E P to Jo // e, Esq. 
 
 I wish to be inform'd aright, 
 
 Touching the speech you made last tight, 
 
 You are reported by the press, 
 (Indeed, myself I heard you say so, 
 
 But surely I can do no less, 
 If you deny its truth, you may so, ) 
 
 To have asserted I had broken, 
 So oft my pledges to the people, 
 
 That all the speeches I had spoken, 
 Proffer'd good faith which I must keep ill, 
 Or else, for so your comment ran, 
 I could not be an honest man ; 
 That, not to make the inference greater, 
 
 Which to establish I were loth, 
 You thought me either rogue or traitor, 
 
 And said, perhaps, I might be * both ; 
 Nay, if I understood your rule, 
 
 With no exception in't to save, 
 You thought that I must be a fool, 
 
 And hinted I must be a knave. 
 The speech you made, say, was it made so 1 
 Or what you said, pray, was it said so ] 
 And tell me, (which is most of all), 
 Were your words meant as personal ? 
 
 No. II. 
 From Jo H e, Esq., to Sir R P Z, Bart. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 But, if such charges I let fall, 
 
 Why should you think me so personal ? 
 
 As sure as groats are boil'd for gruel, 
 
 Warm words, I know, will cause a duel ; 
 
 Then without scruple, I confess, 
 
 Sir Eobert, I meant nothing less ;
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 343 
 
 And let me tender this admission, 
 
 Since candour is so much in vogue, 
 / meant that, as a politician, 
 
 I thought you knave, and fool, and roijue. 
 May I be burnt like Bishop Bonner, 
 If once I meant to touch your honour. 
 Far from me, therefore, to infer 
 Aught 'gainst your private character. 
 
 No. III. 
 From Sir E P 1 to J H e, Esq. 
 
 I just tuck in my twopenny, 
 To tell you in two words, that I, 
 Receive with due consideration, 
 Your satisfactory explanation, 
 Nought can be more precise, or better, 
 Than what you write me in your letter. 
 
 This shows the largeness of Dickens's humour, 
 which dealt with the deep-seated failings that 
 belong to every generation. This happy jest, 
 trifling as it is, has obtained, therefore, a pro- 
 minent popularity and application. 
 
 I have given illustrations of the extraordinary 
 influence exercised by " Pickwick " on " the form 
 and pressure of the time." Were there space, it 
 would be interesting to show how, of all modern 
 books of fictioD, it has insensibly worked good, 
 in furnishing scenes of unaffected good-nature 
 and benevolence, with types of true and honest 
 dispositions, so natural and familiar as to convey 
 the idea that they are common and universal. 
 This sort of revelation has the greater effect, as
 
 344 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 the characters are of the Bourgeois type. It may 
 be said, without exaggeration, that the ardent 
 reader of " Pickwick " will have learned much 
 from its pages which he would have had no 
 other opportunity of knowing, while even the 
 cynical will have their harsh views of life and 
 character softened. This view, it is likely 
 enough, will seem fanciful; but the mere fact 
 that between two and three hundred characters 
 of this pleasant type have been introduced into 
 the community whose sayings and doings are 
 familiar to all, must have had an extraordinary 
 influence. 
 
 Even as I write the magic circle of Pickwick's 
 popularity continues spreading, and foreign 
 countries, like our own, seem to find equal relish 
 for the humours of the book. Lately a traveller 
 in Stockholm noted to his astonishment that the 
 play announced for the night at the Svenska 
 Theatre was "Mr. Pickwick." "I went to see 
 it," says the writer, in Vanity Fair. " The 
 curtain had already risen. Upon the stage stood 
 three men; and in one of these, arrayed in a 
 blue coat with brass buttons, drab tights and 
 gaiters, with a bald head and spectacles, I 
 recognized the hero, even before they addressed 
 him as Meester Peekveek. As to the others, I 
 was more doubtful ; one wore a green coat and 
 drab small clothes, the other had long hair
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 345 
 
 and a poetical-looking suit of black ; but soon I 
 heard them called Meester Veenkle and Meester 
 Snodgras. 
 
 " Later on, a middle-aged female, referred to as 
 Meesis Bardale, came in and fainted in the arms 
 of Meester Peekveek, who was consequently 
 pitched into by a youth known as Tommee, the 
 latter being in turn violently assaulted by 
 Meester Veenkle. Finally, there entered a weird 
 and wild creature, with spasmodic movements 
 and fragmentary utterances. They called him 
 Yingl. The scene of Act II. was laid in the inn 
 ' i Eatonsvill.' A public election was apparently 
 in progress ; Meester Pote delivered a brief 
 harangue, and a fussy little man in quaint black 
 costume, Meester Pairker, dodged about every- 
 where. Then I made the acquaintance of Meester 
 Vardle, Mees Rashale, Mees Arabella, Mees 
 Amelee, and a fat boy called Yoey. An excited 
 crowd passed and repassed the door with military 
 drummings. Yingl was foiled in an endeavour 
 to elope with Mees Rashale. Meester Veenkle 
 and Mr. Snodgras carried on shockingly with the 
 other two young ladies; Sahmmee kissed the 
 servant girl Marie ; the election of somebody was 
 announced, and Meester Peekveek was set upon 
 by very free and independent electors, who were 
 eventually cleared out in fine style by the 
 uncoated Meester Vayler and his son.
 
 346 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 " The fourth act was the best. The famous 
 trial was conducted in a Gothic chamber that 
 savoured more of the Church than the Law 
 Court. The seat of judgment was in the middle 
 of the stage by the footlights ; in front of it, to 
 the right and left, were two small pews, in which 
 a couple of red-robed gentlemen took their 
 places, whereupon a black-robed usher removed 
 from a tall hat-stand two grey wigs and solemnly 
 placed them upon their respective heads. Yards 
 behind, in a long pew at the back, sat three 
 more red-robed persons junior counsel, pro- 
 bably but they took no part whatever in the 
 proceedings. In a low gallery on the left sat the 
 foreman of the jury ; behind him stood two of his 
 brethren, one clad in a flaming scarlet waistcoat ; 
 the other nine jurymen, perhaps, were round the 
 corner. On either side sat the Plaintiff and the 
 defendant, with their professional advisers ; two 
 ushers sat in the middle of the Court ; the red- 
 robed judge came to and occupied the Bench, 
 with his back to the audience, and the trial 
 began. Advokat Boozfooz rose in his pew on 
 the right and delivered an oration ; in which I 
 am sure he said something about chops and 
 tomato sauce, after which Advokat Snoobeen 
 delivered an oration from his pew on the left. 
 Then, in turn, the plaintiff, Meesis Cloopeens, 
 Meesis Sahndares, Meester Veenkle, and Sahm,
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 347 
 
 were brought alongside the pew of Advokat 
 Boozfooz, who confidentially put a few questions 
 to those individuals. There was no cross-exami- 
 nation at all. When done with, the witnesses 
 shook hands with plaintiff or defendant, as the 
 case might be. The latter's friends, especially 
 Meester Vayler, interrupted from the dress-circle. 
 The Judge never summed up ; but the foreman 
 of the jury immediately pronounced a verdict 
 with damages, and the curtain fell on Meester 
 Peekveek expressing extreme indignation." l 
 
 1 When Sam was reproaching Mr. Winkle for his elopement 
 from Bath, he used this remarkable phrase, "all sorts o' 
 fanteegs," which has excited an extraordinary amount of specu- 
 lation and discussion. Even the lexicographer, Dr. Murray, 
 the learned editor of the new monumental dictionary, has fur- 
 nished me with a theory, and Professor Skeat, of Cambridge, has 
 discussed it in his " Notes on English Etymology." " Fanteague, 
 a worry, or bustle, also, ill-humour ; Halliwell. To be ' in a 
 fanteague ' or ' in afanteeg,' i.e. to be in a state of excitement, 
 is a familiar expression. The word is in Pickwick, chapter 
 xxxviii., where fantcegs means ' worries,' or ' troubles.' It is 
 clearly from E. fanatique, adj., ' mad, frantick, in a frenzie, 
 out of his little wits ;' Cotgrave. Hence it is allied to 
 Fanatic." Sam of course, had no idea of these profound mean- 
 ings. But here the art of the author is shown. Persons of 
 Sam's class, and of the same intelligence, are fond of coining 
 or distorting some word or phrase which they have picked up, 
 and which has struck them as expressive. In the writer's 
 family was an old servant who had travelled, and who had 
 picked up a stock of strange terms, such as " rocoma-tcollia," 
 for a state of confusion, " rook'em-rack'em," for disorder. He 
 would account for a person's death on the ground that " he had 
 no stanniner."
 
 XXII. 
 
 THE true Pickwickian humour is found in a large 
 portion of " Nickleby," " Oliver Twist," "Hum- 
 phrey's Clock ;" later this gave place to another 
 form, which the author seemed to prefer. Occa- 
 sionally we find the same subject treated under 
 both systems ; and thus is offered an interesting 
 and convenient mode of comparison ; as between 
 Stiggins and Chadband. We are lost in admiration 
 at the skill with which the author's intention is 
 carried out, and the rich variety of touches of 
 humour with which the Pickwickian figure is pre- 
 sented, or rather presents itself, for all is action 
 and movement : whereas Chadband displays him- 
 self in forms of words and phrases to which the 
 author points attention by comments of his own. 
 When Stiggins paid his visit after Mrs. Weller's 
 death, he describes himself as " a vessel," as does 
 also Chadband, on one of his visits. 
 
 " Oh, my young friend " said Mr. Stiggins, 
 breaking the silence in a low voice, " here's a 
 sorrowful affliction." Sam nodded very slightly. 
 " For the man of wrath too ! " added Mr. 
 Stiggins ; " it makes a vessel's heart bleed." Mr.
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 349 
 
 Weller was heard by his son to murmur something 
 about making a vessel's nose bleed ; but Mr. 
 Stiggins heard him not. " Do you know, young 
 man," whispered Mr. Stiggins, drawing his chair 
 closer to Sam, " whether she has left Emmanuel 
 anything ? " " Who's he ? " inquired Sam. Here 
 is the reserve of true humour. Mr. Weller's 
 remark of " making a vessel's nose bleed " is 
 murmured to himself; were it heard by Stiggins, 
 the situation would be "coarsened" and rough. 
 Stiggins' queries are put, as is natural, in a low 
 tone, so as not to be heard by Mr. Weller. In- 
 deed the attitude of Sam between the two is 
 not only exquisitely humorous, but dramatic. "We 
 then turn to Chadband. " From Mr. Chadband's 
 being much given to describe himself, both 
 verbally and in writing, as a vessel, he is occasion- 
 ally mistaken by strangers for a gentleman connected 
 with navigation : but he is, as he expresses it, ' in 
 the ministry.' . . . Mrs. Snagsby has but 
 recently taken a passage upward by the vessel, 
 Chadband, and her attention was attracted to that 
 bark, A 1, &c." Supper being got ready for him, 
 he was, we are told, " rather a consuming vessel, 
 the persecutors say, a gorging vessel." This 
 elaboration of the " vessel " idea is more ingenious 
 than humorous ; and we prefer the first airy 
 method, which just touches it and then lets it go. 
 We recall Sam's well-told story of the sausage-
 
 350 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 maker, who disappeared, and who, it was found, 
 had allowed himself to be drawn into his own 
 machine to be converted into sausages. The 
 discovery, it will be recollected, was made by a 
 customer. In an old Irish song-book is to be 
 found an account of much the same kind of inci 
 dent, but which the author of Pickwick could 
 never have seen, and which begins : 
 
 " At the sign of the Bell 
 In the town of Clonmel 
 Paddy Hegarty kept a shebeen." 
 
 He is roused up by his friends in the middle of the 
 night, and required to prepare them a supper. 
 There were no victuals in the house, and in his 
 despair he bethought him of his trousers. 
 
 " He cut them in sthripes 
 By> way they was sthripes 
 And he boiled them, his ould leather breecks." 
 
 The guests found this food extraordinarily tough, 
 and protested that it was 
 
 " Quare sort of mutton, 
 When Andy M'Quirk 
 With the point of his fork 
 He picked out an ivory button. 
 
 In proof of the extraordinary vitality of 
 " Pickwick " it may be repeated that hardly a day 
 passes without some allusion or discussion, or 
 quotation, connected with the story and its 
 characters. It would seem that we cannot do with- 
 out it. !N"ow a valse is published, entitled " The
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 351 
 
 Pickwick Valse ; " or now, a patent medicine pro- 
 prietor offers a cartoon, showing Mr. Pickwick 
 discovering his medicines, as he did the " Bill 
 Stumps " inscription ; or a gigantic cartoon shows 
 a carpet cleaned by machinery, representing 
 Sam and the pretty housemaid holding up the 
 carpet. Now a caricaturist exhibits Mr. Glad- 
 stone on the ice, like Mr. Winkle. Even as I 
 write, there is a curious little controversy going 
 on, on the subject of Sam's dialect, and his 
 constant substitution of the letter " v " for " w " 
 and of " w " for " v." It is insisted by some 
 that this was an ingenious invention of the 
 author's. Others contend that the substitution of 
 the " v " for " w," was a common Cockney form 
 of the time, but that the turning of " veal ' into 
 "weal" was unknown. Lately, a dog named 
 " Sam Weller " was brought into court at 
 Wokingham, on the charge of being found 
 without a muzzle. This sagacious animal 
 who must surely be descended from Mr. Jingle's 
 Ponto is stated to have actually presented 
 himself on a Monday morning to the astonished 
 magistrate without his master, to meet the 
 charge, and took his seat solemnly. His mis- 
 tress stated in evidence, that when the baby was 
 lying ill of the influenza, the animal was accus- 
 tomed to listen to the doctor's report, and care- 
 fully avoided intruding himself ; but when he
 
 352 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 heard the doctor state that the child was " out 
 of danger," he resumed his daily visits to the 
 cot. Lately, a case came before the courts, in 
 which a husband resisting payment of his wife's 
 debts, declared loudly in court, that he would 
 be found " as stubborn as Pickwick " in the 
 matter. Nay, so deeply ingrained is the Pick- 
 wickian tradition, that an allusion to the name 
 " Samuel " seems to challenge recognition. At 
 a late meeting of the Alsopp's Brewery Com- 
 pany, when some very critical interests were 
 being discussed, a gentleman named Harrison 
 interrupted : 
 
 Secretary. " What is your Christian name ? " 
 
 Mr. Harrison. " Samuel." 
 
 A Voice. " Who gave you that name ? " 
 
 Secretary. " Did you say Samuel ? " (Great 
 laughter. ) 
 
 A Voice. " Spell it with a wee ! " (Roars of 
 laughter.) 
 
 Only this morning, a leading journal, alluding 
 to Stanley's account of his travels, remarks that 
 the natives of Africa appear to have as rooted an 
 objection to a note-taker among them " as had 
 Mr. Pickwick's cabman." 
 
 Much of this " actuality " is no doubt owing 
 to the vivid living sources from which the 
 author drew his inspiration. He was not at- 
 tracted by merely superficial transitory mani-
 
 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 353 
 
 festations, but pierced deeply to what was 
 purely essential. I lately came upon a curious 
 illustration of this. It has always seemed a 
 puzzle why the author attached so much impor- 
 tance to the " Stroller's Tale," a rather melo- 
 dramatic story, yet of which he wrote with a 
 sort of pride and satisfaction ; he was so dis- 
 satisfied with the illustration furnished, that he 
 had it redrawn. On making some investigation 
 into the curious history of Grimaldi the clown, 
 I found that this wretched stroller was almost 
 a literal reproduction of Grimaldi's dissipated 
 son, who, four years before, had closed his 
 miserable career under most tragic circum- 
 stances. The incidents, it will be found, are 
 almost the same in both cases ; both being en- 
 gaged "at a theatre on the other side of 
 the water," and performing there on the night 
 previous to the seizure ; there is the same frantic 
 attempt to act during the delirium, with the 
 restraint and surrounding squalor. The story 
 seems to have made a deep impression on 
 Dickens, though he does appear to have had the 
 life of the father in hand at the time. 
 
 It has been mentioned that in families bearing 
 the name of Weller, it is often the practice to 
 christen a spn " Samuel." The most mysterious 
 incident, however, in this connection is the 
 question how one of the most eminent of Shake- 
 
 A a
 
 354 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 spearian commentators and scholars came to be 
 called " Samuel Wetter Singer" 
 
 As was mentioned in the earlier pages of this 
 work, one of the family of Pickwick appears to 
 have found the bearing of this honourable name 
 so inconvenient, owing to its grotesque associa- 
 tions, that in the year 1880, the usual proclama- 
 tion appeared in the Times announcing that 
 he had abandoned it for ever, and would hence- 
 forth bear the name of Sainsbery. Yet this 
 simple act instantly attracted public attention, 
 as though it were a serious step taken by a 
 member of Mr. Samuel Pickwick's family ! One 
 journal even made it a matter of reproach to the 
 gentleman, as though he were ashamed of be- 
 longing to the house of his eminent relative. 
 He was reminded that it was an ancient and 
 honourable name, founded on the heraldic motto, 
 " Piquez Vite." This might have been suggested 
 by Count Smorltork himself. 1 
 
 1 Mr. Forster, humouring this pleasant illusion, has preserved 
 among his papers an actual letter of old Eleazer Pickwick's, 
 dated Jan. 5th, 1802, and which runs : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favour, 
 including a bill for seventy-five pounds, seven shilling and six- 
 pence, which I have acknowledged as directed on the back of 
 the bill ; and permit me to acknowledge myself much obliged 
 by your kind attention to the business. 
 " I am, sir, 
 
 " Your most obliged, 
 tf ELEAZER PICKWICK."
 
 I/ENVOI. 
 
 WE have now come to the close of our " Peram- 
 bulations," and I think it will be admitted that 
 there is no story of modern times that could 
 have furnished such an amount of varied " exe- 
 gesis," extending in so many directions. Nor 
 have, as I think, the Perambulations been 
 unentertaining ; and it will be some satisfaction 
 if they lead to a renewed study of this truly 
 humorous work. In conclusion we may join 
 heartily in " Father Prout's " hymn composed 
 when Pickwick was appearing : 
 
 " A KHYUE ! a rhyme ! from a distant clime, fram the gulph 
 
 of the Genoese : 
 O'er the rugged scalps of the Julian Alps, dear Boz I I send 
 
 you these, 
 To light the Wick your candlestick holds up, or, should you 
 
 list, 
 To usher in the yarn you spin concerning Oliver Twist. 
 
 " Immense applause you've gained, oh, BJZ ! through conti- 
 
 nental Europe ; 
 You'll make Pickwick oscumenick ; l of fame you have a sure 
 
 hope: 
 For here your books are found, gadzooks ! in greater luxe than 
 
 any 
 That have issued yet, hotpress'd or wet, from the types of 
 
 G-A.LIGNANL 
 
 rs ys 
 
 A a 2
 
 356 THE HISTORY OF PICKWICK. 
 
 'But neither when you sport your pen, oh, potent mirth- 
 compeller ! 
 
 Winning our hearts ' in monthly parts,' can Pickwick or Sam 
 Weller 
 
 Cause us to weep with pathos deep, or shake with laugh spas- 
 modical, 
 
 As when you drain your copious vein for Bentley's periodical. 
 
 " Write on, young sage ! still o'er the page pour forth the flood 
 of fancy ; 
 
 Wax still more droll, wave o'er the soul Wit's wand of necro- 
 mancy. 
 
 Behold ! e'en now around your brow th' immortal laurel 
 thickens ; 
 
 Yea, SWIFT or STERNE might gladly learn a thing or two from 
 DICKENS. 
 
 "A rhyme ! a rhyme ! from a distant clime, a song from the 
 
 sunny south ! 
 
 A goodly theme, so Boz but deem the measure not uncouth. 
 Would for thy sake, that ' PKOUT ' could make his bow in 
 
 fashion finer, 
 ' Partant ' (from thee) ' pour la Syrie,' for Greece and Asia 
 
 Minor. 
 
 " GENOA, \UTi December, 1837.''
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF " PICKWICK." 
 
 I shall now proceed to deal with a subject which will be 
 interesting to the select, but important class of Pickwickians, 
 who spare neither their time nor their money in securing the 
 choicest editions, -best impressions of the etchings, &c. I shall 
 go through the numbers, noting all the " points " which make a 
 true first edition valuable, and then furnish a regular Biblio- 
 graphical Table perhaps the fullest and most complete yet 
 offered. 
 
 The first number of " Pickwick " offers the well-known, 
 pale green wrapper, the author's familiar, serial " livery " which 
 he retained for over forty years. Lever adopted pink, and 
 Thackeray yellow, as their distinguishing colours. We have 
 noted that the emblems and sketches all portended a regular 
 sporting novel. At the top was a Cockney sportsman in 
 gaiters, firing at a robin ; at the sides were trophies fishing-rods, 
 landing-nets and a fowling-piece ; while below, Mr. Pickwick is 
 shown asleep in a punt, his head drooped upon his breast, a 
 bottle and glass beside him, with Putney bridge and church in 
 the background. It is remarkable that Mr. Pickwick through 
 the whole story did not display the slightest acquaintance 
 with sporting, though he relished going out with shooting 
 parties. He is described as having written a paper on the 
 ponds of Hampstead and on " tittlebats." " With illustra- 
 tions by Seymour," of which there were four. These four, 
 however, did not bear -the artist's name : but in the 
 second number we find "Seymour del" under each of the 
 three stitched in at the beginning. There was no description 
 under the plates, but merely a reference to the number of the 
 page where the subject of the illustration was to be found. On 
 the back was a displayed advertisement of a new venture of 
 the publishers. " This day is published, &c., The Library of
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 Fiction," of which the first article is the " Tuggs' at Ramsgate, 
 by Boz," while a couple of pages of the publishers' other 
 advertisements are sewn in. No II. contained three etchings 
 by. Seymour, and only 24 pages of type the first had twenty- 
 six and the following Address was inserted in a leaf : 
 
 " Before this number reaches the hands of our readers, they 
 will have become acquainted with the melancholy death of Mr. 
 Seymour, under circumstances of a very distressing nature. Some 
 time must elapse before the void which the deceased gentleman 
 has left in his profession can be filled up ; the blank his death 
 has occasioned in the Society which his amiable nature won, and 
 his talents adorned, we can hardly hope to see supplied. We 
 do not allude to this distressing event in the vain hope of 
 adding, by any eulogium of ours, to the respect in which the 
 late Mr. Seymour's memory is held by all who ever knew him. 
 Some apology is due to our readers for the appearance of the 
 present number with only three plates. When we state that 
 they came from Mr. Seymour's last efforts, and that on one of 
 them, in particular (the embellishment to the Stroller's Tale) 
 he was engaged up to a late hour of the night preceding his 
 death, we feel confident that the excuse will be deemed 
 a sufficient one. 
 
 " Arrangements are in progress which will enable us to pre- 
 sent the ensuing numbers of the Pickwick Papers on an improved 
 plan, which we trust will give entire satisfaction to our 
 numerous readers. 
 
 " April 27th, 1836." 
 
 Number III. announced " With illustrations by R. W. Buss," 
 and contained 32 pages. There was also a leaf inserted, an 
 " Address from the Publishers," but written by Dickens : 
 
 " We announced in our last that the ensuing numbers of the 
 Pickwick Papers would appear in an improved form, and we 
 now beg to call the attention of our readers to the fulfilment of 
 our promise. 
 
 "Acting upon a suggestion made to them from various 
 influential quarters, the Publishers have determined to increase 
 the quantity of letterpress in every monthly part, and to 
 diminish the number of plates. It will be seen that the 
 present number contains eight additional pages of closely 
 printed matter, and two engravings in steel from designs by Mr. 
 Buss a gentleman already well known to the public as a very 
 humorous and talented artist. 
 
 " This alteration in the plan of the work entails upon the 
 Publishers considerable expense, which nothing but a large 
 circulation would justify them in incurring. They are happy
 
 APPENDIX. 359 
 
 to have it in their power to state that the rapid sale of the two 
 first numbers, and the daily increasing demand for this- 
 Periodical, enables them to acknowledge the patronage of the 
 public, in the way which they hope will be deemed most 
 acceptable. 
 
 "MaySOth, 1836." 
 
 POSTSCEIPT FROM THE EDITOR. 
 
 "Always anxious to amuse our readers by every means in our 
 power, we beg to present them with the following verbatim 
 copy of a letter which was addressed and sent by an anonymous 
 correspondent to the Editor of the Pickwick Papers, a fortnight 
 since. Our correspondent's notions of punctuation are peculiar 
 to himself, and we have not ventured to interfere with them. 
 
 " ' SIR, In times when the great and the good are largely 
 associating for the amelioration of the animal kingdom, it seems 
 remarkable . that any writer should . counteract their . inten- 
 tions . by . such careless paragraphs as . the one . I enclose. 
 
 " ' if it is carelessness only . it may be corrected if it is . bad 
 taste . I am afraid it . will be more difficult . but perhaps you 
 could . in another paper point out . to the obtuse . like myself, 
 the wit or humour, of depicting . the noblest of animals faint, 
 weary, and over driven, 
 
 " When the Knees quiver and the Pulses beat." 
 Subjected . to a . Brute ; only to be . tolerated because he at . 
 least is ignorant, of the Creature and his Creator . to whom he 
 is responsible, and whose " admirable frolic and fun" consists 
 in giving . his brutal history of his horse . in bad English ! ! " 
 
 "Then follows an extract from a newspaper containing the 
 cabman's description of his ' Horse from p. 6 of our first 
 number.' This is evidently a very pleasant person a fellow 
 of infinite fancy. We shall be happy to receive other com- 
 munications from the same person and on the same terms." 
 
 In a leaflet of two pages we find an announcement of the 
 author's " Sunday under Three Heads, to be published in a few 
 days ; " the illustrations of which were by Hablot Browne, who 
 was presently to be chosen the artist of Pickwick. There was 
 also some "favourable notices" of the story, taken from such 
 obscure chronicles as the Lincoln Gazette, the Tyne Mercury, and 
 the News. The second of these journals wrote, " Heaven he'p 
 the man who gets hold of this book in the midst of business, 
 for if it do not cause him to neglect it, ho can have no taste 
 for the ludicrous." 
 
 Pickwick described as " novj publishing," is, we are told, " to 
 be completed in about twenty monthly numbers, each monthly
 
 360 APPENDIX. 
 
 part to be embellished with two illustrations by R. W. 
 Buss." l 
 
 Mr. Buss, as we have seen, was dismissed after a single trial. 
 The " about " is significant, but the young author made up his 
 mind, towards the middle of the work, not to exceed twenty 
 numbers. Yet half a dozen more would have been welcomed, 
 for there is no sign of flagging towards the close. No. IV. 
 simply bore the announcement " with illustrations ; " it was felt, 
 no doubt, after the two miscarriages, that they had but a 
 precarious hold of any artist. In this number, Hablot Browne, 
 or " Phiz," made his debut with two singularly delicate 
 etchings, full of grace and promise. A critical eye will note in 
 a few of the earliest attempts a certain constraint and even 
 stiffness, and there is a single plate which, in its first shape, is 
 inferior in drawing to the rest. This is the scene of Mr. 
 Pickwick being surprised with Mrs. Bardell in his arms. 
 
 " Phiz del " is found under every plate save one, viz., the 
 scene in the Fleet Prison where Mr. Pickwick is shown in bed. 
 The meeting with Jingle in the Fleet is signed " Phiz " only. 
 Sometimes this name is in capitals, but more often in running 
 hand. These trivialities are of interest only to the " bibliophile 
 enrage" 
 
 So successful was the work that we now find a well-filled 
 "Pickwick Advertiser" with notices from the publishers, 
 Macrone and Tilt. Rowland and his Macassar oil had figured 
 in the preceding number. In some early issues we find 
 "Nemo "signed to the artist's first two plates. In No. V. 
 " Phiz " is signed to the second plate. In No. IX. we have this 
 characteristic announcement : 
 
 "New Burlington Street, 
 
 " November 28th, 
 "Edited by <Boz.' 
 
 " On the first of May, to be continued monthly, price 2s. 6d., 
 with a portrait and other embellishments. 
 
 MR. BENTLEY 
 
 will publish the first number of 
 
 THE WIT'S MISCELLANY 
 
 Edited by ' Boz.' 
 
 1 Each is signed, " Drawn and etched by K. W. Buss," which 
 is scarcely accurate, as the artist employed another to etch 
 them.
 
 APPENDIX. 361 
 
 "With contributions by the most distinguished personages of the 
 day." 
 
 The venture never appeared under this title, for it was at 
 once changed. It was the occasion, however, of a pleasant mot 
 attributed to James Smith, we believe. " I was thinking," 
 said the Publisher, " of changing the title to simply ' Bentley's." 
 "Would not that be going to the other extreme 3" said the 
 cynic. The worthy Bentley, to whom it did not apply, himself 
 would have smiled at this jest. Other magazines were presently 
 launched in its wake, which also engendered wit : 
 
 " Says Ainsworth to C- 
 
 A plan in my pate is 
 To give my romance 
 
 As a supplement gratis. 
 Says C to Ainsworth, 
 
 'Twill do very nicely, 
 For that will be giving 
 
 Its value precisely." 
 
 In No. X., December, 1836, we read this ADDRESS : 
 
 " Ten months have now elapsed since the appearance of the 
 first number of the PICKWICK PAPERS. At the close of the 
 year and the conclusion of half his task, the author may 
 perhaps, without any unwarranted intrusion on the notice of the 
 public, venture to say a few words for himself. 
 
 " He has long been desirous to embrace the first opportunity 
 of announcing that it is his intention to adhere to his original 
 pledge of confining this work , to twenty numbers. He has 
 every temptation to exceed the limits he first assigned to 
 himself the brilliant success, an enormous and increasing 
 sale, the kindest notice, and the most extensive popularity can 
 hold out. They are, one and all, sad temptations to an author, 
 but he has determined to resist them ; firstly, because he 
 wished to keep the strictest faith with his readers ; and 
 secondly, because he is most anxious that when the POST- 
 HUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB form a complete work, 
 the book may not have to contend against the heavy dis- 
 advantage of being prolonged beyond his original plan. 
 
 " For ten months longer, then, if the author be permitted to 
 retain his health and spirits, ihe PICKWICK PAPERS will be 
 issued in this present form, and will then be completed. By 
 what fresh adventures they may be succeeded is no matter 
 for present consideration. The author merely hints, but he 
 has strong reason to believe that a great variety of other
 
 362 APPENDIX. 
 
 documents still lie hidden in the repository from which these 
 were taken, and they may one day see the light. 
 
 " With this short speech, Mr. Pickwick's stage-manager makes 
 his most grateful bow, adding, on hehalf of himself and 
 publishers, what the late eminent Mr. John Eichardson of 
 Horsemonger Lane, Southwark, and the Yellow Caravan with 
 the Brass Knocker, always said on behalf of himself and 
 company at the close of every performance : 
 
 "' Ladies and Gentlemen, For these marks of your favour we 
 beg to return you our sincere thanks ; and allow us to inform 
 you that we shall keep perpetually going on, beginning again, 
 regularly until the end of the fair.' 
 
 "December, 1836. (No. X.) " 
 
 In No. XII. the system of omitting all reference to the page 
 where the subject of the illustrations is to be found an odd 
 omission was continued to the end of the book. Here another 
 lavish advertiser Mechi and his " Magic Strop " begins his 
 contributions. 
 
 In No. XIV. there is an announcement at the top of the 
 " Pickwick Advertiser" "20,000 of the advertising sheet will 
 be printed, and stitched in each number." 
 
 In No. XV. there is a Notice to Correspondents : " We 
 receive every month an immense number of communications 
 purporting to be ' Suggestions ' for the Pickwick Papers. 
 We have no doubt that they are forwarded with the kindest 
 intentions ; but, as it is wholly out of our power to make 
 use of any such hints, and as we really have no time to 
 peruse anonymous letters, we hope the writers will hence- 
 forth spare themselves a great deal of unnecessary useless 
 trouble." And an ADDRESS dated June 30, 1837: 
 
 " The author is desirous to take the opportunity afforded 
 him by his resumption of this work, to state once again what 
 he thought has been stated sufficiently emphatically before, 
 namely, that its publication was interrupted by a severe 
 domestic affliction of no ordinary kind ; that this was the sole 
 cause of the non-appearance of the present number in the 
 usual course; and that henceforth it will continue to be pub- 
 lished with its accustomed regularity. 
 
 " However superfluous this second notice may appear to 
 many, it is rendered necessary by various idle speculations and 
 absurdities which have been industriously propagated during 
 the past month ; which have reached the author's ears from 
 many quarters, and have pained him exceedingly. 
 
 " By one set of intimate acquaintances, expressly well im-
 
 APPENDIX. 363 
 
 pressed, he has been killed outright ; by another driven mad ; 
 by a third imprisoned for debt ; by a fourth sent per steamer to 
 the United States ; by a fifth rendered incapable of any mental 
 exertion for evermore by all, in short, represented as doing 
 anything but seeking in a few weeks' release, the restoration 
 of that cheerfulness and peace of which a sad bereavement had 
 temporarily bereaved him." 
 
 There is also inserted among the advertisements a finely- 
 engraved steel plate, as a specimen of an illustrated work 
 on Scotland, edited by Dr. Beattie. 
 
 In No. XVII. " The Pickwick Advertiser " informs us that, 
 " The impression of the advertising sheet is limited to 20,000, 
 but the circulation of the work being 26,000, that number of 
 bills is required." That is, of bills that were to be stitched 
 in ; but it is not very clear Avhy as many copies of the Advertiser 
 could not be printed as there were of the number. There 
 was this important announcement : 
 
 " August 26th, 1837. 
 "NEW WORK BY 'Boz.' 
 
 " Messrs. Chapman and Hall have the pleasure of announcing 
 that they have completed arrangements with Mr. Charles 
 Dickens for the production of an entirely neAv work, to be 
 published monthly, at the same price as the PICKWICK PAPERS. 
 The first number will appear on the 31st March, 1838. 
 
 " They also announce an edition of ' Sketches by Boz,' having 
 purchased the whole copyright, for the purpose of enabling the 
 subscribers to the Pickwick Papers to obtain the whole in 
 one book of the same series, and at the same price, propose to 
 publish it in twenty numbers." 
 
 There was stitched in a regular pamphlet descriptive of 
 Lockhart's " Life of Sir W. Scott," with all the praises, &c., 
 a curious advertising picture, dealing with " Spinal Support," 
 exactly of the pattern issued now. 
 
 In No. XVIII., October 2, 1837, we are told that the 
 circulation was now 29,000. And there is this important 
 announcement : 
 
 " No. XVIII. September 29th, 1837. 
 
 "COMPLETION OF THE PICKWICK PAPERS. 
 
 "The subscribers to this work and the trade are respectfully 
 informed that Nos. XIX. and XX. (with titles, contents, &c.) 
 will be published together on 1st of November ; and that the 
 complete volume, neatly bound in cloth, price one guinea, will 
 be ready for delivery by the 14th of that month, and for which
 
 364 APPENDIX. 
 
 country producers are requested to send early orders to their 
 respective agents." 
 
 This is followed by a notice of the new work which was to be 
 published monthly at the same price, and in the same form, as 
 the Pickwick Papers, with illustrations by Phiz, and to appear 
 on 31st March, 1836. 
 
 The last two numbers were issued together, and with it the 
 title-page, frontispiece, preface, dedication, errata, and directions 
 to the binder. The full semi-burlesque title ran : " The Post- 
 humous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Being a faithful record 
 of the perambulations, perils, travels, adventures, and sporting 
 transactions of the Corresponding Members. Edited by ' Boz.' 
 With illustrations by Seymour." An announcement changed in 
 the third number to " K. W. Buss," and in the fourth to " with 
 illustrations " simply. It should be noted that this expanded 
 title, "The Perambulations," &c.,is found only on the wrapper, 
 and is, as it were, the temporary title ; but collectors have now 
 the fashion of retaining their copies in this form, the highest 
 shape of the "uncut," and hold that the Covers and advertise- 
 ments even legitimately belong to the book. 8 
 
 On the official title-page, however, we find this flourish, 
 " Perambulations, &c.," discarded, and it stands, " The Post- 
 humous Papers of the Pickwick Club, edited by Charles 
 Dickens." Though this title was issued for those who had 
 subscribed for, and taken in numbers from the beginning, it 
 states that it contains " forty-three illustrations by E. Seymour, 
 and Phiz," which is not accurate, as they would have had 
 two plates by Buss. 3 This seems to convey that, in the re-issued 
 work, the two plates had been withdrawn, and Phiz's substi- 
 tuted. And, as we have seen, Phiz also re-drew Seymour's, so 
 that the whole issue became the work of his etching needle. 
 The Bibliophilist will look carefully at the bundle of 
 
 2 This appears to be the view also of the authorities at the 
 British Museum, who bind up the serials, such as magazines, 
 exactly as they come out. No doubt, from one point of view, 
 this theory is correct enough : and it may be held that a 
 copy in numbers is a distinct and special form of the work. 
 Thus " Boz's " addresses in " Pickwick " are official utterances, 
 and contribute something to the history of the work. For the 
 reader who concerns himself with the story only, these additions 
 would be a mere intrusion and a disfigurement. 
 
 8 Seven were by Seymour, two by Buss, and thirty-four by 
 Phiz.
 
 APPENDIX. 365 
 
 numbers offered him for sale ; and in most cases will find 
 " with illustrations " in all, which are therefore re-issues. 
 The genuine first number should have " With illustrations 
 by Seymour" 
 
 The prefatory matter, dedication, &c., filled 14 pages; the 
 body of the work, 609 pages. 4 It is curious to note what changes 
 have been made in the introductory matter. As we have 
 mentioned, the dedication to Talfourd has been omitted ; which 
 seems to have been effected by a gradual process. Thus, in the 
 edition of 1847, we find it compressed into three or four personal 
 lines. " To Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, with much regard, &c." I 
 find in Mr. Forster's papers the directions to the printers to 
 make this substitution in the author's own hand. We get to the 
 Library Edition of 1858, where the dedication disappears alto- 
 gether, as it did from all later editions. For the preface and 
 the various curious changes that were made in it the reader is 
 referred back to the early portion of this work. 
 
 By January or February, 1838, lc Pickwick " was issued com- 
 plete in one volume/as we gather from an announcement of the 
 publishers : 
 
 "One volume 8vo, bound in cloth, 1Z. Is.; half morocco, 
 II. 4,s-. 6(1. ; morocco, gilt leaves, II. 6s. The Post- 
 humous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by ' Boz.' With 
 forty-three illustrations by ' Phiz.' 28th Feb., 1838." 
 The capricious vitality is such that we can scarcely follow 
 it. The legitimate title-page, issued with the numbers, 
 announces that it is by " Charles Dickens," yet here we go 
 back to "Boz," which name he retained in three more of his 
 works. 
 
 Just ten years after the completion of "Pickwick," its 
 genial author conceived the idea of what was then a novel 
 and daring venture, viz. that of issuing it and his other works 
 in the cheapest form, and in weekly numbers at three halfpence 
 each, and also in monthly parts. For this shape of publication 
 he always had a fancy. The tradition is preserved at the 
 office of the enormous rush on the first day of publication. 
 Barriers had to be put up to restrain the crowds who pressed 
 to purchase the first " cheap " number. The form of weekly 
 numbers, at three halfpence, was, I am informed, discontinued 
 
 4 There were fifty lines in each page in the earlier portion, 
 later reduced to forty-nine. On a rough calculation, the 
 work will be found to contain the matter of over four volumes 
 of the ordinary novel.
 
 366 APPENDIX. 
 
 after the completion of " Pickwick." That the author felt he 
 was taking a very serious step is shown by the grave and 
 responsible tone he assumed in a manifesto which he issued on 
 the occasion. 5 
 
 " ADDRESS. 
 
 "On the 31st March, 1836, the publication of 'The Post- 
 humous Papers of the Pickwick Club ' was begun, in what was 
 then a very unusual form, at less than one-third of the price in 
 the whole of an ordinary novel, 6 in Shilling Monthly parts. 
 On Saturday, the 27th of March, 1847, the proposed re-issue, 
 unprecedented, it is believed, in the history of cheap literature, 
 will be commenced. 
 
 " It is not for an author to describe his own books. If they 
 cannot speak for themselves, he is likely to do little service by 
 speaking for them. It is enough to observe of these that eleven 
 years have strengthened in their writer's mind every purpose 
 and sympathy he has endeavoured to express in them ; and 
 that their reproduction in a shape which shall render them 
 easily accessible as a possession by all classes of society, as at 
 least consistent with the spirit in which they have been 
 written, and is the fulfilment of a desire long entertained. 
 
 " It had been intended that this CHEAP EDITION, now an- 
 nounced, should not be undertaken until the books were much 
 older, or the author was dead. But the favour with which they 
 have been received, and the extent to which they have cir- 
 culated, and continue to circulate at four times the proposed 
 price, justify the belief that the living author may enjoy the 
 pride and honour of this widest diffusion, and may couple it 
 with increased personal emolument. 
 
 " A new preface to each tale will be published on its conclusion 
 in weekly parts. A frontispiece to each tale, engraved on wood, 
 from a design by some eminent artist, will also be given at the 
 same time. The whole text will be carefully revised and 
 corrected throughout by the author." 
 
 It was further announced that it would be completed in about 
 thirty-two numbers. Pickwick was to cost four shillings, and 
 
 6 This characteristic address is little known, and the only 
 copy I have seen is found inserted in one of the numbers of 
 Vanity Fair. 
 
 8 It would thus seem the cost of " an ordinary novel " was 
 then over 31.
 
 APPENDIX. 367 
 
 to be followed by Nickleby, and its fellows, down to Martin 
 Chuzzlewit. 7 
 
 The frontispiece of the new Pickwick was the well-known 
 sketch by Leslie, of Mr. Pickwick surprised with Mrs. Bardell 
 in his arms. 
 
 Among the advertisements stitched up with the serial, " The 
 Library of Fiction," is found a curious programme, or pro- 
 clamation, which throws some further light on the author's 
 earlier plans for the treatment of his story. Mr. Pickwick, it 
 will be seen, was intended to be a burlesque personage, and to 
 exhibit himself in grotesque situations : 
 
 " Now publishing, 
 
 to be completed in about twenty monthly numbers, 
 Price one shilling each, 
 
 No. I of the 
 Posthumous Papers 
 
 of 
 
 THE PICKWICK CLUB, 
 
 containing a faithful record of the 
 
 Perambulations, perils, travels, adventures, 
 
 and 
 
 sporting transactions 
 
 of the corresponding members, 
 
 with biographical notices by the secretary. 
 
 Edited by " Boz," 
 
 and each monthly part 
 
 embellished with four illustrations 
 
 by Seymour. 
 
 ' THE PICKWICK CLUB, so renowned in the annals of Huggin 
 Lane, and so closely entwined with the thousand interesting 
 associations connected with Lothbury and Cateaton Street, 
 was founded in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
 twenty-two, by Mr. Samuel Pickwick the great traveller, 
 whose fondness for the useful arts prompted his celebrated 
 journey to Birmingham in the depth of winter ; and whose 
 taste for the beauties of nature even led him to penetrate to 
 the very borders of Wales in the height of the summer. 
 
 " This remarkable man would appear to have infused a con- 
 
 T The revision of the text, however, thus promised, was not 
 attempted, for we find most of the oversights retained ; such as 
 Mr. Magnus being described as having " blue spectacles," which 
 a few pages further on become " green glasses."
 
 368 APPENDIX. 
 
 siderable portion of his restless and inquiring spirit into the 
 breasts of other members of the Club, and to have awaked in 
 their minds the same insatiable thirst for travel which so 
 eminently characterized his own. The whole surface of 
 Middlesex, a part of Surrey, a portion of Essex, and several 
 square miles of Kent were in their turns examined and 
 reported on. In a rapid steamer they smoothly navigated the 
 placid Thames ; and in an open boat they fearlessly crossed the 
 turbid Medway. High-roads and by-roads, towns and villages, 
 public conveyances and their passengers, first-rate inns and 
 roadside public houses, races, fairs, regattas, elections, meetings, 
 market days all the scenes that can possibly occur to enliven 
 a country place, and at which different traits of character may 
 be observed and recognized, were alike visited and beheld by 
 the ardent Pickwick and his enthusiastic followers. 
 
 "The Pickwick travels, the Pickwick diary, the Pickwick 
 correspondence, in short the whole of the Pickwick Papers, 
 were carefully preserved, and duly registered by the secretary, 
 from time to time, in the Voluminous transactions of the Pick- 
 wick Club. These transactions have been purchased from the 
 Patriotic Society at an immense expense, and placed in the 
 hands of " Boz," the author of sketches illustrative of every- 
 day life, every-day people a gentleman whom the publishers 
 consider highly qualified for the task of arranging these 
 important documents, and placing them before the public in an 
 attractive form. He is at present immersed in his arduous 
 labours, the first-fruits of which appeared, on the 31st of March. 
 Seymour has devoted himself, heart and graver, to the task of 
 illustrating the beauties of Pickwick. It was reserved to 
 Gibbon to paint, in colours that will never fade, the Decline 
 and Fall of the Roman Empire ; to Hume to chronicle the strife 
 and turmoil of the two proud houses that divided England 
 against herself to Napier to pen in burning words the history 
 of the war in the Peninsula ; the deeds and actions of the 
 gifted Pickwick yet remain for 'Boz' and SEYMOUR to hand 
 down to posterity," etc. 
 
 It will be seen from this how large and broad was the 
 original plan laid out. We were to have letters, diaries, ad- 
 ventures in boats and steamers, and roadside public houses ; we 
 were to be taken to "Wales ; and there was the " celebrated 
 journey to Birmingham." The locale of the club would appear 
 to have been somewhere in Lothbury and was likely enough 
 to have held its meetings at the George and Vulture. It is 
 stated to have been founded five years before the opening of 
 the story : though, in the later plan, it would seem to have been
 
 APPENDIX. 369 
 
 only recently formed ; as it will be recollected, the " uniform " 
 and button had been just adopted. 
 
 I will now lay before the Bibliophile Reader all the various 
 editions, illustrations, and other matter, that have been engen- 
 dered by this wonderful book. 
 
 The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, 8 with forty-three 
 
 illustrations by Phiz. PP. xiv. 609. Chapman and Hall. 
 
 London, 1837. 8vo. 
 Ditto. With illustrations after Phiz. Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 Launceston, 1838. 8vo. 
 Ditto, in Baudry's "Collection of British Authors." Paris, 
 
 1841. 16mo. 
 
 Ditto. London, 1847. 8vo. 
 Ditto. With illustrations, London, 1867. 8vo. 
 Ditto. The Charles Dickens Edition, with eight illustrations. 
 
 1867. 
 Ditto. New York. Fifty-two illustrations by Nast. 1873. 
 
 8vo. 
 
 Library Edition of the Works. 22 vols. 1858. 
 Library Edition, with the original illustrations. 30 vols. 1861, 
 
 1873, 1874. 
 
 The Household Edition. With illustrations. 1873. 
 Popular Library Edition. 16mo. 1880. 
 Cabinet ditto. 1885. 
 Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, and thirty-three 
 
 additional plates by Onwhyn, Phiz, and others. Published 
 
 by E. Grattan, 1837. 
 The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Cassell's Eed 
 
 Library, 1885. 
 
 Another Edition, illustrated by A B. Frost. 1881. 
 Dick's Edition. London, 1883. 
 
 Tales from Pickwick (Routledge's Pocket Library). 1888. 8vo. 
 Pickwick Papers. With notes and illustrations. Edited by 
 
 C. Dickens the younger. Jubilee Edition, 1886. 
 Ditto. Chapman and Hall, and Routledge. Price one shilling. 
 Ditto. G. Koutledge. Price sixpence. 1887. 
 Ditto. Warne. Price sixpence. 
 
 * This title, in part, had been anticipated a few years before : 
 Posthumous Papers, Facetious and Fanciful, by a Person 
 
 lately about Town. Cr. 8vo, half calf, 3s. 1831. 
 Includes the Humorous Man, or what the Ladies call " Nice 
 
 Men,"Tunstile Hall, the Eccentric Poet, a Chapter on Pigs, 
 
 etc., etc. 
 
 i) b
 
 37o APPENDIX. 
 
 Ditto. Goodhall's edition. Price one penny (half a million 
 
 copies printed). 
 
 Ditto. In shorthand, in the Phonographic Library. 1887. 
 A Pickwick Klub. Pest, 1862. 
 Klub Pickwicka. 1869. 
 
 Pickwick Klubbens Efterlemnade Papper. Stockholm, 1861. 
 Uplne vydani Spisu Dickensovych (S. illustracemi od F. 
 
 Barnarda.). PrekladaProf. J.Vana, V.Praze,1883. 4to. 
 Geillustreerde complete Werken. (By Mensing.) Barnard's 
 
 illustrations. Published at Arnheim, 1887. 
 Boz's Sammtliche Werke (von Dr. C. Kolb). 1860-76. 
 Udtog af. Pikvik Klubbens efterladte Papirer. Kjbenhavn, 
 
 1881. 
 
 Samuel Pickwick en zijne Reisgenooten. Schiedam, 1868. 
 Le Clubdes Pickwickistes, Koman Comique. Mdme. Niboyer. 
 
 Paris, 1838. 
 
 Aventures de Monsieur Pickwick. P. Grolier. Paris, 1859. 
 Die Pickwickier, &c. 1837. 
 The Pictorial Edition. 1889. 
 Geillustreerde complete Werken (translated by C. Mensing and 
 
 others). Nijmegen, 1887. 
 
 Dickens Gesammelte Werke, in 20 vols. Leipzig, 1852. 
 Contes de Dickens, traduits par E. de Cerisj. 12mo. Paris, 
 
 1888. 
 Fantasifas. Historia de un Clown, Los Duendes, &c. (Mostly 
 
 selections from the Pickwick Papers.) Valencia, 1888. 
 In Kent with C. Dickens. By Frost. 1880. 
 Dickens Memento, with Introduction by F. Philimore, and 
 
 Hints to Dickens' Collectors, by J. Dexter. 1884. 
 C. Dickens, the Story of his Life. 1870. 
 Life by John Forster. 1872. 
 The Pickwick Treasury. 1845. 
 Quarterly Review, v. 59, p. 484. 
 Westminster Review, v. 27, p. 194 
 Portrait of Mr. Pickwick. G. A. Sala. Belgravia, v. 12, 
 
 p. 165. 
 
 Dickens, by Pen and Pencil. F. Kitton. 1890. 
 Bentley's Miscellany. 
 Edinburgh Review, v. 68. 
 London Quarterly Review, v. 59. 
 Blackwood, v. 52. 
 N. American Review, v. 56. 
 
 About England with Dickens. A. Rimmer. 1883. 
 Bibliography of the writings of C. Dickens. James Cook, 
 
 Paisley. 1879.
 
 APPENDIX. 371 
 
 Ditto. J. Anderson. 9 
 
 Bibliography of Dickens. E. Herne Shepherd. 1880. 
 
 The Dickens Dictionary, a Key to the characters and incidents. 
 
 G. A. Pierce. 1872. 
 On the Origin of Sam Weller, and the real cause of the success 
 
 of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. By a 
 
 lover of Charles Dickens. 1883. 
 A Pickwickian Pilgrimage. J. E. Hassard. 1881. 
 Scenes from the Pickwick Papers, designed by A. Dulcken. 
 
 1861. 
 
 Bardell v. Pickwick, versified. T. H. Gem. 1881. 
 Six Illustrations to the Pickwick Club. 1854. 
 The Pickwickians, or the Peregrinations of Sam Weller. 
 
 Arranged from Moncrieff's adaptation, by T. H. Lacy. 1850. 
 Sam Weller, or the Pickwickians. W. T. Moncrieff. 1837. 
 C. Dickens and Eochester. E. Langton. 1880. 
 Twenty Scenes from the Works of Dickens, designed and 
 
 etched by C. Coveney. Sydney, 1883, 4to. 
 " Wellerisms " from Pickwick and Master Humphrey's Clock, 
 
 selected by C. F. Eideal, and edited by C. Kent. 1886. 
 Bardell and Pickwick as condensed by the author for his 
 
 readings. Boston, 1868. 
 The Ivy Green. By Henry Russell. 1 840. 
 Mr. Bob Sawyer's Party, as condensed by the author for his 
 
 readings. Boston, 1868. 
 Dickens' London. T. E. Pemberton. 1876. 
 Dickens and the Stage. T. E. Pemberton. 1888. 
 A series of character sketches for Dickens. F.Barnard. Folio. 
 
 1879-85. 
 Dickensiana. A Bibliography of the literature relating to C.D. 
 
 F. G. Kitton, 1886. 
 " The London Singer's Magazine, a collection of all the most 
 
 celebrated and popular songs as sung at the London 
 
 Theatres, with fine character portrait of Mr. Eansford, 
 
 and about 64 most humorous engravings by Cruikshank, 
 
 T. Jones, Findlay, &c. 2 vols. in 1, 8vo. Duncombe, N.D. 
 "At page 147 of vol. 2 is An original comic song 
 
 written by 'Boz,' and sung at the London Concerts, 
 
 entitled ' The Tetotal Excursion,' undoubtedly an 
 
 early production of C, Dickens. The volumes also con- 
 
 9 I have received much assistance from this admirable col- 
 lection, and the author has further allowed me to make use of 
 his MS. additions. 
 
 B b 2
 
 372 APPENDIX. 
 
 tain 'Smike's song to Nicholas Nickleby,' 'The Fat 
 Boy ' (with engraving), ' The Loving Ballad of Lord 
 Bateman ' (with an engraving), ' Sam Weller's Adventures, 
 a song of the Pickwickians,' as sung at Pickwick Club, 
 Long Acre (with an engraving). From the internal evi- 
 dence the date of the volumes is circa 1839." 
 
 " Another copy of the 2 vols. in 1, with numerous en- 
 gravings by Cruikshank, &c., coloured frontispieces, 8vo, 
 original pictorial boards, uncut (slightly imperfect) <! Is. 
 Duncomb, N.D. 
 
 " Including ' The Old Man and the Child,' a favourite 
 ballad written by Boz, ' The Ivy Green,' by Boz, ' Sam 
 Weller's Adventures,' &c. This appears to be a different 
 issue from the preceding. Both the songs and the illus- 
 trations differ." 
 
 The Pickwick Comic Almanack for 1838, containing Sam 
 Weller's Diary of Fun and Pastime, and 12 comic en- 
 gravings by K. Cruikshank, post 8vo, wrappers, sewn. 
 Marshall. 
 
 An evening with Pickwick. C. Parker. 1889. 
 
 The Weller Family. A Comedy. F, Emson. 1878. 
 
 Pen Photographs. Kate Field. 1868. 
 
 Der Humorist. Zotlingen, Switzerland. 
 
 Two English Humorists (Lamb and Dickens). Percy Fitz- 
 gerald. 1863. 
 
 L'Inimitable Boz. De Heussey. 1889. 
 
 Mezieres, Histoire critique. Tom III., " Le Club Pickwick." 
 1841. 
 
 The Pickwick Club. A. Burletta, by E. Stirling. 1837 
 
 Peregrinations of Pickwick. W. Leman Esde. 1837 
 
 Pickwick Songster. 1837. 
 
 Mr. Pickwick's collection of Songs. 1837. 
 
 Sam Weller's Pickwick Jest Book. 1837. 
 
 Beauties of Pickwick. 1838. 
 
 The Penny Pickwick (issued in numbers), ] 838. 
 
 Pickwick Abroad ; or, The Tour in France. G. W. Reynolds. 
 VVith forty-one plates. 1839. 
 
 Pickwick in America. 
 
 Posthumous Papers of the Cadger Club. 
 
 The Posthumous Papers of the Wonderful Discovery Club, 
 formerly of Camden Town. Established by Sir Peter 
 Patson. With eleven illustrations designed by Squib, and 
 engraved by Point. 1838. 
 
 The Posthumous Notes of the Pickwickian Club. Edited by 
 Bos. 132 engravings, 1839.
 
 APPENDIX. 373 
 
 Twenty Scenes -from the Works of Charles Dickens. Sydney. 
 
 1883. 
 
 Twenty-four Illustrations to Pickwick, by Frederick Pailthorpe. 
 Illustrations to Pickwick. Antoney. 
 Ditto, Appleyards. 
 Sam Weller's Scrap Sheet. 
 Dickens Aquarelles. Twelve illustrations by " Stylus." .New 
 
 York. 
 
 Illustrations by " Kyd." 
 
 Kacy Sketches of Expeditions from the Pickwick Club. 1838. 
 Illustrations by Sir John Gilbert. 
 Grattan's series of etched illustrations. 
 32 plates by Sam Weller. Onwyn. 1837. 
 Chapters with revived Pickwick Characters, c Mr. Weller's 
 
 Watch,' &c., in ' Master Humphrey's Clock.' (First 
 
 Edition.) 
 Philosophy of Charles Dickens. Hon. Albert Canning. 1880. 
 
 It may be added here, that it is somewhat difficult to dis- 
 criminate exactly the editions of the " collected works " as 
 the issues of the same edition underwent alteration the illus- 
 trations being added in some cases, and new titles supplied. 
 Some took several years to issue. 
 
 It was natural that a work of such claims should be cele- 
 brated in all the glories of typography. Some years ago it was 
 determined to do honour to Dickens by bringing out a really 
 sumptuous edition of his writings. Here was the programme : 
 
 " The Publishers of the works of Charles Dickens, who have 
 from the first to last been associated with the writings of this 
 great Humorist, have made arrangements for the publication 
 of an 
 
 EDITION DE LUXE, 
 COMPLETE IN THIETY VOLUMES, IMPERIAL 8vo. 
 
 " There exist at this moment several editions of the works of 
 Charles Dickens, but not one that sufficiently represents his 
 place in the library as the foremost English writer of fiction of 
 his time, the vigorous reformer of social abuses, and the house- 
 hold friend of readers of every rank and nation. The present 
 edition is intended to offer the appropriate tribute to his genius 
 which has been too long delayed. The Letterpress is printed, 
 from the Edition last Revised by the Author, by Messrs. E. 
 CLAY, SONS, and TAYLOR, on paper of the finest quality, made 
 for the purpose by Messrs. SPALDING and HODGE. The Work 
 will be illustrated by upwards of Seven Hundred Engravings,
 
 374 APPENDIX. 
 
 011 Steel, Copper, and Wood, comprising the whole of the 
 Original Illustrations drawn by CBUIKSHANK, SEYMOUR, 
 ' PHIZ ' (Hablot K. Browne), CATTERMOLE, TENNIEL, DOYLE, 
 D. MACLISE, R.A., Sir EDWARD LANDSEEE, K.A,, F. WALKER, 
 MARCUS STONE, JOHN LEECH, CLARKSON STANFIELD, R.A., and 
 FRANK STONE, as well as a selection from those by L. FILDES, 
 A.K.A., C. GREEN, F. BARNARD, and other Artists in the later 
 Editions. The wrappers in which the works originally ap- 
 peared in Monthly Numbers will also be reproduced. All the 
 Illustrations will be printed on Heal China Paper ; the Wood- 
 cuts and Vignettes being mounted with the Letterpress, and 
 the Steel and Copper Plates being mounted on Plate Paper ex- 
 pressly made for the work. A complete work will be issued 
 every month, commencing with THE PICKWICK PAPERS, in two 
 volumes. The Edition for sale will be strictly limited to ONE 
 THOUSAND COPIES : and as each sheet is printed the type will 
 be broken up. As seven Hundred Copies have already been 
 subscribed, the price has been raised. The present terms of 
 subscription may be learned from all Booksellers." 
 
 This is an astonishing monument. The volumes are of 
 massive size thirty in number and, when fittingly bound, 
 would gladden the heart of any Bibliophilist. This was later 
 followed by another handsome tribute known as the " Victoria 
 Edition," in which the original drawings not the etchings 
 were reproduced. It was thus described : 
 
 " Pickwick Papers, illustrated with Facsimiles of 50 Drawings 
 made for the engravings by Seymour, Buss, Phiz, and Leech ; 
 also facsimiles of the blue cover and a page of Dickens' 
 manuscript ; copies of the original prospectus, &c. Two octavo 
 volumes on hand-made paper. 
 
 " The two substantial volumes which Messrs. Chapman and 
 Hall, the original publishers of the work, issue this week are 
 not a facsimile reprint either of the old monthly parts in their 
 famous green wrappers, or of the first completed edition which 
 was given' to the world just fifty years ago. . . . The original 
 illustrations by Seymour and Phiz even the drawings done 
 by Buss in the intermediate time between the sudden and 
 tragic end of the first-named artist and the regular engage- 
 ment of Mr. Hablot Browne are here reproduced, not from 
 the original etchings, but, what is better still, from the artists' 
 drawings. Even cancelled ' alternative ' drawings and suppressed 
 plates, which have hitherto not been seen by the public eye, 
 are included, and all these have been reproduced with marvellous 
 delicacy and fidelity by photogravure, or the process of photo- 
 graphic engraving upon copper- plates."
 
 APPENDIX. 375 
 
 We have already made allusion to the edition prepared by 
 " Boz's " son, " Charles Dickens the younger," in which the book 
 was " worked on " like a classic, illustrated with notes and 
 commentaries, explanatory of local and obscure allusions, 
 obsolete manners and customs ; and also set off by pictures of 
 the old inns, towns and other objects of interest. Unluckily 
 the effect was marred by introducing the notes at the end of 
 each, and thus interrupting, if not violating the continuity of 
 the narrative. It is difficult, therefore, to read it with com- 
 fort or with the old security. 
 
 Finally, we have the " Crown " edition, now being issued ; 
 a convenient, brightly printed volume; Avith all the original 
 illustrations, which are really essential for the proper under- 
 standing of the text.
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED 
 ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLBEKENWELL KOAD. 
 
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