An abridgment would only lessen the evil, as it is not only the style of the writing, but the subject itself, which is objectionable.

"Excuse me for troubling you, but I felt that, in common with yourself, I have a grave responsibility in the matter, and I am, most truly yours,

'

"To Mr. J. Gudgeon."

"T. S. COLES.

It is not generally known that some time before "Pickwick" had been thought of by either publisher or author, Dickens was engaged upon a novel, the fate of which we may now never know. The success of the "Sketches" was such-a second edition being called for immediately after they were issuedthat Macrone entered into an arrangement with "Boz" to publish this work in the regular three volume form. The title was to be "GABRIEL VARDON," and a new novel by the author of "Sketches by Boz" was at once advertised by the publisher, and continued to be so announced until the commencement of 1837, when Macrone failed in business, and the advertisement was withdrawn. Could the novel have been laid aside to appear, four years later, in the altered form of "Barnaby Rudge," in which as the reader may remember-“ Gabriel Varden" (not Vardon), the father of Dolly, is one of the principal characters?

It has been recently stated, in more than one journal, that "The Sketches by Boz" were not republished in a collective form until after the success of "Pickwick." This is a mistake. It was

in the month following the publication of the "Sketches"-in March, 1836-that the first number of the "Pickwick Papers" was issued, and in the following year the work was published in a complete form, and dedicated to Mr. Serjeant Talfourd, an old and attached friend, and one of the first to recognize Dickens's extraordinary genius. He it was that presided at the monthly dinner, at the conclusion of which the proof of the forthcoming number of "Pickwick" was read by him (Talfourd). The guests-some half a dozen literary and personal friends-expressed their opinions, suggesting changes, &c., which the author took kindly, and often availed himself of.

His friend, the late Mr. Maclise, often told how that he, John Forster, and Charles Dickens used to meet at "Jack Straw's Castle," Hampstead Heath, and there Dickens would read to them that which he had written during the week; and this done, the rest of the time would be passed in a pleasant commingling of good cheer and genial criticism. "But this," the great artist would add, "was in the good old days gone by, when we were all young, and had the world before us."

Subsequently, in sending a complete copy of the work to his friend Talfourd, he took occasion to speak of his learned friend's exertions to secure to authors an extended term of copyright in their works :—

"If I had not enjoyed the happiness 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. 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 its too frequent legacy of poverty and suffering, will bear, in their altered condition, higher testimony to the value of your labours than the most lavish encomium from lip or pen could ever afford.

"Besides such tributes, any avowal of feeling from me, on the question to which you have devoted the combined advantages of your eloquence, character, and genius, would be powerless indeed. Nevertheless, in thus publicly expressing 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 my own strong feelings on the subject, if I do no service to you."

The entire letter was printed as an introduction to the old, original, and large-size edition of "Pickwick," but it has been omitted in the "Charles Dickens Edition" recently issued.

An amusing anecdote is remembered of our author and the learned Serjeant. At a public dinner, some years afterwards, Mr. Talfourd, regretting the absence of his friend Dickens, paid an appropriate and well

merited compliment to the breadth of surface over which the life, character, and general knowledge, contained in his works, extended. The reporter, not rightly hearing this, or not attending to it, but probably saying to himself, "Oh, it's about Dickens-one can't go wrong," gave a version of the learned Serjeant's speech in the next morning's paper, to the effect that Mr. Dickens's genius comprised that of all the greatest minds of the time put together, and that his works represented all their works. The high ideal and imaginative-the improvements in the steam-engine and machinery-all the new discoveries in anatomy, geology, and electricity, with the prize cartoons, and history and philosophy thrown into the bargain-one had only to search from the "Sketches by Boz" down to "Martin Chuzzlewit" to find, in some shape or other—“properly understood"all these, and much more; in fact, everything valuable which the world of letters elsewhere contains! We need hardly say that no reader of this astounding report was more amused than was Mr. Dickens himself, when he glanced over his newspaper on the following morning.

A great deal has been said of the origin of Pickwick and his Club, but notwithstanding the accounts given by both author and artist are perplexingly circumstantial, the reader will have but little difficulty in coming to a conclusion upon the matter.

The artist's account, given in the introduction to the last edition of "Seymour's Sketches," is this:

"Seymour was very fond of horticultural pursuits, and took great pains in cultivating a very nice garden which was attached to his house. Being rather disappointed with the effect of his gardening operations, it was suggested to him that the misfortunes of an amateur gardener might be made the subject of some humorous drawings. After revolving the idea in his mind for a short time, he resolved upon converting it into something of a sporting character, and said it should be Pickwick and his Club.' His first notion was to bring it out on a similar plan to that of the 'Heiress,' which appeared in 1830, and he proposed the subject to Mr. McLean. This was in the autumn of 1835, during which Mr. Spooner frequently called at Seymour's house to ascertain the progress of the plates for the 'Book of Christmas,' and on one of these occasions Seymour brought forward the project of 'Pickwick,' which Spooner highly approved; and in talking the matter over between them, it was decided. that it would be an improvement to add letterpress. The undertaking was so far put in motion that Seymour etched four plates from the drawings which he had made, and Mr. Spooner suggested that Theodore Hook should, if possible, be engaged for the letterpress. In consequence of Spooner being very much occupied in the production of the 'Book of Christmas,' which, through the author's (T. K. Hervey's) dilatoriness, came out a month later than it should have done, 'Pickwick' lay in abeyance, and the four plates that were etched remained in the artist's drawer for