powerful writing. John Browdie, with his hearty laugh, and thoroughly English heart, will ever be an immense favourite. Dotheboys Hall and its tenants is a very sad history, and well might Dickens use his utmost endeavours to crush such an infamous hotbed of misery and torment. Who has not roared at the eccentricities of Mrs. Nickleby, especially in that memorable interview with the gentleman in the small clothes?

It is said that the Brothers Grant, the wealthy cotton-mill owners of Manchester, were the prototypes of the Brothers Cheeryble; both are now dead, the elder one dying in March, 1855. In the original preface, Dickens having stated that they were portraits from life, and were still living, in the preface to a later edition he said: "If I were to attempt to sum up the hundreds of letters from all sorts of people, in all sorts of latitudes and climates, to which this unlucky paragraph has since given rise, I should get into an arithmetical difficulty from which I could not easily extricate myself. Suffice it to say, that I believe the applications for loans, gifts, and offices of profit, that I have been requested to forward to the originals of the Brothers Cheeryble (with whom I never interchanged any communication in my life) would have exhausted the combined patronage of all the lord chancellors since the accession of the House of Brunswick, and would have broken the rest of the Bank of England.”

In Mr. Samuel Smiles's admirable “Self Help"

(the later editions) is recorded a very touching instance of the kindness and generosity of these gentlemen. However, it is too long to transfer to these pages. Long before the completion of "Nicholas Nickleby," Mr. Edward Stirling produced a dramatic version of it, and received, in consequence, a sharp reproof in the ensuing number. It was performed at the Adelphi, on November 19th, 1838, as a farce, in two acts; Mr. O. Smith representing Newman. Noggs; Mr. Yates, Mantalini; and Mrs. Keeley, Smike. Another adaption was brought out at the Strand Theatre, under the title of "The Fortunes of Smike." As recently as the end of 1866, Mr. J. L. Toole made a great hit by doubling the parts of Squeers and Newman Noggs, when playing in the provinces with Mrs. Billington, who made a capital Mrs. Squeers, the termagant partner of the school

master.

Sydney Smith, in a letter to Sir George Phillips, about September, 1838, wrote:-"Nickleby' is very good. I stood out against Mr. Dickens as long as I could, but he has conquered me."

And Thomas Moore, in his Diary, under date April 5, 1835, mentions dining at Messrs. Longmans, in Paternoster Row, the company consisting of Sydney Smith, Canon Tate, Merivale, Dionysius the Tyrant, McCulloch, and Hayward (the translator of "Faust"). "Conversation turned on Boz, the new comic writer. Was sorry to hear Sydney cry him down, and evidently without having given him a fair trial. Whereas,

to me, it appears one of the few proofs of good taste. that the masses,' as they are called, have yet given, there being some as nice humour and fun in the 'Pickwick Papers' as in any work I have seen in our day. Hayward, the only one of the party that stood by me in this opinion, engaged me for a dinner (at his chambers) on Thursday next."

In the following year Sydney Smith had formed an acquaintance with Dickens, and we find him writing to the author of "Nicholas Nickleby":

"Nobody more-and more justly-talked of than yourself. The Miss Berrys, now at Richmond, live only to become acquainted with you, and have commissioned me to request you to dine with them Friday, the 29th, or Monday, July 1st, to meet a Canon of St. Paul's, the Rector of Combe Florey, and the Vicar of Halberton, all equally well known to you; to say nothing of other and better people. The Miss Berrys and Lady Charlotte Lindsay have not the smallest objection to be put into a number, but, on the contrary, would be proud of the distinction; and Lady Charlotte, in particular, you may marry to Newman Noggs. Pray come; it is as much as my place is worth to send a refusal."

We have already given evidence of Thackeray's hearty appreciation of the author who has chronicled for us the adventures of "Oliver Twist." Later on, in Fraser's Magazine, when commenting on the Royal Academy Exhibition, we find another interesting reference by Thackeray to Mr. Dickens, with a

prophecy of his future greatness :-"Look (he says, in the assumed character of Michael Angelo Titmarsh) at the portrait of Mr. Dickens,--well arranged as a picture, good in colour and light and shadow, and as a likeness perfectly amazing; a looking-glass could not render a better facsimile. Here we have the real identical man Dickens: the artist must have understood the inward 'Boz' as well as the outward before he made this admirable representation of him. What cheerful intellectuality is about the man's eyes, and a large forehead! The mouth is too large and full, too eager and active, perhaps; the smile is very sweet and generous. If Monsieur de Balzac, that voluminous physiognomist, could examine this head, he would no doubt interpret every line and wrinkle in it-the nose firm and well placed, the nostrils wide and full, as are the nostrils of all men of genius (this is Monsieur Balzac's maxim). The past and the future, says Jean Paul, are written in every countenance. I think we may promise ourselves a brilliant future from this one. There seems no flagging as yet in it, no sense of fatigue, or consciousness of decaying power. Long mayest thou, O Boz! reign over thy comic kingdom; long may we pay tribute-whether of threepence weekly, or of a shilling monthly, it matters not. Mighty prince! at thy imperial feet, Titmarsh, humblest of thy servants, offers his vows of loyalty and his humble tribute of praise."

And lecturing on "Week-day Preachers," at St.

Martin's Hall,* in aid of the Jerrold Fund, Thackeray spoke of the delight which children derived from reading the works of Mr. Dickens, and mentioned that one of his own children said to him that she wished he "would write stories like those which Mr. Dickens wrote. The same young lady," he continued, "when she was ten years old, read 'Nicholas Nickleby' morning, noon, and night, beginning it again as soon as she had finished it, and never wearying of its fun."

Concerning the financial success of "Nicholas Nickleby," it may be mentioned that the late Mr. Tegg, the publisher, writing to the Times, in February, 1840, on copyrights, declared that the work produced the author £3,000.

At the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840, a fine portrait of Dickens, painted by his friend Daniel Maclise, was exhibited. This is the portrait to which Thackeray alludes in the preceding page. An engraving from it appeared in subsequent editions of "Nicholas Nickleby."

*July, 1857.