unless he took a part in the famous glee 'Sleep, gentle lady,'
which appears in the work as a quartet for alto, two tenors,
and bass, though it is now arranged in other forms.

In his dealings with the drama Dickens was frequently his
own bandmaster and director of the music. For instance, in
_No Thoroughfare_ we find this direction: 'Boys enter and
sing "God Save the Queen" (or any school devotional hymn).'
At Obenreizer's entrance a 'mysterious theme is directed
to be played,' that gentleman being 'well informed, clever,
and a good musician.'

Dickens was concerned in the production of one operetta--_The
Village Coquettes_--for which he wrote the words, and John
Hullah composed the music. It consists of songs, duets, and
concerted pieces, and was first produced at St. James's Theatre,
London, on December 6, 1836. The following year it was being
performed at Edinburgh when a fire broke out in the theatre,
and the instrumental scores together with the music of the
concerted pieces were destroyed. No fresh copy was ever made,
but the songs are still to be obtained. Mr. Kitton, in his
biography of the novelist, says, 'The play was well received,
and duly praised by prominent musical journals.'

The same writer gives us to understand that Hullah originally
composed the music for an opera called _The Gondolier_, but
used the material for _The Village Coquettes_. Braham, the
celebrated tenor, had a part in it. Dickens says in a letter to
Hullah that he had had some conversation with Braham about the
work. The singer thought very highly of it, and Dickens adds: