Dickens was always very careful in his choice of names and
titles, and the evolution of some of the latter is very
interesting. One of the many he conceived for the magazine
which was to succeed _Household Words_ was _Household Harmony_,
while another was _Home Music_. Considering his dislike of
bells in general, it is rather surprising that two other
suggestions were _English Bells_ and _Weekly Bells_, but the
final choice was _All the Year Round_. Only once does he make
use of a musician's name in his novels, and that is in _Great
Expectations_. Philip, otherwise known as Pip, the hero, becomes
friendly with Herbert Pocket. The latter objects to the name
Philip, 'it sounds like a moral boy out of a spelling-book,'
and as Pip had been a blacksmith and the two youngsters were
'harmonious,' Pocket asks him:

'Would you mind Handel for a familiar name? There's
a charming piece of music, by Handel, called the
"Harmonious Blacksmith."'

'I should like it very much.'

Dickens' only contribution to hymnology appeared in the _Daily
News_ February 14, 1846, with the title 'Hymn of the Wiltshire
Labourers.' It was written after reading a speech at one of
the night meetings of the wives of agricultural labourers in
Wiltshire, held with the object of petitioning for Free Trade.
This is the first verse:

O God, who by Thy Prophet's hand
Did'st smite the rocky brake,