talents than those of a reporter; for in the evening edition of that
journal appeared the _Sketches of English Life and Character_,
afterwards collected to form the two well-known volumes of _Sketches by
Boz_, published respectively in 1836 and 1837. These at once attracted
considerable notice, and obtained great success; and the publisher of
the collected edition, anxious to make the most of the prize which had
fallen to his lot, gladly came to an arrangement with Mr Dickens and
Seymour, the comic draughtsman--the one to write, and the other to
illustrate a book which should exhibit the adventures of a party of
Cockney sportsmen. Hence the appearance of _Pickwick_, a book which made
its author's reputation and the publishers' fortune. After the work had
commenced, poor Seymour committed suicide, and Mr Hablot K. Browne was
selected to continue the illustrations, which he did under the signature
of "Phiz." Meanwhile, Mr Dickens had courted and married the daughter of
Mr George Hogarth, then, and now, a musical writer; a man of
considerable attainments, and who, in his earlier days, whilst a writer
to the Signet in Edinburgh, enjoyed the intimate friendship of Sir
Walter Scott, Jeffrey, and the other literary notables at that day
adorning the Modern Athens. The great success of _Pickwick_ brought down
upon its author demands from all sides for another work, and "Boz"
agreed to write _Nicholas Nickleby_, to be published in monthly parts.
In the prefatory notices, which give additional value to the cheap and
elegant reprint of the works of Dickens, we are indulged with slight
glimpses of his own recollections, personal and literary.' It is
unnecessary to note the titles of Mr Dickens's subsequent works, all of
which have justly obtained popularity. He has latterly entered on a path
not dissimilar to our own, and in this he has our very best wishes. The
cause of social melioration needs a union of hearts and hands.