self-appreciation are delightful to the true lover of "The Inimitable."


TAVISTOCK HOUSE, June 6, 1856.

I have never seen anything about myself in print which has much
correctness in it--any biographical account of myself I mean. I do not
supply such particulars when I am asked for them by editors and
compilers, simply because I am asked for them every day. If you want
to prime Forgues, you may tell him, without fear of anything wrong,
that I was born at Portsmouth on the 7th of February, 1812; that my
father was in the Navy Pay Office; that I was taken by him to Chatham
when I was very young, and lived and was educated there till I was
twelve or thirteen, I suppose; that I was then put to a school near
London, where (as at other places) I distinguished myself like a brick;
that I was put in the office of a solicitor, a friend of my father's,
and didn't much like it; and after a couple of years (as well as I can
remember) applied myself with a celestial or diabolical energy to the
study of such things as would qualify me to be a first-rate
parliamentary reporter--at that time a calling pursued by many clever
men who were young at the Bar; that I made my debut in the gallery (at
about eighteen, I suppose), engaged on a voluminous publication no
longer in existence, called the _Mirror of Parliament_; that when the
_Morning Chronicle_ was purchased by Sir John Easthope and acquired a
large circulation, I was engaged there, and that I remained there until
I had begun to publish "Pickwick," when I found myself in a condition
to relinquish that part of my labours; that I left the reputation
behind me of being the best and most rapid reporter ever known, and
that I could do anything in that way under any sort of circumstances,
and often did. (I daresay I am at this present writing the best