The Comedy of Charles Dickens. First Series. (Chapman and Hall.
6s.)—The sub-title of this volume reads thus : "A Book of Chapters and Extracts Taken from the Writer's Novels by his Daughter Kate (Mrs. Perugini)." The first extract is from "Sketches by Boz," and it was the earliest to appear, being published in the Old Monthly Magazine for December, 1833. Whether it was the first time that Charles Dickens saw himself in print we do not know ; but Mrs. Perugini quotes the words in which he describes the keen delight which its appearance excited in him. We are not disposed to criticise Mrs. Perugini's choice. Ranked according to the length of the extracts given," Pickwick" comes first, " Martin Chuzzlewit" second, "Nicholas Nickleby third, and "Our Mutual Friend" fourth. Personally the writer of this notice would have given more from the earlier and less from the later books. On the other hand, much may be said for an adequate representation of Dickens's different phases.
Previous page
