ickleby,' both published in 1839. To this latter
he signed his name, Charles Dickens, dropping from that period the
pseudonym of "Boz." The titular hero is the son of a poor country
gentleman. He makes his own way in the world as the usher of a Yorkshire
school, as an actor in a traveling troupe, and as the clerk and finally
the partner in a prosperous mercantile house in London. Smike, his
pupil; Crummles, his theatrical manager; Ninetta Crummles, the Infant
Phenomenon of the company, Newman Noggs, the clerk of his uncle Ralph
Nickleby, the Cheeryble Brothers, his employers, are among the most
successful and charming of Dickens's earlier creations. "Mr. Squeers and
his school," he says, "were faint and feeble pictures of an existing
reality, purposely subdued and kept down lest they should be deemed
impossible." That such establishments ceased to exist in reality in
England after the appearance of 'Nickleby,' is proof enough of the good
his pictures did in this and in many other ways.

In 1840-1841 appeared 'Master Humphrey's Clock,' comprising the two
stories of 'The Old Curiosity Shop' and 'Barnaby Rudge,' which were
subsequently printed separately. The story of Little Nell, the gentle,
lovable inmate of the Curiosity Shop, is one of the most sad and tender
tales in fiction, and Dickens himself confessed that he was almost
heart-broken when she died. Her path was crossed by Quilp, a cunning and
malicious dwarf of hideous appearance, who consumed hard-boiled eggs,
shells and all, for his breakfast; ate his prawns with their heads and
their tails on, drank scalding hot tea, and performed so many horrifying
acts that one almost doubted that he was human; and by Christopher
Nubbles, a shock-headed, shambling, awkward, devoted lad, the only
element of cheerfulness that ever came into her life. In this book
appear Richard Swiveller and his Marchioness, Sampson and Sarah Brass
and Mrs. Jarley, who to be appreciated must be seen and known, as
Dickens has drawn them, at full length.

Barnaby Rudge was a half-witted lad, who, not knowing what he did,
joined the Gordon rioters--the scenes are laid in the "No Popery" times
of 1779--because he was permitted to carry a flag and to wear a blue
ribbon. The history of that exciting period of English semi-political,
semi-religious excitement is graphically set down. Prominent figures in
the book are Grip the raven, whose cry was "I'm a devil," "Never say
die"; and Miss Dolly Varden,