e December number of the _Old Monthly Magazine_ for 1833.
By the following August, when the signature "Boz" was first given, five
of these sketches had appeared. By the end of 1834 we find him settled
in rooms in Furnival's Inn, and a little later his salary on the
_Morning Chronicle_ was raised, owing to the intervention of one of its
chiefs, George Hogarth, the father of (in addition to six sons) eight
charming daughters, to one of whom, Catherine, Charles was engaged to be
married before the year was out. Clearly as his career now seemed
designated, he was at this time or a little before it coquetting very
seriously with the stage: but circumstances were rapidly to determine
another stage in his career. A year before Queen Victoria's accession
appeared in two volumes _Sketches by Boz_, _Illustrative of Everyday
Life and Everyday People_. The book came from a prentice hand, but like
the little tract on the Puritan abuse of the Sabbath entitled "Sunday
under three Heads" which appeared a few months later, it contains in
germ all, or almost all, the future Dickens. Glance at the headings of
the pages. Here we have the Beadle and all connected with him, London
streets, theatres, shows, the pawnshop, Doctors' Commons, Christmas,
Newgate, coaching, the river. Here comes a satirical picture of
parliament, fun made of cheap snobbery, a rap on the knuckles of
sectarianism. And what could be more prophetic than the title of the
opening chapter--Our Parish? With the Parish--a large one
indeed--Dickens to the end concerned himself; he began with a rapid
survey of his whole field, hinting at all he might accomplish,
indicating the limits he was not to pass. This year was to be still more
momentous to Dickens, for, on the 2nd of April 1836, he was married to
George Hogarth's eldest daughter Catherine. He seems to have fallen in
love with the daughters collectively, and, judging by subsequent events,
it has been suggested that perhaps he married the wrong one. His wife's
sister Mary was the romance of his early married life, and another
sister, Georgina, was the dearest friend of his last ten years.

A few days before the marriage, just two months after the appearance of
the _Sketches_, the first part of _The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick
Club_ was announced. One of the chief vogues of the day was the issue of
humorous, sporting or anecdotal novels in parts, with plates, and some
of the best talent of the day, represented by Ain