, C. A. Vanderhoof,
and others. Yet another little _brochure_ recently appeared, called
_London Rambles en zigzag with Charles Dickens_, by Robert Allbut, 1886.
Lastly, there was published in the Christmas Number of _Scribner's
Magazine_, 1887, an article, "In Dickens-Land," by Edward Percy Whipple,
in which this veteran and appreciative critic of the eminent English
writer's works points out that, "In addition to the practical life that
men and women lead, constantly vexed as it is by obstructive facts,
there is an interior life which they _imagine_, in which facts smoothly
give way to sentiments, ideas, and aspirations. Dickens has, in short,
discovered and colonized one of the waste districts of 'Imagination,'
which we may call 'Dickens-Land,' or 'Dickens-Ville,' . . . better known
than such geographical countries as Canada and Australia, . . . and
confirming us in the belief of the _reality_ of a population which has
no _actual_ existence."

It must not be assumed that the above list exhausts the literature on
the subject of "Dickens-Land," many references to which are made in such
high-class works as Augustus J. C. Hare's _Walks in London_, and
Lawrence Hutton's _Literary Landmarks of London_.

Since the above was written, a very interesting and prettily illustrated
article has appeared in the _English Illustrated Magazine_ for October,
1888, entitled "Charles Dickens and Southwark," by Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry,
who is second to none as an enthusiastic admirer and loyal student of
Dickens. There is also a paper in _Longman's Magazine_ for the same
month, by the delightful essayist A. K. H. B., called "That Longest
Day," in which there are several allusions to Dickens and
"Dickens-Land." It, however, lacks the freshness of his earlier
writings. Surely he must have lost his old love for Dickens, or things
must have gone wrong at the Ecclesiastical Conference which took place
at Gravesend on "That Longest Day." Altogether it is pitched in a minor
key.

None of these contributions (with the exception of Mr. Langton's book),
interesting as they are, and indispensable to the collector, attempt in
any way to give personal reminiscences of Charles Dickens from friends
or others, nor do they in any way help to throw light on his everyday
life at home, beyond what was known before.

The circumstances narrated in this work do not concern the imaginary
"Dickens-Land" of Mr. Whipple, but refer to the actual country in which
the