interesting to know the derivation of the names of these
individuals; but inasmuch as it would probably throw no additional light
on Dickens' own personality, it is passed by without further comment. It
is not that these names are any more unusual than many that really do
exist, and possibly they all may have had a real entity outside of the
author's brain; still it does represent a deal of thought that each and
every character throughout all of Dickens' works should seem so singularly
appropriate and in keeping with their names.

With place names Dickens took another line. Occasionally he played upon a
word, though often he did not disguise it greatly; nor did he intend to.
In many more instances, he presented no counterfeit whatever. For
picturesqueness and appropriateness, in conjunction with the lives of the
individuals of which his novels abound, one could hardly improve on many
actual places of which he wrote.

London street names, in general, may be divided into two classes: those
named for distinguished, or, for that matter, notorious persons, as Duke
Street, Wellington Street, George Street, Berkeley, Grosvenor, or
Bridgewater Squares; or secondly, those named for topographical or
architectural features, both classes of which, in the earlier times or
immediately following the "Great Fire," underwent no inconsiderable
evolution.

In a later day this will perhaps not prove equally true; remodelling and
rearranging of streets and squares not only changes the topography,
but--aside from the main arteries--names as well are often changed or
suppressed altogether. Since Dickens' time many spots, which must have
been dearly known and beloved of him, have disappeared, and the process is
going on apace, until, with the advent of another century, it will
doubtless be difficult to recognize any of the localities of a hundred or
more years before.

Some remarkable corruptions have been recorded from time to time, such as
Candlewick Street into Cannon Street, Cannon Row to Channel Row, and Snore
Hill to Snow Hill, all of which are easily enough followed. Strype's Court
(after the historian's family) to Tripe Court, or Duck Lane into Duke
Street, are not so easy.

Tavern signs, too, are supposed to have undergone similar perversions, not
always with euphonious success, as witness the following: "The Bachnals"
into "Bag of Nails," "The God Encompasseth Us" into "Goat and Compasses;"
both of the former existed in Victori