recognize the new
expression which had come among them. One can well infer this by recalling
the fact that Thackeray himself, at a Royal Academy banquet, had said that
he was fearful of what "Pickwick's" reputation might have been had he
succeeded in getting the commission, afterward given to Seymour, to
illustrate the articles.

There appears to have been, at one time, some misunderstanding between
Dickens and his publishers as to who really was responsible for the birth
of "Pickwick," one claim having been made that Dickens was only
commissioned to write up Seymour's drawings. This Dickens disclaimed
emphatically in the preface written to a later edition, citing the fact
that Seymour only contributed the few drawings to the first serial part,
unfortunately dying before any others were even put in hand.

There is apparently some discrepancy between the varying accounts of this
incident, but Dickens probably had the right of it, though the idea of
some sort of a "Nimrod Club," which afterward took Dickens' form in the
"Pickwickians," was thought of between his publishers and Seymour. In
fact, among others, besides Dickens, who were considered as being able to
do the text, were Theodore Hook, Leigh Hunt, and Tom Hood.

As originally planned, it was undoubtedly a piece of what is
contemptuously known as hack work. What it afterward became, under
Dickens' masterful power, all the parties concerned, and the world in
general, know full well.

The statement that Dickens is "out of date," "not read now," or is "too
verbose," is by the mark when his work is compared with that of his
contemporaries. In a comparative manner he is probably very much read, and
very well read, too, for that matter. Far more so, doubtless, than most of
his contemporaries; certainly before George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, Bulwer,
or even Carlyle or Thackeray.

The very best evidence of this, if it is needed, is to recall to what
great extent familiarity with the works of Dickens has crept into the
daily life of "the people," who more than ever form the great majority of
readers.

True, times and tastes have changed from even a quarter of a century ago.
Fashions come and go with literature, novels in particular, as with all
else, and the works of Dickens, as a steady fare, would probably pall on
the most enthusiastic of his admirers. On the other hand, he would be a
dull person indeed who could see no humour in "Pickwick," whatever his
age, creed,