doings, and out of the scant
materials furnished, can really reconstruct the time and the place, and
find out, as if by enquiries, all about Jingle and his connections and
the theatre--such is the fruitfulness of the text?

CHAPTER IV. BOZ AND BLACKING.

One of the remarkable things associated with "Pickwick" is its
autobiographical character, as it might be termed, and the amount of the
author's personal experience which is found in passages. Such are his
sketches of Rochester and Chatham life during his boyhood, his
recollections of Grimaldi's dissolute son, his own poignant sorrow on the
death of Mary Hogarth, and the painful memories of his boyish
apprenticeship to an uncongenial trade more than hinted at. The election
matters were also particular memories of his own, so was the scene of the
ghostly mail coaches. Then there was the hideous recollection of the
life in a debtors' prison, of which he had such sad personal experience,
with much more. He recalled the time when he had a miserable lodging in
Lant Street, Borough, and Lant Street was for him always a fixed point in
his memory, and grew in size and importance. And when he described some
wretched creature hiding himself in London purlieus, he chose some
miserable place like College-street in Camden Town, whither his own
family had retired.

All these things supply a singular vitality and realism, and also a
distinct interest for those who are "in the know," for Boz himself at the
time was a dramatic and interesting figure, and this story of his
struggle out of a state of squalid misery is truly pathetic.

Readers of Forster's interesting "Life" will recall the dismal passage in
the account given by Dickens to his friend, and his agonising experience
when he was employed at the blacking factory. Many at the time thought
that this painful episode might have been spared the reader, but the
uncompromising biographer would not sacrifice it. On the whole, he was
right, as the trial had an important influence on the writer's character.
It will be recollected that he was employed at a place set up in Chandos
Street, just out of the Strand, by one of the firm of Warrens, and his
duties seemed to consist in pasting the labels on the bottles. Many will
still recall the keen rivalry that existed between the famous firms,
Warren and Day and Martin, which brought much amusement to the public
from the arts of "bold advertisement" with which the war was w