spertero at Bilboa. In Portugal
the marriage of Princess Maria II. to Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
was followed by fresh disorders. Revolution broke out at Lisbon, on August
9, and could be subdued only by the re-establishment of the Constitution of
1832. On November 8 came another popular rising. It was a sign of the times
and of a more liberal turn of affairs at Lisbon that one of the first
measures of the new government was a total abolition of Portuguese slave
trading.

[Sidenote: British reforms]

[Sidenote: Charles Dickens]

[Sidenote: "Pickwick Papers"]

[Sidenote: Marryat]

[Sidenote: Landor]

[Sidenote: Death of Mill]

[Sidenote: Wheatstone]

[Sidenote: Balfe]

Reform of all kinds had become popular in England under the dexterous
resistance of O'Connell, who held the balance in Parliament. The government
was induced to bring in a corporation reform bill for Ireland. An official
register of births, deaths, and marriages was conceded to the dissenters.
Next came the abolition of one of the most barbarous practices of English
and Irish law courts. Up to this time prisoners accused of felony were not
allowed to be defended by counsel. At the instance of Lord Lyndhurst this
was now changed. Another gain for humanity was made by the abolition of the
law which required that persons convicted of murder should be executed on
the next day but one. On the other hand a bill for the abolition of
imprisonment for debt miscarried. The most potent plea against the abuses
of this particular relic of barbarism in England was put forth by Charles
Dickens in his "Pickwick Papers." These serial papers relating the humorous
adventures of Mr. Pickwick and his body servant Sam Weller, when brought in
conflict with the English laws governing breach of marital promise and
debt, had an immense success in England and all English-speaking countries.
Already Dickens had published a series of "Sketches of London," under the
pseudonym of Boz, while working as a Parliamentary reporter for the
"Morning Chronicle." The success of the "Pickwick Papers" was such that he
felt encouraged to emerge from his pseudonym and to devote himself entirely
to literature. Other literary events of the year in England were the
publication of the initial volumes of Lockhart's "Memoirs of the Life of
Sir Walter Scott," of Captain Marryat's "Mr. Midshipman Easy," and "The
Pirate and the Three Cutters," and of Landor's "Pericles and Aspasia." The