public without its regular monthly number. "I have been so unnerved" he
writes, in an unpublished letter to Harrison Ainsworth, "and hurt by the
loss of the dear girl whom I loved, after my wife, more dearly and
fervently than anyone on earth, that I have been compelled for once to
give up all idea of my monthly work, and to try a fortnight's rest and
quiet."

In this long book, there are found allusions to only two or three other
works. What these are might form one of the questions "set" at the next
Pickwick examination. Fielding is quoted once. In the dedication
allusion is made to Talfourd's three speeches in Parliament, on the
copyright question; these were published in a little volume, and make,
fairly enough, one of the illustrative documents of "Pickwick." In the
first number of the first edition there is an odd note, rather out of
place, but it was withdrawn later--meant to ridicule Mr. Jingle's story
of "Ponto's" sagacity; it states that in Mr. Jesse's gleanings, there are
more amazing stories than this.

Mr. Jesse was a sort of personage living at Richmond--where I well
remember him, when I was there as a boy. "Jesse's gleanings" was then a
well-known and popular book; and his stories of dogs are certainly
extraordinary enough to have invoked Boz's ridicule. We are told of the
French poodle, who after rolling himself in the mud of the Seine, would
rub himself against any well-polished boots that he noticed, and would
thus bring custom to his master, who was a shoe black on the _Pont Neuf_.
He was taken to London by an English purchaser, but in a few days
disappeared, and was discovered pursuing his old trade on the Bridge.
Other dogs, we were told, after being transported long distances, would
invariably find their way back. These prodigies, however, do not appear
so wonderful now, after the strange things about dogs and cats that have
been retailed in a well-known "weekly." A third allusion is to Sterne's
_Maria of Moulines_, made, of all people in the world, by Sam Weller.

"BOZ" AND "BOZZY."

It may seem somewhat far-fetched to put "Pickwick" beside Boswell's also
immortal work, but I think really the comparison is not a fanciful one.
No one enjoyed the book so much as "Boz." He knew it thoroughly. Indeed,
it is fitting that "Boz" should relish "Bozzy;" for "Bozzy" would
certainly have relished "Boz" and have "attended him with respectful
attention." It has not been yet shown how mu