him a
little book which had been published 17th December 1843, and describes it
as the greatest success, "I think, I have ever achieved." It seems to be
the _Christmas Carol_, as on 4th January 1844 he wrote to Leman Blanchard
in regard to a review of the _Carol_. "I _must_ thank you because you
have filled my heart up to the brim, and it is running over." In the
summer of 1844 he started for a holiday abroad, but in November he
travelled back to London to see _The Chimes_ through the press, of which
he wrote, 5th November 1844:--

"I believe I have . . . knocked the _Carol_ out of the field. It will
make a great uproar, I have no doubt." He adds (i., p. 145): "If you had
seen Macready, last night, undisguisedly sobbing and crying on the sofa
as I read _The Chimes_, you would have felt, as I did, what a thing it is
to have power."

In 1845 we hear of private theatricals for the first time, when Dickens
writes to Cattermole about taking a part in _Every Man in his Humour_.
On a similar occasion in 1850 a master carpenter from one of the theatres
said, "Ah, sir, it's a universal observation in the profession, sir, that
it was a great loss to the public when you took to writing books."

In 1847 we hear of more acting, _Every Man in his Humour_ being given
again for the benefit of Leigh Hunt, with the help of George Cruickshank,
George Henry Lewes, and Augustus Egg, as new members of the Company (i.,
p. 177).

In 1846 he gave up all connection with the _Daily News_, which he had
rashly agreed to edit. He went to Switzerland, taking a villa
(Rosemount) there, from May till November. Here he wrote _The Battle of
Life_ and began _Dombey_. It was here that he made friends of M. de
Cerjat, Mr Haldimand, and of Hon. Richard and Mrs Watson of Rockingham
Castle, to whom he afterwards dedicated his favourite book, _David
Copperfield_.

It was at this time, too, that was founded his friendship with W. H.
Wills, who became an assistant in editing _All the Year Round_, and in
other ways.

In March 1846 he wrote to Wills:--"Tell Powell . . . that he needn't
'deal with' the American notices of the _Cricket_. I never read one word
of their abuse, and I should think it base to read their praises."

He wrote, 27th November 1846, to Mr Watson (from Paris):--"We are lodged
at last in the most preposterous house in the world. . . . The bedrooms
are like opera-boxes. The dining-rooms, stair-cases, and passages, quite
inexpli