its influence and
began to show something of his real talent for entertaining those about
him.

Mr. Dickens, however, soon concluded that Charles ought to be making a
start in some business, and so a few years after he had entered school
he was placed as clerk in the office of a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn.
Here he had to run errands through the busy streets of London's business
life, copy all legal documents, and answer the clients who came to call
on the firm.

The other clerks found young Dickens immensely entertaining. He could
mimic every one who called at the office, and in addition he knew the
different cockney voices of all the rabble of the London streets. He had
learnt to know the queer types of people who drifted about the river
banks and the poorer sections of the city. He knew every small
inflection of their voices and their every trick and gesture, and now he
acted them out to the great delight of the other clerks. But he could
put his powers of mimicry to greater uses. He went to the theatre,
particularly to hear Shakespeare's plays, as often as he could, and then
would repeat long passages from the plays, giving the exact voice and
manner of the leading actors. Many friends predicted that Charles would
be a great actor himself some day, and so perhaps he might had not
his interest all been drawn another way.

[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS AT EIGHTEEN]

At the time he was so much charmed with the thought of becoming an actor
that he wrote to the manager of the theatre at Covent Garden, telling
him what he thought of his own gifts for the stage, and asking if he
might have an appointment. The manager wrote that they were very busy at
that time with a new play, but that he would write him soon when he
might have a chance to meet him. A little later Charles was invited to
go to the theatre and act a short piece in the presence of Charles
Kemble, a very famous actor. When the day arrived, however, he was
suffering from a very bad cold which had so swollen his throat that he
could hardly speak at all. As a result he could not go to the theatre,
and before he had another chance to try his luck he had made up his mind
that he would rather be a writer than an actor.

It did not take Charles long to realize that the law was not to his
taste. He did not like what he saw of lawyers, and was much more apt to
make fun of than to imitate them. Looking about for some more
interesting work, he took to studying sho