e society in
which he mixed, the hours which he kept, the opinions which he held,
his likes and dislikes, his ideas of what should or should not be,
were all settled by himself, not merely for himself, but for all those
brought into connection with him, and it was never imagined they could
be called in question.... He had immense powers of will."

CHAPTER III.

Dickens has told us, in his preface to the later editions, much of how
"Pickwick" came to be projected and published. It was in this wise:
Seymour, a caricaturist of very considerable merit, though not, as we
should now consider, in the first rank of the great caricaturists, had
proposed to Messrs. Chapman and Hall, then just starting on their
career as publishers, a "series of Cockney sporting plates." Messrs.
Chapman and Hall entertained the idea favourably, but opined that the
plates would require illustrative letter-press; and casting about for
some suitable author, bethought themselves of Dickens, whose tales and
sketches had been exciting some little sensation in the world of
journalism; and who had, indeed, already written for the firm a story,
the "Tuggs at Ramsgate," which may be read among the "Sketches."
Accordingly Mr. Hall called on Dickens for the purpose of proposing
the scheme. This would be in 1835, towards the latter end of the year;
and Dickens, who had apparently left the paternal roof for some little
time, was living bachelorwise, in Furnival's Inn. What was his
astonishment, when Mr. Hall came in, to find he was the same person
who had sold him the copy of the magazine containing his first
story--that memorable copy at which he had looked, in Westminster
Hall, through eyes bedimmed with joyful tears. Such coincidences
always had for Dickens a peculiar, almost a superstitious, interest.
The circumstance seemed of happy augury to both the "high contracting
parties." Publisher and author were for the nonce on the best of
terms. The latter, no doubt, saw his opening; was more than ready to
undertake the work, and had no quarrel with the remuneration offered.
But even then he was not the man to play second fiddle to anybody.
Before they parted, he had quite succeeded in turning the tables on
Seymour. The original proposal had been that the artist should produce
four caricatures on sporting subjects every month, and that the
letter-press should be in illustration of the caricatures. Dickens got
Mr. Hall to agree to reverse that position.