Dickensians! discussion

This is the thread where we will read extracts from Sketches of Young Gentlemen and Young Couples: With Sketches of Young Ladies. As the title says, we will be reading just a few of these for our relaxed August read. Bridget will choose and host these, and explain about it. Reading is from 4th - 31st August.

**Please allow Bridget to comment first!** Thanks

Greetings Everyone,

Link to "The Theatrical Young Gentlemen" discussion

Link to "The Poetical Young Gentleman"

Link to "The Contradictory Couple"

Link to "The Couple Who Dote Upon Their Children"


Welcome to the next installment of "Dramatic Dickens". Given that it's summer, and many of us find ourselves busier than ever, I thought to offer something a little lighter for the month of August.

Instead of reading another play, we will be reading four short essays, or "sketches", that are found in "Sketches of Young Gentlemen" and "Sketches of Young Couples". In keeping with the "theater theme", I've chosen four that highlight the "drama" of families and young gentlemen.

The four sketches we will be reading are as follows with links to the start of each sketch (added as we go):

August 4 - 10 "The Theatrical Young Gentleman" from "Sketches of Young Gentlemen"

August 11 - 17 "The Poetical Young Gentleman" from "Sketches of Young Gentlemen"

August 18 - 24 "The Contradictory Couple" from "Sketches of Young Couples"

August 25 - 31 "The Couple Who Dote Upon Their Children" from "Sketches of Young Couples"


The sketches can be found on Project Gutenberg. As a side benefit, the illustrations by Phiz are included. Here are the links.

Sketches of Young Gentlemen https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

Sketches of Young Couples https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

Many Dickens compilation books also contain these stories. I own the two below on my Kindle, and they both contain the "Sketches" stories. These compilations were very reasonably priced. I think I paid $1 for the first edition and $3 for the second edition, and I find myself using them often, so really worth it! (Sorry, I don't know if these are available outside the U.S.)

The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: Novels, Short Stories, Plays, Poetry, Essays, Articles, Speeches, Travel Sketches & Letters (Illustrated): Including ... Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Sketches by Boz…

The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: All 15 novels, short stories, poems and plays

I hope you will join me in reading these very fun short sketches.

We begin today!

And yes, both of the kindle editions mentioned are available in the UK too 😊

"THE THEATRICAL YOUNG GENTLEMAN"

Thank you Jean! Good to know those are widely available.

Today we start “The Theatrical Young Gentleman”. Because these sketches are so short, we will read each one without dividing it into sections. But please only one sketch a week. feel free to comment on the weekly sketch whenever you want.

I won’t be providing a summary each week, because there isn’t plot to summarize. I do have background information on the sketches which I will be posting as we go along. I will post some later today (once I get back to my computer).

For now enjoy the satire and the tongue in cheek writing. And please do post your thoughts. Maybe highlight your favorite parts.

For me, reading this first sketch, I couldn’t help thinking of Dickens himself. He was such a fan of the theater, was he talking about himself at all in this sketch??

That was an interesting observation Bridget. Was Dickens poking fun at himself? I do not know but this habit of trying to talk as whether we were extremely knowledgeable about something is still with us today. I might even do it a bit myself.

Never, Sam! You are modesty itself 😊

Things have not changed much with people today having the same fascination with the stars of stage and screen. Some people seem to think of the stars as public property with no regard to their privacy. They don't see them as real people, but as the character they saw at the theatre. They gossip about the stars just like they might gossip about their neighbors or family members. But they really don't know the real person; they only know the image that the star's publicity agent is trying to project. But they talk about the stars like they are good buddies, and they have the inside scoop!

As I was looking into the history of “Sketches of Young Men" and "Sketches of Young Couples” I kept running across reference to ‘Sketches of Young Ladies’. I assumed Dickens wrote about young ladies as well. But that was not the case. Here is a brief history of these sketches, for those of you (like me) who are not aware of how these writings intertwine.

The other misconception I had about “Sketches of Young Men and Young Couples”, was I thought they were part of Sketches by Boz, with which I’m sure we are all familiar. Well, these sketches are not part of that and Dickens did not write “Sketches of Young Ladies”. Here is what happened . . . .

Sketches by Boz was Dickens’ first foray into fictional writing, when he was 24 years old and still working as a Parliamentary reporter. Those sketches put “Boz” on the map, so to speak, and led to Chapman & Hall publishing The Pickwick Papers (1836-37).

Around that time (January 1837), Chapman & Hall also published 'Sketches of Young Ladies' by Edward Caswall (more about Edward Caswall tomorrow). Caswall’s tongue and cheek writing about the young women of England was a resounding success. Dickens must have loved it as well because the following year (1838) he wrote a companion piece, the 'Sketches of Young Gentlemen' – also published by Chapman & Hall.
Indeed, the opening remarks to “Sketches of Young Men” references the work:

SHEWETH,—
THAT your Dedicator has perused, with feelings of virtuous indignation, a work purporting to be ‘Sketches of Young Ladies;’ written by Quiz, illustrated by Phiz, and published in one volume, square twelvemo.
THAT after an attentive and vigilant perusal of the said work, your Dedicator is humbly of opinion that so many libels, upon your Honourable sex, were never contained in any previously published work, in twelvemo or any other mo.
THAT in the title page and preface to the said work, your Honourable sex are described and classified as animals; and although your Dedicator is not at present prepared to deny that you are animals, still he humbly submits that it is not polite to call you so.

The introduction goes on for a couple more paragraphs, which I encourage you to read. And you can see from this that the “Sketches Young Men” are totally and completely Dickens response to Caswall’s writing. Tomorrow I will post more about Caswall aka "Quiz".

Thanks Bridget! That's really interesting information 😊

The book I put on our shelves actually contains them all, including those by "Quiz". It's a lovely compact book, given me by Chris (who will read them to me as it is normal sized print) as a present a few years ago, when I didn't know them. He was overjoyed to find something by "The Inimitable" that I hadn't read 😆. So it's a good physical copy to get, if you particularly enjoy these.

Bridget, that was an interesting question asking if Dickens was talking about himself in this sketch. We do know that he and friends would go to the theatre almost every evening when he was working at the law office of Ellis and Blackmore. He would memorize the routines of Charles Mathews and other actors, and put on spur of the moment shows for the other clerks. So he must have been discussing the theatre with those friends when he was a young man.

Simon Callow mentions this in our side read about the theatre, Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, pg 37.

Thank you for this wonderful information, Bridget! I just read The Theatrical Young Gentleman and have to say, it brought back memories. In high school many of my friends were in Drama class and acted in school plays. I was not at all gifted that way, but Dickens description here reminds me so much of them! "... a great advocate of violence of emotion and redundancy of action," and "acute in judging of natural expressions of the passions, and knows precisely the frown, wink, nod, or leer, which stands for any one of them."

You can hear the sarcasm in his voice, so I do wonder if he was talking about himself, in a "when I was young and foolish" sort of way?

I don't know why, but I was surprised at him calling drama "the most intellectual and rational of all our amusements." I'm still thinking about that!

Do you remember when we were reading Mamie Dickens's memories of Charles Dickens My Father as I Recall Him, she described being ill one day and allowed to lie down on the settee in his study. Evidently he had forgotten she was there, and every so often he would leap up and go to the mirror, to act out certain expressions, before going back to his seat and writing furiously again.

The actor Simon Callow also talks about this in his book (our side read: see Connie's post). As a great fan of Charles Dickens, he puts on shows where he acts the part of Dickens on tour as a reader, and also can see it from the actor's point of view. Perhaps it's like an extreme form of method acting? It certainly offers us an insight into how he wrote, I think.

Kathleen wrote: "Thank you for this wonderful information, Bridget! I just read The Theatrical Young Gentleman and have to say, it brought back memories. In high school many of my friends were in Drama class and ac..."

Kathleen, I love that this reminds you of high school theater friends! I can totally see how this would evoke that feeling. Even now I know theater kids who are very serious about their art. Quoting plays, singing songs and talking on and on about their passion.

The opening line you quoted is part of the reason I wonder how much Dickens is talking about himself here. I like the second line too

As we have no mean relish for theatrical entertainments ourself, we are disinterestedly anxious that this should be perfectly understood

This must surely be a tongue in cheek statement, for we all know that Dickens completely relished the theater! It makes me think, the speaker doth protest too much, and so it taints the rest of what is to come as spoken by someone very much in love with the theater, and not "disinterested" as he tries to state.

Connie and Jean, thank you so much for bringing up both Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World and also My Father as I Recall Him. These are excellent sources that illustrate for us how much Dickens loved the theater. I vividly remember Mamie Dickens description of her father acting. And I remember too the many details you gave us, Connie, about Dickens love for theater when we read The Strange Gentleman. In fact, here is a link for anyone who is interested in Connie's description of Dickens love for theater as a boy, a young man and adult.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

One of these days I will get around to reading Simon Callow's book, but for now I'm so grateful to Jean and Connie for filling in with the information found there.

Edward Caswall

Sorry it's taken me longer than expected, but here is some information about Edward Caswall, aka Quiz, the writer of Sketches of Young Ladies: In Which These Interesting Members of the Animal Kingdom Are Classified, According to Their Several Instincts, Habits, and General Characteristics

Edward Caswall, (15 July 1814 – 2 January 1878) was a clergyman and hymn writer who converted to Catholicism and became an Oratorian priest. His more notable hymns include: "Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise"; "Come, Holy Ghost"; and "Ye Sons and Daughters of the Lord".

He was born at Yateley, Hampshire on 15 July 1814, the son of Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yateley, Hampshire.

Caswall was educated Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1836 with honors and later proceeded to Master of Arts. In 1838 he was ordained deacon, and in 1839 priest, in the Church of England. Before leaving Oxford, he published, under the pseudonym of Scriblerus Redivivus, The Art of Pluck, a satire on the ways of the careless college student. And of course, in January 1837, "Sketches of Young Ladies" was published. That seems to be the end of his publishing career. After that he devoted his life to God.

He was curate of the Church of St Lawrence at Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury from 1840 to 1847. As curate, he would invite the children who had attended morning services to the parsonage and give them breakfast. On the anniversary on one's baptism, he would give some money to buy clothes. In the summer of 1846 he, his wife, and his brother Tom visited Ireland.

He resigned his curacy and, in January 1847, was received into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Januarius Acton in Rome. His brother Tom had converted to Catholicism previously. Caswall's conversion caused an estrangement from some members of his family, including his mother and brother Alfred. His wife, Louisa Stuart Caswall, who had also become a Catholic, died of cholera on 14 September 1849 while they were staying at Torquay. The following year Caswall joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri under future-cardinal John Henry Newman, to whose influence his conversion to Catholicism was due. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1852. Caswall was delegated the responsibility of establishing the Oratory school, which opened in 1859. He often served as acting superior in Newman's absence.

He died at the Birmingham Oratory, Edgbaston on 2 January 1878 and was buried at Rednal, near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire.

--copied from Wikipedia

Bridget wrote: "One of these days I will get around to reading Simon Callow's book, but for now I'm so grateful to Jean and Connie for filling in with the information found there."

Exactly what I was thinking!

And I think you're spot on about the tongue-in-cheek aspect of this essay, Bridget.

I'm so pleased you linked to Connie's excellent posts about Charles Dickens developing interest in the theatre Bridget, and thank you too for this comprehensive post about "Quiz" - Edward Caswall - too! All great info I didn't know (such as that he went to the same Oxford college as my husband LOL!)

You are managing to find some amazing extras to enrich our read. Thank you 😊

Bionic Jean wrote: "I'm so pleased you linked to Connie's excellent posts about Charles Dickens developing interest in the theatre Bridget, and thank you too for this comprehensive post about "Quiz" - ..."

I'm happy to link to Connie's posts, they are wonderful! What a fun connection that Caswall and your husband are alums of the same Oxford college.

Tomorrow we will start our next sketch "The Poetical Young Gentleman". There is still time today to comment on the "Theatrical Gentleman". If you are just catching up with us, feel free to comment on any of the sketches we've already read.

"THE POETICAL YOUNG GENTLEMAN"



Illustration by Halbot Knight Browne aka "Phiz"

The sketch for this week is a bit shorter than last week, and I find this one really funny. Also, we have some art from Phiz to accompany this sketch.

Here, Dickens is describing a very melancholy sort of chap, who takes himself - and the world - very seriously. I laughed from the start with neckerchiefs being torn off (heaven forbid!) and men bare throated in the street (egad!) I loved this description "his manner is abstracted and bespeaks affliction of soul"

Everything is over the top with these would be poets, as Dickens says towards the end "He knows no medium: for enthusiasm is the soul of poetry". It's the exaggeration which makes this little piece so fun to read.

What did you all think of it? Any favorite lines?

Thanks for your information about Caswell, and the Phiz illustration, Bridget.

The first paragraph about the poetical young gentleman with the bare throat brought Percy Shelley to mind:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_B...

The second paragraph about the poetical young gentleman with yearnings of the heart could describe Dickens when he was 18 years old and courting Maria Beadnell. There's an article in the Guardian about a 2015 exhibit at the Charles Dickens Museum. It includes a few love poems that he wrote when he was infatuated with Maria:

Young Dickens in Love: Sugary, and Waxing Lyrical about Gloves
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Maria was the inspiration for Dora in "David Copperfield" and Flora in "Little Dorrit."

This sketch was hilarious! Thank you so much Bridget. I particularly like Phiz's illustration for this one. Thanks for linking the different sketches, too 😊

Also, well observed Connie - yes that is definitely the type, and Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the "circle" ...

For some reason I would have expected this sort of sarcastic attitude to the Romantic posts to come later, but then everything was fodder to Charles Dickens's waspish wit when he was 26. (He wrote them a year after the ones about Young Ladies, so I think that would be 1838.)

It will be a conglomerate picture I think, but I've been wondering if any one person triggered his musings, and the writer who came to mind was Leigh Hunt - whom Charles Dickens first met in 1837 - just a year earlier! So I have a hunch this was the inspiration.




(Leigh Hunt - both from wiki)

There was a "Hunt circle" who met in Hampstead, London, and it was Leigh Hunt who introduced John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson (Oh Goodreads! Of course it is Alfred, Lord Tennyson!) to the public. If you look at oil paintings of all these poets, they are remarkably similar. And I can just imagine Charles Dickens sitting in a corner quietly observing a poetry soirée and storing it all up. Or perhaps it is some hangers-on he is describing: a type.

Charles Dickens and Leigh Hunt remained friends until Hunt's death in 1859. This was despite a rather scathing portrayal of him as Harold Skimpole in Bleak House.

I loved ... "he has been stricken poetical" 😂 and the part where the cat runs to get away!

I am of the same opinion as all of you about this sketch. I wonder that maybe Dickens had all of the Romantics in mind here, rather than just one, as certain words or descriptions seem to suggest that. I am curious about the 4th paragraph describing the poet's writing of the murderer. From my reading, Browning seems best to fit that paragraph and I like the thought that Dickens would be poking some fun at potential rivals for the commercial dollar. Does anyone else have a suspect for that section?

Sam, Browning is a good choice for writing poems about murders since he wrote "The Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover." The Romantics wrote about death, but it usually wasn't about murder. But it's been a long time since I was reading Romantic poets in freshman college English . . .

"With this, the poetical young gentleman laughs a laugh belonging only to poets and Mr. O. Smith of the Adelphi Theatre, and sits down, pen in hand, to throw off a page or two of verse in the biting, semi-atheistical demoniac style, which, like the poetical young gentleman himself, is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

This was an intriguing final paragraph about the poet laughing like Mr O. Smith. Actor Richard John Smith took the name O. Smith after he had played the title role in "Obi: or, Three-fingered Jack." Smith's own life was as colorful as the characters he played. He was a large man with a booming, deep voice. The play was about Jamaican runaway slaves/freedom fighters who robbed and murdered travelers in the mountains. Obeah or Obia is an African (Caribbean) religious tradition that uses magic rituals, spell-casting, and healing rituals.

Here's a advertisement from the Boys' Standard storypaper for "Three-fingered Jack; Terror in the Antilles":



http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2013/...

I don't know if any particular poets were noted for their laughs. Maybe it's the laugh of satisfaction when the poet is blessed with inspiration.

Well done Connie in discovering the identity of the actor O.Smith. I had wondered what that reference was all about. Knowing about him gets me closer to understanding the "laugh" Dickens was talking about. And it makes this sketch fit in very nicely with the "Dramatic Dickens" theme :-)

I also love the portraits of Shelly that Jean and Connie posted. Just look at the bare throats in these portraits, its exactly as Dickens described.

Thank you Jean> for reminding us of Leigh Hunt, and all the romantic poets. I agree with Sam its very possible this sketch is really about them all.

Connie wrote: "Sam, Browning is a good choice for writing poems about murders since he wrote "The Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover." The Romantics wrote about death, but it usually wasn't about murder. But it..."

It's been too long for me too - since I've studied the romantic poets, so I can't help shed any light on Sam's query. But I do like very much Connie's idea that Dickens is reflecting on his young love with Maria Beadnell. I read some of the poetry from the link Connie gave us - and it does seem to fit with the type of poet described in this sketch :-)

Wonderful connections, everyone. I love all of these open-throated poets! Funny how many years later, the Beat poets all covered their necks in turtlenecks. Perhaps the point was just to be different? And I can just imagine all the hangers-on as you mention, Jean, sitting around trying to look like the men in these portraits.

I also liked that he pointed out superlative adjectives, and how he showed the reaction others had to these gentlemen, as in the great Phiz illustration. This was a fun one!

"THE CONTRADICTORY COUPLE"



Cover of Pamphlet by Phiz, taken from Victorian Web

Today we leave the Young Gentlemen behind and start our reading of “Sketches of Young Couples”. If you read the introduction to these sketches, you will see this work was inspired by the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert.

We already know that “Sketches of Young Gentlemen” was published in 1838, so the grouping of Dickens and Halbot Knight Brown working together on a small “comic book” was already a commercial success for publisher Chapman Hall as well as the young author and illustrator.

In October 1839 the young Queen Victoria proposed to Prince Albert, and the two were married February 10, 1840. The publishers saw an opportunity for another commercial success and “Sketches of Young Couples” was born.

What would follow is twelve sketches and seven illustrations wrapped in a slender “comic book” type pamphlet. Behind all these charming couples the audience would see the young royal couple. At the time, Katherine and Charles Dickens were also a young married couple. They had been happily married for four years by 1840.

The Royal Couple, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

I found the sketch of "The Contradictory Couple" quite funny. The couple reminds me of Mr. and Mrs. Lovetown in Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta - a play we read earlier this summer lead by Kathleen.

I like the part where their children seem to "get away" with indulgences (like drinking wine) because the parents' arguing gets in the way.

I also liked the end very much, where Dickens mentions they only argue about trivial things, so they must love each other very much. But then on the other hand, trivialities make up the whole of life.

At any rate, this level of bickering certainly causes much drama in the lives of this family. And that is why I chose it as our sketch for this week.

Bridget wrote: "At any rate, this level of bickering certainly causes much drama in the lives of this family. And that is why I chose it as our sketch for this week."

Brilliant! It put a nice smile on my face to see how related this to the theme.

It must be exhausting to be constantly bickering, but Dickens really did a great job of portraying a bickering couple. That's a great connection to drama, Bridget!

That's a beautiful wedding picture of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It was the perfect time, in a business sense, for Dickens to publish a book about young couples.

This did remind me of Is She His Wife?, Bridget. Dickens certainly portrays bickering well, and I love how you tied in the drama. :-) His last lines are so true--a note of caution for anyone who is ever tempted to act like this!

Thank you Sam, Connie and Kathleen for your comments. I'm so glad you enjoyed this little bit of writing from Dickens. I get the feeling from reading all these sketches that Dickens is having fun writing them.

Before we move on, I found the emphasis on variations of the word contradict to be worth mentioning. I do not want to read too much into the sketch but I found this interesting since Dickens surely had the vocabulary to substitute variety. Instead he stresses repetitions of the variations of the word. One reason would be for the comic effect and a second would be to demonstrate the unpleasantness of having to listen to the bickering, but I wonder if Dickens might also have been digging at the practice of one member of the couple or the other trying to presume authority over the other. In this case, the presumptuous authority is the male. Contradictory could just mean "in disagreement," but here I think Dickens may mean the word as a challenge to the assumption one is right or having the authority to decide what is right. Once again, I don't wish to overread it, but there does seem to be an hint of abusive patriarchal behavior here, which though Dickens might defend being male, would also be something he might consider his female readers might find amusing. Does anyone have an opinion?

I think you're on to something, Sam. Prince Albert would have to be very brave to "contradict" the monarch, and people must have quietly speculated to themselves about it, I suspect 😉 I agree Connie, it's so interesting that this one was inspired by the royal couple. And what a great connection to Is She His Wife? Or, Something Singular, a Comic Burletta as you say, Bridget and Kathleen!

Thanks for such a great choice, Bridget. Charles Dickens always observes couples so well!

Sam wrote: "Contradictory could just mean "in disagreement," but here I think Dickens may mean the word as a challenge to the assumption one is right or having the authority to decide what is right. .... there does seem to be an hint of abusive patriarchal behavior here, which though Dickens might defend being male, would also be something he might consider his female readers might find amusing. .."

I agree with Jean, I think you are very much onto something here Sam. Thats very perceptive of you. We all know the Victorians were patriarchal, but I've often wondered if the male authority continued inside the average household.
Certainly, as Jean mentioned Victoria and Albert had a reversal of "normal" authority, and I'm sure Dickens is playing around with that idea not just in this sketch, but in all the "couple sketches". And I would be willing to bet, that within most households, the women, like the wife in this sketch, contradicted their husbands' opinions more often than just going along with ideas they thought were wrong. It's their way of fighting against the "abusive patriarchal behavior" you mentioned.

In fact, on reading this again, the wife really does seem to have her own power in the relationship. Like this little moment:

"She now let's down her back hair and proceeds to brush it; preserving at the same time an air of conscious rectitude and suffering virtue, which is intended to exasperate the gentleman—and does so."

It's a little bit coquettish or alluring for a woman to let down her hair and brush it, even with an air of "suffering virtue" (I love that turn of phrase!) and it has the effect of sort of putting her husband in his place. I'm sure the women of Dickens audience would have loved this scene.

THE COUPLE WHO DOTE UPON THEIR CHILDREN



Illustration by Halbot Knight Browne aka "Phiz" from The Victorian Web

Today we move onto the last sketch for this season of the "Dramatic Dickens", and we meet couples who dote upon their children. I would argue that not much has changed regarding parents adoring their children since 1840. I bet we all know people who love to talk about their children. Or, as is the case with me, perhaps you have been one of those parents :-)

I chose this little sketch for us for two reasons. First, I just love the illustration by Phiz. It intrigued me, and I wanted to know more.

The second reason is this sketch involves large families. As Dickens put it "The couple who dote upon their children have usually a great many of them: six or eight at least."
My personal experience with all the large families I've met is that all have rather a lot of drama. My grandfather was one of eleven children, so I've got some experience with this :-)

What do you all think about this? Dickens couldn't have known this in 1840, but Victoria and Albert would go on to have a very large family!

When he wrote this sketch, Dickens also didn't know that he and Catherine would have such a large family.

I love that illustration by Phiz. Mr Saunders looks so overwhelmed that he probably went home with the intention of remaining a confirmed bachelor. If someone is used to a quiet, calm atmosphere, it can be a shock to have eight young kids crying, playing, and running around.

Dickens describes Mr Whiffler's attitude about his children as "his children must be, in some respect or other, above and beyond the children of all other people." I think we can expect all parents to talk about their children, but it's the parents that think their children are the most talented, brilliant kids on earth that are insufferable.

This humorous sketch was another good choice, Bridget!

I wonder if Dickens thought back to this sketch at all after having all of his own children? :-)

I enjoy hearing about people's children most of the time, and agree with Connie that it's when they emphasize how much better their kids are that it becomes annoying. So I liked this line: If they examined their own hearts, they would, perhaps, find at the bottom of all this, more self-love and egotism than they think of."

Connie wrote: "When he wrote this sketch, Dickens also didn't know that he and Catherine would have such a large family.

I love that illustration by Phiz. Mr Saunders looks so overwhelmed that he probably went ..."

Yes, that's right! I hadn't thought of that Connie. I completely forgot that Charles and Catherine also had a large family! And like Kathleen, I'm now wondering if he ever thought back on this sketch as time passed and he had more and more children.

I'm so glad you also liked the Phiz illustration! It's so funny, isn't it. I also love the paintings on the wall that Phiz added. Such large portraits to accommodate the big family!!

This was a delightful piece and makes a fitting end to the reading. I like that Dickens wrote these sketches tongue-in-cheek with a warmth toward the subjects despite their behavior, so we according laugh with him at the examples seeing in them manners of our own rather than laugh at them with a sense of superiority to his subjects. The tendency to write with that warmth is often missing from contemporary writing and I fear associated with sentimentality. I prefer it though and feel it leaves the reader with a much better feeling toward the world and its various aggravations when finished.

Sam wrote: " we according laugh with him at the examples seeing in them manners of our own rather than laugh at them with a sense of superiority to his subjects..."

This is a lovely observation, Sam. I think you hit on the heart of why these sketches work. I felt it keenly with this last one about parenting. I could see myself in these parents, and it made me laugh at my foibles - and want to caution myself against that behavior at the same time. You are likely right about the perception of sentimentality. Makes me value even more groups like this where this writing is still appreciated. And preferred.

This is the last day for our "sketches" discussion. Just wanted to thank everyone who participated in reading these short, comic pieces by Dickens. It was great fun for me!

I hope everyone will join Sam as he leads us through Mr. Nightingale's Diary: A Farce In One Act. I know I'm looking forward to it!

I want to again stress how much I enjoy these summer explorations of shorter works and how much I get out of them. Bridget presented these quite well despite having little to work with and I have to thank her for bringing out elements that I glossed over, like that the couples sketches were inspired by the proposal and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. That never registered with me till Bridget brought the idea home. So thanks Bridget for the selections and accompanying thoughts.

Thank you, Bridget, for choosing these delightful sketches as a summer read. Dickens was spot on in his portrayal of the gentlemen and couples. They were perfect reads for an August day when people tend to be relaxing on vacation.