1824-6. ton-house C. D.'s re matical master, English master, divided the little LONDON: boys with the Latin master, made out the bills, Wellingmended the pens, and always called at parents' academy. houses to enquire after sick boys, because he had gentlemanly manners. This picture, my cor- collections respondent recognized; as well as those of the of school. fat little dancing master who taught them hornpipes, of the Latin master who stuffed his ears with onions for his deafness, of the gruff servingman who nursed the boys in scarlet fever, and of the principal himself who was always ruling ciphering books with a bloated mahogany ruler, smiting the palms of offenders with the same diabolical instrument, or viciously drawing a pair of pantaloons tight with one of his large hands and caning the wearer with the other. fellow's re of C. D. "My recollection of Dickens whilst at school," SchoolMr. Thomas continues, "is that of a healthy look- collections "ing boy, small but well-built, with a more than "usual flow of spirits, inducing to harmless fun, "seldom or never I think to mischief, to which so "many lads at that age are prone. I cannot recall "anything that then indicated he would hereafter "become a literary celebrity; but perhaps he was "too young then. He usually held his head more "erect than lads ordinarily do, and there was a "general smartness about him. His week-day "dress of jacket and trousers, I can clearly re 1824-6. Wellington-house academy. LONDON: "member, was what is called pepper-and-salt; and "instead of the frill that most boys of his age "wore then, he had a turn-down collar, so that "he looked less youthful in consequence. He in"vented what we termed a 'lingo,' produced by "the addition of a few letters of the same sound "to every word; and it was our ambition, walking "and talking thus along the street, to be con"sidered foreigners. As an alternate amusement "the present writer well remembers extemporising "tales of some sort, and reciting them offhand, "with Dickens and Danson or Tobin walking on Schoolboy's "either side of him. I enclose you a copy of a "note I received from him when he was between "thirteen and fourteen years of age, perhaps one "of the earliest productions of his pen. The Leg "referred to was the Legend of something, a "pamphlet romance I had lent him; the Clavis "was of course the Latin school book SO "named." letter. There is some underlying whim or fun in the "Leg" allusions which Mr. Thomas appears to have overlooked, and certainly fails to explain: but the note, which is here given in fac-simile, may be left to speak for itself; and in the signature the reader will be amused to see the first faint beginning of a flourish afterwards famous. LONDON: 1824-6. after thirty years. Daniel "After a lapse of years," Mr. Thomas conA meeting tinues, "I recognized the celebrated writer as "the individual I had known so well as a boy, "from having preserved this note; and upon Mr. "Dickens visiting Reading in December 1854 to "give one of his earliest readings for the benefit "of the literary institute, of which he had become "president on Mr. Justice Talfourd's death, I took "the opportunity of showing it to him, when he "was much diverted therewith. On the same "occasion we conversed about mutual school"fellows, and among others Daniel Tobin was "referred to, whom I remembered to have been "Dickens's most intimate companion in the school "days (1824 to 1826). His reply was that Tobin "either was then, or had previously been, assisting "him in the capacity of amanuensis; but there is "a subsequent mystery about Tobin, in connection "with his friend and patron, which I have never "been able to comprehend; for I understood "shortly afterwards that there was entire separa"tion between them, and it must have been an "offence of some gravity to have sundered an "acquaintance formed in early youth, and which "had endured, greatly to Tobin's advantage, so "long. He resided in our schooldays in one of "the now old and grimy-looking stone-fronted 1824-6. "houses in George-street, Euston-road, a few LONDON: "doors from the Orange-tree tavern. It is the "opinion of the other schoolfellow with whom we "were intimate, Doctor Danson, that upon leaving "school Mr. Dickens and Tobin entered the same "solicitor's office, and this he thinks was either "in or near Lincoln's-inn-fields." remember The offence of Tobin went no deeper than What I the having at last worn out even Dickens's patience of Tobin. and kindness. His applications for relief were so incessantly repeated, that to cut him and them adrift altogether was the only way of escape from what had become an intolerable nuisance. To Mr. Thomas's letter the reader will thank me for adding one not less interesting with which Dr. Henry Danson has favoured me. We have here, with the same fun and animal spirits, a little of the proneness to mischief which his other schoolfellow says he was free from; but the mischief is all of the harmless kind, and might perhaps have been better described as but part of an irrepressible vivacity. Letter from school "My impression is that I was a schoolfellow of another "Dickens for nearly two years: he left before me, fellow. "I think at about 15 years of age. Mr. Jones's "school, called the Wellington-academy, was in "the Hampstead-road, at the north-east corner of |