in the literary world of London. He assigned no other reason for giving Mr. Du Bois the preference to others than, that he used to go to dine with him at the "Jack Straw's Castle," at Hampstead.

On giving me the introduction to Mr. Black, he earnestly warned me against calling him Dr. Black, adding that if I did I was sure to fail in my application for the literary vacancy which had just occurred on the Morning Chronicle. I thanked Mr. Hill for the caution, adding that I really believed Mr. Black was an LL.D., and should consequently have called him Dr. Black. Being, however, warned against the mistake, I avoided it, and was fortunate in being selected from others to fill the literary vacancy on the Morning Chronicle. Even till this day, many literary men speak of the late Mr. Black as Dr. Black. Gruneisen did so twice over in a brief letter which he addressed to me as editor of a morning journal, at the time of Mr. Dickens's death. Mr. Gruneisen's letter related to the early connexion of Mr. Dickens with the Morning Chronicle.

Mr.

I have referred in a previous page to the circumstance of Mr. Black's being a man who, in early life, was quick in resenting what he considered an affront, and to his readiness in "calling out" the party offending him. The same feeling existed until he had reached his fiftieth year; but I am not aware that more than two "affairs of honour," in the sense of fighting a duel, came off in consequence of misunderstandings between Mr. Black and others. One

of the two duels was with a gentleman in a government situation, and ended without any casualty on either side. The other was with Mr. Roebuck, and took place in 1835. Mr. Roebuck, in one of a series of weekly pamphlets which he was publishing at the time, applied the epithets "base" and "utterly disgraceful," to Mr. Black's conduct in reference to Mr. Goldsmid. Mr. Black called on Mr. Roebuck for a retraction of the words. Mr. Roebuck declined to give it. The challenge was given by Mr. Black and accepted by Mr. Roebuck. The latter received Mr. Black's fire, but fired himself in the air. An attempt was made by Mr. Black's second to get Mr. Roebuck to retract, but he refused. Shots were again fired, but without result. Eventually Mr. Black's second decided the affair should end.

During Mr. Black's editorship of the Morning Chronicle many men of great political reputation and literary ability wrote for it in its various departments. Mr. Albany Fonblanque was for a considerable time a writer of leading articles for its columns, but though his writings as editor of the Examiner were universally admired in that journal for their wit, their point, their brilliancy, they produced no impression whatever on the public mind, in the Morning Chronicle. In short his connexion with the latter journal was a failure. So was that of the Rev. W. J. Fox, at that time a popular Unitarian, and known as an eloquent agitator as a member of the Anti-Corn-Law League. His leading articles were finished in style, and were argumentative,

but they failed to attract attention. Yet his writings in the Repository, a monthly magazine which he conducted, and in the Westminster Review, were greatly admired for their pith and pungency. How often do we witness similar circumstances, - men who are pre-eminently successful as writers for weekly, monthly, or quarterly journals, and who yet utterly break down as writers for daily papers? As a theatrical critic, the Morning Chronicle, in Mr. Black's time, could boast of Mr. John Payne Collier, a man who possesses a more thorough knowledge of the writings of Shakspeare than any other since the great dramatist's day. Mr. George Hogarth, a man of the highest reputation as a musical critic, was for many years engaged for the Morning Chronicle. He and the others I have mentioned, were all, at the same time engaged in different departments of that journal, when, thirtyfive years ago, I also was engaged as a reporter and a literary writer in that journal.

CHAPTER XII.

PAST METROPOLITAN DAILY PAPERS.

THE MORNING CHRONICLE.-PART SECOND.

Mr. Charles Dickens's Connexion with the Morning ChronicleIncidents in Mr. Dickens's Early Literary Career-Close of Mr. Black's Editorship-Changes in the Proprietorship of the Morning Chronicle - Its becoming a Puseyite and Peelite Paper-Mr. Sergeant Glover's Proprietorship—Mr. Stiff's Proprietorship—End of the Morning Chronicle.

BUT of all the distinguished literary men, whether known as authors of books or as writers for the newspaper press, that ever before, or since 1835-6, were connected with the Morning Chronicle, the name of Charles Dickens stands immeasurably the highest. As a good deal of misconception still exists in relation to the circumstances under which he formed, and for some years continued that connexion; and as everything appertaining to his earlier career possesses a deep and universal interest, I am sure I will be pardoned if, in order to state the facts of the case more clearly than they have hitherto been, I make a few slight digressions. On the day after Mr. Dickens's death, I wrote an article on his literary career, but chiefly with respect to its earlier history, in one of

the daily journals. What I have said has been transferred to various newspapers and literary periodicals, and in no one instance has the accuracy of a single statement I then made, been doubted, much less denied. It is everywhere believed that the earliest productions from his pen made their appearance in the columns of the Morning Chronicle; and that Mr. John Black, then editor of that journal, was the first to discover and duly appreciate the genius of Mr. Dickens. The fact was not so. It is true that he wrote "Sketches" afterwards in the Morning Chronicle, but he did not begin them in that journal. Mr. Dickens first became connected with the Morning Chronicle as a reporter in the gallery of the House of Commons. This was in 1835-36; but Mr. Dickens had been previously engaged, while in his nineteenth year, as a reporter for a publication entitled the Mirror of Parliament, in which capacity he occupied the very highest rank among the eighty or ninety reporters for the press then in Parliament. While in the gallery of the House of Commons, he was exceedingly reserved in his manners. Though interchanging the usual courtesies of life with all with whom he came in contact in the discharge of his professional duties, the only gentleman at that time in the House of Commons with whom he formed a close personal intimacy was Mr. Thomas Beard, then a reporter for the Morning Herald, and now connected with the newspaper press generally as furnishing the Court intelligence for the morning journals. The friendship