Transcribed from the 1880 Chatto and Windus edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
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SPEECHES
LITERARY AND SOCIAL
BY
CHARLES DICKENS
WITH CHAPTERS ON “CHARLES DICKENS AS A LETTER WRITER,
POET, AND PUBLIC READER.”
A NEW EDITION
London
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1880
INTRODUCTION.
Charles Dickens was born at Landport, Portsmouth, on February 7, 1812. At that time his father, Mr. John Dickens, held an office in the Navy Pay Department, the duties of which obliged him to reside alternately at the principal naval stations of England. But on the conclusion of peace in 1815 a considerable reduction was made by Government in this branch of the public service. Mr. John Dickens, among others, was pensioned off, and he removed to London with his wife and children, when his son Charles was hardly four years of age.