He remarks "On the Utter Wrongness of Nursery Lore":
"The more I reflect upon the unworthiness of the Nursery hero, as compared with the spotless purity of my own character (I am a London tradesman), the more am I lost in wonder to think that these alarming humbugs should so long have been tolerated by an indulgent public. When I think of that fellow whose name is associated with the beanstalk of abnormal growth—an unhappy combination of rogue and fool—when I think of that wholesale murderer (another Jack), and indeed all the rest of them, I ask myself 'Why so?' and all that remains of the Echo, at one halfpenny, is discreetly silent."
"On Love as a Passion":
"The passion of love is very properly excluded from the subjects discussed in the best regulated nurseries. Indeed, in households where the young lady's material has reached a certain height and breadth and fulness, the love that has any particular amount of passion in it is not the one discussed. And I think it right that it should not be.
"Writing as I do exclusively for female babes (or rather, I should say, young lady babes, because a young lady babe ought not to be called a female, and would with reason feel annoyed at being called one), I am anxious to do away with the passionate love-fiction altogether. Of course, I know I have only to explain the thing properly, in my own particular way, and the thing will at once be done away with; and surely it is my duty to do so, when by doing so, I know I shall do good."
"Even Mr. Codlin had nothing to urge against a proposal so seasonable. Nelly, kneeling down beside the box, was soon busily engaged in her task, and accomplishing it to a miracle."
"The Old Curiosity Shop" (Household Edition).—Charles Dickens.