Murdstone, Micawber, Steerforth, Heep, Peggoty, Betsey Trotwood, Tommy Traddles, Rosa Dartle, Dora, Agnes.... "Barkis is willin'"; "TAKE CARE OF HIM HE BITES"... How much treasure of character and dialogue lies in this one work?
"It is matter of some surprise to me, even now, that I can have been so easily thrown away at such an age. A child of excellent abilities, and with strong powers of observation, quick, eager, delicate, and soon hurt bodily or mentally, it seems wonderful to me that nobody should have made any sign in my behalf. But none was made; and I became, at ten years old, a little labouring hind" - this is Dickens' own heart cry, only one piece of his true-life story that made it into the most autobiographical of his novels. And perhaps the most beloved - which is saying much.