University of Virginia Library

“The idea worked out is that of a `faithful record of the perambulations,
perils, travels, adventures, and sporting transactions,' of
the corresponding members of a cockney club, founded by Mr.
Pickwick, `for the promotion of science, the advancement of knowledge,
and the diffusion of learning.' The corresponding members
consist of the illustrious founder himself, whose character is sustained
throughout with a very romantic gravity, and of Messrs.
Tupman, Snodgrass, and Winkle, who are respectively distinguished
by admiration of the fair sex, a taste for poetry, and a sporting
turn. The different parties play upon one another's failings, and
into one another's hands: the plot of their adventures is kept up
with infinite liveliness, bustle, point, and interest—and many rich
sources of the truly ludicrous are opened.”

“The idea of this publication is a very happy one. It purports
to contain the transactions of a club of originals—thorough Cockneys,
with knowledge and ideas confined within the boundaries of
London, and profoundly ignorant of everything beyond. The work
is thus made the vehicle for a series of most amusing adventures
and lively descriptions, full of the truth and humour of Fielding
and Smollett, and skilfully mingled with scenes of powerful interest
and deep pathos.”

There is as much genuine humour, and as much real fun, in
the Pickwick Papers, as in these days generally fall to the share
of half a dozen books of the same size. If they keep up to their
present level, they will in conclusion, assume a high place in the
ranks of comic literature.”