[Illustration: NO. 21.--WRITTEN JULY 22, 1854.]

[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS IN HIS STUDY, 1854.
_From the Picture by E.M. Ward, R.A._]

[Illustration: AGE 44.
_From the Painting by Ary Scheffer_.]

No. 21 is a stray illustration of clever and gracefully-executed
movements which abound in Dickens's letters.

[Illustration: NO. 22.--WRITTEN WHEN ILL, OCT. 29, 1859]

[Illustration: AGE 47.
_From an Oil Painting by W.P. Frith, R.A._]

See, in No. 22, how illness disturbed the fine action of this splendid
organism; but illness did not prevent attention to detail--the dot is
placed after the _D_.

[Illustration: NO. 23.--WRITTEN NOV. 1, 1860.]

[Illustration: NO. 24.--WRITTEN JAN. 17, 1861.]

[Illustration: NO. 25.--WRITTEN NOV. 25, 1861.]

[Illustration: DICKENS AS "RICHARD WARDOUR" IN "THE FROZEN DEEP."]

[Illustration: AGE 49.