[Cornelius C. Felton], from a review in the North American Review

‘Dickens’s Notes’, wrote Longfellow in January 1843, ‘are scattered to the four winds by a blast in Blackwood—and brought together again by Felton in the North American.’ Ada C. Nisbet, quoting this, remarks that Felton’s was the most enthusiastic review of the ill-received American Notes (‘The Mystery of Martin Chuzzlewit’, Essays…presented to Lily B. Campbell (Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1950), 209). It is included here mainly, however, as an eloquent expression of American enthusiasm for the early Dickens. Felton (1807–62) was Professor of Greek at Harvard. Dickens had met him during his American tour and found him ‘a delightful fellow’; a warm friendship ensued. Felton’s review greatly pleased Dickens. ‘You cannot think how much notice it has attracted here,’ he told Felton (2 March 1843); Lord Brougham, Lord Ashburton, and many others, had written congratulating him upon it. The review begins with a long account and explanation of his international popularity (quoted in Introduction, pp. 3–4).