ABSTRACT
Neither you nor Catherine [Dickens’s wife] did justice to Collins’s book. I think it far away the cleverest novel I have ever seen written by a new hand. It is much beyond Mrs. Gaskell, and is in some respects masterly. Valentine Blyth is as original and as well done as anything can be. The scene where he shows his pictures, is full of an admirable humour. Nor do I really recognize much imitation of myself. Old Mat is the thing in which I observe myself to be most reflected, but he is admirably done. In short, I call it a very remarkable book, and have been very much surprised by its great merit….
