Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/19

vii PREFACE.

The author's object in this work, was to place before the reader a constant succession of characters and incidents ; to paint them in as vivid colours as he could command; and to render them, at the same time, life-like and amusing.

Deferring to the judgment of others in the outset of the un- dertaking, he adopted the machinery of the club, which was suggested as that best adapted to his purpose : but, finding that it tended rather to his embarrassment than otherwise, he gra- dually abandoned it, considering it a matter of very little impor- tance to the work whether strictly epic justice were awarded to the club, or not.

The publication of the book in monthly numbers, containing only thirty-two pages in each, rendered it an object of para- mount importance that, while the different incidents were linked together by a chain of interest strong enough to prevent their appearing unconnected or impossible, the general design should be so simple as to sustain no injury from this detached and desultory form of publication, extending over no fewer than