I think it was Thackeray who said that Dickens was a completely undeserved and unexpected gift. He went on to say that what you could expect out of English literature was an occasional great novelist or two per generation, and you could expect him or her to be a little original. There was no reason for Dickens -- he just arrived one day like a big explosion, like a hurricane -- and you just had to stand back and enjoy. Like this. yours, Peter T.