16) See, for instance, Letter to Miss Burdett-Coutts23 August 1858.
Coutts Letters, p.361.
17) For the clinical accuracy of her case, see C.G. Strachan, 'The Medical
Knowledge of Charles Dickens', British Medical Journal (1924), volII ,p.780ff
18) The Dickens Theatre, p.210.
19) Q.D. Leavis's commentary on the heredity-environment aspect is very interes
ting: 'Dickens is always to be seen asking questions as to the why of
human conduct. What is their motivation Why are people what they are
(heredity or nurture) Why do people in similar circumstances and under
the same pressures behave differently Is there such a thing as 'free-will,
admitting the force of heredity, conditioning by the social and
psychological forces of infancy and adoles-habits Dickens the Novelist,
p. 280.
20) The Dickens Theatre, p. 211.12.
21) The Life of Charles Dickens (1935) and his autobiograohyThomas Wright of
Olney (1936).
22) Martin Meisel, 'The Ending of Great Expectations', p.331.
23) The World of Charles Dickens, p. 271.
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