The House is up; but I am very sorry to say that I must stay at home. I
have had a visit from the publishers this morning, and the story cannot
be any longer delayed; it must be done to-morrow, as there are more
important considerations than the mere payment for the story involved
too. I must exercise a little self-denial, and set to work.
They (Chapman and Hall) have made me an offer of fourteen pounds a
month, to write and edit a new publication they contemplate, entirely by
myself, to be published monthly, and each number to contain four
woodcuts. I am to make my estimate and calculation, and to give them a
decisive answer on Friday morning. The work will be no joke, but the
emolument is too tempting to resist.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The same.]
_Sunday Evening._
* * * * *
I have at this moment got Pickwick and his friends on the Rochester
coach, and they are going on swimmingly, in company with a very
different character from any I have yet described, who I flatter myself
will make a decided hit. I want to get them from the ball to the inn
before I go to bed; and I think that will take me until one or two
o'clock at the earliest. The publishers will be here in the morning, so
you will readily suppose I have no alternative but to stick at my desk.
* * * * *
1837.