Great Expectations a reference to a "knowing man", a possible sketch of Bentley Drummle. Another evokes a house full of "Toadies and Humbugs", foreshadowing the visitors to Satis House in chapter 11. Margaret Cardwell discovered the "premonition" of "Great Expectations" from a 25 September 1855 letter from Dickens to W. H. Wills, in which Dickens speaks of recycling an "odd idea" from the Christmas special "A House to Let" and "the pivot round which my next book shall revolve." The "odd idea" concerns an individual who "retires to an old lonely house…resolved to shut out the world and hold no communion with
Dickens in America about Dickens's visit was so great that parlour songs were written about the trip and we hear one of the songs which includes a lyric about praying that Cunard boilers wouldn't burst. The same song warns Dickens that the American cities' citizens would "eat you." Dickens recorded whiling away the time when, he wasn't seasick, with conversation and card games. There are many activities aboard the Queen Mary 2 but Miriam spends some of her time decoding the last line of "American Notes". She finally accomplishes her goal. Dickens had originally planned to end the book with the following: "Neither