“For about a year before his death, Grimaldi was employed in writing a full account of his life and adventures, and as people who write their own lives often find time to extend them to a most inordinate length, it is no wonder that his account of himself was exceedingly voluminous.”

Live wording check · 2026-10-26

Author: Charles Dickens George Cruikshank) first appeared. To this magazine, during the time that he conducted it, he also contributed some humorous papers, entitled “Full Report of the Meetings of the Mudfog Association for the Advancement of Everything.” But, finding his editorial office irksome, he soon abandoned it. During his engagement with Mr. Bentley, he edited and partly wrote the “Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi,” {11} a book now almost forgotten, though not without passages of pathos and humour. Dickens, in the introductory chapter (dated February, 1838), gives the following account of his share in the work:— “For about a year before his death, Grimaldi was employed in writing a full account of his life and adventures, and as people who write their own lives often find time to extend them to a most inordinate length, it is no wonder that his account of himself was exceedingly voluminous. “This manuscript was confided to Mr. Thomas Egerton Wilks, to alter and revise, with a view to its publication. While he was thus engaged, Grimaldi died; and Mr. Wilks having, by the commencement of September (1837), concluded his labours, offered the manuscript to Mr. Bentley, by whom it was shortly afterwards purchased. “The present editor of these volumes has felt it necessary to say thus much in explanation of their origin. His own share in them is stated in a few words. Being much struck by several incidents in the manuscript—such as the description of Grimaldi’s infancy, the burglary, t Public domain in the USA.