Sunday under three heads

"Their good humour and delight know no bounds - for it is a delightful morning, all blue over head, and nothing like a cloud in the whole sky." Under the pseudonym of Timothy Sparks, the then 24 year-old Dickens wrote this pamphlet, in which he defends the people's right to pleasure. Always a protector of the poor, Dickens describes what a Sunday morning would look like if the Christian "fanatics" in Parliament had been able to pass a recent bill. And he describes what a Sunday morning ought to look like. It gives a humorous picture of London Society and was dedicated to the Bishop of London, without permission. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English author, social critic, and philanthropist. Much of his writing first appeared in small instalments in magazines and was widely popular. Among his most famous novels are Oliver Twist (1839), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861).