A question has been asked _publicly_, and which I grant is rather an important one in this case, and that is, Why _have I not until lately claimed to be the originator of ‘Oliver Twist’?_ To this I reply that ever since these works were published, and even when they were in progress, I have in private society, when conversing upon such matters, always explained that the _original ideas and characters of these works emanated from me_, and the reason why I _publicly_ claimed to be the originator of _Oliver Twist_ was to defend Dr. K. Shelton Mackenzie, who was charged by Mr. John Forster, in his _Life of Mr. Charles Dickens_, with publishing a _falsehood_ (or a word of _three letters_ as he describes it; Mr. Forster in a marginal note puts it thus: ‘Falsehood ascribed to a distinguished artist’), whereas the Doctor was only repeating what I had told him at the time _Oliver Twist_ was in progress. Mr. Forster designates Dr. Mackenzie’s statement as ‘a wonderful story,’ or ‘a marvellous fable,’ and in a letter from the Doctor to the _Philadelphia Press_, December 19, 1871, he says: ‘My _wonderful story was printed in an American periodical years before Mr. Dickens died_.’ And then asks, ‘Why did not Mr. Forster inquire into this matter, for surely he must have known it?’ And I presume Mr. Dickens must also have heard of this ‘wonderful story,’ the truth of which he _did not deny, for this reason--because he could not!_ And with respect to Mr. Ainsworth’s insinuation as to _my_ ‘labouring under a delusion’ upon this point, all my literary friends at that time knew that I was the originator of _Oliver Twist_, and as Mr. A. and I were at that time upon such intimate terms, and both working together on _Bentley’s Miscellany_, is it at all likely that I should have concealed such a fact from him? No! no! he knew this as well as I did, and, therefore, in this matter at any rate, it is _he_ who is ‘labouring under a delusion.’ And I will here refer to a part of my letter, which was published in _The Times_, December 30, 1871, upon the origin of _Oliver Twist_, wherein I state that Mr. Ainsworth and Mr. Dickens came together one day to my house, upon which occasion it so happened that I then and there _described and performed_ the character of ‘Fagin’ for Mr. Dickens to introduce into the work as a ‘receiver of stolen goods,’ and that some time after this, upon seeing Mr. Ainsworth again, he said to me, ‘I was so much struck with your description of that Jew to Mr. Dickens that I think you and I could do something together.’ Now I do not know whether Mr. Ainsworth has ever made any allusion to this; perhaps he _disdains_ to do so; but perhaps he may give this also a ‘positive contradiction’; and, if he does, then all I have to say is that his memory is gone! I will now explain the reason why I have _publicly_ asserted my right as the originator of _The Miser’s Daughter_.