As Mr. Ainsworth's _positive and flat contradictions_ and his contemptible insinuation as to my _labouring under a singular delusion_ have led some persons to form erroneous ideas and to draw false conclusions upon this question, I feel placed in a very serious position as regards my _character for truthfulness_ and the _condition of my intellect_; and I am therefore _compelled in self-defence_ to place certain facts before the public to prove beyond the fear of _contradiction_ that what I have asserted is the truth, and that it is Mr. Ainsworth who is _labouring under a delusion_, or has unfortunately lost his memory.
And in order that this question may be clearly understood, I now proceed to give a full and particular account of all the professional transactions between myself and Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth when we were both on the most friendly terms and both working together to amuse the public; and also to show how it was that this friendship and joint labour ceased, now some twenty-eight years ago; and although I feel it a positive duty to myself to make these statements, it is, nevertheless, to me rather a painful task, well knowing that it will place Mr. Ainsworth in a very awkward position as regards his conduct towards me, the explanation of which he will feel bitterly, but which he has brought upon himself, for had he, in common justice, acknowledged that _I was the originator of certain ideas and characters up to which he had written_, the facts which I am now about to state would never have been placed before the public.
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.'