The New York Public Library, Berg Collection of
English and American Literature
Boz as Captain Bobadil.
This engraving, after the painting by C.R. Leslie, R.A., captures Dickens's performance as the blustering Captain Bobadil, the consummate military braggart in Ben Jonson's comedy Every Man and His Humour. The staging of Jonson's play by Dickens and his friends premiered in a
"Strictly Private. Amateur Performance" at Miss Kelly's Theatre in London on September 20, 1845.
Charity performances then followed in London and elsewhere.