Charles Dickens in Leeds

[Leeds Hippo]

I believe Charles Dickens visited Leeds several times and wasn't very flattering about the experience - I recall that he said it was the dirtiest place he had ever visited which was saying something coming from London.One account of a visit can be found in the book "All the Year Round" in a chapter called "A Dash into Yorkshire"http://books.google.com/books?id=TnQHAQ ... =falseWhat is interesting is the picture he paints of Leeds in 1866 - he describes the music halls and pubs down court yards with fiddle music coming from many houses. You can get a real feel for Leeds and it's people around that time - something you rarely get from history books.I love his descriptions of "paucity of public house's in Leeds" - the guy was a prophet! and his difficulty in buying a penknife.Seems we all wore waistcoats, had whips and said "dom it" - whatever that means!