Charles Dickens arrives in Boston on board the Britannia.

At the first stop of his four-month tour of the U.S. and Canada, Dickens’ ship is met by reporters before it docks. When he disembarks, a crowd escorts him to the Tremont House and during his stay, Dickens is mobbed wherever he goes, young ladies cut pieces from his coat as souvenirs. James Fields describes him as “young, handsome, almost worshipped for his genius.” Dickens makes many public appearances, attends many private dinner parties, visits the industrial town of Lowell and various hospitals, charitable and correctional institutions, which he writes about in 1843.* Dickens leaves Boston on February 5, 1842.