grovelling, obsequious man, he is an employee of Mr. Quilp, and at his urging he frames Kit for robbery.
- Miss Sarah ('Sally') Brass, Mr. Brass's obnoxious sister and clerk; she is the real authority in the Brass firm. She is occasionally referred to as a "dragon". She mistreats the Marchioness. Quilp makes amorous advances towards her, but is rebuffed.
- Mrs. Jarley, proprietor of a travelling waxworks show, who takes in Nell and her grandfather out of kindness. However, she only appears briefly.
- Frederick Trent, Nell's worthless older brother, who is convinced that his grandfather is secretly wealthy (when in actuality he was the primary cause of the old man's poverty, according to the single gentleman). Initially a major character in the novel and highly influential over Richard Swiveller, he is dropped from the narrative after chapter 23. Briefly mentioned as travelling to Great Britain and the wider world following his disappearance from the story, before being found injured and drowned in the River Seine after the story's conclusion. The character was named after the novelist's younger brother, Frederick Dickens.
- Mr. Garland, a kind-hearted man, father of Abel Garland and employer of Kit.
- The small servant, Miss Brass's maidservant. Dick Swiveller befriends her and, finding that she does not know her age or name (Sally Brass simply refers to her as "Little Devil") or parents, nicknames her The Marchioness and later gives her the name Sophronia Sphynx. In the original manuscript it is made explicit that the Marchioness is in fact the illegitimate daughter of Miss Brass, possibly by Quilp, but only a suggestion of this survived in the published edition.
- Isaac List and Joe Jowl, professional gamblers. They are fellow guests at the public house where Nell and her Grandfather pass a stormy night when unable to get home. The Grandfather is unable to resist gambling with them, and fleeces Nell of what little money she has to this end. That same night, he also robs her of even more money.
- Mr. Chuckster, the dogsbody of the notary Mr. Witherden, who employs Mr. Abel Garland. He takes a strong dislike to Kit after Mr. Garland overpays Kit for a job and Kit returns to work off the difference; he shows his dislike at every opportunity, calling Kit 'Snobby'.
- Mr. Marton, a poor schoolmaster. He befriends Nell and later inadvertently meets her and her Grandfather on the roads. Nell approaches him to beg for alms, not realising who he is. She faints from a combination of shock and exhaustion, and, realising she is ill, he takes her to an inn and pays for the doctor, and then takes her and her grandfather to live with him in the distant village where he has been appointed parish clerk.
- Thomas Codlin, proprietor of a travelling Punch and Judy show.
- Mr. Harris, called 'Short Trotters', the puppeteer of the Punch and Judy show.
- Barbara, the maidservant of Mr. and Mrs. Garland and future wife of Kit.
- The Bachelor, brother of Mr. Garland. Lives in the village where Nell and her grandfather end their journey, and unknowingly alerts his brother of their presence through a letter.
Literary significance and criticism
Probably the most widely-repeated criticism of Dickens is the remark reputedly made by Oscar Wilde that 'One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without dissolving into tears...of laughter.' (Nell's deathbed is not actually described, however.) Of a similar opinion was the poet Algernon Swinburne, who called Nell "a monster as inhuman as a baby with two heads."
The Irish leader Daniel O'Connell famously burst into tears at the finale, and threw the book out of the window of the train in which he was travelling.
The hype surrounding the conclusion of the series was unprecedented; Dickens fans were reported to storm the piers of New York City, shouting to arriving sailors (who might have already read the last instalment in the United Kingdom), "Is Little Nell alive?" In 2007, many newspapers claimed the excitement at the release of the last volume The Old Curiosity Shop was th