employer of Kit. The Small Servant, Miss Brass' 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, unable to get home, pass a stormy night. Nell's 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 to their presence through a letter. Mrs. Jiniwin, Mrs. Quilp's mother and Quilp's mother-in-law. She resents Quilp for the way he treats her daughter, but is too afraid to stand up to him. 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".