Abel Magwitch must have first seen the convicts who worked at unloading, and the marshes at Cooling, north-east of Chatham, off which the galley ships lay - scenes which would play a part in the story of his fictional self, Pip, and Pip's benefactor, Magwitch. Abel Magwitch Abel Magwitch is a fictional character from Charles Dickens's 1861 novel, "Great Expectations". Charles Dickens set his story in about 1800, setting his character Abel Magwitch to meet a man called Compeyson at the Epsom Races. Compeyson, Dickens wrote, had been brought up in a boarding school and was an attractive, charming gentleman. Magwitch, at
Dickens in America feminine. Dickens also sat for a bust by Henry Dexter. (There are copies of the bust in the Charles Dickens Museum in London and the Philadelphia Free Library’s Rare Book Department) The original bust is now lost. Miriam also sits for a bust by a young sculptor from Boston, Kalman Gacs. Dickens stayed at the Tremont House (Boston) in 1842, but by the time he returned in 1868, it “has now become contemptable.” Miriam stays at the Omni Parker House. Dickens stayed there for his second visit, when it was just called the Parker House. Miriam says it was noted