Dickens evidently drew this idea from a note written earlier in his Book of Memoranda: "Gibbon's Decline and Fall. The two characters, one reporting to the other as he reads. Both getting confused as to whether it is not all going on now!" (21). Boffin and Wegg are reading Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Dickens had an 1825 eight-volume edition.

In the manuscript, the first few times the name is corrected from 'Teddy." Dickens probably added the note below (Nicodemus. "Noddy Boffin") after he made the changes in the manuscript.

The Boffins rename Old Harmon's place "Boffin's Bower," but it is otherwise known as "Harmony Jail" (see note above):

"Boffin's Bower is the name Mrs Boffin christened it when we come into it as a property. If you should meet with anybody that don't know it by that name (which hardly anybody does), when you've got nigh upon about a odd mile, or say and a quarter if you like, up Maiden Lane, Battle Bridge, ask for Harmony Jail, and you'll be put right."

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."

The Boffins rename Old Harmon's place "Boffin's Bower," but it is otherwise known as "Harmony Jail" (see note above):

"Boffin's Bower is the name Mrs Boffin christened it when we come into it as a property. If you should meet with anybody that don't know it by that name (which hardly anybody does), when you've got nigh upon about a odd mile, or say and a quarter if you like, up Maiden Lane, Battle Bridge, ask for Harmony Jail, and you'll be put right."

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."