sowing your name broadcast in so many fields at once, and undertaking
such an impossible amount of fiction at one time. Just as you are coming
on with us, you have another story in progress in "The Gentleman's
Magazine," and another announced in "Once a Week." And so far as I know
the art we both profess, it cannot be reasonably pursued in this way. I
think the short story you are now finishing in these pages obviously
marked by traces of great haste and small consideration; and a long
story similarly blemished would really do the publication irreparable
harm.
These considerations are so much upon my mind that I cannot forbear
representing them to you, in the hope that they may induce you to take a
little more into account the necessity of care and preparation, and some
self-denial in the quantity done. I am quite sure that I write fully as
much in your interest as in that of "All the Year Round."
Believe me, always faithfully yours.
[Sidenote: The same.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Friday, March 11th, 1870._
MY DEAR ----,
Of course the engagement between us is to continue, and I am sure you
know me too well to suppose that I have ever had a thought to the
contrary. Your explanation is (as it naturally would be, being yours)
manly and honest, and I am both satisfied and hopeful.
Ever yours.
[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Saturday, March 26th, 1870._
MY DEAR KENT,
I received both copies of _The Sun_, with the tenderest pleasure and
gratification.
Everything that I can let you have in aid of the proposed record[33]
(which, _of course_, would be far more agreeable to me if done by you
than by any other hand), shall be at your service. Dolby has all the
figures relating to America, and you shall have for reference the books
from which I read. They are afterwards going into Forster's
collection.[34]
Ever affectionately.
[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Fielding Dickens.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Tuesday, March 29th, 1870._
MY DEAR HARRY,
Your next Tuesday's subject is a very good one. I would not lose the
point that narrow-minded fanatics, who decry the theatre and defame its
artists, are absolutely the advocates of depraved and barbarous
amusements. For wherever a good drama and a well-regulated theatre
decline, some distorted form of theatrical entertainment will infallibly
arise in their place. In one of the last chapters of "Hard Times," Mr.
Sleary says something to the effect: "People will be entertained
thomehow, thquire. Make the betht of uth, and not the wortht."
Ever affectionately.
[Sidenote: Mr. Shirley Brooks.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Friday, April 1st, 1870._
MY DEAR SHIRLEY BROOKS,
I have written to Mr. Low, expressing my regret that I cannot comply
with his request, backed as it is by my friend S. B. But I have told him
what is perfectly true--that I leave town for the peaceful following of
my own pursuits, at the end of next month; that I have excused myself
from filling all manner of claims, on the ground that the public
engagements I could make for the season were very few and were all made;
and that I cannot bear hot rooms when I am at work. I have smoothed this
as you would have me smooth it.
With your longing for fresh air I can thoroughly sympathise. May you get
it soon, and may you enjoy it, and profit by it half as much as I wish!
Ever faithfully yours.
[Sidenote: Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Saturday, April 16th, 1870._
MY DEAR FRITH,
I shall be happy to go on Wednesday evening, if convenient.
You please me with what you say of my new illustrator, of whom I have
great hopes.
Faithfully yours ever.
[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.]
_Monday Morning, April 25th, 1870._
MY DEAR KENT,
I received your book[35] with the greatest pleasure, and heartily thank
you for it. It is a volume of a highly prepossessing appearance, and a
most friendly look. I felt as if I should have taken to it at sight;
even (a very large even) though I had known nothing of its contents, or
of its author!
For the last week I have been most perseveringly and ding-dong-doggedly
at work, making headway but slowly. The spring always has a restless
influence over me; and I weary, at any season, of this London dining-out
beyond expression; and I yearn for the country again. This is my excuse
for not having written to you sooner. Besides which, I had a baseless
conviction that I should see you at the office last Thursday. Not having
done so, I fear you must be worse, or no better? If you _can_ let me
have a report of yourself, pray do.
[Sidenote: Mrs. Frederick Pollock.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Monday, May 2nd, 1870._
MY DEAR MRS. POLLOCK,
Pray tell the illustrious Philip van Artevelde, that I will deal with
the nefarious case in question if I can. I am a little doubtful of the
practicability of doing so, and frisking outside the bounds of the law
of libel. I have that high opinion of the law of England generally,
which one is likely to derive from the impression that it puts all the
honest men under the diabolical hoofs of all the scoundrels. It makes me
cautious of doing right; an admirable instance of its wisdom!
I was very sorry to have gone astray from you that Sunday; but as the
earlier disciples entertained angels unawares, so the later often miss
them haphazard.
Your description of La Font's acting is the complete truth in one short
sentence: Nature's triumph over art; reversing the copy-book axiom! But
the Lord deliver us from Plessy's mechanical ingenuousness!!
And your petitioner will ever pray.
And ever be,
Faithfully yours.
[Sidenote: Mrs. E. M. Ward.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Wednesday, May 11th, 1870._
MY DEAR MRS. WARD,
I grieve to say that I am literally laid by the heels, and incapable of
dining with you to-morrow. A neuralgic affection of the foot, which
usually seizes me about twice a year, and which will yield to nothing
but days of fomentation and horizontal rest, set in last night, and has
caused me very great pain ever since, and will too clearly be no better
until it has had its usual time in which to wear itself out. I send my
kindest regard to Ward, and beg to be pitied.
Believe me, faithfully yours always.
[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.]
5, HYDE PARK PLACE, W., _Tuesday, May 17th, 1870._
MY DEAR KENT,
Many, many thanks! It is only my neuralgic foot. It has given me such a
sharp twist this time that I have not been able, in its extreme
sensitiveness, to put any covering upon it except scalding fomentations.
Having viciously bubbled and blistered it in all directions, I hope it
now begins to see the folly of its ways.
Affectionately ever.
P.S.--I hope the Sun shines.
[Sidenote: Mrs. Bancroft.]
GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT,
_Thursday, May 31st, 1870._
MY DEAR MRS. BANCROFT,[36]
I am most heartily obliged to you for your kind note, which I received
here only last night, having come here from town circuitously to get a
little change of air on the road. My sense of your interest cannot be
better proved than by my trying the remedy you recommend, and that I
will do immediately. As I shall be in town on Thursday, my troubling you
to order it would be quite unjustifiable. I will use your name in
applying for it, and will report the result after a fair trial. Whether
this remedy succeeds or fails as to the neuralgia, I shall always
consider myself under an obligation to it for having indirectly procured
me the great pleasure of receiving a communication from you; for I hope
I may lay claim to being one of the most earnest and delighted of your
many artistic admirers.
Believe me, faithfully yours.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] On the death of his second wife.
[33] Of the Readings. The intention was carried out. Mr. Kent's book,
"Charles Dickens as a Reader," was published in 1872.
[34] No doubt Charles Dickens intended to add the Reading Books to the
legacy of his MSS. to Mr. Forster. But he did not do so, therefore the
"Readings" are not a part of the "Forster Collection" at the South
Kensington Museum.
[35] A new collective edition of "Kent's Poems," dedicated to his
cousin, Colonel Kent, of the 77th Regiment.
[36] Miss Marie Wilton.
TWO LAST LETTERS.
[Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.]
[Illustration: Gad's Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent.[37]
HW: Wednesday Eighth June 1870
HW: Dear Kent
Tomorrow is a very bad day for me to make a call, as, in addition to my
usual office business, I have a mass of accounts to settle with Wills.
But I hope I may be ready for you at 3 o'clock. If I can't be--why, then
I shan't be.
You must really get rid of those Opal enjoyments. They are too
overpowering:
"These violent delights have violent ends."
I think it was a father of your churches who made the wise remark to a
young gentleman who got up early (or stayed out late) at Verona?
Ever affectionately
Signature: ChD]
[Sidenote: Mr. John M. Makeham.]
=Gad's Hill Place,=
=Higham by Rochester, Kent.=
[Illustration: HW: Wednesday Eighth June 1870
Dear Sir
It would be quite inconceivable I think--but for your
letter--that any reasonable reader could possibly attach a scriptural
reference to a passage in a book of mine, reproducing a much abused
social figure of speech, impressed into all sorts of service on all
sorts of inappropriate occasions, without the faintest connexion of it
with its original source. I am truly shocked to find that any reader can
make the mistake
I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life
and lessons of our Saviour; because I feel it; and because I re-wrote
that history for my children--every one of whom knew it from having it
repeated to them--long before they could read, and almost as soon as
they could speak.
But I have never made proclamation of this from the house tops
Faithfully Yours,
Charles Dickens
John M. Markham Esq.]
All through this spring in London, Charles Dickens had been ailing in
health, and it was remarked by many friends that he had a weary look,
and was "aged" and altered. But he was generally in good spirits, and
his family had no uneasiness about him, relying upon the country quiet
and comparative rest at Gad's Hill to have their usual influence in
restoring his health and strength. On the 2nd June he attended a private
play at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Freake, where his two daughters were
among the actresses. The next day he went back to Gad's Hill. His
daughter Kate (whose home was there at all times when she chose, and
almost always through the summer months) went down on Sunday, the 5th
June, for a day's visit, to see the "great improvement of the
conservatory." Her father laughingly assured her she had now seen "the
last" improvement at Gad's Hill. At this time he was tolerably well, but
she remarked to her sister and aunt how strangely he was tired, and what
a curious grey colour he had in his face after a very short walk on that
Sunday afternoon. However, he seemed quite himself again in the evening.
The next day his daughter Kate went back, accompanied by her sister, who
was to pay her a short visit, to London.
Charles Dickens was very hard at work on the sixth number of "Edwin
Drood." On the Monday and Tuesday he was well, but he was unequal to
much exercise. His last walk was one of his greatest favourites--through
Cobham Park and Wood--on the afternoon of Tuesday.
On the morning of Wednesday, the 8th (one of the loveliest days of a
lovely summer), he was very well; in excellent spirits about his book,
of which he said he _must_ finish his number that day--the next
(Thursday) being the day of his weekly visit to "All the Year Round"
office. Therefore, he would write all day in the Chalet, and take no
walk or drive until the evening. In the middle of the day he came to the
house for an hour's rest, and smoked a cigar in the conservatory--out of
which new addition to the house he was taking the greatest personal
enjoyment--and seemed perfectly well, and exceedingly cheerful and
hopeful. When he came again to the house, about an hour before the time
fixed for the early dinner, he seemed very tired, silent, and absorbed.
But this was so usual with him after a day of engrossing work, that it
caused no alarm or surprise to his sister-in-law--the only member of his
household who happened to be at home. He wrote some letters--among them,
these last letters which we give--in the library of the house, and also
arranged many trifling business matters, with a view to his departure
for London the next morning. He was to be accompanied, on his return at
the end of the week, by Mr. Fildes, to introduce the "new illustrator"
to the neighbourhood in which many of the scenes of this last book of
Charles Dickens, as of his first, were laid.
It was not until they were seated at the dinner-table that a striking
change in the colour and expression of his face startled his
sister-in-law, and on her asking him if he was ill, he said, "Yes, very
ill; I have been very ill for the last hour." But on her expressing an
intention of sending instantly for a doctor, he stopped her, and said:
"No, he would go on with dinner, and go afterwards to London." And then
he made an effort to struggle against the fit that was fast coming on
him, and talked, but incoherently, and soon very indistinctly. It being
now evident that he _was_ ill, and very seriously ill, his sister-in-law
begged him to come to his own room before she sent off for medical help.
"Come and lie down," she entreated. "Yes, on the ground," he said, very
distinctly--these were the last words he spoke--and he slid from her
arm, and fell upon the floor.
The servants brought a couch into the dining-room, where he was laid. A
messenger was despatched for Mr. Steele, the Rochester doctor, and with
a telegram to his doctor in London, and to his daughters. This was a few
minutes after six o'clock.
His daughters arrived, with Mr. Frank Beard, this same evening. His
eldest son the next morning, and his son Henry and his sister Letitia in
the evening of the 9th--too late, alas!
All through the night, Charles Dickens never opened his eyes, or showed
a sign of consciousness. In the afternoon of the 9th, Dr. Russell
Reynolds arrived at Gad's Hill, having been summoned by Mr. Frank Beard
to meet himself and Mr. Steele. But he could only confirm their hopeless
verdict, and made his opinion known with much kind sympathy, to the
family, before returning to London.
Charles Dickens remained in the same unconscious state until the evening
of this day, when, at ten minutes past six, the watchers saw a shudder
pass over him, heard him give a deep sigh, saw one tear roll down his
cheek, and he was gone from them. And as they saw the dark shadow steal
across his calm, beautiful face, not one among them--could they have
been given such a power--would have recalled his sweet spirit back to
earth.
As his family were aware that Charles Dickens had a wish to be buried
near Gad's Hill, arrangements were made for his burial in the pretty
churchyard of Shorne, a neighbouring village, of which he was very fond.
But this intention was abandoned in consequence of a pressing request
from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral that his remains might
be placed there. A grave was prepared and everything arranged, when it
was made known to the family, through Dean Stanley, that there was a
general and very earnest desire that Charles Dickens should find his
resting-place in Westminster Abbey. To such a fitting tribute to his
memory they could make no possible objection, although it was with great
regret that they relinquished the idea of laying him in a place so
closely identified with his life and his works. His name,
notwithstanding, is associated with Rochester, a tablet to his memory
having been placed by his executors on the wall of Rochester Cathedral.
With regard to Westminster Abbey, his family only stipulated that the
funeral might be made as private as possible, and that the words of his
will, "I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive,
unostentatious, and strictly private manner," should be religiously
adhered to. And so they were. The solemn service in the vast cathedral
being as private as the most thoughtful consideration could make it.
The family of Charles Dickens were deeply grateful to all in authority
who so carried out his wishes. And more especially to Dean Stanley and
to the (late) Lady Augusta Stanley, for the tender sympathy shown by
them to the mourners on this day, and also on Sunday, the 19th, when the
Dean preached his beautiful funeral sermon.
As during his life Charles Dickens's fondness for air, light, and gay
colours amounted almost to a passion, so when he lay dead in the home he
had so dearly loved, these things were not forgotten.
The pretty room opening into the conservatory (from which he had never
been removed since his seizure) was kept bright with the most beautiful
of all kinds of flowers, and flooded with the summer sun:
"And nothing stirred in the room. The old, old
fashion. The fashion that came in with our
first garments, and will last unchanged until
our race has run its course, and the wide
firmament is rolled up like a scroll. The old,
old fashion--death!
"Oh, thank God, all who see it, for that older
fashion yet, of immortality!"
FOOTNOTES:
[37] This letter has lately been presented by Mr. Charles Kent to the
British Museum.
INDEX.
A'Beckett, Gilbert, i. 134
Actors, Dickens a friend to poor, ii. 134
Affidavit, a facetious, i. 101
Agassiz, Professor, ii. 226, 309
Agate, John, ii. 136;
letter to, ii. 154
Ainsworth, W. H., letters to, i. 43, 75, 92
Alison, Sir Archibald, i. 170
"All the Year Round," commencement of, ii. 83;
"The Uncommercial Traveller" in, ii. 107;
Christmas Numbers of: "The Haunted House," ii. 84;
"A Message from the Sea," ii. 108, 137;
"Tom Tiddler's Ground," ii. 136;
"Somebody's Luggage," ii. 171;
"Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings," ii. 187;
"Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," ii. 209, 210;
"Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions," ii. 224, 239, 246;
"Mugby Junction," ii. 244, 265;
"No Thoroughfare," ii. 268, 300, 327, 332, 334, 338, 350, 356,
361, 362, 384;
and see ii. 386,
and see Charles Dickens as an Editor
America, feeling for Dickens in the backwoods of, i. 40, 41;
Dickens's first visit to, i. 53;
his welcome in, i. 59;
his opinion of, i. 60-64;
freedom of opinion in, i. 61;
Dickens's levees in, i. 66;
change of temperature in, i. 66;
hotel charges in, i. 67;
midnight rambles in New York, i. 67;
descriptions of Niagara, i. 69, 70; ii. 372, 377;
a maid's views on Niagara, i. 72;
copyright in, i. 71, 73, 74;
Dickens's tribute to Mrs. Trollope's book on, i. 81;
press-ridden, i. 97;
absence of quiet in, i. 98;
criticisms of Dickens in, i. 151;
the great war in, ii. 142, 143;
feeling between England and, ii. 240;
Dickens's second visit to--the journey, ii. 302-306;
Dickens's letters on, ii. 306-382;
fires in, ii. 317, 320;
treatment of luggage in, ii. 321;
drinks in, ii. 329, 363;
literary piracy in, ii. 332;
walking-match between Dolby and Osgood in, ii. 346, 352, 353,
360, 361, 364, 366, 377;
changes and improvements in since Dickens's first visit,
ii. 348, 374;
the negroes in, ii. 349;
personal descriptions of Dickens in, ii. 369;
travelling in, ii. 375;
and see Readings
"American Notes," publication of, i. 54
Andersen, Hans Christian, ii. 3
"Animal Magnetism," tag to, written by Dickens, i. 238
Anne, Mrs. Dickens's maid, i. 72, 414; ii. 18, 25, 28, 343
"Apprentices, The Tour of the Two Idle," ii. 5, 32, 33
"Arabian Nights," a mistake in the, i. 88, 89
Armatage, Isaac, ii. 391
Armstrong, the Misses, letter to, ii. 175;
and see ii. 176
Astley's Theatre, description of a clown at, i. 116
Austin, Henry, i. 240; ii. 135, 157;
and see Letters
Austin, Mrs. Henry, ii. 447;
letters to, ii. 154, 180, 384
Author, the highest reward of an, i. 41
Autobiography, a concise, of Dickens, i. 437
Autograph of Dickens in 1833, i. 2;
Dickens leaves his in Shakespeare's room, i. 13;
of Boz, i. 43;
of Dickens as Bobadil, i. 195;
facsimile of Dickens's handwriting in 1856, i. 421;
facsimile letters of Dickens written the day before his death,
ii. 443-445
Babbage, Charles, letters to, i. 86, 87, 186
Ballantyne, ii. 415
Bancroft, Mrs., letter to, ii. 441
Banks, G., i. 273; letter to, i. 296
Barber, Dickens's gardener, ii. 102
Barker, Dr. Fordyce, ii. 378, 405
"Barnaby Rudge" written and published, i. 36;
Dickens's descriptions of the illustrations of:
the raven, i. 38;
the locksmith's house, i. 39;
rioters in The Maypole, i. 45;
scene in the ruins of the Warren, i. 46;
abduction of Dolly Varden, i. 48;
Lord George Gordon in the Tower, the duel, frontispiece, i. 50;
Hugh taken to gaol, i. 51
"Battle of Life, The," dedication of, i. 147, 157;
Dickens superintends rehearsals of the play of, i. 163, 165, 167;
sale of, i. 166, 176;
reception of the play of, i. 167
Baylis, Mr., ii. 170;
letter to, ii. 179
Beadle, a, in office, ii. 134
Beard, Frank, ii. 182, 405, 421, 434, 447
Beaucourt, M., i. 297, 357, 439
Bedstead, a German, i. 128
Beecher, Ward, ii. 341
Begging letters, Dickens's answers to, i. 148-150
Belgians, the King of the, ii. 432
Benzon, Miss Lily, letter to, ii. 258
Berry, one of Dickens's readings men, ii. 54, 159, 160
Bicknell, Henry, i. 215;
letter to, i. 229
Biographers, Dickens on, i. 190;
his opinion of John Forster as a biographer, i. 188-191
Birthday wishes, i. 51
"Black-eyed Susan," Dickens as T. P. Cooke in, i. 113;
a new version of, i. 114
Blackwood, Mr., ii. 165
Blair, General, ii. 355
Blanchard, Laman, letter to, i. 99
"Bleak House," commenced, i. 241;
publication of, i. 272;
Dickens's opinion of, i. 279;
circulation of, i. 289, 309, 317
Blessington, Lady, i. 171
Bobadil, Captain, Dickens plays, i. 134;
Dickens's remarks on, i. 144;
a letter after, i. 195
Book-backs, Dickens's imitation, i. 265, 266
Book Clubs, established, i. 94;
Dickens on, i. 104
Boucicault, Dion, ii. 260, 261
Boulogne, Dickens at, i. 271, 297, 304-312, 341, 414, 439-448;
a Shakespearian performance at, i. 308;
_en fete_, i. 315;
illuminations at, on the occasion of the Prince Consort's visit,
i. 362;
fire at, i. 364;
condition of, during the Crimean war, i. 365;
letters descriptive of, i. 305, 306, 309, 312, 357, 358, 360, 372
Bouncer, Mrs., Miss Dickens's dog, ii. 109, 126, 189, 356
Bow Street Runners, ii. 178
Boxall, Sir William, i. 233, 237
Boyle, Captain Cavendish, ii. 407
Boyle, Miss Mary, i. 211, 214, 227, 414; ii. 123, 145, 315, 406;
and see Letters
Breach of Promise, a new sort of, i. 179
Breakfast, a Yorkshire, i. 9
Broadstairs, Dickens at, i. 4, 6, 17, 28, 36, 53, 134, 170, 185,
213, 240; ii. 84, 99;
description of lodgings at, i. 33;
amusements of, i. 180, 182;
size of Fort House at, i. 254
Bromley, Sir Richard, ii. 126
Brookfield, Mrs., letter to, ii. 249
Brookfield, The Rev. W., letters to, ii. 199, 200
Brooks, Shirley, ii. 407;
letters to, ii. 423, 438
Brougham, Lord, i. 182; ii. 144
Browne, H. K., i. 6, 13
Buckstone, J. B., i. 360
Burnett, Mrs., i. 185
Cabin, a, on board ship, i. 56
Campbell, Lord, ii, 144
Capital punishment, Dickens's views on, i. 209
Carlisle, the Earl of, letters to, i. 253, 281; ii. 12, 118, 157
Carlyle, Thomas, ii. 112
Cartwright, Samuel, ii. 326;
letter to, ii. 348
Castlereagh, Lord, i. 245
Cat-hunting, i. 449
Cattermole, George, i. 42, 143; ii. 327, 383;
and see Letters
Cattermole, Mrs., letters to, ii. 383, 385
Celeste, Madame, ii. 106
Cerjat, M. de, i. 147; ii. 406;
and see Letters
Chambers, Robert, ii. 167, 434
Chancery, Dickens on the Court of, i. 450
Chapman and Hall, Messrs., i. 3;
letter to, i. 55
Chappell, Messrs., ii. 244, 245, 267, 309, 326, 405
Charities, Dickens's sufferings from public, ii. 47
Children, stories of, i. 223, 365, 420; ii. 196, 359, 423
Childs, Mr., ii. 337, 405
"Chimes, The," written, i. 95;
an attack on cant, i. 118, 129;
Dickens's opinion of, i. 129, 133;
Dickens gives a private reading of, i. 133
Chorley, H. F., ii. 338, 350
"Christmas Carol, The," publication of, i. 85;
criticisms on, i. 99
Christmas greetings, i. 167
Church, Dickens on the, ii. 221;
service on board ship, ii. 348;
Dickens on the Romish, ii. 409, 410
Circumlocution, Dickens on, ii. 241, 270
Clarke, John, letter to, ii. 418
Cockspur Street Society, the, i. 85-87
Cold, effects of a, i. 92, 93;
remedy for a, i. 168
Colden, David, i. 64
Collins, C. A., ii. 84, 100, 113, 221, 242, 387, 410
Collins, Wilkie, i. 241, 272, 297, 332, 359, 376, 385, 388, 413,
414, 447; ii. 33, 84, 108, 170, 268, 292;
and see Letters
Comedy, Mr. Webster's offer for a prize, Dickens an imaginary
competitor, i. 86, 90
Compton, Mrs., letter to, ii. 22
Conjuring feats, i. 96;
and see ii. 243
Cooke, T. P., i. 113; ii. 4;
letter to, ii. 21
Copyright, i. 13;
Dickens's struggles to secure English, in America, i. 71, 73, 74