Chapter 111

Pages 478-526.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. ÆT. 24-58.

Dickens not a bookish man 479 Books and their critics 479 Design of present book stated 480 Dickens made to tell his own story 480 Charge of personal obtrusiveness 481 Lord Russell on Dickens's letters 481 Shallower judgments 481 Absence of self-conceit in Dickens 482 Letter to youngest son 483 As to religion and prayer 485 Letter to a clergyman in 1856 485 Letter to a layman in 1870 486 Objection to posthumous honours 487 As to patronage of literature 488 Vanity of human wishes 488 As to writers and publishers 489 Editorship of his weekly serials 490 Work for his contributors 491 Editorial troubles and pleasures 493 Letter to an author 493 Help to younger novelists 495 Adelaide Procter's poetry 495 Effect of periodical writing 496 Proposed satirical papers 497 Political opinions 498 Not the man for Finsbury 499 The Liverpool dinner in 1869 500 Reply to Lord Houghton 501 Tribute to Lord Russell 501 People governing and governed 502 Alleged offers from her Majesty 503 Silly Rigmarole 504 The Queen sees him act (1857) 505 Desires to hear him read (1858) 506 Interview at the Palace (1870) 507 What passed at the interview 507 Dickens's grateful impression 508 A hope at the close of life 509 Games in Gadshill meadow 510 Home enjoyments 512 Habits of life everywhere 513 Family dependence on him 514 Carlyle's opinion of Dickens 514 Street walks and London haunts 515 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 517 The first attack of lameness 518 Effect upon his dogs 518 Why right things to be done 519 Silent heroisms 519 At social meetings 520 Delight in "assumption" 520 Humouring a joke 522 Unlucky hits 522 Ghost stories 524 Predominant feeling of his life 525 Sermon of the Master of Balliol 525