Chapter XIX: 1836-1870

Pages 478-526.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. AET. 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