Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/514

 NOTES AND QUERIES.

sE 1,1912.

Dickens remained at Gadshill until the close of the year, just going up to town on special occasions, such as Procter's eighty- second birthday. He spent his last Christ- mas in his dear old home, but wrote to Dolby that it was " one of great pain and misery." He was confined to his bed the whole day, only getting up in the evening to join the party in the drawing-room after dinner.

On New Year's Eve he went to Forster's and read a number of ' Edwin Drood.' He made light of his pains, which had returned both in the left hand and left foot, and he read " with such an overflow of humour Mr. Honey thunder's boisterous philanthropy that there was no room, then, for anything but enjoyment." His only allusion to any effect produced by his ill- ness was a mention of his increasing dislike to railway travel. This had decided him to take a London house for the twelve last readings ; and finding that he could have the residence of his friend Milner Gibson, 5, Hyde Park Place, he became his tenant. This handsome house occupies a splendid position, looking out towards the Marble Arch. With its large, lofty rooms, it was just the house for a Cabinet Minister, and in its dining-room, during the agitation for the repeal of the paper duties, Gibson frequently received deputations.

The Farewell Readings at St. James's Hall began on Tuesday, the llth of Janu- ary, 1870. On the 23rd Dickens met Carlyle for the last time. On the 7th of February his last birthday was passed with For.ster. On the 15th of March the final reading took place. This was one of the hardest struggles he had to face, but he went through with it with his usual un- daunted courage, and it was indeed a crowning triumph. The great hall was packed ; there were over two thousand persons present, and the receipts amounted to 425/. ; while the numbers turned away far exceeded those that were able to be admitted. With much agitation Dickens walked on to the platform, book in hand. After reading the ' Carol,' which he never gave more effectively, he closed with the trial from ' Pickwick.' Then came the most dreaded part of all, in which, in a few words, he bade his audience " a heartfelt, grateful, respectful, and affectionate farewell," and told them that he " closed this episode of his life with feelings of very considerable pain." As he left the platform, Dolby tells ua, " the tears rolled down his cheeks."

" But he had to go forward yet once again, to b? stunned by a more surprising outburst than

before, and dazzled by the waving of handker- chiefs. Respectfully kissing his. hand, Dickena retired for the last time."

Dolby estimates the entire amount Dickens made by his readings at 45,000. It is sad to remember that, although the pleasure he derived from them " is not to be told in words," yet without doubt they materially shortened his life. Forster, from notes taken by Dr. Beard, gives the following record as to Dickens's pulse immediately after these last twelve readings :

" His ordinary pulse on the first night was 72, but never on any subsequent night was lower than 82, and had risen on the later nights to more than 100. After ' Copperfield ' on the first night it went up to 96, and after ' Marigold ' on the second to 99 ; but on the first night of the ' Sikes and Nancy ' scenes it went from 80 to 112, and on the second night (the 1st of February) to 118. From this, through the six remaining nights, it never was lower than 110 after the first piece read ; and after the reading of the 'Oliver Twist' scenes it rose from 90 to 124 on the 15th of February."

On the 5th of April Dickens took the chair for the News vendors, when I had the pleasure of having my father and brother with me. He was full of merriment, and overflowing with humour. On the 30th of the same month, at the Royal Academy dinner, he returned thanks for " Literature." Only three days previously he had had the shock of reading at a railway station the announcement of the death of his old friend Daniel Maclise, and the last public words uttered by Dickens were this tribute to his friend :

" In 'wit a man, simplicity a child' no artist ever went to his rest leaving a golden memory more pure from dross, or having devoted himself with a truer chivalry to the art-goddess whom he worshipped."

JOHN COUJNS FRANCIS.

(To be continued.)

A RUNIC CALENDAR. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, ROOM 132. (See ante, pp. 261, 285, 321, 363, 384, 403.)

THE days under the signs of the Zodiac show very clearly that the original was made before the introduction of the New Style, or Gregorian, calendar. It will be convenient to tabulate the possible dates on which the sun could have entered the various signs, according to the informat-on given, as well as the dates on which the sun enters them according to the New Style. For the pur- poses of such a rough comparison as is