224
NOTES AND QUERIES; [ii s. v. MAR. 23, 1912.
a notice of his friend Forster's ' Life of
Landor.' The affection with which he
always regarded his weekly periodical was
greatly increased by the friendship he felt
for his sub-editor : and in closing my refer-
ences to All the Year Round, I must quote
once more from that valuable contribution
to Dickens literature, ' Dickens as Editor.'
Among the letters is one from Dickens to
Wills on his presenting him with a silver
claret jug :
" It is not made of a perishable material, and is so far expressive of our friendship. I have had your name and mine set upon it, in token of many years of mutual reliance and trustfulness. It will "never be so full of wine as it is to-day of affectionate regard."
Mr. Lehmann is now the fortunate possessor of this much-treasured memento.
In that delightful book ' The Dickens Country,' by Frederic G. Kitton, published by Messrs. A. & C. Black, among the many illustrations is one of the old Household Words office, as well as of that of All the Year Round. This has undergone no change in the frontage, and the ground floor is now occupied by Messrs. Blackburn & Co., horti- cultural sundriesmen ; while the former office
of The Athenaeum is occupied by Messrs. Browne & Co., advertising agents. In the latter case the shop front has been altered, having now two windows with entrance in the centre, in place of one with entrance on the north side.
We may turn aside for a moment to say a word in memory of Frederic Kitton. He died while 'The Dickens Country' was in the press, and his friends Mr. B. W. Matz, Mr. T. W. Tyrrell, and Mr. H. Snowden Ward (whose death we had to deplore last December), with loving care read the final proofs. My friend Mr. Arthur Waugh opens the work with a beautiful tribute, in which he speaks of Kitten's "absolute sincerity of life and word . . . . of his never having thought anything of man, or woman,
or child but what was kind, and Christian, and noble - hearted .... He knew the secret of life a simple secret, but hard to find, and harder to remember. He had no touch of self in all his composition, no taint of self-interest or self-care. He lived for others : and in their memory he will survive so long as earthly recollections and earthly examples return to encourage and to inspire."
In 1859 Gadshill became the home of Dickens, and here it was his delight to entertain his friends. No man made a more splendid host ; the whole house and house- hold were at the service of the guests. Dolby, in ' Charles Dickens as I Knew Him,' published by Fisher Unvvin, speaks of one
peculiarity "except at table, no servant
was ever seen about. This was because
all the requirements of life were always
ready to hand." Each bedroom had
" a sofa and easy chair, caned - bottom chairs in which Mr. Dickens had great belief, always preferring to use one himself a large-sized writing table, profusely supplied with paper and envelopes of every conceivable size and description, and an almost daily change of new quill pens. There was a miniature library of books in each room ; a comfortable fire in winter, with a shining copper kettle in each fireplace ; and on a side table all the appliances for having tea, including a well- supplied caddy."
The guests had perfect freedom ; there was no specified time for breakfast, but a general meeting at luncheon. In the after- noon Miss Dickens and Miss Georgina Hogarth would hold their genial court, while at dinner Dickens was the life of the table. After dinner the company played games, in which he would take part with all the gaiety of a boy. He insisted on his friends going to bed when they liked, only with strict injunction? to "see the gas out all right." At times the gas was "seen out" by the brilliance of the morning sun, and Dolby relates
" it was amusing, and at the same time discon- certing, on entering the breakfast-room in the morning, to watch the merry twinkle in the host's eyes as he expressed a hope that ' you had slept well,' and remained in apparent ignorance of the fact that the guest so addressed had riot been in bed."
In closing this section I have to thank CANON ELLACOMBE for drawing my atten- tion to the fact that in ' Hard Times ' Dickens repeats the use of a star as a com- forter, which we noticed in ; A Child's Dream.' In the scene of Stephen Blackpool's death, after his fall into a coal-pit, Rachel, the reader will remember, following his eyes, " saw that he was gazing at a star " ; and he said to her :
" Often as I coom to myseln, and found it shinin' on me down there in mytimible, I thowt it were the star as guided to Our Saviour's home. I aumust think it be the very star."
JOHN COLLINS FRANCIS. (To be continued.)
ST. LEONARD'S HOSPITAL, YORK.
THE following document belongs to the Free Library, Sheffield, having been purchased a few years ago at one of the sales of the Phillipps collection. It appears to be of the nature of a passport to be used by a tenant of the Hospital, in virtue of which he could claim exemption from various legal dues
