d cordially. He was now in the prime of life, still so
youthful, so active, so eloquent, so rich in the most pleasant
humor, through which his sterling kind-heartedness always beamed
forth. As he stood before me in the first hour, so he was and
remained during all the weeks I passed in his company,--merry,
good-natured, and full of charming sympathy. Dickens at home seems
to be perpetually jolly, and enters into the interests of games
with all the ardor of a boy. My bedroom was the perfection of a
sleeping-apartment; the view across the Kentish hills, with a
distant peep of the Thames, charming. In every room I found a table
covered with writing-materials, headed notepaper, envelopes, cut
quill-pens, wax, matches, sealing-wax, and all scrupulously neat
and orderly. There are magnificent specimens of Newfoundland dogs
on the grounds, such animals as Landseer would love to paint. One
of these, named Bumble, seems to be a favorite with Dickens."

Mr. Mackenzie writes:--

"Eminently social and domestic, he exercised a liberal hospitality,
and though he lived well as his means allowed, avoided excesses. It
is said of him that he never lost a friend, never made an enemy."

From all sources comes the same report of his geniality, of his devotion
to his children and their devotion to him, of his constant generosity
and good-humor. Byron's old servant said that Lady Byron was the only
woman he ever saw who could not manage his master. Was this also true of
Mrs. Dickens? Was she the only one who found him "ill to live with"? It
may be; and yet one can easily imagine him to have been a man of moods,
and that in some of these moods it would be best to give him a wide
berth. The very excess of his animal spirits may have been wearying to
one who could not share them; and that he was egotistical to a degree,
and vain, and fond of flattery, goes without saying. A lady in the
"English-woman's Magazine" tells this story of his wild and reckless
fun, and it is matched by many others. They were down on the seashore in
the moonlight, and had been dancing there.

"We then strolled farther down to watch the fading light. The tide
came rippling in. The night grew darker,--starless, moonless.
Dickens seemed suddenly to be possessed with the spirit of
mischief; he threw his arm around me, and ran me down the inclined
plane to the end