"At the New York barriers,
where the tickets are on sale, . . . speculators went up and down
offering twenty dollars for anybody's place. The money was in no case
accepted" (ii., p. 310).

And again: "At nine o'clock this morning there were two thousand people
in waiting, and they had begun to assemble in the bitter cold as early as
two o'clock" (ii., p. 311).

And to Miss Hogarth, 16th December 1867, N.Y.:--"Dolby continues to be
the most unpopular man in America (mainly because he can't get four
thousand people into a room that holds two thousand), and is reviled in
print daily."

Dickens returned from America in April 1868, but soon made another visit.
He wrote to Wilkie Collins from Boston:--"Being in Boston . . . I took it
into my head to go over the medical school, and survey the holes and
corners in which that extraordinary murder was done by Webster" (12th
Jan. 1868).

This must be the man who (as I was told in the U.S.) said to his
daughters, "What should you say if I were the murderer?" They were
looking at the notice of a reward for the detection of the murderer. I
think the body was burnt by Webster in his laboratory.

In regard to his readings, he wrote: "It was but this last year that I
set to and learned every word of my readings; and from ten years ago to
last night, I have never read to an audience but I have watched for an
opportunity of striking out something better somewhere" (11th Feb. 1868).

He was evidently overstrained and was only kept going by stimulants. He
wrote to Miss Dickens (29th March 1868): "I have coughed from two or
three in the morning until five or six, and have been absolutely
sleepless. I have had no appetite besides, and no taste."

And again, to the same correspondent, he writes that he has established
this system:--"At seven in the morning (in bed) a tumbler of new cream
and two tablespoonfuls of rum. At twelve, a sherry cobbler and a
biscuit. At three (dinner-time) a pint of champagne. At five minutes to
eight, an egg beaten up in a glass of sherry. Between the parts, the
strongest beef-tea that can be made, drunk hot. At quarter past ten,
soup, and anything to drink that I can fancy. . . . Dolby is as tender
as a woman and as watchful as a doctor" (2nd April 1868).

On the return voyage he was asked to read, and "I respectfully replied
that sooner than do it, I would assault the captain, and be put in
irons."

When he arrived at home the two Newfoundla