the Home Rule camp. He disliked the
methods of Parnell, the obstruction in Parliament, and the campaign of
lawlessness in Ireland. His own victories had not been won so, and he
had a great respect for the traditions of the House. He also believed
that the Home Rule Bill would vitally weaken the unity of the realm. But
no personal bitterness entered into his relations with his old
colleagues: he did not attack Gladstone, as he had attacked Palmerston
in 1855. From his death-bed he sent a cordial message to his old chief,
and received an answer full of high courtesy and affection.

His illness lasted several months. From the autumn of 1888 he lay at One
Ash, weak but not suffering acutely; and on March 27, 1889, he quietly
passed away. His old friend Cobden had preceded him more than twenty
years, having died in 1865, and had been buried at his birthplace in
Sussex, where he had made himself a peaceful home in later life. Bright
proved himself equally faithful to the home of his earliest years. He
was laid to rest in the small burying-ground in front of the Friends'
meeting-house where he had worshipped as a child. In his long career he
had served noble causes, and scaled the heights of fame, and the crowds
at his funeral testified to the love which his neighbours bore him. He
had never willingly been absent for long from his native town. His life,
compared with that of Disraeli or Gladstone, seems almost bleak in its
simplicity, varied as it was by so few excursions into other fields. But
two strong passions enriched it with warmth and glow, his family
affections and his zeal for the common good. These filled his heart, and
he was content that it should be so.

Type of the wise who soar but never roam,
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home.

[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS

From the painting by Daniel Maclise in the National Portrait Gallery]

CHARLES DICKENS

1812-1870

1812. Born at Landport, Portsmouth, February 7.
1816. Parents move to Chatham; 1821, to London.
1822. Father bankrupt and in prison. Charles in blacking warehouse.
1827. Charles enters lawyer's office.
1831. Reporters' Gallery in Parliament.
1836. Marries Catherine Hogarth. Publishes _Sketches by Boz_.
1837. _Pickwick Papers._ 1838. _Nicholas Nickleby._
1842. First American journey. 1843. _Martin Chuzzlewit._
1844-5. Eleven months' residence in Italy, chiefly at Genoa.
1846. Editor of _Daily News_ for a few weeks.
1846-7.