October, 1871, a continuation entitled "John
Jasper's Secret" began to appear, and occupied eight monthly parts,
produced uniformly with "Drood;" and recently a gentleman in Holland sent
the publishers--Messrs. Chapman and Hall--a completion written by himself.
There were other attempts of this nature, but Dickens' book must always
remain as he left it.

That a reference to the "Poets' Corner" in Westminster Abbey might
properly be included in a section of this book devoted to the
contemporaries of Charles Dickens, no one perhaps will deny.

[Illustration: PLAN OF "THE POETS' CORNER".]

It seems fitting, at least, that it should be mentioned here rather than
elsewhere, in that the work does not pretend to be a categorical guide to
even the more important sights of London, but merely that it makes mention
of those sights and scenes, places and peoples, more or less intimately
associated with the great novelist.

Charles Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 14th June, 1870,
since which time various other graves have been made, Browning and
Tennyson notably, and monuments and memorials put into place of Longfellow
and Ruskin.

The Poets' Corner occupies about half of the south transept of Westminster
Abbey. This famous place for the busts and monuments of eminent men
includes those of Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Drayton, Ben Jonson,
Milton, Butler, Davenant, Cowley, Dryden, Prior, Rowe, Gay, Addison,
Thomson, Goldsmith, Gray, Mason, Sheridan, Southey, Campbell, etc. Lord
Macaulay and Lord Palmerston were buried here in 1860 and 1865. Thackeray
is not buried here, but at Kensal Green, though his bust is placed next to
the statue of Joseph Addison. Dickens' grave is situated at the foot of
the coffin of Handel, and at the head of the coffin of R. B. Sheridan.
More recently, Doctor Livingstone, the celebrated African traveller, was
buried here. Near to England's great humourist, toward his feet, lie
Doctor Johnson and Garrick, while near them lies Thomas Campbell.
Shakespeare's monument is not far from the foot of the grave. Goldsmith's
is on the left.

THE LOCALE OF THE NOVELS

If one may make legitimate use of the term, "the topography of
Dickens,"--which an English writer coined many years since,--it may well
be indiscriminately applied to Dickens' own life and that of the
characters of his stories as well.

The subject has ever been a favourite one which has cropped up from time
to time