. . I will write my book in Lausanne and in Genoa, and forget everything
else if I can; and by living in Switzerland for the summer, and in Italy
or France for the winter, I shall be saving money while I write." So
therefore it was finally determined.

There is not much that calls for mention before he left. The first
conceiving of a new book was always a restless time, and other subjects
beside the characters that were growing in his mind would persistently
intrude themselves into his night-wanderings. With some surprise I heard
from him afterwards, for example, of a communication opened with a
leading member of the Government to ascertain what chances there might
be for his appointment, upon due qualification, to the paid magistracy
of London: the reply not giving him encouragement to entertain the
notion farther. It was of course but an outbreak of momentary
discontent; and if the answer had been as hopeful as for others' sake
rather than his own one could have wished it to be, the result would
have been the same. Just upon the eve of his departure, I may add, he
took much interest in the establishment of the General Theatrical Fund,
of which he remained a trustee until his death. It had originated in the
fact that the Funds of the two large theatres, themselves then disused
for theatrical performances, were no longer available for the ordinary
members of the profession; and on the occasion of his presiding at its
first dinner in April he said, very happily, that now the statue of
Shakespeare outside the door of Drury-lane, as emphatically as his bust
inside the church of Stratford-on-Avon, _pointed out his grave_. I am
tempted also to mention as felicitous a word which I heard fall from him
at one of the many private dinners that were got up in those days of
parting to give him friendliest farewell. "Nothing is ever so good as it
is thought," said Lord Melbourne. "And nothing so bad," interposed
Dickens.

The last incidents were that he again obtained Roche for his travelling
servant, and that he let his Devonshire-terrace house to Sir James Duke
for twelve months, the entire proposed term of his absence. On the 30th
of May they all dined with me, and on the following day left England.

FOOTNOTES:

[106] Count d'Orsay's note about Roche, replying to Dickens's
recommendation of him at his return, has touches of the pleasantry, wit,
and kindliness that gave such a wonderful fascination to its writer.
"Gore House,