me with such a stroke. No
literary man's hitherto ever did. The good, the gentle, high-gifted,
ever-friendly, noble Dickens,--every inch of him an Honest Man."

Of his ordinary habits of activity I have spoken, and they were
doubtless carried too far. In youth it was all well, but he did not make
allowance for years. This has had abundant illustration, but will admit
of a few words more. To all men who do much, rule and order are
essential; method in everything was Dickens's peculiarity; and between
breakfast and luncheon, with rare exceptions, was his time of work. But
his daily walks were less of rule than of enjoyment and necessity. In
the midst of his writing they were indispensable, and especially, as it
has often been shown, at night. Mr. Sala is an authority on London
streets, and, in the eloquent and generous tribute he was among the
first to offer to his memory, has described himself encountering Dickens
in the oddest places and most inclement weather, in Ratcliffe-highway,
on Haverstock-hill, on Camberwell-green, in Gray's-inn-lane, in the
Wandsworth-road, at Hammersmith Broadway, in Norton Folgate, and at
Kensal New Town. "A hansom whirled you by the Bell and Horns at
Brompton, and there he was striding, as with seven-league boots,
seemingly in the direction of North-end, Fulham. The Metropolitan
Railway sent you forth at Lisson-grove, and you met him plodding
speedily towards the Yorkshire Stingo. He was to be met rapidly skirting
the grim brick wall of the prison in Coldbath-fields, or trudging along
the Seven Sisters-road at Holloway, or bearing, under a steady press of
sail, underneath Highgate Archway, or pursuing the even tenor of his way
up the Vauxhall-bridge-road." But he was equally at home in the
intricate byways of narrow streets and in the lengthy thoroughfares.
Wherever there was "matter to be heard and learned," in back streets
behind Holborn, in Borough courts and passages, in city wharfs or
alleys, about the poorer lodging-houses, in prisons, workhouses,
ragged-schools, police-courts, rag-shops, chandlers' shops, and all
sorts of markets for the poor, he carried his keen observation and
untiring study. "I was among the Italian Boys from 12 to 2 this
morning," says one of his letters. "I am going out to-night in their
boat with the Thames Police," says another. It was the same when he was
in Italy or Switzerland, as we have seen; and when, in later life, he
was in French provincial places. "I