ly morbid, excited state, sore doubtless with himself, and
altogether out of mental condition, and the lie stung him almost to
madness. He published an article branding it as it deserved in the
number of _Household Words_ for the 12th of June, 1858.

So far his course of action was justifiable. Granted that it was
judicious to notice the rumour at all, and to make his private affairs
the matter of public comment, then there was nothing in the terms of
the article to which objection could be taken. It contained no
reflection of any kind on Mrs. Dickens. It was merely an honest man's
indignant protest against an anonymous libel which implicated others
as well as himself. Whether the publication, however, was judicious
is a different matter. Forster thinks not. He holds that Dickens had
altogether exaggerated the public importance of the rumour, and the
extent of its circulation. And this, according to my own recollection,
is entirely true. I was a lad at the time, but a great lover of
Dickens' works, as most lads then were, and I well remember the
feeling of surprise and regret which that article created among us of
the general public. At the same time, it is only fair to Dickens to
recollect that the lying story was, at least, so far fraught with
danger to his reputation, that Mrs. Dickens would seem for a time to
have believed it; and further, that Dickens occupied a very peculiar
position towards the public, and a position that might well in his own
estimation, and even in ours, give singular importance to the general
belief in his personal character.

This point will bear dwelling upon. Dickens claimed, and claimed
truly, that the relation between himself and the public was one of
exceptional sympathy and affection. Perhaps an illustration will best
show what that kind of relationship was. Thackeray tells of two ladies
with whom he had, at different times, discussed "The Christmas Carol,"
and how each had concluded by saying of the author, "God bless him!"
God bless him!--that was the sort of feeling towards himself which
Dickens had succeeded in producing in most English hearts. He had
appealed from the first and so constantly to every kind and gentle
emotion, had illustrated so often what is good and true in human
character, had pleaded the cause of the weak and suffering with such
assiduity, had been so scathingly indignant at all wrong; and he had
moreover shown such a manly and chivalrous purity in all his utter