Charles Dickens's will has been published. He had accumulated, it
would seem, about £80,000, besides Gadshill and other property, and bequeaths the interest of 18,000 to his wife, £8,000 to her sister, Georgina Hogarth, and the remainder in equal shares to his children, whom he bids remember their obligations to Miss Hogarth, "best and truest friend ever man had." His will contains one more slap at the undertakers, whomhe had persecuted all his life. "1 emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner, that no public announcement be made of the time or place of my burial, that at the utmost not more than three plain mourning coaches be em- ployed, and that those who attend my funeral wear no scarf, cloak, black bow, long hatband, or other such revolting absurdity." He desired that no memorial should be put up for him, and that in the inscription on his tombstone there should be no "Mr."
or "Esquire." In the will, however, which is in his own writing, he calls himself "Esquire."
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