His dramatic interests later found expression in the famous readings from his own works. These started with a benefit in 1853, and professional appearances began in 1858. Dickens's second trip to America in 1867-68 was a reading tour that proved to be highly profitable. He threw himself into the oral interpretation of his works, sparing neither himself nor his audiences. After presenting the murder of Nancy from Oliver Twist, Dickens commonly had to leave the stage for a rest before proceeding. The swooning of females in the audience was a regular feature of these occasions.
Beginning with his early successes, Dickens's literary career was an unbroken triumphal procession. His popularity grew enormously and everywhere he came to be regarded with almost reverence. His cosmopolitan reading public grew to epic numbers , and every addition to his writing was awaited with wild expectation. Dickens was universally beloved as probably no other living writer has ever been.
On June 8, 1870, Charles Dickens, working on the manuscript of his last book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, wrote longer than was his usual practice. At dinner time he collapsed and sank into a coma; he died in the evening of the following day. The news of Dickens's death was carried on a shock wave of grief to remote regions of the earth. As his body was interred in Westminster Abbey, the whole world mourned.
