Mary Hogarth beautiful and light-hearted". When Robert Story visited the Hogarth household in 1836, he described Hogarth as "the fairest flower of spring". Dickens showed particular affection to Hogarth, and described her as "a close friend, an exceptional sister, a companion at home." It is believed that Hogarth was the first person to read "The Pickwick Papers" and "Oliver Twist", as Dickens valued Hogarth's input and feedback more than his wife's. In the early hours of 7 May 1837, after Hogarth had returned from a showing of "Is She His Wife?" at the St James's Theatre with the Dickens couple, she collapsed
Mary Hogarth unexpectedly. She died at around 15:00 local time later that day at the Dickens family home. Hogarth was 17 years old. The cause of death is believed to have been either heart failure or a stroke. In the weeks after Hogarth's death, Dickens wrote many letters, and three of them contained the assertion that the cause of death was heart failure. Hogarth was buried on 13 May at the Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Dickens wrote the epitaph on her tombstone, which says "Young, beautiful, and good, God numbered her among his angels at the early age of seventeen". The tombstone