The idea of a collection of Jubilee odes was not his, but the publisher's.
At the same time, his friends and relatives attach no blame to them.

Mr.
Pettigrew shivered when the order was given to him, but he accepted it, and the general impression among those who knew him was that a man who had survived "Jubilee Statesmen" could do anything.

As it turns out, we had overestimated Mr.Pettigrew's powers of endurance.
[Illustration] As "The Jubilee Odes" will doubtless yet be collected by another hand, little need be said here of the work.

Mr.Pettigrew was to make his collection as complete as the limited space at his disposal (two volumes) would allow; the only original writing in the book being a sketch of the various schemes suggested for the celebration of the Jubilee.

It was this sketch that killed him.