How Charles Dickens kept the beloved memory of a cat. Hear about it at Urban Legends and Stranger truths. Taxidermy was all the rage in the Victorian era, when Charles Dickens penned some of literature's finest novels. And while Dickens was in high demand around the world for his dramatic public readings, he loved to be home in England with his cats, one of whom was rumored to snow out his master's candles just to get a little attention