The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-13 00:00:00

CHARLES DICKENS'S FUNERAL.

The funeral of Mr. Dickens, in compliance with his
Most precise instructions, is to be of the simplest and most
Private character. The mourners will be confined entirely
to the members of his own family and one or two intimate
friends. Even the well-meant assembling of his many
other friends at the place of burial will be prevented, for
neither the time nor place of interment will be known
beforehand, except to the members of his own family.
It is said that by a codicil in his will, dated seven days
before his death, Mr. Dickens bequeaths the whole of his
interest in All the Year Round to his acting editor and
eldest son, coupling the bequest with such private in-
structions as would, he believed, ensure the character and
merit of the periodical remaining unchanged after he was
gone.

The Temps of Paris, says that a telegraphic
despatch has informed them of the death of the most
kewerful and, popular of English novelists, Charles
ickens. There never was a more prolific writer, nor one
°f more sustained power. Mr. Dickens willbe regretted
throughout the world where his works have been trans-
lated into many different languages. He died in the full
vigour of his intellect.

THE WEEKLY PRESS ON CHARLES
DICKENS.

The Saturday Review observes no writer can undertake the
melancholy task of noticing the loss we have sustained
Without feeling how large a blank is made by the sudden
death of an author whose compositions have furnished
°lle of the chief sources of intellectual wealth to this
generation. The language of Mr. Dickens has become
Part of the language of every class and rank of his coun-
trYrnen. The characters of Mr. Dickens are a portion of
our contemporaries. It seems scarcely possible to believe
that there never were any such persons as Mr. Pickwick
and Mrs. Nickleby and Mrs. Gamp. They are to us not
°IIIY types of English life, but types actually existing.
They
at once revealed the existence of such people, and
made them thoroughly comprehensible. They were not
studies of persons, but persons. The characters of Mr.
Dickens exist almost entirely in what they say, and this
is the highest and rarest form of the art of the novelist.
It is this peculiarity which perhaps has made the writings
of Mr. Dickens so popular with persons of all classes, and
all types and degrees of education. The sayings of the
characters in them are recollected, but these sayings are
thus the constituent elements of the characters, and
'Qua the characters of themselves become to the public a
Part of the public itself.
The Spectator says that the greatest humourist whom
England ever produced—Shakspeare himself certainly not
excepted—is gone ; and though we have no intention here
c't Making one of those hasty estimates of his great
,achievements which journalists too often compose in haste
[-0 repent at leisure, it seems the fittest of all moments to
ca)-1 attention to one of the least calculable of all effects
a c't great humourist's career, the wonderful influence his
writings have exerted in softening the strong lines of
demarcation between the different classes of English
society, and the extraordinary stimulus they have thereby
given to the various great efforts of the day for
'lneliorating Wretchedness and reclaiming crime. He has
taught us by his humour, as nothing else could have taught
11s, how full to overflowing what is called " vulgar " life
18 of all the human qualities, good and evil, which make
11P the interest of human existence. And he has given a
greater impulse than any man of his generation to that
righteous hatred of caste-feeling and class-cruelty which
„Tore and more distinguishes modern society, though he
ri not quite rise perhaps to that " enthusiasm of
a ll
11,Inani itty " which some regard as tie essence of Christi-
itY self.
tjhe John Bull thinks it is impossible to regard
thee death of Charles Dickens in any other light
t 1 that of a national loss. Very often he
"°K a different view from ourselves on questions
(,)f te fist moment, whether ecclesiastical o political,
°lit ht
is impossible not to feel that many men,r with more
tPfessions of religion, have done infinitely less to exalt
humor
tone of morality in their generation than the
rum:wolfs author of " The Pickwick Papers." His deep
denunciation
of honesty, his hatred of hypocrisy, and his bold
eunciation of the shams will ever commandthe respect of
Englishmen ; while this deep love of domestic life, his tender
Pathos in describing scenes of sorrow, will shew that the keen
414'ist had a tender heart, and that, if he could wing
from his bow an arrow venomed with just indignation, he
could also write with the spirit of one who had- a " love
Passing' the love of woman." So proudly, and yet gently,
theiay Cyharles Dickens to his rest. He has won the
„"onal heart, and, like Horace of old, we welcome even
e friendly scourge of his satire.
Tangit et admissus circum prcordia ludit.
when we gather again around the Christmas hearth, and
Out once more the genial lessons of charity hidden
eneath the surface of his Christmas Tales, we may not
B`t everently apply to the great satirist the words of Holy
eriPture—" He being dead yet speaketh."