, 1864-02-21
IN mEHIOAlAMe
~, CHARLES DICKENs.

r. It Las been observed by some of the per
sonal friends Of the great English writer who
established this magazine, that Its brief re-
cord OF his haying been stricken from among
and bfotler-in.urms who pens thcac lines,
and of whom he often wrote, himself, and
always With .hc wurmest generosity.
saw him first, nearly ,twenty-eight years
ree, when he proposed to become the Illus
tutor ct my earliest book. saW him last
Glib, vixen Ae told mt that hc had been In
bed three daye-that, after these attacks, he
was troubled with cold shiyerings, (which
cutie took the power of work out Of him."
and That he had 1t in his mind to try new
REMEDY which le laughlnSly = described nsx @ iIe
the night Of Tint day week., he died.
The long interval between these two pc
ricGs is marked In my remembrance Of him
By mnny occaeicns when he WAS suprcmcly
humorous, which he was irresishblT c1traya-
giant, wlcn he was soitened: and setlous,
by none Co recall him more tenderly than
by two or three that start out Of the crowd,
wien he Unexpectedly presented himself In
nv room, announcing how that some passage
III T. certain book Ead made him cry ycster-
d:y, and how th.t he lad come to dinner,
"hecsuec he couldn't neip Il ana mus must talk
seen Fin more genial, natuEal, cordial, fresh,
snd l,onestly i,nTpleiye than / have seen him
ut those times No one can be surcr than I,
or Tic greatness and the goodness Of the heart
that then disclosed ITSELF -:
We had our differences. o. oplalon. l
thought that he too much teigned q want Of
ca1uestnees. and that he made pretcnse of
pnderyaluinp Ills art, which WIS not good for
Inc s.t that be held In trust. But when We
fell upon these topics 1t was never very grave
II, and Lave q lively Image Of hlm IN my
81 mpipg about, laughins, to make an end OF
Ike diecussion.' -, ...
When VIC were associated, In remembrance
Of the late Mr.. Douglas Je1rold, be delivered
a public lecture In London, in the course OF
which he md hts very best contribution to
POOR family Of young children. No one hear
Ing him could hare doubted his natural gen
tleness, or bis thoroughly unaffected manly
sympathy with tho weak and lowly. BE read
the Iaper most pathetically, aud with SYM
Fathy Of tenderness that certainly moved one
after his standing for Oxford, from which
place he had dispatched his agent to me, With
droll note ito which lie afterwards added
Il verbal postscript,} urging me to "comc
he wae, for he doubted whether more than
two of the electors had ever heard of him,
and he thought there might be as many rs six
or eight who had heard OF me-" He intro
duccd the lecture just mentioned, with ref
e1enee to his late electioneering faiIurc, which
was full of good sense, good spirits, and
good humor. =
lie had particular delight in boys, and an
excellent way with them. / rem, mber his
once asking nc with fantastic gravity, when
lie lad been TO Etou where my eldest sou
then wae, whether I felt us he did In regard
of never seeing II boy without wanting In
stantly to give him sovereign? thought
Of this when looked down into his grave,
after he was laid there for looked down into
it over the shoulder Of boy to whom be had
been kind.
These are slight rcmcmbrauces; but 1t is to
little familiar things suggestive Of the voice,
look, manner, never, never moro to be en-
countered on this earth, that the mind first
turns In bereavement. And greater things
| tbut arc known OF him, iu the way OF Ills
| warm affections, his quiet endurance, his I'M
selfish thoushtfulness for others, and Ills mu..
niGcent hand, may not be told.
II In the reckless yivaclty Of bis youth. his
satirical pen had ever gone astray or done
| alniss, lie had cansed tito prefer Its own petit
tiop for forgiyeness, long before:
| I've writ the foolish fancy Of Ills brain:
The aimlcss Jest that striking, in increased pain;
The idle word that he'd wish back ayain.
In no pages should take itupon myself ut
this time to discourse of his books, Of his re-
| lined knowledge of character, of his subtle
acquaintance With the weaknesses Of human
nature, Of his delightful piayfulness as an cs-
| sayist, Of his quaint and touching ballads, of
his mastery over The English language. Least
Of all, In those pages enriched BY his brilliant
qualities from the first OF the series, and be-
torehand accepted by tile public through the
! medium Of his great name.
| But, on tue tablc before me-, there lies all
that be had written Of his latest and last sto-
rs. That it would be very sad to any one,
that It is inexprcssibly so to write-in Its
evidences of lnatured designs never to be ac-
complishcd, Intentions begun to be executed
| nud destined never 10 be completed, ofcaretul
preparation for long roads Of Thought that
he was never to travers, and for Bh1uing goals
that ho was never to reach. will DO readily
believed. The pain, however, that felt in
perusing 1t, has not been deeper thnn the con-
viction That he was in the healthiest vigor of
Lis powers when he wrought on this Inst
labor. In respect Of earnest feeling, far
seeing purpose, character, Incident, and
the whole believe it to be much the best of
nli his works. That he fully meant It to be
60, that he had become strongly attached to
1t, and that he bestowed great pains upon it,
trace In almost every page y contains one
picture which must have cost him extreme
distress, and which ia o masterpiece There
arc two children in 1t, touched with hand
ps loving and tender as ever father caresscd
Ills little child with. There is some young
love, as pure md innocent aud pretty us the
|
rcason of the singular construction Of the
story, more than one main incident usually
belonging to the end Of such q fiction is an.
ticipnted In the beginning, and thus there j.
d IN approach to completeness In tho fragment,
rs to the satisfaction of the readers mind
concerning the most interesting persons,
which could hardly have been better attained
II the writer's breaking off had been foresccn:
The last line he wrote, and the last PROOF
be CORRECTED, are among these papers through
| which have SO sorroWfully made my way.
The condition Of the little pages of maui
that he lad carried them about, md otter
taken them out of his pocket here and therc
for patient revision and interlineation. Ths
last words lie corrected In print were:
"And my heart throbbed with an exquisite
Eve when he Ibid his head back on bis pillow
and threw up his arms as he had been won
10 do when very weary, some CONSCIOUSNESS
Of duty done and Christian hope Throughout
life hu1nbly cherished, may have cansed Iii
own hear so to throb, when he passed ava.
TO his Redccmer's rest!'-
scribed, composed, undisturbed, and to III
appearances asleep, on the 24th Of December
1868. He was only In his fifty third years.
Young man that the mother who blessel
him in his first sleep, blessed him in his last
} Twenty years before be had written, aiterbe
-
And when, Its force expanded,
The harmless storm was ended,
And, az the snndse splendid
Came b1uahing Ger tho sea:
thought, as day was breaking,
Ny lltt,o girls were waking.
And smiling aud making
A prayer at home for me.
Those little girls had grown to be womc
, when the mouInful day broke that snw thel
father lying dead. In those twenty years {
companionshlp with him, they had learne
much from him; and one OF them bus lite
: nary course before her, worthy of her famou
name.
On the bright winter day, the last but on
Of the old year, be was hid in his grave 4
kensal Green, there to mingle the dust
t which the mortal part of him had returned
: with that OF third child, lost In her Infancy
years ago. The heads Of a great concours
t of bis fell0w-workers in the Arts, were bow
: ed around his tomb.-CoruhiH. Nag.
MUSICAL ITEMS.
-Titiens latelo sang In Hamburg tor II
; benefit Of the new st. Nicholas Church, IN
, as she resolutcly refused to accept any peer
mary recompense, the building committee
, tho church presented her with brscelt
worth hundred louis dor. md view
: the church for which she so nobly gave q!
r services. The church, by the way, Is a med
aval cathedral in slzo and style, though boi
at the present time.
3 There were during the year 1868 no LEI