The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-06-29
CHARLES DICKENS.
"reminiscences Of the Man, the
Novelist and Parent.
His Momory on the European Continent, in Eng
land and in Private Circles-The Play Of
Pickwick-.mericanE xperiences-Abe
Lincoln's Dream and its Effect


The ceremonial which was observed at the funeral
OF Charles Dickens inside OF Westminster Abbey, as
well as the funeral corege itself and the names OF
the chief mourners, were fully described and set
forth by cable kilograms in the HERALD the day SUBJ
sequent to his interment.
To-day we have by mail very many interesting re-
ports relative TO the deceased writer's life and the
estimation in which he was held. These Incidents
reach us from many and various Sources thus;-
DICKENS LAST LETTER.
From the London Atheneun, June 49,
Mr.. Charles Kent has kindly consented to our
printing what is In all probability the last letter
that Mr.. Dickens wrote.
On Thursday, before his death, when Mr.. Kent
went to keep the appointment Mr.. Dickens was
lying unconscious, and was within very few hours
OF his death. The 'opal enjoyments'' refer TO the
GADsHL rIAS, HIy9%a. ~ sos
sss
ss
ass Sef
70 CaAELEs KENT, ssq CHARLES DICKENS.
HIS FORTUNE.
fFrOm the London Telegraph, Juue 49,
Charles Dickens leaves inc ulng the value OF his
COPY rights, nearly $4,000 Tor his family.
The fourth fifth anu sixth monthly parts OF edwin
brood" are completed, ana the outline OF the remain
Ing portion ID the story has been so drafted in
Dickens wastebook that Wike Collins, who, 1t Is
understood, has consented to finish the tale. viii
have no very difficult undertaking before him.
OBJECTS OF ART.
The pictures and other objects OF art which be-
longed to Mr.. Dickens are to be sold by auction by
Messrs. Christie q Manson. His library he has lett
Co his eldest son. His manuscripts and papers are
at present IN the hands OF his executors, Mr.. Foster
and Miss Hogauh.
DICKENS AS A MAN OF SCIENCE.
tFrom the British Medical Journal June Ill
How true to nature, even to their most trivial de-
tails, almost every character and every incident in
the works OF the great novelist whose dust has just
been laid TO really were Is best known to those
whose tastes Or whose duties led Them to frequent
the paths Of life from which Dickens delighted to
draw. But no,>e, except medical men, can Judge OF
the rare fidelity with which he followed the great
Mother through the devious paths or disease and
son. or the "Chimes," or even "No Thoroughare,"
| the physician often felt tempted to say, 'What
gain it would have been to physlc II one SO keen 20
observe and iaclle to describe had devoted his
powers to the medical art" IL must not
| be forgotten that his description OF hectic lin
"OliVer Twist'l has found ils way into more than
one standard work In both medicine ana surgery
| (Aers Principle OF surgery" second edition, p:
as; Dr. Atkins "Plactce OF Medicine" third
edition, vol H. p. Ill; also several American and
French boOks); that he anticipated the clinical re-
searches of NJ OAK, Broca, ana Hughlings Jackson,
1 on the connection of right nem1pegia with aspnasa
(0tde D0mbey and Son for the last illness OIL Mrs.
Skewtonl ana that his descriptions OF epilepsy In
| Walter Wilding and OF moral and mental insanity III
characters too numerous " mention, show the hand
of a MASTER 1t is feeble praise TO add that he was
always just, and generally generous, TO our proles-
| sion.
Even his descriptions of our Bob Sawyers, and
| their less reputable friends. always wanted tue
cOarseness anu, let us add the unhealthy OF Albert
Smiths so that ourselves could well afford TO
| laugh with the man who sometimes laughed ut us,
but laughed only as one who loved as One OF the
later efforts OF his pen to advance the interests
| of the East London Hospital for Children and his
sympathes were never absent from the Sick and
suffering OF every age.
| THE DESIGN OF PICKwICK-DICKENs OR SEYMOUR ?
| We quote from the Albion the following article on
| the death OF Mr.. Dlckens:-
At moment when one of the least looked for of
events that could most polgnantly mock contempo-
nations as the author Of the VANITY of Human
Wishes" said the death Of the Dickens OF the john
sonian era; wnen in the words Of that natl 0na and
universal exposition OF human feeling, amid the
scenes OF certain OF whose computations (iadshil ne
lnapproprately passed away, at much about the
same age, In the fulness OF almost equal fame
every one among us sald:-
Beg hair of him in memory,
And, dying mention 1t within our wils
Bequeathing it as q rich legacy
It may not be an inadmssible souvenir OF the all
mourned Idol to state here, that the first lines ever
Mr.. Dickens composed were submitted uncoldltion-
ally TO the writer OF these remarks-snbmitted as
the merest matter OF professional literary business
haphazard, without any Introduction or Intervention
OF any Kind and without critic or author having the
| faintest idea OF each others Individuality. 1t is
| perhaps, not too extravagant hypothesis to sur
| mise tnat had the judgment been adverse. there
might never nave been another appeal elsewhere by
the hand which has held the whole reading world in
captive admiration to its mutltudnous spells ever
snce-a period Of some thirty-ave years. The story
| has often been told, always imperfectly, ana by
none more imperfectly than by MIR. Dickens,
both on the comparatively late occasion
| the early designs for "Pckwck" were most due to
himself or to the unfortunate suicide Seymour, and
in certain prefaces to collected editions OF anterior
date. 1t is Wen the truth should now be told pro-
perry, though the first consequence OF so doing must
be 10 deprive Mr. Roeoucks dnelling antagonist, the
late Germanlcally erudite Dr. Black many years edi-
tor OF the once great wing daily organ, the Morning
chronicle, which at the period in question had dlsas
trousy drifted into stock jobbing hands, the long
enjoyed credit of being the dscoverer Of the genius
| OF Dickens He did not discover, but he recognized
when developed ana moreover he utilized It for
just then burst out in divers journals, experimenting
| on the supposed awakening of the masses to the
hammer OF CyclOp9diac Brougham and the penny
| knowledge dlfusers. or these Black was one Of
said Re used TO turn to St. Thomas Aqulnas by way
of unbendng from severer t0l hence his perception
| OF the sudden requirement of suddenly created
light literature was all the more singular But US to
discovering the genius OF Dickens there was really
nothing to discover at the time we speak of, and
there Is no merit due claimed In reference to the
| approval of the maiden composition alluded to. In
fact it had no distinctive merit whatever TO warrant
its being singled out from scores Of things of the
| sort produced by "the mob Of gentlemen who wrote
with ease" In those distant days when the literary
| CENT? was happily unknown. Its length, Its SUIT
space, was the element that chiefly determined its
| admission into the periodical down whose editorial
III rleeI SJTtet IL WAS
out word as TO the author, who simply signed
Boz" rather by the way Of facilitating an answer
to correspondents" IN the event or expected reec-
| ton, than with any view to the maintenance Of a
| signature destined to become so famous.
At that time the Qua Monthly, as 1t was called to
distinguish 1t from the Nelc, about which latter Col
burn, With Campbell for editor, kept blowing such
trumpets. was still puissance, though 1t had lately
parted with Its principal contributor Rev. Dr. Croly,
whose Sdt0tatet was yet in the flow OF Its original
| success and his "Notes of the Month" were always
| piquant feature even in an age OF trenchant and
MALTA ND (rrAlU fha Y11ufrn inn
was ardently tory; but it had become the property
or Captain Holland, formerly one OF Bovars aides
| de-camp-a high bred man OF q type now passed
away-most variedly accomplished, and the centre
OF congenial circle as gifted as himself, including
many who afterwards made the fame OF Frazer.
Hollands Hispanoan liberalism, stimulated, BY the
hot and turbd English reform agitation still seeth
ing, and the Campbell and Colburn competition,
led him 10 look for fresh blood to revive
the dropping circulation. Hence one reason
| why Dickens then buoyantly radical was drawn
| thitherwards, although there was nothing whatever
political in the slight initial paper OF less than hal
a dozen pages, he ventured upon. Nor was there In
the three or four similar ones he Afterwards FUR
l niShpd and which attracted Ouy the most CurSOry