, 1870-06-30
CHARLES DICKENS.
The Funeral ut N"cstmfI

CROP
CHARLES DICKENS.
The Funeral ut N-cstminsser Abbey.
The London Eoi.y Ncus Of the 18th inst.
reports os follo-s the Dickens f1ue-a! at
Westminster Abbey:
we're deposited in Poets corner, Westminster
abpey, at m early hour yesterday morning.
~ Friday last, Cd the day on Whicl, NJ,
Dcktns' 1.meutea death became lnown, Dr..
STANLEY, the Dean or Westminster, had an i'll
te1'lew sih ar: Charles Dickens the young
er, ard rloposed tAat our great Englia1 au-
tEor should I've inferred at Westminster Abbey.
From thas time until Monday evening tbs
natter wnsunder earnest consideration, Mr..
dickens family took counsel will, their faith
ers desrestand oldost friends, and, after due
delberatonan and consultation on the terms Of
Dean OF Westminster whether it would be
posslble to aaye certain conditions complied
with L thsy consented that the interuu,ent
should he A Westminster.
1he nnayer was satisfactory, and Charles
Dickens Its, without one of hia injunctions
respecting lis funeral having been violated,
surrounded 81 by poets and men of genius.
sAnkapeare'a marble cfigy looked, yesterday,
into his open grave; ut lis feet are Dr. john
son md D1yid Gar1ick; his head il BY Addison
and Handel, whilo Oliver Goldsmith, Rove,
southey, Campbell. Thomson, Sheridan, Mac
circle lin; and Poets Corner" tho most "a
m!liar spot in the whole Abbey, las thus re-
celved m 1iustrious addition to its peculiar
eloTS. separated ffcrn Dickens gTnya by tho
sa, STATUES , o. 1s snaksResre, southey, and Thom
son; ~; ana elose y me door g Poets Corner"
Eutler, Milton, spenser, and Gray; while
Chaqcer, Dryden: Cow1ey, Mason, Shadwell,
and iIlor are bard By, and tell the by-stander'
with their wealth Of great nalnes, how;
These poets ncar cur Princes slecp
and In one grave their mansion Keen,
The twenty months which Geof11ey CHANGER
spent as clerk Of the works Of the reign Of
Richard Il were the indirect cause Of the
special Eanctity with which Englshnen have
for uearty five centuries invested the spot
where DicEcns rests Els death in the house
made over to him in virtue OF his Official posi-
non Gy me Keeper Of the Lady Chapel Of the
Abbey, led to his being buried at lie entrance
Of St Benedict's Chapel; aad, from tlls time
of Spcnscr, the next great poet who Followed
him century l.ter, to yesterday, Poets Cor
ner LES been, what its namo implies, Ills cho.
sen receptacle for those whom England has
regarded as her greatest md best. beaumont
followed Spenser, md wns hid in a ua,uel,ss
grave. Then came what Dean Stanley terms
y the cry and couuter-cry' over the ashes of
Shakespeare, OF whom Ben Jonsou wrote:
ny Shakespeare, risc, viii not lodge the hy
Chaucer OF Spcnser, or bid Beaumont lie
little farther OF to make thee ruorn,
Thou art monument without a tomb
and art alive still while thy book doth lire
ana we Rafe Wits to read, and praise to give
lhe remains OF Shakespeare were, it is need
the poet against those who ehould :. ,1ic lis
bones OF dig his dust" precluding the 5.tempt,
and the statue of him, which stands bv. Dick
ems grave, was not erected until century after
1iisdeath. Ben jonson's request to Charles to
grant him favor, the What is it ~ of the
square ground, n the regal rstort, g Where -
and the reply SIN Westminster Abboy7-are
all assoiated with i,1s tomb, as well as the
" 0 rare Zen Jonson," and the medallion. On
Which the sculptor HIS by mistake put the but
tons on the wrong side Of the coat The G.ou-
tie thousands moro who will revive their mem
OFT Of it By Whiting Dickens grave, will 1l14l
an ample store Of hadltions such as these in
the records Of this Southern Transept, OF Po-
cts Corner
Dickens obsoquies were Is simp1e as ho de-
sired. Tho news that special train left I,oci,-
ester at An carly hour yesterday morning, and
that 1t car11ed his remains, ,was Eoon telegraph
ed to London; but every arrangement had
been completed beforehand, and there was no
one IN the Abbey, NO one to follow the three
simple nourning coaches and the hcatze, no
waiting-Toom at Charing- -croes Station was
set apart for tho latter for the quarter of an
hour they remained there; the Abbey doors
were closed directly they reached it; and even
the mourning coaches were not permitted to
wait. a couple OF street cabs and sinzle
hrougham took tho funeral party away when
the last solemn rites were over, SO that
passers Ly were unaware that any ceremony
was being conducted; and it was not until
good hour after that the south ttansept
began to I'll. There we're no cloalzs, no weep
e,s, 70 bands, no scarfs, no feathers, none Of
yesterda,sbade tho reader turn to that portion
OF ~ Great Expectations in which the funeral
OF ice Gargerys wife is described; lie will
there ind full details of the miserable things
omitted. In the same part OF the same volume
ne will lind reverent allusion to the time when
how it brought nothing into the
world, and can take nothing out, and how it
heesA Ike q shadow, aud neyer contipueth
long IN one stays" and will tlnpk of tho solemn
scene in Westminster Abbey yesterday morn-
ing, with the Dean reading our solemn burial
service, tEe organ Ginning in subdued and
low. and the vast place empty, save for the
little group Of 'heart-sttcken people by IN
open grave. A plain oak coffin. with 3 brass
plate bearing the inscription
CHARLES DICKENS,
BORN FEBRUARY Z. 1Sl!.
LIED JUNE ., lSlU,
2 collin strcWn With wrcaths and flowers bytLe
female mournera, and then-dust to dust, and |
ashes to ashes! such was the funeral OF the |
Ieat tnzn who has gone, In coming to tie |
Abbey, N the first coach were the late Nr.
Dickens children, Mr. Charles Dickens, Jr.,
VI Harry Dickens, Miss Dickens, Mrs.
Charles Collins. In the second coach were
lhs. Austin, his sister; Airs. Charles Dickens.
r. Miss HogaIth. his aister-iu-law; Mr, John |
Forster In the third coach, Mr. Frank Beard.
lis medical attendant; Mi. Charles Collins.
4s @ son-ln-iaw: Mr. O1Ty, lis solicitor; AIr.
y ukae Collins; Mr. Edmund Dickens, lis !
10 meet the chance OF the friendly and /
ympathetic negotiations for the interment in \
y Westminster Abbey falling through. dua in
Luity was made at Rochester Cathedral, and it I
vas arranged professionally that tho funeral
LIQUID take Place there. The ecclesiastical
uthoritee Of Rochester made no dificuIty AZ
closing the cathedral during the ceremony,
nd 3 site was viewed on which there would
ave been ample Toom for tho erection of
t1ng memorial There would, moreover.
ave been certain Appropriateness Of selec-
ion had Rochester been decided on. Literary
would have made their way tLither
rom al parta Of the earth, Just as tLeT
o now to 6tratford-on-Avon; and
aen would have told each other how
he great English humoiist and teacher
I'D returned to the scenes Of his youth in the
ATE OF bus vigorous maturity. Though not
orn in Rochester, Mr. Dickens spent some
ortion Of his boyhood there, and was wont to
III how his father, tho latc Mr. John Dickens.
the course OF county Iamble, pointed out I
, Linn ny child the house at Gadshill place,
aylng There, my boy. it you work and mind
onsa ons eG3k Hna y1u VAL RsEhaps one day live in
! after years, and in the course Of Lis many
nG pedestrian ramtles through the lanes and
,ads OF tho pleasant Kentish country. Mr.
came to regard this GadshiIl house
,v1ngly, and to wish himself it's possessor.
Re 20 held that there was no IkeGLooi ~
8 ever coming into the market, ana SO G.d-
i'll came to be alluded to jocularlv az renre-
antang fancy which was pleasant enough in !
reamlacd, but would be neverrcalized. Meap-
bile the years rolled on, and GadsLili became
most forgotten; i Then, . further lapse Of
title in the country, and determined to let
avistock House. About this time, aud By the !
rangest condolences, his intimate friend and
ose ally, Mr. " q. Wills, chanced to sit
'xt to lady at London dinner party, who
marked IN the course Of conversation that |
'use and grounds had come into her posses
Il guess the rest Tho house was in Kent
ls not far from Rochester, had this and that
feature which made it like
'dshil and like no other place, and tho up
OF Of EIr. Wills dinner-tablc chit-chat with {
ady whom he had never met before was
at Charlea Dickens realized the dream Of his i
nth, and became the possessor OF GadBhill.
Mlh now be sold, as well as the valuable col {
snon H q original pictures which 3Ir. Dickens {
ie1eo Els together during his life, and many Of {
u be remembered that on The occasion Of !
: ~ iast - Academy dinner, Alr, Dickens 81 ! I
geo IN most Affecting terms to the {
nsaa innate is1endfhip it had been his hap i
ne ness ,so ,na,o Saantain with Acadcmicians q
eat artists hang On tho walls of Gadst;11 ~ tTo
ae Lis: VIII be published shortly. md inVers !
good pictures, admirers Of the rrca+ ,vr;fa9
10 has gone, and men who love 10 have nice nice. /
ss associations enyironing their works ~ NJ =
III be interested In the catalorra rrh;ah :, |