Charles Dickens

So aborta time has elupscd sinoe Mr. Dicfceiis wa9 in this couutry, r.nd we have heard of bina h recently in bodily hcalth nnd vigor, at civic fcasts, or at kis oharming boosn at Gads Ilill, surnouoded by bis friends, tha't it is startllng to read tiio cabio despatch which relates tbat he d'ied fast uight, of paraly818. Tho eapeer of Mr. Diekens U so familiar- to tbe majority of readers that it pecras almost eupertluous lo retraco it, li giving expreseion to thu comuion feolHig of sorrow for his dentb. Born at l'oi tsmouth on the 7th of Fubruary, 1812, lbo son of an offieer ia th pny 'deparlment of the Royal Navy, fio was placed at tho proper age ia an attorney's offico, with the purpose of makiug bim a lnwyer. But his destiny was not lo be thwarted by tbe law. The true bed of his genius was not long in developing itself in contributions to the newspaper press, aud in enrly man8od he becamc connected witb Uie True Sun, and soon afterwards with the Morning Chroni'cle, as a reporter and oritio of passing topics. Hero we might pauso a momeut, to say that the training of Dickens was that of no venerable university, of no literary coterio, of no school of pociety, and to claim him as the one great crowning contribution of journolism to tho woild's literature - but this were a uarrow and vainglorious thing in a journalist. Tbe visión and the faculty divine with which Dickens was gifled would hnve liftcd him into the place Ii3 was ordaivied to h'll, whatever might bave bcen bis early discipline aud associations. Sir Walter Scott was, liko Diekens, designed for the bar, wid Shakespeare, tradition tells us, was also an attorney's clerk, nfter having carded wool, aud butehered beeves, and taught the you'.h üf Warwicksbire to ■pe. To his legal apprenticsship and to his birth on the margin of Sonthampton Water we owe man; of the bappiest of his delineations, Meesrs. Dod.-on & Fogg ana.. Sergeant Buzfuz, and others, and muoh of that l'iuiiiliarity with the sea in its raoods of tempest and tranquillity, which makos passages of David Gopperfiold rescmble tho marine pieces of Josepli Vernet. Mr. Dioken's private life was singulsrly unobtrusive and witbdrawn froni the pablio cye. Yefirs ago his domestic tüoubles mado his family circle painfully coDspieaous before the British people, ond censure vs freely betowed upon ene or the o'.her party to the deplorable conjugal rjuarrel by Ihe intimate frieods of either. But Diekens lived down tbe Hcandal, and it is a sufficicnt refutation t it, perhaps, tbat his children have always manifested for him tho lenderest affectioD. One of these, n son, has grown to mari's estato, and is au honored member of society. Another is the ■wife of Mr. Charles Collins, author of "After Dark," "A Cruise on Wbeels," and other novéis, which have been overshadowed by tho greater popularity of tho writing8 of his brother, Mr. Wilkie 6ol)ns. In London Dickcns lived mostly at the Uairick Club, where he filled as large a place as John Dryden used to fiilat Will's Coffec House Tbere was, at one time, some alarm created lest lio ebould leave the Oarrick, in oonsequence, as it was whispered, of the fact that one of his friends and publishers had been black-balled there ; but the trouble was composedj and the Garrick knew him to the last. His town apartments were comfortably fitted up, but were not in Wellington street, Strand, the lower part o4 which was oceupied by Ihe businetis offices of All the Year Round. Mnyíair saw little of Diekens, nor was Belgravia one of bis familiar haunts. We believe he vvas never presented at Court ; but it was not long ago, eince his Inst roturn from th; Uuited States, that ihe Quecn invited him to come and seo her, atui be epent a day with. her at Windsor Castle. When in London, Dickcns might be scen at dinner more frequently tban anywhero else, at Vcrrey's, a restaurant in the upper part of Hegent street, where, often with Wilkie Oollins, he sat at a little table in the corner reserred for him espenislly by the maitre d'hottl. The first question that wil] be asked, after tbe natural expression of regrel at the loss of Diekens. is, "Had he finished Edwin Drood ?' A reasonable apprehension migbt well exist that this work had been left a mere fragment, Hke the "Dennis Duval" of Thackeary. But the assurance was given by the English press, at the time the first sheets wera sent to the printer, that Üie whole ef the work had been eomploted,.and wo hare sídco had littlo glimpses of auihor resting froin his task, in cnreles frecdom and tbe e.xcrciso of hoopitality, ut his country home in Kent. There is an üffecting resemblance in the marnier of his passing away to the deth of Thackeray, his great rival, seven brief years ogo. The announoement in both cases strnck upon the world with 6uddcnnesa. No warning bad been giren of the coming blow. Of ech it may be said, that Witli no flery throbbing pain, No colil gradatlons of decay, Dcath snappcel at once thu vital chaln And freed liis soul the nearest wuy.