Part 98

Charles Dickens remained in the same unconscious state until the evening of this day, when, at ten minutes past six, the watchers saw a shudder pass over him, heard him give a deep sigh, saw one tear roll down his cheek, and he was gone from them. And as they saw the dark shadow steal across his calm, beautiful face, not one among them--could they have been given such a power--would have recalled his sweet spirit back to earth.

As his family were aware that Charles Dickens had a wish to be buried near Gad's Hill, arrangements were made for his burial in the pretty churchyard of Shorne, a neighbouring village, of which he was very fond. But this intention was abandoned in consequence of a pressing request from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral that his remains might be placed there. A grave was prepared and everything arranged, when it was made known to the family, through Dean Stanley, that there was a general and very earnest desire that Charles Dickens should find his resting-place in Westminster Abbey. To such a fitting tribute to his memory they could make no possible objection, although it was with great regret that they relinquished the idea of laying him in a place so closely identified with his life and his works. His name, notwithstanding, is associated with Rochester, a tablet to his memory having been placed by his executors on the wall of Rochester Cathedral.

With regard to Westminster Abbey, his family only stipulated that the funeral might be made as private as possible, and that the words of his will, "I emphatically direct that I be buried in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," should be religiously adhered to. And so they were. The solemn service in the vast cathedral being as private as the most thoughtful consideration could make it.

The family of Charles Dickens were deeply grateful to all in authority who so carried out his wishes. And more especially to Dean Stanley and to the (late) Lady Augusta Stanley, for the tender sympathy shown by them to the mourners on this day, and also on Sunday, the 19th, when the Dean preached his beautiful funeral sermon.

As during his life Charles Dickens's fondness for air, light, and gay colours amounted almost to a passion, so when he lay dead in the home he had so dearly loved, these things were not forgotten.

The pretty room opening into the conservatory (from which he had never been removed since his seizure) was kept bright with the most beautiful of all kinds of flowers, and flooded with the summer sun:

"And nothing stirred in the room. The old, old fashion. The fashion that came in with our first garments, and will last unchanged until our race has run its course, and the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll. The old, old fashion--death!

"Oh, thank God, all who see it, for that older fashion yet, of immortality!"

FOOTNOTES:

This letter has lately been presented by Mr. Charles Kent to the British Museum.

INDEX.

A'Beckett, Gilbert, i. 134

Actors, Dickens a friend to poor, ii. 134

Affidavit, a facetious, i. 101

Agassiz, Professor, ii. 226, 309

Agate, John, ii. 136; letter to, ii. 154

Ainsworth, W. H., letters to, i. 43, 75, 92

Alison, Sir Archibald, i. 170

"All the Year Round," commencement of, ii. 83; "The Uncommercial Traveller" in, ii. 107; Christmas Numbers of: "The Haunted House," ii. 84; "A Message from the Sea," ii. 108, 137; "Tom Tiddler's Ground," ii. 136; "Somebody's Luggage," ii. 171; "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings," ii. 187; "Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," ii. 209, 210; "Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions," ii. 224, 239, 246; "Mugby Junction," ii. 244, 265; "No Thoroughfare," ii. 268, 300, 327, 332, 334, 338, 350, 356, 361, 362, 384; and see ii. 386, and see Charles Dickens as an Editor

America, feeling for Dickens in the backwoods of, i. 40, 41; Dickens's first visit to, i. 53; his welcome in, i. 59; his opinion of, i. 60-64; freedom of opinion in, i. 61; Dickens's levées in, i. 66; change of temperature in, i. 66; hotel charges in, i. 67; midnight rambles in New York, i. 67; descriptions of Niagara, i. 69, 70; ii. 372, 377; a maid's views on Niagara, i. 72; copyright in, i. 71, 73, 74; Dickens's tribute to Mrs. Trollope's book on, i. 81; press-ridden, i. 97; absence of quiet in, i. 98; criticisms of Dickens in, i. 151; the great war in, ii. 142, 143; feeling between England and, ii. 240; Dickens's second visit to--the journey, ii. 302-306; Dickens's letters on, ii. 306-382; fires in, ii. 317, 320; treatment of luggage in, ii. 321; drinks in, ii. 329, 363; literary piracy in, ii. 332; walking-match between Dolby and Osgood in, ii. 346, 352, 353, 360, 361, 364, 366, 377; changes and improvements in since Dickens's first visit, ii. 348, 374; the negroes in, ii. 349; personal descriptions of Dickens in, ii. 369; travelling in, ii. 375; and see Readings

"American Notes," publication of, i. 54

Andersen, Hans Christian, ii. 3

"Animal Magnetism," tag to, written by Dickens, i. 238

Anne, Mrs. Dickens's maid, i. 72, 414; ii. 18, 25, 28, 343

"Apprentices, The Tour of the Two Idle," ii. 5, 32, 33

"Arabian Nights," a mistake in the, i. 88, 89

Armatage, Isaac, ii. 391

Armstrong, the Misses, letter to, ii. 175; and see ii. 176