Life of Charles Dickens 2

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct …

…sorry for you and indeed for myself and for us all. It is an event world-wide; a unique of talents suddenly extinct; and has "eclipsed," we too may say, "the harmless gaiety of nations.' No death since 1866 [the year of Carlyle's wife's death] has fallen on me with such a stroke. No literary man's hitherto ever did. The good, the gentle, high-gifted, ever-friendly, noble Dickens, -- every inch of him an Honest Man." ( Ackroyd 215)