him when, in 1836, he was the best Parliamentary reporter in England, and published 'Pickwick,' which made him famous. The immediate and permanent popularity of 'Pickwick' was followed by a long series of other popular novels, all depicting "the romantic side of familiar things." Dickens's unusual powers of observation, together with his youthful training, his newspaper experiences, and his editorial work made him familiar with many fields of life and many types of character; his vivid imagination and strong dramatic sense helped him to embody this knowledge in powerful pictures in his books. His reputation as an amateur actor and manager spread widely, and more than once he considered adopting the stage as a profession. The wonderfully popular readings from his own works, which so exhausted his physical vitality, were really pieces of powerful acting. A born orator in imagination and speech, with a fine presence, he was widely in demand as a chairman for all sorts of public meetings. He was interested in many public movements, many of which helped and some of which hindered his popularity. He visited America in 1842, and again in 1867. In many of his personal habits. Dickens was the very opposite of Thackeray. He was an early riser, a careful writer, and was by nature punctual. He hated disorder, and could not work in a disarranged It was his rule to spend as much time exercising in the open air as at his writing. room. John Forster, one of the circle of Dickens's close friends, published from 1871 to 1874 a biography of Dickens. The world was astonished to learn that many of the sufferings of the youthful 'David Copperfield' were drawn from the unhappy days of the author himself, and understood more clearly why he had written in the 'Preface' to that story: "Of all my books, I like this the best. It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them. But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child, and his name is 'David Copperfield.'"' The author merged his individual thought and feeling more fully in Copperfield than in any of his other characters, this being the more possible since the story, given in the words of the hero, is written in the first person. The personages among whom the hero moves are as hard to study and as puzzling to comment upon as though they were actual flesh-and-blood people. The Peggottys, Steerforth, Mr. Micawber and Uriah Heep, Miss Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Dora and Julia Mills and Agnes are all more vivid to us than many personages who have really lived and acted their parts in history. They are drawn from without inward, after the manner of the impressionist, and we learn, just as we should in real life, how Mr. Micawber looked and talked before we become familiar with his deeds and thoughts. This method is the author, his are its merits and defects. Whether or no the recognition of his wonderful success is to be tempered by a feeling that he made excessive use of outward traits and tricks, and neglected the drawing of mental conditions in picturing his characters, depends upon the criteria of the critic. All must recognize that to the author the persons of his creation were so vivid that their words and actions came from them almost without effort upon his part. In Dickens the characters make the plot. Scott used to find a good story and bring its characters to life. Dickens in his London rambles would see a strange character or two, and his mind filled with their story. The every-day, homely people, the natural story, the high, humorous spirit, the deep, true pathos,these characteristics have made and will continue to make Dickens universally popular and universally loved. His style has no claim to the adjective "elegant" and is open to criticism; his vividness often becomes exaggeration, his characterizations caricatures; his lack of literary training and independence of accepted models are evident. His frequently wonderful mastery over artistic methods and literary technique serves, perhaps, to show how much greater his work might have been had his natural abilities been helped by more thorough training,-yet who can say but that they might have been hindered? As it is, one must feel with Charles Dudley Warner: "It remains that he is a great power, a tremendous force in modern life; half an hour of him is worth a lifetime of his self-conscious analyzers, and the world is a more cheerful and sympathetic world because of the loving and lovable presence in it of Charles Dickens." SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS AND CLASS. 1. Study the drawing of any single character for example, Uriah Heap, Miss Trotwood, Steerforth. 2. Try the experiment of removing any one character from the book,-for example Mr. Micawber, Mr. Dick, Traddles-and see what readjustment would be made necessary. 3. Where does' David Copperfield' show influences of Dickens's dramatic ability? Of his newspaper experiences? 4. What is the importance for the effectiveness of 'David Copperfield' of its autobiographical form? 5. Note the comment on 'David Copperfield' in George Gissing's 'Charles Dickens, a Critical Study,' (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1897), the foundation work of Dickens criticism. 6. Briefly characterize 'David Copperfield' as a whole. 7. In what respects does Dickens lack literary art ? 8. What importance does Dickens attribute to the manner of approach and entrance of his characters? 9. What is to be said concerning the opinion of Dickens expressed in John Burrough's statement, "Dickens' hold upon the future is not at all secure ?" 10. What of the counter opinions expressed by Carlyle and Thackeray? REFERENCES. 'David Copperfield' should be carefully read or re-read. A (paper) edition published, at twenty-five cents, in 'The Adelphi Series,' by F. M. Lupton, New York, is sold for ten cents. A good (cloth) edition in Burt's 'Home Library,' is sold for forty-five cents. Standard editions of the novels of Dickens are published by Chapman & Hall, London. John Forster's three volume biography is the basis of all others. Either A. W. Ward's 'Life of Dickens' in the English Men of Letters' Series, published by Harper and Bros. (cloth, 75 cents, 'Harper's Handy Series,' paper, 25 cents), or Frank T. Marzials'' Life of Dickens' in the 'Great Writers' Series (London 1s. 6d., sold in America for 35 cents), should be read. Admirable first-hand descriptions of Dickens have been written by Miss Mamie Dickens, by George Dolby, the manager of his readings, and by James T. Fields, his closest American friend. LECTURE V. George Eliot (Marion Evans-Cross.) "If art does not enlarge men's sympathies, it does nothing morally the only effect I ardently long to produce by my writings is, that those who read them, should be better able to imagine and to feel the pains and the joys of those who differ from themselves in everything but the broad fact of being struggling, erring, human creatures." — George Eliot in a letter to Charles Bray. George Eliot's family was in circumstances sufficiently comfortable to afford her a good education, but was also so situated that she had opportunity for acquaintance with the humblest sorts of life. Her father, first a carpenter and builder, became manager of the estates of several noblemen. Many parallels have been drawn between the character of her father and that of Adam Bede, between her mother and Mrs. Poyser, between her brother and Tom Tulliver, between her aunt and Dinah Morris. As a child she was not precocious, rather preferring play. As a girl her learning was done according to her own inclination and through the influence of friends rather than under the direction of her schools. She was affectionate, sensitive, earnest, deeply thoughtful, easily moved, full of self-distrust and self-consciousness, and very dependent. She called herself a "bundle of unpleasant sensations, with a palpitating heart and awkward manners." She had great capacities for unhappiness; "yearning," "striving," "struggling," "suffer ing," were familiar words in her vocabulary. There were comparatively few days of her life untroubled by imperfect health. Under the influence of friends she adopted unorthodox religious ideas which estranged her from her family; strong affection caused her to enter into unorthodox social relations which estranged her from many of her friends. Her responsibility as a moulder of the world's thought weighed heavily upon her. As a contributor and assistant editor of the Westminster Review she lived in congenial literary society, and did much remarkable work. The year 1853 marked the beginning of her union with George Henry Lewes, the editor, author and scientist, who was separated from his first wife, but could not, according to English law, be divorced from her. Their years together until his death, in 1878, George Eliot was accustomed to speak of as the happiest of her life. Under his influence she began writing the novels which made her famous, and together they held a literary "salon" the memories of which endure until to-day. A year and a half after the death of Mr. Lewes, George Eliot married John Cross, a sensible, business-like man twenty years her junior. Her death occurred in the same year. Her Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals,' published by Mr. Cross, is the standard biography. As Thackeray was pre-eminently a satirist, so George Eliot was pre-eminently a religious, philosophical and social thinker. Thackeray used fiction to embody his message to the world; George Eliot did likewise. Throughout 'Adam Bede' she displays the essayist in unconscious and conscious working. She believed, and acted upon the belief, that characters should be drawn from within outward, and from this point of view criticised the methods of Dickens. Few or no other English authors have so well pictured mental states. Few have so well shown the depths |