1. Charles Dickens, one of the greatest of English novelists, was born at Landport, England, in 1812. He began his literary career as a reporter for the daily press of London. His first work-"The Pickwick Papers"-established his reputation as a novelist, and made him the most popular writer of his time. He died in

1870.

2. Begin his works by reading his "Christmas Carol," the most delightful Christmas story ever written; next, take up "David Copperfield," "Nicholas Nickleby," and, if you are fond of humor, "The Pickwick Papers."

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3. Dickens is characterized by Whipple, as follows: Dickens, as a novelist and prose poet, is to be classed

in the front rank of the noble company to which he belongs. In representing life and character, there are two characteristics of his genius which startle every reader by their obviousness and power-his humor and pathos.

4. "He seems himself to be taken by surprise as his glad and genial fancies throng his brain, and to laugh and exult with the beings he has called into existence, in the spirit of a man observing, not creating. Squeers and Pecksniff, Simon Tappertit and Mark Tapley, Tony Weller and old John Willet, although painted with such distinctness that we seem to see them with the bodily eye, we still feel to be somewhat overcharged in the description. They are caricatured more in appearance than in reality, and if grotesque in form, are true and natural at heart.

5. "Much of the humor of Dickens is identical with his style. In this the affluence of his fancy in suggestive phrases and epithets is finely displayed; and he often flashes the impression of a character or a scene upon the mind by a few graphic verbal combinations. When Ralph Nickleby says 'God bless you' to his nephew, the words stick in his throat, as if unused to the passage. When Tigg clasped Mr. Pecksniff in the dark, that worthy gentleman 'found himself collared by something which smelt like several damp umbrellas, a barrel of beer, a cask of warm brandy-and-water, and a small parlorful of tobacco smoke, mixed.'

6. "Mrs. Todgers, when she desires to make Ruth Pinch know her station, surveys her with a look of 'genteel grimness.' A widow of a deceased brother of Martin Chuzzlewit is described as one who, being almost supernaturally disagreeable, and having a dreary face, a bony figure, and a masculine voice, was, in right of these qualities, called a strong-minded woman.' Mr. Richard Swiveller no sooner enters a room than 'the

nostrils of the company are saluted by a strong smell of gin and lemon-peel.'

7. "Mr. Jonas Chuzzlewit, a person who overfed himself, is sketched as a gentleman with such an obvious disposition to pimples that 'the bright spots on his cravat, the rich pattern of his waistcoat, and even his glittering trinkets seemed to have broken out upon him, and not to have come into existence comfortably. Felicities like these, Dickens squanders with a prodigality which reduces their relative value, and makes the generality of style-mongers poor indeed.

8. "It is difficult to say whether Dickens is more successful in humor or pathos. Many prefer his serious to his comic scenes. It is certain that his remarkable genius can as readily draw tears as provoke laughter. Sorrow, want, poverty, pain, and death, the affections which cling to earth and those which rise above it, he represents always with power, and often with marvel

ous skill."

24. A SCHOOL OF FACTS.

1. "Now, what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to facts, sir! In this life we want nothing but facts, sir; nothing but facts!"

2. The speaker, and the school-master, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and there arranged in order, ready to have gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.

3. Thomas Gradgrind, sir. A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for any thing over. Thomas Gradgrind, sir, with a rule. and pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. 4. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. You might hope to get some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind, or August Gradgrind, or John Gradgrind, or Joseph Gradgrind, but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind—no, sir! Indeed, he seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts.

5. "Girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his square forefinger. "I don't know that girl. Who is that girl?"

"Sissy Jupe, sir," explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and courtesying.

"Sissy is not a name," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Don't call yourself Sissy. Call yourself Cecilia."

"Father calls me Sissy, sir," returned the young girl in a trembling voice, and with another courtesy.

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6. Then he has no business to do it," said Mr. Gradgrind. "Tell him he must n't. Cecilia Jupe. Let me see. What is your father?"

"He belongs to the horse-riding, if you please, sir." Mr. Gradgrind frowned, and waved off the objectionable calling with his hand.

"We don't want to know anything about that, here. You must n't tell us about that, here. Your father breaks horses, don't he?"

"If you please, sir, when they can get any to break, they do break horses in the ring, sir."

7. "You must n't tell us about the ring, here. Very

well, then. Describe your father as a horse-breaker. He doctors sick horses, I dare say."

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"O yes, sir!"

"Very well, then. He is a veterinary surgeon, a farrier, and horse-breaker. Give me your definition of a horse." Sissy Jupe was thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand.

8. "Girl number twenty unable to define a horse!" said Mr. Gradgrind. "Girl number twenty possessed of no facts, in reference to one of the commonest of animals! Some boy's definition of a horse.-Bitzer, yours."

The square finger, moving here and there, lighted suddenly on Bitzer, perhaps because he chanced to sit in the same ray of sunlight which irradiated Sissy.

“Bitzer,” said Thomas Gradgrind, "your definition of a horse."

9. "Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely, twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisors. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in the mouth."

"Now, girl number twenty," said Mr. Gradgrind, “you know what a horse is."

She courtesied again, and would have blushed deeper, if she could have blushed deeper than she had blushed all this time.

10. The third gentleman now stepped forth. A mighty man at cutting and drying, he was; a government officer; always in training, always with a system to force down the general throat, always to be heard of at the bar of his little public office.

"Very well," said this gentleman briskly, smiling and folding his arms. "That's a horse. Now, let me ask you, girls and boys, Would you paper a room with representations of horses?"