easily slipped over into sentimentality. This also was a popular success,
and in his third novel, _Nicholas Nickleby,_ and indeed in most of his
remaining works, Dickens combined the principles of his first two books,
giving us mirth on the one hand, injustice and suffering on the other;
mingling humor and pathos, tears and laughter, as we find them in life
itself. And in order to increase the lights and shadows in his scenes, and
to give greater dramatic effect to his narrative, he introduced odious and
lothsome characters, and made vice more hateful by contrasting it with
innocence and virtue.

We find, therefore, in most of Dickens's novels three or four widely
different types of character: first, the innocent little child, like
Oliver, Joe, Paul, Tiny Tim, and Little Nell, appealing powerfully to the
child love in every human heart; scond, the horrible or grotesque foil,
like Sqeers, Fagin, Quilp, Uriah Heep, and Bill Sykes; third, the
grandiloquent or broadly humorous fellow, the fun maker, like Micawber and
Sam Weller; and fourth, a tenderly or powerfully drawn figure, like Lady
Deadlock of _Bleak House,_ and Sydney Carton of _A Tale of Two Cities,_
which rise to the dignity of true characters. We note also that most of
Dickens's novels belong decidely to the class of purpose or problem novels.
Thus _Bleak House_ attacks "the law's delays"; _Little Dorrit,_ the
injustice which persecutes poor debtors; _Nicholas Nickleby,_ the abuses of
charity schools and brutal schoolmasters; and _Oliver Twist,_ the
unnecessary degradation and suffering of the poor in English workhouses.
Dickens's serious purpose was to make the novel the instrument of morality
and justice, and whatver we may think of the exaggeration of his
characters, it is certain that his stories did more to correct the general
selfishness and injustice of society toward the poor than all the works of
other literary men of his age combined.

THE LIMITATIONS OF DICKENS. Any severe criticism of Dickens as a novelist
must seem, at first glance, unkind an unnecessary. In almost every house he
is a welcome guest, a personal friend who has beguiled many an hour with
his stories, and who has furnished us much good laughter and a few good
tears. Moreover, he has always a cheery message. He emphasizes the fact
that this is an excellant world; that some errors have crept into it, due
largely to thoughtlessness, but that they can be easily remedied by a
little human sy