ic delights, and it still
remains, after three quarters of a century, one of our most care-dispelling
books.

The remainder of Dickens's life is largely a record of personal triumphs.
_Pickwick_ was followed rapidly by _Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Old
Curiosity Shop_, and by many other works which seemed to indicate that
there was no limit to the new author's invention of odd, grotesque,
uproarious, and sentimental characters. In the intervals of his novel
writing he attempted several times to edit a weekly paper; but his power
lay in other directions, and with the exception of _Household Words_, his
journalistic ventures were not a marked success. Again the actor came to
the surface, and after managing a company of amateur actors successfully,
Dickens began to give dramatic readings from his own works. As he was
already the most popular writer in the English language, these readings
were very successful. Crowds thronged to hear him, and his journeys became
a continuous ovation. Money poured into his pockets from his novels and
from his readings, and he bought for himself a home, Gadshill Place, which
he had always desired, and which is forever associated with his memory.
Though he spent the greater part of his time and strength in travel at this
period, nothing is more characteristic of the man than the intense energy
with which he turned from his lecturing to his novels, and then, for
relaxation, gave himself up to what he called the magic lantern of the
London streets.

In 1842, while still a young man, Dickens was invited to visit the United
States and Canada, where his works were even better known than in England,
and where he was received as the guest of the nation and treated with every
mark of honor and appreciation. At this time America was, to most
Europeans, a kind of huge fairyland, where money sprang out of the earth,
and life was happy as a long holiday. Dickens evidently shared this rosy
view, and his romantic expectations were naturally disappointed. The crude,
unfinished look of the big country seems to have roused a strong prejudice
in his mind, which was not overcome at the time of his second visit,
twenty-five years later, and which brought forth the harsh criticism of his
_American Notes_ (1842) and of _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1843-1844). These two
unkind books struck a false note, and Dickens began to lose something of
his great popularity. In addition he had spent money beyond his income. His
do