and crowd with grotesque monsters a curious world
of dreams, but saw little of the grace and dignity of the men and women
among whom they lived, and whose art, lacking sanity, was therefore
incomplete. Yet they at least knew the limitations of their art, while
Dickens never knew the limitations of his. When he tries to be serious
he succeeds only in being dull, when he aims at truth he reaches merely
platitude. Shakespeare could place Ferdinand and Miranda by the side of
Caliban, and Life recognises them all as her own, but Dickens's Mirandas
are the young ladies out of a fashion-book, and his Ferdinands the
walking gentlemen of an unsuccessful company of third-rate players. So
little sanity, indeed, had Dickens's art that he was never able even to
satirise: he could only caricature; and so little does Mr. Marzials
realise where Dickens's true strength and weakness lie, that he actually
complains that Cruikshank's illustrations are too much exaggerated and
that he could never draw either a lady or a gentleman.

The latter was hardly a disqualification for illustrating Dickens as few
such characters occur in his books, unless we are to regard Lord
Frederick Verisopht and Sir Mulberry Hawk as valuable studies of high
life; and, for our own part, we have always considered that the greatest
injustice ever done to Dickens has been done by those who have tried to
illustrate him seriously.

In conclusion, Mr. Marzials expresses his belief that a century hence
Dickens will be read as much as we now read Scott, and says rather
prettily that as long as he is read 'there will be one gentle and
humanising influence the more at work among men,' which is always a
useful tag to append to the life of any popular author. Remembering that
of all forms of error prophecy is the most gratuitous, we will not take
upon ourselves to decide the question of Dickens's immortality. If our
descendants do not read him they will miss a great source of amusement,
and if they do, we hope they will not model their style upon his. Of
this, however, there is but little danger, for no age ever borrows the
slang of its predecessor. As for 'the gentle and humanising influence,'
this is taking Dickens just a little too seriously.

Life of Charles Dickens. By Frank T. Marzials. 'Great Writers' Series.
(Walter Scott.)

OUR BOOK-SHELF

(Pall Mall Gazette, April 12, 1887.)

The Master Of Tanagra is certainly one of Ernst von Wildenbruch's