e best in England. But a truce
to reproaches; he has been fully forgiven.

His next novel was _Dombey and Son_, in which he attacks British pomp and
pride of state in the haughty merchant. It is full of character and of
pathos. Every one knows, as if they had appeared among us, the proud and
rigid Dombey, J. B. the sly, the unhappy Floy, the exquisite Toots, the
inimitable Nipper, Sol Gills the simple, and Captain Cuttle with his hook
and his notes.

This was followed by _David Copperfield_, which is, to some extent, an
autobiography describing the struggles of his youth, his experience in
acquiring short-hand to become a reporter, and other vicissitudes of his
own life. In it there is an attack upon the system of model prisons; but
the chief interest is found in his wonderful portraitures of varied and
opposite characters: the Peggottys, Steerforth, the inimitable Micawber,
Betsy Trotwood; Agnes, the lovely and lovable; Mr. Dick, with such noble
method in his madness; Dora, the child-wife; the simple Traddles, and
Uriah Heep, the 'umble intriguer and villain.

_Bleak House_ is a tremendous onslaught upon the Chancery system, and is
said to have caused a modification of it; his knowledge of law gave him
the power of an expert in detailing and dissecting its enormities.

_Little Dorrit_ presents the heartlessness of society, and is besides a
full and fearful picture of the system of imprisonment for debt. For
variety, power, and pathos, it is one of his best efforts.

_A Tale of Two Cities_ is a gloomy but vivid story of the French
Revolution, which has by no means the popularity of his other works.

In _Hard Times_, a shorter story, he has shown the evil consequences of a
hard, statistical, cramming education, in which the sympathies are
repressed, and the mind made a practical machine. The failure of Gradgrind
has warned many a parent from imitating him.

_Great Expectations_ failed to fulfil the promise of the name; but Joe
Gargery is as original a character as any he had drawn.

His last completed story is _Our Mutual Friend_, which, although unequal
to his best novels, has still original characters and striking scenes. The
rage for rising in the social scale ruins the Veneerings, and Podsnappery
is a well-chosen name far the heartless dogmatism which rules in English
society.

Besides these splendid works, we must mention the delight he has given,
and the good he has done in expanding individual and public