Charles Dickens—A Lecture.

makings in the snuggest of all possible caverns , none of the attractions of dress , no embroidery , no lace , no jack-boots , no crimson coats and ruffles , none of the dash and freedom ivith Avhich the road has been

time out of mind invested . The cold , Avet , shelterless , midnight streets of London , the foul and froivsy dens-Avhere A ice is closely packed and lacks the room to turn , the haunts of hunger and disease , the shabby rags that scarcelhold together ;

y Avhere are the attractions of these things ? There are people , however , of so refined and delicate a nature that they cannot bear the contemplation of such horrors . Not that they turn instinctively from crime , but tho criminal characters to suit them

must bo like their meat , clad in delicate disguise . A Massaroni in green velvet is an enchanting creature , but a Sikes in fustian is insupportable . A Mrs . Massaroni , being a lad y in short petticoats and a fancy dress , is a thing to imitate in

tableaux , and have a lithograph hi pretty songs , but a Nancy , being a creature in a cotton gOAvn and cheap shaAvl , is not to be thought of . It is Avonderful IIOAV Virtue turns from dirty stockings , and IIOAV Vice , married to ribbons and a little gay attire ,

changes her name , as wedded ladies do , and becomes Eomance . But , as the stern truth eA en in the dress of this ( in novels ) much exalted race , Avas a part of the purpose of this book , I diet not for these readers abate one hole in the Docker ' s coat or one scrap of curl paper in Nancy ' s dishevelled hah . I had no faith in the

delicacy which could not bear to look upon them . I had no desire to make proselytes among such people . I had no respect for their opinion , good or bad — did not covet their approval , and did not Avrite for their amusement . " I propose to introduce you to the hero

of this story , ' Oliver Twist , ' in the Avorkhouse . It is a story Avhich has moved many to laughter and tears . Brother Holmes then proceeded to read " ¦ Oliver TAvist" Avhere he " asks for more , " amidst much laughter and

applause . " It has been frequently said of Dickens , " Bro , Holmes continued , " and Avith some show of truth , that whilst he pourtrayed the loAver classes to the life , he could not describe a gentleman , and it is a singular fact that almost Avithout an exception the

upper classes , Avhen drawn by him , are caricatures . The unfavourable light in Avhich the patrician classes are as a rule depicted in Ms works Avas goodnaturedly resented by Lord Houghton in his speech at the Liverpool banquet in 1869 and in the course of Ms speech that

, accomplished nobleman , whilst expressing a Avish that the name of Dickens itself might one day be inscribed on the roll of Peers ( and Avhy Avas it not . ) , tivitted him Avith the discourteous treatment the Peerage had hitherto received at his hands in a

literary sense , and hinted that Avere he a member of the House of Lords he might learn to knoAV the aristocracy better . Mr . Dickens did not lose his temper , but he retorted someAvhat sharply , " What amazing devil could have possessed Lord Houghton Avhen he accused him of

disparaging the Patrician Order ? " Yet Earl Russell , the late lamented Lord Lytton , and Sir Alexander Cockburn ivere amongst Ms chief friends , and valued as highly as Thackeray , Douglas Jorrold , Leech , Mark Lemon , Maclise , and other of his intimates . It is hard to discover the reason for his

persistent disparagement of the great in station , and I suppose one can only say that he could never have had fair opportunities of judging of the best of them . Sala attempts to account for Dickens ' s prejudice , but fails , I think , to prove his case . Sala says that Avliile many of the

scenes and the characters depicted by Charles Dickens Avere painful , and even repulsive , those scenes Avere drawn with a distinct and deliberate purpose—that of exposing and denouncing flagrant social OATtls ; and that in many cases the end he

had in vieiv , that of obtaining the redress of the evil he denounced , Avas either directly or remotely obtained . His novels acted upon journalism ; journalism reacted upon public opinion ; public opinion became a pressureand that pressure was

, ultimately adequate to change or to abrogate old laAVs , or to enact neAV ones . There cannot be the slightest doubt that Yorkshire schools Avere knocked on the head by the portraiture of Dotheboys HallAvere little children Avere really and

, truly " martyrised , " and it is equally uncontawertible that the nioA emeuts to ivhich Ave OAve Refuges and Reformatories , the Lidustrial School Act , and the reforms in the Court of Chancery and the Ecclesias-