CHARLES DICKENS.
Charles Dickens : his Life, Writings, and Personality. By Frederic A. Kitten. (T. C. and E. C. Jack. • much has been written about Charles Dickens that it might well have seemed as if there was nothing more to tell. • He was well known to us all by his letters, his works, and those of his critic's and biographers. Mr. Kitten's book does not contain inn& that is new, but it gives a charming picture of the man, his early struggles, his perseverance, his honesty, his love for his friends and kindliness to all who came near him. The energy and versatility of Dickens were almost morbid, lie seems never to have been happy except when he was overworking himself or under some strong excitement ; he never would give himself the rest and quiet his highly strung, sensitive tempera- ment needed. A frightful railway accident in 1865- gave a great shock to his nerves. He was one of the few passengers who escaped unhurt, and he devoted himself to the dying and dead. Years afterwards he wrote : "My escape is not to be obliterated from my nervous system. To this hour I have sudden vague rushes of terror which are perfectly unreasonable, but quite Maar mountable." It is distressing to think how much the world has fest by his premature death, how many hear4v laughs so good for mind and body. What books are there since his time which move in us the merriment excited by Sam Weller, Pecksniff, Mrs. Gamp, &c.? How many successors they might have had drawn by the pen of the inimitable " Boz."
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