FOR REFERENCE
"Life of Friedrich Schiller."—Carlyle.
"Biographical Essays."—De Quincey.
"Goethe and Schiller."—Boyesen.
CHARLES DICKENS
(1812–1870)
Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth, England. His parents were poor and luckless. His early years were spent in moving from place to place, and as a boy he performed the services of a drudge and was rewarded with a mere pittance. Such education as he received was gained in the severe school of experience.
Hence it is not surprising that, after having been connected with various newspapers in a subordinate capacity, when he finally tried his hand at serial fiction he astounded the world in "Pickwick Papers" by his wonderful descriptions of middle and lower class English life; a work also unexcelled in its good-natured merriment.
"Pickwick Papers" and its successors were among the first of those social novels which form so marked a feature of modern literature. They waged open and successful warfare against many of the crying evils of the day, such as the work-houses, the barbarous school system in vogue, and the legal and prison systems.