Of the great host of figures
who throng his scenes, how many we remember! Their names remain stamped
on our minds, and some of their characteristic phrases, like Micawber's
"Something will turn up," or Tapley's "There's some credit in being
jolly here," have passed into current phrases. Dickens' great object
was to celebrate the virtues of the humbler ranks of life, and to
expose the acts of injustice or tyranny to which they are subjected.
This he did in a spirit of the truest philanthropy and most universal
benevolence. The helpless victims of oppression, like little Oliver
Twist, or the inmates of Dotheboys Hall, found in him an effective
champion. Never has hypocrisy, the besetting vice of this age, been so
mercilessly exposed as in the works of Dickens. It is not only in such
a character as Pecksniff that its ugliness is revealed, but wherever
pretence hides guilt behind a sanctimonious countenance, the mask is
surely torn off. Dickens hated hypocrisy as Thackeray hated snobbism.
And both, in their zeal, occasionally saw the hypocrite or the snob
where he did not exist. Dealing, as Dickens did, so exclusively with
common and low-born characters, it is remarkable that his books so
rarely leave any impression of vulgarity behind them. And this result
is due to the author's love of truth and detestation of all pretence.
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