5. Whence did Dickens obtain the numerous characters that crowd his pages? 6. What art lies at the bottom of his comic masterpiece? III, 258. 7. To what extent have Dickens's characters become common property of the race? III, 248. 8. How does Dickens compare with the other novelists of the nineteenth century? III, 264. 9. Does Dickens's continued popularity prove the contention that the public likes bad literature? III, 252. 10. Which novel will endure the longer, that in which the characters are exaggerated and impossible, as his often are, or that in which the characters are carefully and realistically drawn? III, 266. 11. Which is more popular at the present time, Dickens or Kipling? III, 249. 12. What work brought Dickens into public notice? 13. Name three novels in which pathos predominates. 14. Which is considered his greatest work? 15. Dickens and Hood were masters of both humor and pathos, the one as a novelist, the other as a poet. Compare them in these qualities. FROM "PICKWICK PAPERS" 1. Is this style clear and forcible? Why? 2. Is Mr. Magnus a common character of to-day whom one may meet while traveling? 3. Would you expect to see the White Horse Inn at Ipswich if you were in England? 4. Draw a character sketch of Mr. Pickwick. 5. When reading a story is it more effective when dialect is introduced? How far may the use of dialect be carried? 6. Do you notice any exaggeration in incident or description? If so what purpose does it serve? 7. Contrast the description of the temperance meeting with Dickens's attitude on other social reforms. 8. Is this satire justified on any grounds then or now? FOR REFERENCE "The Life of Charles Dickens."--FORSTER. "Charles Dickens."--CHESTERTON. "Life of Charles Dickens as Revealed in his Writings."--FITZGERALD. "Great English Novelists."--DAWSON. "Charles Dickens and His Girl Heroines."--MOSES. "Dickens" ("English Men of Letters").--WARD. "Masters of the English Novel."--BURTON. WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY (1811-1863) The novelist was born in Calcutta, India; he was sent to Cambridge University. Here he was an intimate friend of Tennyson and Fitzgerald (translator of the "Rubáiyát"). After losing his money in various newspaper deals, he settled down in London as a literary hack. His genius soon attracted the attention of "Punch," which welcomed his sketches and satires against snobbery. "Vanity Fair" in 1847 finally raised him to the highest rank among writers of fiction. "Pendennis" followed, and a little later "Henry Esmond," the equal of "Vanity Fair." Its sequel, "The Virginians," was not so powerful.