Three novels which followed are of some what different types from (David Copperfield' and by themselves. 'Bleak House' (March 1852-September 1853) was more of an attempt at intricate plot construction than had been tried in the earlier novels that depicted the fortunes of a hero, and it attacked vigorously the law's delays by making the Court of Chancery, as it were, the centre of interest of the story. In terrupting the course of his novels by (December 1855-June 1857). Its animus was a hatred of war and a wish to satirize the war office because of several break downs in the machinery of the Crimean War, then just ended. Of these novels, (Bleak House' attained an extraordinary amount of popu larity, even surpassing (David Copperfield> in that respect.
On 20 April 1858, Dickens began on the large scale, that he carried out into the year of his death, the famous series of readings from his works. As early as 1853 he had given occasional public readings, but, until 1858, never in an extensive and systematic way. At the outset he read with the text before him, but he soon memorized the scenes, worked the "business," and cultivated a dramatic action which so grew in intensity, that toward the close of his life, his reading became almost acting. The success of this almost wholly new departure in the career of an author was start ling. His first course consisted of 81 readings in three and a half months, and this was fol lowed by shorter courses. His most successful and arduous courses were a series of 80 read ings in America, in 1857-58, which brought him nearly f20,000, and a farewell course of 100 readings in England the following winter, which were worth #8,000, besides expenses and per centages. The motive that induced Dickens to give these courses was a growing restlessness, the need of activity, and a craving for applause, rather than any pecuniary necessity. As it was, they were a very great tax on his strength and they undoubtedly shortened his life.
In 1859 he gave comparatively few readings, and the following year none. He was then chiefly occupied with the new All the Year Round, in which appeared his second and last historical novel, Tale of Two (April November 1859). This story of the French
Revolution was written with more deliberation, care for construction and succinctness than his previous works, and, in spite of its comparative lack of humor and spontaneity, Dickens thought highly 'of it, though he went back in his suc ceeding novels to his more free and easy way. A series of sketches, (The Uncommercial Trav eller,' was begun in 1859, shortly after he had taken up his abode at Gad's Hill Place in Kent, and this change, with its incident trips to Lon don, furnished him material for his work. The effect of the change also appeared in his next novel, 'Great Expectations> (in All the Year Round in 1860), which reverted in many respects to the earlier style of (David More reading then interrupted the course of his novel writing, and it was not until 1863 that he set to work on his last complete story, (Our Mutual Friend' (May 1864-November 1865). Many of the passages of this novel, have been greatly admired, but opinion is fairly uniform that it, as a whole, lacks the movement and glow of Dickens' earlier novels and shows signs of the strain under which he was laboring.
A short last course of lectures was delivered between January and March 1870. Then ap peared the first instalment of (The Mystery of Edwin Drood.' The afternoon of 8 June he finished the sixth number of the story. 'the next day he was suddenly stricken and died at about six in the evening. He was buried in West minster Abbey.
With the possible exception of Scott. no English novelist has been, and probably still is, so widely popular as Dickens, both in his own country and abroad. His great contemporary Thackeray was not so extensively read in his lifetime, and none of his successors who, like George Eliot, may not unreasonably be regarded as approximating his high place, have been so much beloved. Dickens' manner of expression has had a wide effect on popular style, and many of his sentiments, as well as a whole galaxy of characters, have become common property. Foreign writers, like Daudet, have to some de gree imitated his style. Furthermore, few writers have had so long continued a vogue. Single novels, like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' may have surpassed any of Dickens' works, and several contemporary novels have had marvel lous success, but with the exception of Scott, there is in English fiction no instance of such widespread and lasting popularity for so long a succession of novels. Of late years there has been some critical disparagement of Dickens as an artist, but it is doubtful if this has ir. any way affected his popular vogue or lessened the solid esteem that people feel for him.