IT is hard to find a true essay among the miscellanies and sketches which Dickens left in such abundance. He is essentially a story-teller and a descriptive writer, but his “Child’s Dream of a Star” approximates the essay of that most popular type invented by Addison and Steele in which a plot is introduced as a vehicle to carry the idea gratis to those who love to get new ideas at the least possible expense of thought. “The Vision of Mirza” itself is scarcely a better example of its class than this masterpiece by Dickens. His humor is well illustrated in “The Noble Savage,” an essay interesting in itself and valuable for its bearing on “the problem of civilizing the inferior races.”