In the following essay, which was originally presented as a lecture in May, 1937, Berrow reacts negatively to A Christmas Carol.

There has been much said this evening in praise, I might almost say in adulation, of Charles Dickens. Just by way of a change 1 want to offer a few words of criticism. In case some of you might consider these words as something of the nature of an attack, I should like to point out, though there is really no need to do so, that a man who stands in such an impregnable position as Dickens does not fear attack. But a little criticism may not be amiss.

I should like to give some honest opinions on the Christmas Book; and by the Christmas Book I mean A Christmas Carol, the best known of all the Christmas Books, the one that everybody knows— Dickens readers and others...