,,four ,,hundred ,,humorous             
,,illustrations    ,by ,george          
,cruikshank    ,with ,portrait and      
,biographical ,sketch    ,second        
,edition    ,london    ,simpkin1        
,marshall1 ,hamilton1 ,kent  ,co        
,glasgow          ,,biographical        
,,sketch    ,,george ,,cruikshank was   
born in ,london on the #bgth of         
,september1 #agib4  ,his parents were of
 ,scotch nationality4 ,the father1      
namely1 ,isaac  ,cruikshank1 was an     
artist by profession1 having            
considerable skill in  water-colour     
painting and etching4 ,the mother was a 
,miss ,macnaughten1  of ,perth1 a protg 
of the ,countess of ,perth1 and the     
possessor of  a small sum of money4 ,she
 was a person of energetic temper and   
strong  will1 and so thrifty that by    
saving she added considerably to her    
original pecuniary possession4 ,she was 
also careful to bring up her  children  
in a pious manner1 being1 along with    
them1 a regular attendant  at the       

,scotch ,church in ,crown ,court1 ,drury
 ,lane4    ,the couple took up house in 
,duke ,street1 ,bloomsbury1 where two   
sons  and one daughter were burn4 ,the  
elder son was born in #aghi1 named      
,isaac  ,robert1 and ultimately became  
an artist of considerable reputation1   
but of much less originality in         
character and design than his younger   
brother4 ,george was born about three   
years later4 ,in artistic work he       
struck out in a new line1 and although  
the difference between his  work and    
that of his father and brother was not  
in every case strongly  marked1 still it
 was always sufficient to enable experts
 to select the  productions of the      
youngest from those of his two seniors1 
a distinctly  new and original vein     
appearing in them from the first4       
,while the three children were still    
quite young1 the family removed to  ,no4
 #aag ,dorset ,street1 ,salisbury       
,square1 ,fleet ,street1 where the      
parents  let a portion of the house to  

lodgers4 ,here the father continued to  
work on his plates1 while his wife      
coloured them by hand1 soon1 however1   
obtaining help in that respect from her 
sons4 ,the boys went to school  at      
,mortlake1 and afterwards to ,edgeware1 
but not for long1 so that they  owed    
little to school masters4 ,the elder    
brother went to sea1 and not  returning 
when expected1 was supposed to be lost1 
and mourned for as  such4 ,but after    
three years he suddenly re-appeared1 and
 was welcomed  home with joy1--resuming 
engraving for a livelihood              
,unfortunately for  the family1 the     
father died in #ahaa ,up to the time of 
his decease he  appears to have had a   
steady and good business1 having        
produced an  immense number of sketches1
 coloured etchings1 engravings1 and     
designs  produced in various modes1 many
 of them in connection with the stage4  
,at  the time of his father's decease1  
the oldest son was twenty-two years of  
age1 and ,george1 the second son1       

nineteen4 ,they were both well-advanced 
in their profession1 and were quite     
capable of taking up and prosecuting    
their father's business connection4     
,previous to all this1 there is no doubt
 that ,george began to draw when  he was
 a mere child4 ,some of his productions 
of #agii are still extant4  ,george's   
first playthings1 says ,mr4 ,bates were 
the needle and the  dabber2 but play    
insensibly merged into work1 as he began
 to assist his  hard-worked father4 ,his
 earliest inclination1 it is said1 was  
to go  to sea1 but his mother opposed   
this4 ,the earliest job in the way of   
etching1 for which he was employed and  
received payment1 was a child's  lottery
 ticket4 ,this was in #ahjd1 when he was
 about twelve years of age4  in #ahje he
 made a sketch of ,nelson's funeral car1
 and whimsical etchings  of the fashions
 of the day4 ,his earliest signed work  
is dated two years  later1 and          
represents the demagogue ,cobbett going 
to ,st4 ,james's4 ,his  father's early  

death threw the lad on his own          
resources1 and he quickly  found that he
 must fight for a place in the world1 as
 ,fuseli told him  he would have to do  
for a seat in the ,academy4 ,anything   
that offered was  acceptable--headings  
for songs and halfpenny ballads1        
illustrations for  chap books1 designs  
for nursery tales1 sheets of prints for 
children--a  dozen on the sheet and a   
penny the lot--vignettes for lottery    
tickets1  rude cuts for broadsides1     
political squibs--all trivial records   
but now  of the utmost rarity and value4
    ,while still very young1 and before 
his father's decease1 young ,george1    
with a view to becoming an ,academy     
student1 took specimens of his work  to 
,fuseli for his inspection1 when that1  
official told him that he would  just   
have to fight for his place1 and at same
 time gave him permission  to attend the
 lectures on painting4 ,he attended two 
of the lectures and  then stopped going1
 as his father held that if he was      

destined to be an  artist he would      
become one without instruction1 so that 
he never became  a real student of that 
institution1 nor had he a regular       
training in any  way1 so that his       
education1 both so far as art and       
ordinary schooling  was concerned1 was  
very irregular and deficient4 ,in fact1 
as a lad and  young man he appeared to  
have been too full of animal spirits and
 too  fond of sight-seeing to settle    
down to a hard course of study4 ,the    
goings-on of the two brothers were      
severely condemned by their pious  and  
strict mother4 ,occasionally she even   
went the length of castigating  ,george 
when he returned home in the small hours
 from fairs and horse  races1 or the    
prize ring1 and sometimes not quite     
sober4    ,he is described at this early
 age as filled with a reckless love  of 
adventure1 emulating the exploits of    
,tom and ,jerry1 with wild  companions4 
,his field of observation extended from 
the foot of the  gallows to ,greenwich  

fair1 through coal-holes1 cider-cellars1
 cribs1 and  prize-fighters' taverns1   
,petticoat ,lane1 and ,smithfield4 ,its 
centre was  ,covent ,garden ,market1    
where the young bloods drank1 and sang1 
and  fought under the piazzas in those  
days4 ,such was pretty much the sort of 
education the young men had1 and luckily
 ,george had the sense and talent  to   
turn it all to good account later on    
with his pencil4    ,in course of time  
the artist was firmly established in    
business1 and had  numerous patrons     
among the publishers1 some of whom were 
thriving to  a considerable extent      
through ,cruikshank's labours4 ,after   
numerous  isolated sketches1 which      
brought him no small amount of fame1 the
 first  considerable series of designs  
by him appeared in ,dr4 ,syntax's ,life 
of  ,napoleon1 consisting of thirty     
illustrations4 ,another long series was 
twenty-three illustrations to ,pierce   
,egan's ,life in ,london4 ,as also      
twenty-seven etchings to ,grimm's       

,popular ,stories4 ,these were followed 
by numerous other lengthened series1    
such as ,mornings at ,row ,street1      
,three ,courses and a ,dessert1 ,punch  
and ,judy1 ,gil ,blas1 ,my ,sketch      
,book1  ,scott's ,novels1 ,sketches by  
,boz1 ,the ,omnibus1 and very numerous  
others4  ,in all1 he appears to have    
produced the illustrations for no fewer 
than  three hundred and twenty volumes1 
not to speak of an immense number of    
isolated sketches of all sorts4    ,in  
#ahdg and #ahdh there came from his     
pencil his first direct and  outspoken  
contribution to the cause of temperance 
in ,the ,bottle and  the ,drunkard's    
,children1 although in some of his      
earlier designs  he had satired the     
prevalent vice of drunkenness2 he capped
 them all1  however1 in the eight plates
 of ,the ,bottle1 in which he depicts   
the  terrible downward march of         
degradation in the tragedy of an entire 
family1 from the easy temptation of a   
little drop to the final murder  of the 

wife4 ,in ,the ,drunkard's ,children1   
eight more plates1 the  remorseless     
moral is continued1 the son becomes a   
thief1 and dies in the  hulks2 the      
daughter1 taking to the streets1        
ultimately throws herself  over         
,waterloo ,bridge4 ,the two works had a 
great success4 ,moreover1 they  were    
dramatised in eight theatres at once1   
and were sold by tens of  thousands4    
,hitherto ,cruikshank had not been a    
strict abstainer1 but now  he became one
 with all the energy of his nature4     
,in ,cruikshank's later years he made a 
good many attempts at oil  painting1 and
 exhibited quite a number of paintings  
at the ,royal ,academy  all with more or
 less success4 ,but the larger and best 
known of these  is the ,worship of      
,bacchus2 it is a work of inexhaustible 
detail and  invention1 and was received 
by the public with great favour2 the    
size  is #g feet #h inches high by #ac  
feet #c inches long1 and it is now in   
the  ,national ,gallery4    ,however1 to

 return to the affairs of the family4   
,in time the brother  ,isaac ,robert    
having got married1 the whole family    
removed to ,king  ,street1 ,holborn4    
,soon afterwards the mother1 ,george1   
and sister took a  house in ,claremont  
,square1 ,pentonville1 at that period   
partially in the  country4 ,later on1   
becoming married4 ,george removed to    
,amwell ,street1  where he remained for 
thirty years4 ,he afterwards resided in 
several  suburban localities1 but       
finally settled down at #bfc ,hampstead 
,road1  where he died on the #ast of    
,february1 #ahgh1 and in the following  
,november his remains were finally      
deposited in the crypt of ,st4 ,paul's  
,cathedral4    ,in person ,cruikshank   
was a broad-chested man1 rather below   
the middle  height1 with a high         
forehead1 blue-grey eyes1 a hook nose1  
and a pair of  strong whiskers4 ,in his 
younger days he had been an adept at    
boxing and  all manly sports1 as also an
 enthusiastic volunteer1 ultimately     

becoming  lieutenant-colonel of the     
#dhth ,middlesex ,volunteers4 ,he       
preserved his  energy almost to the last
 day of his life4 ,even at eighty he was
 ready  to dance a hornpipe1 or sing a  
song1 he was1 says one who knew him     
well1 a light hearted1 merry1 jolly old 
gentleman1 full physically  of humorous 
action and impulsive gesture1 but in    
every word and deed a  ,god-fearing1    
queen-honouring1 truth-loving1 honest   
man4    ,the old school of caricaturists
 in which the names of ,gilray1         
,rowlandson1 ,woodward1 and ,bunbury are
 most prominent1 was noted chiefly  for 
the broad1 and in many cases1 vulgar    
treatment of the subjects which  were   
dealt with4 ,the later school of        
caricaturists1 in their mode  of        
treating similar subjects1 differed     
considerably from their  predecessors4  
,the leading member of the new school   
was ,george  ,cruikshank4 ,he lived and 
worked during two generations1 and may  
be  considered as the connecting link   

between the old school and the new4  ,at
 first ,cruikshank to some extent       
followed ,gilray and ,rowlandson1 but   
gradually fell off from their style of  
art1 and in its stead produced  work of 
a more serious and more artistic nature1
 which was the beginning  of a new era  
in the history of caricature4 ,his      
illustrations to  innumerable works are 
of the highest order1 and have made for 
him an  everlasting reputation4