,,the ,,life of ,,george ,,cruikshank   
,by ,,blanchard ,,jerrold    ,in ,two   
,volumes--,volume ,two    #ahhb         
,,the ,,life ,,of ,,george ,,cruikshank4
          ,,epoch ,i4 7continued74      
,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,the ,,comic ,,almanac4
    ,in #ahce the late ,mr4 ,tilt1      
publisher1 of ,fleet ,street1 started   
the ,comic  ,almanac1 and engaged       
,george ,cruikshank to illustrate it4   
,it was a happy  idea1 exactly suited to
 the more popular side of the mood and  
genius of  the artist2 and ,cruikshank  
entered upon his task with zest ,for    
nineteen  years this annual comic and   
satirical commentary on passing and     
probable  events1 not only furnished him
 with a regular income1 giving him work 
on  which he might reckon with certainty
 in estimating his very fluctuating     
resources2 but it afforded him the      
opportunity1 in which he always         
delighted1 of recording in his own      
quaint1 original manner1 his opinions   
on the questions of the day4            

,illustration3 #jag    ,in the nineteen 
volumes to which the ,almanac ran1 there
 are nearly two  hundred and fifty      
etchings by him2 and among these there  
are some of his  happiest bits of       
observation1 of his shrewdest exposures 
of folly and  vice and cant1 and of his 
original fancy4 ,after looking over     
these  nineteen volumes1 and noticing   
that the wit and earnestness of purpose 
are as fresh and strong in that of #ahec
 as in the first volume1 the  reader    
cannot refuse to endorse what ,thackeray
 said of ,cruikshank's  humour--viz41   
that it is so good and benevolent1 any  
man must love it4  ,while in his        
illustrations of books the many-sided   
artist continued to  express his serious
 or tragic power1 which ,mr4 ,ruskin has
 asserted to  be as great as his        
grotesque power1 though warped by       
8habits of  caricature02 in these       
pleasant annual volumes1 in the         
letterpress  of which he had the        
assistance of his friends1 ,thackeray1  

,gilbert   ,beckett1 ,albert ,smith1    
,robert ,brough1 ,horace and ,henry     
,mayhew1 he  maintained his original    
popularity with the laughter-loving     
sections of  the ,british public4       
,illustration3 #jai    ,in #ahce1 when  
the first almanac appeared1 the water   
cure was amusing  the public4           
,cruikshank's first plate shows one     
enthusiast under the  water-butt1       
another under a burst water-pipe1 and a 
third in an elegant  attitude1 being    
pumped upon by his servant1 and         
remarking1 8,well1 ,i  could not have   
supposed that being #8pumped upon' was  
such a luxury6 and  so invigorating6    
,and to think that so good a thing      
should hitherto  have been thrown away  
upon qui tam attorneys1 sprained ankles1
 and  pickpockets60 ,then ,mr4 ,rigdum  
,funnidos 7originated by the late ,mr4  
,vizetelly1 ,i am informed by his son   
,henry71 enters upon the scene1 and     
continues year after year to be the nom 
de plume of a succession of  wits and   

humourists2 and ,cruikshank unfolds his 
series of plates of the  months1 each   
season being indicated by some humorous 
incident or some  happy notes of        
observation of our ,london streets4 ,the
 ice-carts and  slides of ,january2 the 
muddy streets and bustling postmen of   
,st4  ,valentine's day1--how unlike     
7with their great leather bags7 the     
postmen  of our day6 the winds of ,march
 outside ,mr4 ,tilt's shop1 blowing even
  a dog's tail over his back2 showery   
,april1 with a wonderful group  of      
,cockneys standing up2 the sweeps of    
,mayday2 ,june1 at the ,royal           
,academy--a bit of ,cruikshank at his   
brightest2 ,july1 in ,vauxhall          
,gardens1 with the band in cocked hats1 
and the famous master of the  ceremonies
 in pumps2 ,cruikshank's old friend1 the
 dustman1 eating his  first oyster in   
,august2 ,greenwich ,fair in ,september2
 going into the  country by the stage   
coaches in ,october2 ,guy ,fawkes in    
,november2 and the  ,christmas pudding1 

with a laughing company welcoming it1 in
 ,december4 ,as  pictures of the        
humorous side of ,london life upwards of
 forty years ago1  these spirited       
etchings1 which teem with life1 are     
invaluable4    ,the fun of ,mr4 ,rigdum 
,funnidos was of a kind that has found  
many  imitators4 ,in the 8proceedings of
 learned societies0 we find that the    
fossil remains of an antediluvian       
pawnbroker had been dug up within a     
mile of ,hog's ,norton2 that a          
successful method of converting stones  
into bread has been transmitted to the  
,new ,poor ,law ,commissioners1 and a   
three-and-sixpenny medal presented to   
the ingenious discoverer thereof2  then 
that a laborious investigator has       
reckoned that there are exactly  nine   
millions1 one hundred and sixty-four    
thousand1 five hundred  and thirty-three
 hairs on a tom-cat's tail1 which he    
defies all the  zoologists of ,europe to
 disprove4 ,later on 7#ahci7 ,thackeray 
contributed  8,stubbs' ,diary0 and      

8,barber ,cox1 or the ,cutting of his   
,comb10 to the  pages of ,funnidos4     
,from the first1 ,cruikshank hit hard at
 quacks and  shams4 ,the first almanac  
has an 8advertisement extraordinary0 of 
the  8,british ,humbug ,college of      
,health10 and some amusing testimonials 
from  ,gudgeon and ,gosling1 who have   
been cured by 8,morising ,pills40 ,the  
moral  at the close of the almanac is1  
8,while we venerate what is deserving   
of veneration1 let us not forget that   
quackery1 knavery1 bigotry1 and         
superstition always merit exposure and  
castigation40    ,the versatility and   
the perennial vigour and vivacity of    
,cruikshank's  genius is nowhere more   
strikingly displayed than in the variety
 with  which he has treated of the      
seasons in the ,comic ,almanac4 ,one    
year ,march  is illustrated by a meeting
 of workmen going to work1 and          
roysterers  returning home1 day and     
night being nearly equal4 ,next ,march  
the cook is  tossing pancakes4 ,april is

 now shown upon the famous hill in      
,greenwich  ,park1 and now in a wet     
return from the races4 ,one ,november we
 have ,lord  ,mayor's ,day1 with one of 
,cruikshank's dense crowds1 and the next
 year we  are treated to a delicious bit
 of humour4    ,guys in council over the
 gunpowder plot ,may now famishes the   
artist  with one of his happiest bits of
 suburban scenery1 8all a-growing10--a  
housewife exchanging old garments for   
spring flowers2 and now such  a crowd of
 lean-shanked charity boys1 with such a 
beadle as only the  8inimitable ,george0
 could draw before ,leech's time1 are   
beating the  bounds4 ,july furnishes a  
whimsical scene of the dog-days--with   
,london  dogs fighting1 drawing carts1  
playing ,toby in a ,punch and ,judy     
show1  running under a truck1 and an    
aristocratic dog looking haughtily down 
from a first-floor window4 7,landseer   
took more than one hint from            
,cruikshank's animals47 ,june 8down at  
,beulah10 a ,december dance2 ,may       

8settling for the ,derby0--a wonderful  
assemblage of broad and long  faces2    
,july at the seaside1 with cockneys     
donkey-riding--8long days  and long     
ears20 a ,november fog2 ,december--8a   
swallow at ,christmas10 a  procession of
 the many substantial items of          
,christmas cheer1 making a  procession  
into the prodigious maw of ,john ,bull4 
,the fountain of humour  is             
inexhaustible4 ,the satirical contrasts 
also1 are capital4 ,premium1  a smart   
gentleman1 with the ladies smiling upon 
him2 ,discount1 in the  dumps1 and      
shabby1 with the ladies' backs          
resolutely turned towards him4  ,the    
,parlour and the ,cellar1 each getting  
drunk after its fashion4 ,the  8,shop   
and the ,shay10 two delightful bits of  
,london life4 ,then there  is the       
,british ,museum in #bjdc1 with a       
gibbet1 the pillory1 a stage  coachman1 
a ,whig1 a ,tory1 and a tax-gatherer's  
book among the  curiosities4    ,in     
#ahdd1 ,cruikshank began a series of    

large folded drawings1 with a most      
humorous etching of the probable effects
 of over-female emigration4 ,an         
importation of the fair sex from the    
savage islands has been effected1  8in  
consequence of exporting all our own to 
,australia20 and the dark  ladies are   
making eyes at a crowd of anxious men1  
who are advancing  towards them1 while  
in the distance would-be husbands are   
running to the  scene4 ,the faces of the
 imported squaws on shore1 as well as   
those in  the boats1 being landed from  
the big ship1 are the creations of a    
most  searching humorous observer4      
,cruikshank's cartoon of ,guy ,fawkes   
treated  classically is wonderfully     
funny4 ,the artist explained it himself 
in his  own rough fantastic way4        
8,having been advised10 he said1 8by my 
friends to publish a sketch of my       
cartoon0 7the great cartoon competition 
for the ,houses of ,parliament was      
going on in #ahdd7 8intended for        
exhibition at ,westminster ,hall1 ,i    

think  the public1 upon seeing it1 will 
require some explanation of it4 ,the    
subject has often been treated1 and     
sometimes rather ill-treated1 by        
preceding artists4 ,being forcibly      
struck by the grand classical style1  ,i
 have aimed at it1 and ,i trust ,i have 
succeeded in hitting it4 ,at all        
events1 if ,i have not quite come up to 
the mark1 ,i have had a good bold  fling
 at it4 ,the first thing ,i thought it  
necessary to think of 7though1          
by-the-bye1 it is generally the last    
thing thought of in historical          
painting7 was to get a faithful portrait
 of the principal character4 ,for  that 
purpose ,i determined to study nature1  
and strolled about ,london and  the     
suburbs on the #eth of ,november1 in    
search of a likeness of  ,fawkes1 caring
 little under what ,guys it might be    
presented to me4  ,unfortunately1 some  
had long noses and some had short2 so1  
putting this  and that together1 the    
long and the short of it is1 that ,i    

determined  on adopting a living        
prototype1 who has been blowing up both 
,houses of  ,parliament for several     
years1 and if not a ,guy ,fawkes in     
other respects1  is at least famous for 
encouraging forking out on the part of  
others4  ,having got over the           
preliminary difficulty1    8,i set to   
work upon my cartoon2 and being resolved
 to make it a greater  work than had    
ever before been known1 ,i forgot the   
prescribed size1  for my head was far   
above the consideration of mere fact1   
and ,i did not  reflect1 that where     
,parliament had given an inch1 ,i was   
taking an ell as  the very lowest       
estimate4    ,illustration3 #jbi        
8,having strolled towards ,westminster  
,hall to survey the scene of my  future 
triumphs1 it struck me that ,i had      
carried the grand classical  to such a  
height as to preclude all chance of my  
cartoon being got in  through the       
doorway2 and ,i therefore1 with the     
promptitude of a ,richard  the ,third1  

determined to #8off with his head' by   
taking a slice off the  top of the      
canvas4 ,this necessary piece of        
execution rather spoiled  the design1   
but it enabled me to throw a heaviness  
into the brows of my  principal figure1 
which1 if it marred the resemblance to  
,fawkes1 gave  him an additional look of
 the ,guy at all events4 ,it then       
occurred to me  that ,i might diminish  
the dimensions by taking a couple of    
feet off the  legs2 and this happy idea 
enabled me to carry out the historical  
notion  that ,fawkes was the mere tool  
of others1 in which case1 to cramp him  
in  the understanding must be considered
 a nice blending of the false in art    
with the true in nature4 ,the ,guy's    
feet were accordingly foreshortened1    
till ,i left him as he appeared when    
trying to defend himself at his  trial1 
with hardly a leg to stand upon4        
,besides1 ,i knew ,i could fresco  out  
his calves in fine style1 when once ,i  
got permission to turn the  fruit of my 

labours into wall fruit on the inside of
 the ,houses of  ,parliament4    8,it   
will now be naturally asked why my      
cartoon was not exhibited  with others1 
some of which were equally monstrous1 in
 the ,hall of  ,westminster4 ,the fact  
is1 if the truth must out1 the cartoon  
would not  go in4 ,though ,i had cramped
 my genius already to suit the views of 
the  ,commissioners and the size of the 
door1 ,i found ,i must have stooped much
  lower if ,i had resolved on finding   
admittance for my work4 ,i wrote at     
once to the ,woods and ,forests1 calling
 upon them to widen the door for        
genius1 by taking down a portion of the 
wall3 but it will hardly be  believed1  
that though there were1 at the time1    
plenty of workmen about  the building1  
no answer was returned to my request4   
,alas6 it is all  very well to sing1 as 
they do in ,der ,freischutz1 #8,through 
the ,woods  and through the ,forests1'  
but towards me the ,woods and ,forests  
proved  themselves utterly impenetrable4

    8,it will be seen that the          
arch-conspirator--for so ,i must        
continue to  call him1 though he could  
not be got into the archway--has placed 
his  hat upon the ground1 a little point
 in which ,i have blended imagination   
with history1 and both with convenience4
 ,the imagination suggests that  such a 
villain ought not to wear his hat2      
history does not say that  he did1 which
 is as much as to hint that he didn't2  
while convenience1  coming to the aid of
 both1 renders it necessary for his hat 
to lie upon  the ground2 for if ,i had  
tried to place it on his head1 there    
would have  been no room for it ,there  
was one gratifying circumstance         
connected with  this cartoon1 which1 in 
spite of my being charged with vanity1  
,i must  repeat4 ,as it was carried     
through the streets1 it seemed to be    
generally  understood and appreciated2  
every one1 even children1 exclaiming as 
it  passed1 #8,oh6 there's a ,guy6'     
8,george ,cruikshank40    ,there was    

some bitterness in this jesting2 for    
,cruikshank felt conscious  of the      
latent power to execute a cartoon about 
which there should have  been no        
buffoonery4 ,alas6 his lines had been   
cast in humble places4 ,he  had lived to
 earn his bread from day to day in the  
grotesque market2 and  the solemn and   
poetic side of his genius had been left 
unworked1 or had  been only partially   
and fitfully developed as he became an  
illustrator  of books4    ,in the       
,almanac which included the ,guy ,fawkes
 cartoon appeared  ,cruikshank's ,father
 ,mathew1 a nice man for a small party4 
,father ,mathew  appears in the shape of
 a pump or filter to a convivial        
domestic circle1  and holds parley with 
them4 ,the animated pump1 with the      
extended handle  for a warning arm1 and 
the spout for a nose1 is an old         
,cruikshankian  figure4 8,touch         
not--taste not10 says the preacher-pump3
 8if you must  take anything1 take the  
,pledge40    ,paterfamilias1 with a     

severe frown and aggressive attitude1   
has turned  upon the intruder4 8,dost   
thou think10 he says1 8because thou art 
virtuous1 there shall be no more cakes  
and ale80 ,pater's friend is more       
insinuating1 and has an excuse4 8,why1  
you see1 old gent10 he remarks1  8the   
case is this--the ladies insist upon my 
singing a comic song1 and ,i  should    
like to know how ,i am to manage that   
over a glass of pump-water40   ,the     
grandfather pleads3 8,won't you allow an
 old gentleman a little warm  elder wine
 this cold night80 ,and the buxom lady  
of the house is coaxing3  8,pray take a 
chair1 sir1 and taste my home-made wine1
 or a glass of our  home-brewed ale40   
,these suggested compromises expressed  
very faithfully  the mood of the        
artist's mind at the time4 ,his         
sympathies inclined him  towards the    
,apostle of ,temperance2 but he was not 
yet prepared to go  over1 body and soul1
 to the cause4 ,the picture is          
accompanied by an 8,ode  to ,father     

,mathew10 conceived in a spirit of      
hearty opposition1 that only  goes      
towards proving that ,cruikshank was at 
the half-way house of elder  and        
home-made wines and home-brewed beer1   
between the punch bowl and the  pump4   
,the ode is in the fine old style3--    
8,oh1 ,father ,mathew ,i why dost thou  
incline       ,against all spirits thus 
to whine8       ,to preach against good 
liquor is a scandal4       ,why to such 
rash conclusions jump--       ,to airy1 
dull1 unsocial pump1       ,why give a  
handle8       ,water is very well--but  
then #8tis known       ,that well is    
always better let alone4       ,washing 
is water's only function1       ,save   
when a little drop poured in--       ,to
 brandy1 whisky1 rum1 or gin1           
,makes glorious grand junction40    ,the
 kindly humourist's etching-needle was  
inspired by every good cause4  ,these   
almanacs have all morals underlying the 
fun4 ,cruikshank liked to  have an      
object in view4 ,no class1 no creature  

was too humble for his  sympathy4       
,landseer never drew anything better    
than the plate of the                   
,dog-,days--suggested by 8the ,dogs     
,bill0 of #ahdc4 ,two hard-working1 very
  radical dogs who are drawing a        
truckful of hardware1 scowl at a pair of
  genteel dogs1 extravagantly arrayed1  
and smoking cigars1 who cross their     
path4 ,first radical dog says he        
believes they don't know the side 8their
  tails hang on10 they are so           
proud--adding1 8,why1 a cousin of mine1 
as  lives at ,barking1 tells me as how  
the celebrated dog ,billy has grown so  
proud that he has declined to kill any  
more rats4 ,and as to cigars6  why bless
 you1 there ain't a ,puppy about ,town  
but wot has got a cigar  stuck in his   
mouth40 ,in a corner a watch-dog and a  
dancing dog are  talking over their     
grievances2 while in the distance a lady
 tells her  footman to take care her    
spaniel1 ,duchess1 does not get her feet
  wet4 ,the dogs are inimitable4        

,bloomers1 crinoline1 over-population 7a
  ,cruikshankian plate showing the      
housetops covered with the superabundant
  humanity71 the 8steamed-out0          
stage-coachman1 the 8fast man10 female  
parliaments1 baby-jumpers1 cheap        
excursion trains1 taking the census1    
the effect of the ,peace ,society 7a    
regiment hay-making71 ,jullien as the   
,president of the ,french ,republic1    
8with entire new politics and polkas10  
a pack of knaves1 being a meeting of the
 betting interest1--these are  but a few
 notable pictures of the crowded        
gallery4 ,cruikshank revelled  in the   
fun1 and sought to extract wisdom from  
it ,he had an old-fashioned  idea of    
woman and her rights1 and was sharp with
 his needle over female  suffrage1      
ladies in pantalettes1 and women of     
mind4    ,illustration3 #jda    ,henry  
,mayhew wrote some verses on a woman of 
mind1 during one of the  years of his   
editorship 7#ahdg71 beginning1--        
8,my wife is a woman of mind1       ,and

 ,deville1 who examined her bumps1      
,vow'd that never were found in a woman 
,such large intellectual lumps4         
#8,ideality' big as an egg1       ,with 
#8,causality'--great--was combined2     
,he charg'd me ten shillings1 and said1 
#8,sir1 your wife is a woman of mind4'0 
,cruikshank's picture of her is one of  
his stereotyped1 ill-favoured1          
stuck-up1 figureless ladies1 of whom a  
friend said one day1 when looking  over 
some sketches1 in ,amwell ,street1      
8,why1 ,george1 your females are all    
shaped like hour-glasses40    ,for pure 
fun nothing could be better than the    
8,banquet of the ,black  ,dolls10 in    
commemoration of the reduction of the   
,duty on ,bags4 ,the doll  who occupies 
the chair has before her a ,grand       
,potage de ,dripping1  and the menu     
includes ,pt de ,horseshoes1 ,omelette  
de ,old ,iron1 ,bones  ,boil-1 ,rag-out 
de ,superior ,white ,linen ,rag1        
,fricasse de ,broken ,glass1  and       
,poudin ,kitchen ,stuff4    ,the arrival

 of ,tom ,thumb1 and his reception by   
the lite of society1 as  the bills said1
 and the brilliant court he held under a
 shower of ,john  ,bull's gold in       
,piccadilly1 suggested two scenes to    
hard-working and most  moderately-paid  
,cruikshank4 ,the first is called 8,born
 a ,genius40 ,in a  garret a poor artist
 sits in despair and poverty--his empty 
plate upon  the table1 his tattered     
boots upon the floor4 ,the second is    
called 8,born  a ,dwarf40               
,illustration3 #jdd    ,the little man  
reclines upon a sofa1 with a jewel-case 
and full  money-bags beside him4 ,he    
toys with a trinket1 having finished his
  foie-gras and champagne4    ,he had   
seen inexcusable personalities in the   
paper1 he remarked2 and  when ,lemon    
said to him1 8,we shall have you yet10  
,george shouted in  reply1 striking one 
of his theatrical attitudes1 8,never60  
,illustration3 #jdi    ,he had repented 
of his early days of unscrupulous       
caricature4 ,it must be  remembered1    

always to ,cruikshank's lasting honour1 
that1 his wild youth  past1 he refused  
scores of tempting offers of work that  
did not quite  commend itself to his    
conscience4 ,he used to say he would    
illustrate  nothing which he did not    
feel4    ,later1 when ,punch            
goodnaturedly rallied him on his        
temperance  eccentricities1 he declared 
that he had a great mind to go down to  
,fleet  ,street 8and knock the old      
rascal's wooden head about40            
,illustration3 #jej      ,illustration3 
#jea          ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,lord   
,,bateman ,,and ,,the ,,table ,,book4   
,between #ahcg and #ahdg1 in addition to
 his work with ,dickens and  ,ainsworth1
 and in his ,omnibus and 8,comic        
,almanac10 ,cruikshank threw  off some  
of his most popular minor drawings and  
etchings4 ,within this  decade he etched
 many of his plates for the 8,waverley  
,novels10 he  illustrated 8,peter       
,parley's ,tales about ,christmas10     
8,rambles in the  ,footsteps of ,don    

,quixote0 7#ahcg71 8,more ,hints on     
,etiquette0 7#ahch71  8,lympsfield and  
its ,environs0 7#ahch71 8,the ,life of  
,mansie ,waunch 7#ahch7  for ,blackwood1
 8,land-,sharks and ,sea-,gulls0        
7#ahch71 8,rejected ,addresses0         
7#ahch71 8,out and ,about10 a boy's     
adventures1 by ,hain ,friswell 7#ahdj71 
,john ,o',neill's poem of 8,the         
,drunkard0 7#ahdb71 ,dibdin's ,songs    
7#ahda-b71  8,picnic ,papers0 7#ahda71  
edited by ,dickens2 ,douglas ,jerrold's 
8,cakes  and ,ale0 7#ahdb71 8,modern    
,chivalry1 or a new ,orlando ,furioso0  
7#ahdc72  ,martin's 8,vagaries10 a      
sequel to 8,a ,tale of a ,tub0 7#ahdc72 
8,the  ,bachelor's own ,book1 or the    
,life of ,mr4 ,lambkin1 gent0 7#ahdd72  
,harry  ,lorrequer's 8,arthur ,o',leary0
 7#ahdd72 ,maxwell's 8,irish ,rebellion0
 7#ahde71  8,the ,old ,sailor's ,jolly  
,boat0 7#ahde71 8,the ,comic            
,blackstone0 7#ahdf71  ,mrs4 ,gore's    
8,snow-,storm0 and 8,new ,year's ,day0  
7#ahde71 8,our ,own ,times0   7#ahde71  

the ,brothers ,mayhew's 8,greatest      
,plague of ,life0 7#ahdg71 8,the        
,emigrant1' by ,sir ,francis ,head1     
,captain ,chamier's 8,ben ,brace0       
7#ahdg71  8,nights at ,mess10 and ,laman
 ,blanchard's 8,sketches from ,life40   
,he  also began his capital             
illustrations to 8,the ,ingoldsby       
,legends10 in  ,bentley's ,miscellany4  
,to this period1 also1 his wellknown    
8,john  ,gilpin0 and 8,lord ,bateman0   
7#ahci7 belong4    ,according to ,mr4   
,walter ,hamilton1 the history of the   
8,loving ,ballad of  ,lord ,bateman0 is1
 that ,george ,cruikshank 8sang the old 
,english ballad1  in the manner of a    
street-ballad singer1 at a dinner of the
 ,antiquarian  ,society1 at which       
,dickens and ,thackeray were present4   
,illustration3 #jec    ,the latter is   
reported to have remarked1 8,i should   
like to print that  ballad1 with        
illustrations40 ,but ,cruikshank warned 
him off1 saying that  this was exactly  
what he himself had resolved to do4 ,the

 original ballad  was much longer than  
that which ,cruikshank illustrated1 and 
to which  ,charles ,dickens furnished   
humorous notes2 and was not comic in any
  respect4 ,mr4 ,sala's version is the  
more vraisetnblant3--    8,the          
authorship of the ballad itself1 which  
has furnished the basis for  no less    
than three theatrical burlesques--one by
 a forgotten dramatist  at the ,strand1 
another by ,robert ,brough at the       
,adelphi1 and a third by  ,henry ,j4    
,byron at the ,globe--is involved in    
mystery4 ,george ,cruikshank's          
assertion1 and one to which he doggedly 
adhered1 was that he heard the  song    
sung one night by an itinerant minstrel 
outside a public-house near  ,battle    
,bridge2 and that he subsequently       
chanted and #8performed' 7,george  was  
as good as any play1 or as a            
story-teller in a ,moorish coffee-house1
  at #8performing'7 the ditty to        
,charles ,dickens1 who was so delighted 
with  it that he persuaded ,george to   

publish it1 adorned with copper-plates4 
,but internal evidence would seem to be 
against the entire authenticity  of the 
artist's version4 ,that he had heard    
some doggerel sung outside  a tavern1   
and relating to ,lord ,bateman1 is      
likely enough4 #8,vilikins and  his was 
immortalised by ,robson in ,jem ,baggs4 
,george ,cruikshank's error1  it strikes
 us1 was more one of omission than of   
commission4 ,he may have  lyrically     
narrated the adventures of the #8,noble 
,lord of ,high ,degree'  to ,dickens2   
but he assuredly warbled and            
#8performed' them too in the  presence  
of ,thackeray1 who in all probability   
#8revised and settled' the  words1 and  
made them fit for publication4 ,nobody  
but ,thackeray could  have written those
 lines about #8,the young bride's       
mother1 who never  before was heard to  
speak so free1' and in the #8,proud     
,young ,porter'  all ,titmarshian       
students must recognise the embryo type 
of ,james de la  ,pluche40    8,lord    

,bateman0 was ,cruikshank's delight4    
,the exquisite foolery expressed  in his
 plates of this eccentric nobleman he   
would act1 at any moment1  in any place1
 to the end of his life4 ,mr4 ,percival 
,leigh remembers a  characteristic scene
 at the ,cheshire ,cheese tavern1 in    
,fleet ,street1  about #ahdb or #ahdc4  
8,this10 99 he says1 8was in ,g4 ,c4's  
pre-teetotal  period4 ,after dinner came
 drink and smoke1 of course2 and ,g4 ,c4
 was  induced to sing #8,billy ,taylor1'
 which he did with grotesque expression 
and action1 varied to suit the words4   
,he likewise sang #8,lord ,bateman1'  in
 his shirt-sleeves1 with his coat flung 
cloak-wise over his left arm1  whilst he
 paced up and down1 disporting himself  
with a walking-stick1  after the manner 
of the noble lord1 as represented in his
 illustration  to the ballad40          
,six-and-twenty years afterwards we find
 the bright-hearted old man still  with 
spirits enough for his favourite part4  
99 ,letter to ,b4 ,j41 ,feb4 #ah1ahgh4  

8,one day10 says ,mr4 ,frederick        
,locker1 8he asked us to tea1 and to    
hear  him sing #8,lord ,bateman' in     
character1 which he did to our infinite 
delight4 ,he posed in the costume of    
that1 deeply interesting but  somewhat  
mysterious nobleman4 ,i am often        
reminded of the circumstance2  for ,i   
have a copy of #8,lord ,bateman'        
7#ahea71 and on the false title is      
written--         #8,this ,evening1     
,july #ac1 #ahfh1         ,i sang ,,lord
 ,,bateman to         ,my dear little   
friend ,eleanor ,locker4         ,george
 ,cruikshank4'0      ,this in his       
seventy-sixth year6    ,within the busy 
decade1 #ahcg--ahdg1 ,cruikshank        
executed many separate  etchings for    
,bentley's ,miscellany and ,ainsworth's 
,magazine4 ,his work  is to be found    
scattered far and wide4 ,one month he   
appears as the  illustrator of a        
humorous song or scena by ,j4           
,blewitt--8,the ,matrimonial  ,ladder0  
7the ladder was a favourite form with   

him for conveying the  various aspects  
of a subject7--or ,keeley in the new    
comic song of 8,wery  ,ridiculous02 the 
next he is the whimsical illustrator of 
,beaufoy's  ,advertisement of his ,cure 
for the ,toothache--wood drawings       
engraved by  ,orrin ,smith4 ,nor had he 
quite put aside his habit of expressing 
himself  pictorially on political       
events4 ,in #ahdc he published1 from    
,mr4 ,david  ,bogue's shop in ,fleet    
,street1 a separate design entitled     
8,the ,queen and  the ,union4 ,no       
,repeal6 ,no ,o',connell60 ,it was a    
woodcut enclosing text  in type1 the    
text being ,cruikshank's own declamation
 against the ,irish  ,agitator4         
,britannia and ,erin are represented in 
the drawing seated1  with joined hands1 
on the shores of the ,channel2 while the
 8blustering1  foul-mouthed bully1 with 
one foot on ,britannia's shoulder1 and  
the other  on ,erin's harp1 has raised  
an axe to sunder the friends40          
,frontispieces  and covers he designed  

by the score1--now to 8,a ,tale of a    
,comical  ,stick10 and now to ,the      
,yorkshireman1 a religious and literary 
journal2  and now again a headpiece to  
one of ,mrs4 ,s4 ,c4 ,hall's 8,sketches 
of ,irish  ,character10 or a            
frontispiece to a book on 8,prisons and 
,prisoners40   ,to every item of this   
extraordinary quantity and variety of   
pictorial  labour ,cruikshank gave his  
utmost energy4 ,he was a most faithful  
worker1  who never stinted himself1 even
 when the humblest or least important   
subject was in hand4 ,let me note1      
however1 some exceptions4         99    
,letter to ,b4 ,j4    ,in #ahdc he had  
quarrelled with ,mr4 ,bentley1 and      
purposely put bad work  in them4 ,this  
was his revenge--and to the end of his  
life he never  perceived the fault he   
committed in this act4 8,one day10 says 
,mr4  ,locker199 u at my house1 he      
explained how these 7the bad etchings7  
had  been etched4 ,it appears that he   
had quarrelled with ,mr4 ,richard       

,bentley  7he was a singularly          
kind-hearted man1 but1 ,i fancy1 had a  
somewhat  remarkable faculty for        
quarrelling with almost every one with  
whom he  was connected in business71 and
 was obliged to fulfil his contract to  
supply an etching for each monthly      
number of ,bentley's ,miscellany1 and   
he did them as badly as he possibly     
could1 and etched his name under  them  
so illegibly as to be quite             
indecipherable3 #8,and1' said he1 #8,i  
used  to take out my watch1 and put it  
beside me on the table1 and give myself 
just--' 7mentioning the number of       
minutes7 #8for each plate4'0    ,it was 
after another and a final parting from  
,mr4 ,ainsworth1 on the sale  of his    
magazine1 that ,cruikshank1 8left in the
 lurch10 to use his own  phrase1 started
 his 8,table-,book10 with ,gilbert      
,beckett as editor1 and  ,bradbury and  
,evans as printers and publishers4 ,the 
artist has put on  record the manner in 
which he and the eminent ,whitefriars   

firm came  together3--    ,illustration3
 #jei    8,i will not go into the       
details of how ,i assisted this author  
7,ainsworth7 with head and hand work in 
these novels1 but ,i did my best  to    
design and suggest2 and my time was so  
much occupied in performing  this duty1 
and also with some other matters1 that  
,i was not able to  bring out my        
,omnibus as an annual1 as ,i had        
intended to have done2  but ,i now      
determined to bring it out again in     
monthly numbers2 and as  ,bradbury and  
,evans 7the fathers of the present firm7
 had printed that  work for me1 ,i went 
to their office to see what stock there 
was of the  ,omnibus on hand1 and to    
make arrangements for the republishing  
of it2  and when ,i mentioned this to my
 friend ,bradbury1 he said1 #8,ah1 it is
 a  pity that work was ever stopped2 we 
should have been glad to have bought  it
 of you1 and will buy it now1 if you    
would like to sell it4' ,i replied  that
 ,i did not wish to dispose of it1 but  

if they would like to join  me1 ,i      
should be glad to have them as partners4
 #8,agreed1' said both  ,mr4 ,bradbury  
and ,mr4 ,evans2 and as these friends of
 mine were men of  business1 as well as 
gentlemen and men of honour1 in this    
case there  was a written agreement     
clearly and legally drawn out1 and duly 
signed  by both parties4 ,but their     
engagements at that time were so many1  
that  a considerable time elapsed before
 arrangements could be made for the     
republishing of the ,omnibus2 so they   
then suggested1 as it was such  a long  
time since my ,omnibus had been on the  
road1 that it would1  perhaps1 be better
 to start another vehicle of the same   
build1 but under  another name4 ,to this
 ,i agreed2 and thus originated #8,the  
,table ,book1'  which was edited by my  
friends the late ,gilbert  ,becket and  
,mark  ,lemon40    ,the 8,table ,book0  
includes two of ,cruikshank's most      
powerful and perfect  etchings--viz41   
8,the ,triumph of ,cupid0 and 8,the     

,folly of ,crime40 ,the  fertility of   
imagination manifest in 8,the ,triumph  
of ,cupid0 is amazing4  ,the execution  
is that of an original master4 ,no man  
who ever held an  etching-needle has    
surpassed the truth and beauty and      
boldness of the  touches by which       
hundreds of figures live1 a happy       
tumultuous throng1  in this octavo      
plate4 ,the central figure is the       
artist1 in slippers  and embroidered    
dress-ing-gown1 before his fire1 smoking
 a handsome  meerschaum pipe1 gazing    
abstractedly into the fire2 and upon the
 cloud  of smoke from his lips1 his     
dreams of the triumphs of ,cupid rise   
till  they fill the room4               
,illustration3 #jfd    ,cupid perches   
himself upon his foot1 and toasts a     
heart at the  fire2 jumps upon the back 
of ,old ,time who bears the clock upon  
the  mantelpiece2 is enthroned in a     
triumphal car1 with kings and princes1  
bishops and generals1 lawyers and       
stock-jobbers1 drummer-boys and         

jack-tars and sweeps1 clown and         
harlequin1 and even slippered pantaloon1
  and ,chelsea pensioners upon wooden   
stumps1 for his court4 ,the car is      
drawn by subdued lions and leopards4    
,the blind beggar is waylaid by the     
little god1 and brought to the  ground4 
,he has floored a dustman on his rounds4
 ,he makes the ,great ,mogul  sue for   
mercy4 ,he drags a little black page    
from under the armchair1 and  puts gyves
 upon his wrists4 ,all is clearly and   
beautifully grouped1 and  frankly and   
boldly1 and at the same time delicately1
 drawn4 ,it is as  precise and luminous 
as ,durer4 ,it is perfect etching1 by   
one who knew  the limits as well as all 
the capabilities of his exquisite art4  
8,the ,folly of ,crime0 has been not    
extravagantly described by a writer  in 
the ,london ,quarterly ,review 7#ahgc7  
as a very great work indeed4 ,he  says  
it is perhaps the artist's highest      
effort3 ,i should rather say it  8is    
clearly and beautifully1 and at the same

 time precise and luminous  by one who  
knew the value of his exquisite art4 ,he
 says it suggests an  undeveloped power 
of the highest order--albeit the        
management of the  direct and reflected 
lights is most admirable1 and the skill 
throughout  is consummate4 8,without    
lingering over the framework of lesser  
groups1  though these are sufficiently  
impressive10 says the reviewer1 8let us 
go straight to the central picture4 ,a  
murdered man lies stark in the  shadow4 
,the murderer springs forward to catch  
at1 a bowl of pearls1  snake-like and   
seemingly incandescent1 that are borne  
swayingly before  him on the head of a  
grinning fiend4 ,the ground smiles at   
his feet4 ,he  falls1 and1 as he falls1 
the light from the pit leaps up1        
catching his  bloody hand1 and the fatal
 knife1 and the long ears of his        
fool's-cap1  and gleaming in his        
despairing eyes2 while all the air is   
filled with  chattering and mowing      
demons1 whose eyes and teeth also       

glitter white  and cruel4 ,and the      
horror of the man's face is terrible40  
,the little  morals framed around the   
central picture complete the awful      
story4 ,the  murderer lies--always      
wearing the fool's-cap--in his bed1 with
 a heavy  weight upon his chest1 snakes 
hissing in his ears1 and the scales  of 
justice held steady before his eyes4 ,he
 is upon the treadmill4 ,he  crouches in
 a corner of the condemned cell4 ,a     
convict1 he carries a  weighty burden   
upon his shoulders1 marked 8for life40  
,the many light1 playful1 and fanciful  
sketches that are included in the  one  
thin volume to which in 8,the ,table    
,book0 ran1 are trifles light as  air1  
when compared with those two great      
efforts of ,cruikshank's genius1  at its
 ripest and brightest4 ,they mark the   
highest point of his ascent4  ,in the   
sequel we shall find him executing much 
noteworthy1 honourable  ,work1with the  
zeal of a great moral preacher2 but he  
will not surpass  these two noble       

etchings4    ,illustration3 #jfg        
,george ,cruikshank worked1 as he reader
 knows1 with great care and             
deliberation4 ,he thought out his       
subject well before beginning to        
realize his conception4 ,he made1 to    
begin with1 a careful design upon       
paper1 trying doubtful points on the    
margin of the paper4 ,the design  was   
heightened by vigorous touches of       
colour4 ,then a careful tracing was     
made1 and laid1 pencil side down1 upon  
the steel plate4 ,this was carried  to  
the printer1 who having placed it       
between damp paper1 and passed  it      
through the press1 returned it1 the     
blacklead outline distinctly  appearing 
upon the etching ground4 ,and then the  
work was straightforward  to the        
artist's firm hand4 ,the firmness and   
fineness of his touch are as            
conspicuous in his wood drawings as in  
his etchings4    8,it was the custom of 
the artist10 according to his nephew1   
,percy  ,cruikshank1 8before parting    

with his plates1 to have ,india-paper   
proofs  of the etchings1 and this being 
#8before letters'--that is1 before the  
title was engraved on the plate--made   
them the more valuable4 ,he also        
insisted on the engraver's supplying him
 with a proof of his drawings  on wood  
when completed4 ,this1 in time1 formed a
 scarce and choice  collection1 of which
 he knew the value full well4 ,the      
centralizing all  that was              
,cruikshankian within himself was the   
end which crowned the  work4 ,the late  
,prince ,consort being desirous of      
possessing a collection  of ,george's   
proofs1 offered a considerable sum for  
them2 but the artist1  although pressed 
for money1 not considering it           
sufficient1 respectfully  declined the  
proposal40    ,illustration3 #jfi    ,to
 return to the 8,table ,book40 ,the     
miscellaneous etchings and drawings  in 
this book are mostly arrows aimed at    
folly as it was flying at  that time4   
,the railway mania1 clairvoyance1       

emigration1 the fashions1  furnished    
,cruikshank with inexhaustible humorous 
or grave material4 ,his  etching of ,mr4
 ,john ,ball in a ,quandary1 or the     
,anticipated ,effects of  the ,railway  
,calls1 is one of those wondrously      
filled drawings1 in the  composition of 
which he stands alone4 ,john ,bull is in
 his armchair1 with  a great railway    
bell clanging over his head4 ,hosts of  
pestilent demons  cover him1 and are    
stripping him4 ,some are hoisting his   
hat1 some are  bearing away his wig1    
others have perched ladders against his 
capacious  paunch1 and are dragging his 
money and his watch from his waistcoat  
pockets4 ,the greedy imps are tugging   
his gloves from his hands1  unfastening 
his neckcloth1 and pulling his boots    
off4 ,liliputian  lawyers1 at hand1 are 
demolishing a barrel of oysters1 and    
leaving a  plentiful supply of shells   
for their clients4 ,imps1 driving a     
little  locomotive1 have attached it to 
,bull's cash-box1 and are making off    

with  it2 and in the distance the       
pictures are marked for sale4 ,then we  
have  a few bits of ,cruikshankian      
humour called 8#8,heads of the          
,table10--the  final head being a       
capital study of an old gentleman who is
 entre deux  vins1 saying1 8,well1 we'll
 just take another glass--and           
then--we'll  join the--the ladies40     
,opposite this page is a drawing of a   
family1 and  also of their shoes4       
,illustration3 #jga    ,illustration3   
#jgb    ,i will now endeavour to afford 
the reader an idea of the man who       
created  the extraordinary variety of   
artistic work of high excellence briefly
  described in the foregoing chapters4  
,george ,cruikshank was eminently a     
convivial man4 ,he was born in a        
boisterous and coarse convivial time2   
when ,lords and ,commons boxed at       
,jackson's2 went to see monkeys set to  
fight terriers at ,cribb's2 fought      
8,charleys0 and turnpike-men2 and drank 
hard and played high at ,crockford's4   

,their humble imitators were the        
associates of ,robert and ,george       
,cruikshank4 ,george's associates were  
tavern frequenters for the most part3 in
 those days taverns were used  by many  
of the men who now frequent clubs4 ,the 
portrait of him drawn by  ,maclise was  
,cruikshank in his earlier and humbler  
time1 when he was in  the hands of the  
caricature vendors4 ,the writer in      
,fraser says3 8,here  we have the       
sketcher sketched2 and1 as is fit1 he is
 sketched  sketching4 ,here is ,george  
,cruikshank 7see ,frontispiece7--the    
,george  ,cruikshank--seated upon the   
head of a barrel1 catching inspiration  
from  the scenes presented to him in a  
pot-house1 and consigning the ideas of  
the moment to immortality on the crown  
of his hat4444    ,illustration3        
frontispiece    ,of ,george ,cruikshank 
the history is short4 ,he stands too    
often and too  well before the eyes of  
the public to render it necessary that  
we should  say much about him2 and we   

confess that of his earlier annals we   
know  little or nothing4444 ,the first  
of ,cruikshank's works known to us are  
his caricatures of ,george ,,iv4 and his
 friends4 ,tories as we were and  are1  
and as we trust we still shall be1 these
 comic picturings haunt our             
imagination4 ,the poor old king in every
 attitude of ludicrous distress  7the   
#8,fat in the ,fire' was perfection72   
,copley 7sketched1 as we have  been     
assured1 merely from description1 and   
yet a great likeness72  ,castlereagh    
7but even the professed caricaturist    
could not destroy the  gentlemanly grace
 of that noble face and figure72 the    
#8,waterloo man1'  with his sword       
dropping into the scale against the pen2
 the various  persons1 jailors1 jockeys1
 lawyers1 and the rest1 were first-rate4
 ,as  ,cruikshank himself says of       
,gillray1 #8,he that did those things   
was a  great man1 sir1--a very great    
man1 sir4' ,to ,cruikshank1 however1    
they  were productive of nothing but the

 fame of their cleverness and the  odium
 of their politics2 as ,hone1 for whom  
and his blockhead authors  ,george's    
talents floated the dire rubbish of the 
#8,house that ,jack  ,built1' and other 
witless productions1 never paid him for 
what he had  done4 ,in all these stupid 
productions there were loud puffs at the
 power  of the press4 ,george never knew
 anything of it when in their hands  but
 as a screw499 ,however1 what he did1   
gave him fame and name4444  ,of course1 
,george is1 like all other men of       
undoubted genius1 a most  ill-used      
gentleman4 ,as ,mathews laments that the
 general obtuseness of  the public will 
not recognise his talents for           
tragedy1--as ,liston mourns  over the   
delusion which applauds him in ,sam     
,swipes and ,paul ,pry1 and  does not   
permit him to appear as the ,damon or   
,strephon of a sighing  opera1--so      
,cruikshank is shocked at the evil fate 
which consigns him to  drawing sketches 
and caricatures1 instead of letting him 

loose in his  natural domain of epic or 
historical picture4         99          
,according to a ,reviewer of 8,three    
,courses and a ,dessert10        in     
,fraser 7,june #ahcj71 the whole sum    
received by       ,cruikshank from ,hone
 was #ah2 but this was not so4    ,let  
him content himself2 he can draw what   
will be held in honoured  remembrance   
when ninety-nine out of every hundred of
 the great #8masters'  of our #8schools'
 and a still larger proportion of all   
the ,r4,a's  and ,a4 ,,ra4's that ever  
existed1 or ever are doomed to exist1   
will be  forgotten4 ,the historical     
which we should cultivate is such as    
that  which appears in his recently     
published #8,sketch-,book1' where1 for  
example1 the life of ,bonaparte1 whether
 as eagle soaring over the  ,alps1 or   
eagle chained to a perch1 is depicted in
 all its stages1 from  artillery lad on 
watch1 through triumph1 splendour1 and  
flight to the  little cock-hatted and   
round-paunched exile of ,st4 ,helena40  

,many years later ,cruikshank had not   
quite given up his dream of the  epic or
 historical picture2 for the dream had  
been encouraged by the  criticisms of   
some of the most thoughtful of his      
contemporaries1 who  set him on a level 
with ,hogarth and ,durer1 and said that 
posterity would  delight in him as one  
of our most venerated old masters4      
,but our present concern is with ,george
 ,cruikshank as he lived1 and  moved1   
and impressed his friends4 ,they all    
speak cordially of him4 ,poor  ,samuel  
,phillips1 who was hearty in spirit1    
albeit he lived for many  years at      
death's door1 says of him3 8,george is  
popular among his  associates4 ,his face
 is an index of his mind4 ,there is     
nothing anomalous  about him and his    
doings4 ,his appearance1 his            
illustrations1 his  speeches1 are all   
alike--all picturesque1 artistic1 full  
of fun1  feeling1 geniality1 and        
quaintness4 ,his seriousness is         
grotesque1 and  his drollery is         

profound4 ,he is the prince of          
caricaturists1 and one of  the best of  
men40    ,in a whimsical account of an  
amateur strolling excursion1 in which   
,cruikshank was one of the company      
7#ahdg71 supposed to be written by ,mrs4
  ,gamp1 ,dickens has vividly described 
the illustrator of #8,oliver ,twist'3-- 
8,i do assure you1 ,mrs4 ,harris1 when  
,i stood in the railways office that    
morning1 with my bundle on my arm1 and  
one patten in my hand1 you might  have  
knocked me down with a feather1 far less
 porkmangers which was a  lumping       
against me1 continual and sewere all    
round4 ,i was drove about  like a brute 
animal and almost worritted into fits1  
when a gentleman  with a large          
shirt-collar1 and a hook nose1 and a eye
 like one of  ,mr4 ,sweedlepipes's      
hawks1 and long locks of hair1 and      
wiskers that ,i  wouldn't have no lady  
as ,i was engaged to meet suddenly a    
turning round  a corner1 for any sum of 
money you could offer me1 says1         

laughing1  #8,halloa1 ,mrs4 ,gamp1 what 
are you up to8'    8,i didn't know him  
from a man 7except by his clothes72 but 
,i  says faintly1 #8,if you're a        
,christian man1 show me where to get a  
second-cladge ticket for ,manjester1 and
 have me put in a carriage1 or  ,i shall
 drop4' ,which he kindly did1 in a      
cheerful kind of way1 skipping  about in
 the strangest manner as ever ,i see1   
making all kinds of  actions1 and       
looking and vinking at me from under the
 brim of his hat  7which was a good deal
 turned up71 to that extent1 that ,i    
should have  thought he meant something 
but for being so flurried as not to have
  no thoughts at all until ,i was put in
 a carriage along with an               
individgle--the politest as ever ,i     
see--in a shepherd's plaid suit with  a 
long gold watch-guard hanging round his 
neck1 and his hand a trembling  through 
nervousness worse than an aspian leaf4  
,presently they fell into  conversation4
    8#8,p'raps1' he says1 #8if you're   

not of the party1 you don't know who it 
was that assisted you into this         
carriage6'    8#8,no1 sir1' ,i says1    
#8,i don't indeed4'    8#8,why1 ma'am1' 
he says1 a-wisperin1 #8that was ,george1
 ma'am4'    8#8,what ,george1 sir8 ,i   
don't know no ,george1' says ,i4        
#88,the great ,george1 ma'am1' says he4 
#8,the ,crookshanks4'    8#8,if you'll  
believe me1 ,mrs4 ,harris1 ,i turned my 
head1 and see the werry  man a-making   
pictures of me on his thumb nail1 at the
 winder6 ,while  another of em--a tall  
slim1 melancholly gent1 with dark hair1 
and a  bage vice--looks over his        
shoulder1 with his head o' one side as  
if  he understood the subject1 and cooly
 says1 #8,i've draw'd her several       
times--in ,punch1' he says too ,i ,the  
owdacious wretch4'0    ,the melancholy  
gent with the 8bage vice0 was ,leech4   
,in those days1 and down to those days1 
,cruikshank was  convivial--sometimes to
 excess4 ,it was not for nothing that   
,maclise had  drawn him seated upon a   

beer barrel499         99 ,his brother  
,robert drew his portrait as a young    
man1 his       hair and whiskers        
uncombed1 cross-legged1 in a            
contemplative       mood1 his dress in  
disorder1 and called it 8,george in a   
,brown study40 ,it was a picture of him 
in his days of       dissipation1 when  
his sister-in-law would occasionally    
seize       and wash and comb him1 while
 he laughed at the absurdity of         
his position4 ,he was very sensitive in 
later life about any       allusion to  
his appearance4 ,when ,mrs4 ,stowe1 in  
her book of       ,london impressions1  
roughly described him as 8an old man1   
with a keen eye and grey hair10 he was  
deeply mortified1 and       he addressed
 an expostulation to the papers4 ,his   
portraits1       by himself1 in oil1    
abounded in his studio4 ,they were      
marked       with touches of chalk1     
giving a fresh curl to the whisker1 a   
fiercer flash to the eye1 a more        
effective arrangement of       the hair2

 but not one was finished4    ,his      
fortunes threw him early among humble   
boon companions1 at ,grimaldi's  club   
and elsewhere1 as we have seen2 and his 
wild exuberant spirits and  lively sense
 of humour made him king among them4    
,later1 when ,dickens  knew him1 he     
would fall away occasionally from his   
new and more  dignified friends 7who    
were not ascetics71 and run a wild      
career for  a night in his old haunts4  
,dickens used to describe one wonderful 
day--among others--he had passed with   
8the inimitable ,george40    ,dickens   
was living in ,devonshire ,place1 and   
was just setting to work  one morning in
 his library1 when ,cruikshank1 unwashed
 and 8smelling of  tobacco1 beer1 and   
sawdust10 as ,dickens described him1    
burst into the  room4 ,he said he had   
been up all night2 was afraid to go     
home1 and  begged for some breakfast4   
,while he was breakfasting1 ,dickens did
 his  utmost to persuade him to go to   
bed4 ,but ,george resolutely set his    

face  against it4    ,he said he dared  
not even think of ,islington4 ,seeing   
the state of  affairs1 ,dickens closed  
his desk1 and proposed to accompany his 
friend  to face the domestic storm with 
him4 ,but ,cruikshank would only consent
  to a walk--the farther from ,islington
 the better4    ,dickens1 under such    
circumstances1 was an admirable friend4 
,his cheery  talk and wise counsel had  
great weight with ,cruikshank2 but each 
time  he artfully turned the truant's   
face east1 he drew back with a--8,no1   
no1  ,charley--not that way40    ,and so
 they walked about the streets for      
hours1 strolling in the course  of the  
day into the famous aviary of the       
,pantheon in ,oxford ,street499  ,here  
,cruikshank came suddenly face to face  
with one of ,mrs4 ,cruikshank's         
intimate friends4 ,the scene which      
ensued1 ,dickens used to say1 was one   
exquisitely farcical4 ,and the manner in
 which he set forth the episodes  of the
 long day in the streets1 with          

,cruikshank's droppings into various    
hostelries1 and his final dejected      
departure homewards1 utterly worn  out1 
and having exhausted his faithful       
friend1 was in his happiest vein4       
99 ,dickens used to tell1 with humorous 
details1 how 8,george10        ,on      
another occasion1 was refused admittance
 because he was       plashed to the    
shoulders with mud4    8,i remember him 
about #ahdf10 said ,mr4 ,w4 ,h4 ,wills1 
another old friend4  8,he was then      
flirting with ,temperance4 ,i wanted him
 to dine at my house2  but he excused   
himself1 saying he should be led into   
temptation1 and  he had resolved to be a
 water-drinker thenceforth40 ,he did not
 go to  dinner1 but dropped in          
later--much excited2 and when his host  
pushed the  water-bottle towards him1 he
 gently added brandy4 ,the guests       
departed1  leaving the hilarious        
,george1 with two others1 to finish the 
evening2  and when the trio got into the
 street1 they found the old difficulty  

in  restraining ,cruikshank's boisterous
 spirits4 ,after trying in vain for     
something more than an hour to lead him 
home1 they left him--climbing up  a     
lamp-post6    ,the same friend hastens  
to tell me how generous this wild       
bon-vivant  was1 even in his more       
convivial moods3--    8,the force of    
,george ,cruikshank's character lay in  
the single-minded  earnestness with     
which he carried out his objects4 ,these
 throughout his  life were numerous and 
always good4 ,zeal and energy glowed out
 of him  upon whatever he undertook1    
whether saving a family from starvation 
7and  there are instances in which he   
could only have done this at the risk   
of stinting himself71 or rehearsing the 
character assigned to him in a  private 
play1 or commanding a regiment of       
volunteers1 or advocating and  advancing
 the temperance cause at every          
conceivable sacrifice of time  and      
money4 ,it was not until after his      
second marriage that he took to         

temperance4 ,in his first wife's        
lifetime he sacrificed to the jolly  god
 rather oftener than occasionally2 and  
surely no man drank with more  fervour  
and enjoyment1 nor carried his liquor so
 kindly1 so merrily4  ,then was the time
 to hear him sing #8,lord ,bateman' in  
character1  and costume improvised from 
table-covers1 table-napkins1 and        
antimacassars--anything he could lay    
hands on--with the laughing help  of his
 host4 ,he was what ,albert ,smith      
called #8great fun' in this song at  any
 time4    8,even when dependent upon his
 pencil and etching-needle for means of 
existence1 if any good was to be done   
for a decayed brother artist or         
literary friend1 ,george was only too   
ready 7for his own prosperity7 to  throw
 down his tools1 and stroll about the   
country with a theatrical  company1 or  
go anywhere to solicit subscriptions and
 make speeches1 or  to settle to his    
worktable again to make gratuitous      
sketches for bazaars  and charities4    

,when acting in ,edinburgh1 for ,leigh  
,hunt's benefit1 with  ,charles ,dickens
 and his brilliant dramatis personae1   
news came to him  that a country editor1
 with a large family1 whom he had often 
previously  helped1 was on the edge of  
ruin for the want of fifty pounds4 #8,i 
must  send it to the poor fellow1' he   
said to ,dickens1 #8immediately4'       
#8,that  would be very kind to him1'    
answered ,dickens1 #8but very unkind to 
yourself4 ,by-the-bye1 have you got     
fifty pounds in your pocket8' #8,oh     
dear1 no1' was ,cruikshank's reply1     
#8but ,i want you to lend me the money  
to send to him--now--at once4'          
,dickens's rejoinder was not resort to  
his  cheque book1 but the remark that he
 knew ,george's incapable friend would  
be as badly off as ever after the       
execution had been paid out of his      
house1 even if the money was sent4      
#8,then1' he added1 #8you would deny    
yourself all sorts of things and be     
miserable till you paid me back4  ,that 

,i can't stand1 so ,i must decline4'0   
,on the day of his death1 his old friend
 and fervent admirer repaid his         
kindness by sketching this loving       
portrait of him3--    8,only a few days 
ago there was extant--nay1 it may be    
said1 flourishing1  in the midst of the 
life and bustle of the ,great ,city1 and
 to all  seeming as lively and bustling 
as any citizen there--a hale1 bright1   
active1 elderly gentleman1 whose age    
might1 by the majority of cursory       
age-judges1 have been set down as #8a   
good sixty-five1' but who was in        
reality closely verging upon ninety4 ,a 
quarter of a century before his  death  
he had looked--so those who knew him    
well loved to declare--much  older than 
when he was past fourscore4 ,like the   
,american lady mentioned  by ,dickens1  
he seemed to have grown old1 #8got over 
it1' and become  young again4 ,he was   
slightly below the middle height1 spare 
but solid of  frame1 somewhat long-armed
 and short-legged1 as powerful and      

long-lived  men are apt to be1 and very 
broad in the chest4 ,his head1 scarcely 
bowed  or blanched to the very last1 was
 massive and well-shapen4 ,he had a high
  forehead1 blue-grey eyes full of a    
cheerful1 sparkling light1 penthouse    
brows1 somewhat high cheek-bones1 a     
prominent aquiline nose that ,caesar    
would have liked to look upon1 and a    
mouth cut in firm1 sharp lines1  and    
from whose corners grew an ambiguous    
pair of hirsute ornaments which  were   
neither moustaches1 nor whiskers1 nor   
beard1 but partook vaguely of  the      
characteristics of all three4 ,but1     
beyond these1 there was curious  and    
original individuality in his hair1     
which1 after its fashion1  marked him as
 typically as the well-known mche marks 
the portraits of  ,napoleon ,l and ,m4  
,emile de ,girardin4 ,the elderly       
gentleman's chevelure  had dwindled down
 to a few thin locks1 indigenous1 it is 
to be  feared1 to his occiput1 but      
which1 by careful combing1 and an artful

  contrivance--so rumour ran--of wire   
and #8elastic1' had been seduced over   
his temples and his parietal bone4 ,thus
 to the greater justice could  point    
triumphantly to the fact that his sparse
 wisps of hair were still  mellow brown 
in hue1 and soft as silk in texture4    
,his face was full  of wrinkles2 but the
 furrows seemed to have been ploughed   
more by hard  work1 sedulously and      
unwearyingly performed1 than by the mere
 plodding  footsteps of the dragging    
years4 ,in his port and mien1 indeed1   
until  almost the very moment when the  
hand of the ,grim ,sergeant was laid    
upon  his shoulder1 there was but little
 of the feebleness and less of the      
caducity of age4 ,its garrulity he had2 
but his friends rejoiced in  the good   
old man's loquacity1 recognizing1 as    
they did1 the undimmed  clearness of his
 understanding and tenacity of his      
memory4 ,nor1 with  one singular        
exception1 to which we shall            
subsequently allude1 did that  memory   

play him the woful tricks to which the  
very aged are so often  subject4 ,he    
could remember perfectly well trifling  
occurrences which  happened in #ahjj1   
but he did not forget events of moment  
which had end  he repudiated the        
imputation of baldness1 and with        
happened in #ahgg4  ,he was1 to sum up1 
a light-hearted1 merry1 and1 albeit a   
teetotaler1 an  essentially #8jolly' old
 gentleman1 full physically of humorous 
action  and impulsive gesticulation1    
imitatively illustrating the anecdotes  
he related2 somewhat dogged in assertion
 and combative in argument2             
strong-rooted as the oldest of old oaks 
in old true ,british prejudices2        
decidedly eccentric1 obstinate1 and     
whimsical2 but in every word and  deed a
 ,god-fearing1 queen-honouring1         
truth-loving1 honest man4    8,this was 
the famous ,george ,cruikshank1         
caricaturist1 social satirist  and      
moralist1 illustrator of books1 engraver
 on steel and copper1  draughtsman on   

wood1 painter in oils and water-colours1
 the doughtiest  champion1 in his       
degree1 of the temperance cause2 and1   
albeit his  #8foaming bowl' was for many
 years replenished only from the pump1  
the  ,prince of ,good ,fellows40    ,the
 ,prince of ,good ,fellows looked very  
much as his later friends  remembered   
him1 some five-and-thirty years ago1 as 
,i can well remember4  ,the ingeniously 
arranged chevelure was within artful    
elastic bands  drawn over the skull1    
when ,i was a boy4 ,i was one of many   
youngsters who  would creep round his   
chair clay pipe in his mouth 7he always 
smoked a  long clay pipe while he smoked
 at all7 and his brandy-and-water before
  him1 talking loudly and eagerly1      
gesticulating like a ,frenchman1 and    
turning now one ear and now the other1  
to catch the conversation of the        
company4 ,a man incapable of rest1 with 
a swift1 glancing1 steely eye1 a  mobile
 mouth1 and a grotesquely fierce general
 aspect1 aggravated by  the hook-nose1  

which was awry2 prodigal in the matters 
of whisker1  shirt-collar1 and          
wristband2 old-fashioned enough1 even in
 the year  #ahde1 to strike boys4 99    
99 ,george ,cruikshank was very careful 
about any portrait of       him that was
 drawn or painted4 ,one in coloured     
chalks by his       friend ,mill1 that  
hung in his ,amwell ,street studio1     
satisfied him entirely4 ,the eyes were  
at their fiercest1 and       the        
whiskers were superb4 ,one day1 when    
,cruikshank was       illustrating      
,scott1 ,mr4 ,lockhart called1 and1     
remarking the       portrait1 said      
drily1 8,i saw a man1 very like that1 in
       ,italy1 executed for murder40    
,some people would have been            
offended1 but ,cruikshank was delighted4
 ,he affected the       brigand look4   
,in his social habits and relations1    
,cruikshank was a most modest1          
self-respecting man4 ,he never courted  
great folk1 he submitted to no  form of 
patronage1 and he never pretended to ape

 the manners and  habits of the         
fashionable world4 ,he lived the first  
half of his life  in ,pentonville199 and
 the second in ,camden ,town4 ,he       
confined his  acquaintance to congenial 
friends2 and when these happened to be  
persons  of rank and wealth1 in its     
unfashionable neighbourhood4 ,in this he
  set an example which many of his      
brother artists--his inferiors in       
genius--might have followed with        
advantage to their fame4 ,he stood1 at  
the end of his life1 in strong contrast 
with the petits matres in  the arts1 who
 give themselves fashionable airs1      
decorate their houses  extravagantly1   
and spend their too easily acquired     
gains in slavish  imitations of ,mayfair
 life4 ,cruikshank1 in his ,omnibus1    
reproved1 in  his own quaint way1 a     
writer who had said that he was a       
collector of  curiosities4         99   
,among the visitors to ,amwell ,street  
was the ,baron de       ,berenger1 a    
remarkable adventurer and spectator4    

,george       ,cruikshank1 when a young 
volunteer1 had been intimate with       
,charles ,ransom of his corps1 who as a 
print colourer at       ,ackermann's1   
and who1 as a volunteer1 was remarked as
 a good       shot4 ,being a            
well-mannered young fellow1 he was      
patronized       by ,mr4 ,hammerley the 
banker2 and at this gentleman's house   
he met the ,baroness de ,berenger1 a    
,german widow4 ,he married       her1   
and assumed the title of ,baron de      
,berenger4 ,being a man       fond of   
athletics1 he conceived the idea of     
turning ,cremorae       ,farm1 ,lord    
,cremome's place at ,chelsea1 into a    
suburban       gymnasium and place for  
field sports4 ,cremorne ,farm became    
the ,stadium1 and flourished under the  
,baron's management4 ,he       rode out 
always attended by his four sons on     
horseback1       dressed in grey        
military tunics1 and with swords at     
their       sides4 ,this cavalcade      
occasionally clattered along ,amwell    

,street1 ,pentonville1 to pay a business
 visit to ,cruikshank1       who1 with  
his brother1 was illustrating with      
sporting       etchings the guide-book  
to the ,stadium4    8,no single symp--,i
 was about to say that no single symptom
 of a  curiosity1 however insignificant1
 is visible in my dwelling1 when by     
audible tokens ,i was 7or rather am7    
rendered sensible of the existence  of a
 pair of bellows4 ,well1 in these it    
must be admitted that we  do possess a  
curiosity4 ,we call them #8bellows1'    
because1 on a close  inspection1 they   
appear to bear a much stronger          
resemblance to #8bellows'  than to any  
other species of domestic implement2 but
 what in reality  they are1 the next    
annual meeting of the great ,scientific 
,association  must determine2 or the    
public may decide for themselves1 when  
admitted  hereafter to view the precious
 deposit in the ,british ,museum40 ,then
  follows an amusing account of the old 
bellows1 with a sketch of them4  8,the  

origin of the bellows ,i know not10 says
 their owner2 8but a  suspicion has     
seized me that they might have been     
employed in the ,ark1  had there been a 
kitchen fire there2 and they may have   
assisted in  raising a flame under the  
first tea-kettle put on to celebrate the
  laying of the first stone of the great
 wall of ,china40    ,cruikshank1       
moreover1 took exception to the         
description of his person by  the same  
writer4 ,if careless about his house1 he
 was vain of his person4  ,the writer   
said3 8,in person1 ,g4 ,c4 is about the 
middle height1 and  proportionbly made4 
,his complexion is something between    
pale and clear2  and his hair1 which is 
tolerably ample1 partakes of a lightish 
hue4  ,his face is of the angular form1 
and his forehead has a #8prominently    
receding shape40 ,cruikshank closed with
 his antagonist3--    8,as ,hamlet said 
to the ghost1 ,i'll go no further6 ,the 
indefinite  complexion1 and the hair    
#8partaking' of an opposite hue to the  

real one1  may be borne2 but ,i stand1  
not upon my head1 but on my forehead6   
,to  a man who has once passed the      
,rubicon in having dared to publish his 
portrait1 the exhibition of his mere    
profile can do no more injury than  a   
petty larceny would after the           
perpetration of a highway robbery4 ,but 
why be tempted to show1 by an outline1  
that my forehead is innocent of  a shape
 7the #8prominently receding' one7 that 
never yet was visible in  nature or in  
art8 ,let it pass1 till it can be       
explained4    8#8,he delights in a      
handsome pair of whiskers4' ,nero had   
one flower flung  upon his tomb4 #8,he  
has somewhat of a dandified appearance4'
 ,flowers soon  fade1 and are cut down2 
and this is the #8unkindest cut of all4'
 ,i1 who1  humbly co-operating with the 
press1 have helped to give permanence to
  the name of dandy--,i1 who have all my
 life been breaking butterflies  upon   
wheels in warring against dandyism and  
dandies--am at last  discovered to be   

#8somewhat' of a dandy myself4          
#8,come1 ,antony1 and young ,octavius1  
come6        ,revenge yourselves' as you
 may2 but1 dandies all1       ,i have   
not done with you yet40    ,the         
8inimitable ,george10 however1 was a    
dandy--in his way4  ,old-fashioned1     
tumbled1 eccentric1 his dress had a     
studied look4 ,the  strong individuality
 of the vivacious and active little man 
7for he was  under the middle height7   
appeared to be preserved by attention to
 the  elaboration of a costume unlike   
that of any of his neighbours4 ,it was  
foppishness like that of the late       
,marquis of ,lansdowne1 whose buff and  
blue had become a fancy dress at the end
 of his life4    ,i cannot do better    
than conclude this description of the   
,george  ,cruikshank of the first epoch1
 by an account of him1 in #ahdj-db1     
written  by his old friend ,w4 ,l4      
,sammons1 who is now a ,temperance light
 at the  ,cape1 but who has a vivid     
recollection of his friend in days when 

they  met over a mug of ale4 ,it comes  
to me from ,cape ,town4 ,the scene opens
 in  ,amwell ,street1                   
,pentonville3--8,the same evening a     
friend or two dropped  in--,douglas     
,jerrold and1 ,i think1 ,laman          
,blanchard1 the editor of  ,cruikshank's
 ,omnibus1--and the former ,mrs4        
,cruikshank was present and  presided1  
and threw a charm over the tea and      
supper tables2 and ,i saw  and revelled1
 as it were1 through all the gems1 both 
ancient and modern1  signed 8,g4 ,ck410 
in the ,royal workshop1 and lingered    
over that famous  notorious ,screen in  
it1 covered by him with texts of thought
 for present  and future use1 in the    
shape of 8,odd ,people and              
,things0--queer 8head and  tail         
pieces0--strange 8monstrosities of      
,fashions0 for the day--noses1  dresses1
 and phizes of all dimensions and       
shades1 ready for adaptation  according 
to the age and epoch required4 ,george  
,cruikshank was  particularly busy on   

this day1 because of 8,the ,miser's     
,daughter10 by  ,ainsworth1 that he was 
illustrating for ,bentley's ,miscellany1
 and  he assured me if not finished by  
such an hour and such a day he  should  
forfeit fifty pounds2 and yet he risked 
the uncertainty to show  hospitality to 
his friends4    8,during this visit to  
,london1 dear ,george took me the round 
of several  of the theatres and         
gardens--,old ,vauxhall1 that we had    
seen as boys1  when unknown to each     
other1 being closed1 and the great 8,m4 
,c40    ,simpson dead2 and ,i could not 
fail to perceive how he was petted and  
respected by all1 lessees1 managers1 and
 actors1 and readily ushered  into any  
quarter that caprice1 pleasure1 or      
professional duties  required1 whether  
pit-boxes1 or gallery2 but the 8dress   
circle0   was less to his taste than    
others1 because there life was          
fossilised1  artificial1 and restrained1
 and dress mere tinsel2 and no dialogue 
suitable for his reports1 or action     

worthy of his crayons4 ,this may        
account1 perhaps1 for that #8absence of 
beauty' that is said to pervade  his    
works2 because beauty per se is apt to  
give itself airs and become  unseemly   
and ungraceful2 and ,george             
,cruikshank's high and stern  mission   
was in #8the highways and hedges1' and  
to reclaim by a moral and  pictorial    
force the repelling1 the vicious1 and   
the vile4    8,but ,i confess to feeling
 a little disturbed1 when at his side1  
at  seeing so many long necks and bright
 eyes and glasses turned upon him  from 
all directions1 and to perceive the     
whispering and commotion in             
consequence4 ,here ,g4 ,c4's thumb-nails
 often served as ample ,space for a     
photo4    8,as a thing of beauty is said
 to be a joy for ever1 so at the period 
above stated we had our glorious days   
together1 and may be figuratively       
described as #8being in clover and      
sleeping in lavender'2 for kind ,george 
devoted many hours in taking me to some 

of his favourite1 and it may  be added1 
requisite haunts1 where he gathered his 
,fame for his simple  wants1 without i  
hoarding4 ,one morning he led me to the 
burial-ground  of ,st4 ,james's ,chapel1
 ,pentonville1 near his house1 and      
pointed out the  graves of ,thomas      
,dibdin1 son of the great sea-songster1 
and of his old  and #8mutual friend1'   
,joey ,grimaldi1 whose mortal coils are 
laid near  each other2 and ,i wish ,i   
could remember so as to record the      
tender and  sympathetic little oration  
he then delivered4    8,at night        
,sadler's ,wells was the scene of       
action1 but poor ,joey being  absent1   
#8,greece was living ,greece no more1'  
and all things were changed since our   
boyhood ,friend ,cruikshank reminded  me
 of that passage 7in ,dickens's #8,life 
of the ,king of ,clowns'7 that  he      
illustrated in two vols41 where ,joey   
and his much better-half1 one  evening1 
disputing about precedency1 resolved    
upon taking poison to end  all          

contention1 and to settle their         
differences of opinion for ever4 ,but   
not taking enough1 and forgetting the   
oft-quoted maxim1 now travestied1       
#8,drink deep1 or taste not any         
poisonous thing1'    the feeble dose    
merely kept them awake and talkative1   
and lying in  the same room1 with a     
slight partition between them1          
sensations became  unpleasant1 and so   
they held a colloquy in their fears as  
follows3  #8,joey1 are you dead8' #8,no1
 ,mary1--are you8' #8,no4' ,and then    
they altered  their minds1 and felt     
disposed to live a little longer1 arose1
 had  a good supper and something warm  
and comfortable as a sedative and       
antidote1 and then jogged on a little   
more in unison4    8,on passing through 
the ,queen's ,bench with him1 ,i called 
his attention  to the prison window1    
behind the bars of which stood a        
miserable inmate  with a black box      
before him1 on which was written1       
#8,remember the  poor debtors4' ,george 

smiled1 and said1 #8,yes1 but think of  
the poor  creditors4' ,and this scene ,i
 find recorded by him1 and his own      
remarks1  on a small placard at the top 
of the picture #8,remember the poor     
creditors4' ,but what numbers of similar
 ,hogarthian hints he has left  behind  
him6    ,shortly afterwards ,cruikshank 
paid his friend a visit at ,bath3--     
8#8,the ,bottle ,conjurer' and smasher  
of it1 and part destroyer of his        
contents--,i mean ,george               
,cruikshank--arrived safely at the city 
of ,king  ,bladud and the throne of     
,beau ,nash2 and he commanded me with a 
willing  assent to become a second      
#8,anstey1' or little #8,bath ,guide1'  
to ferret  all quarters with him--,west 
to ,east and ,high to ,low--having a    
monthly  serial still on hand that      
required certain characters for         
illustration  7perhaps #8,jack          
,sheppard' or the #8,tower of ,london1' 
after the ,omnibus  had ceased running74
 ,friend ,george began with the upper   

crust1 as  nearest #8home' and          
,lansdown2 and leaving his card the day 
before at  ,william ,beckford's mansion 
in the ,crescent1 went with me where ,i 
had  been several times before4         
,possibly at the foot of ,table         
,mountain it may  not be known that this
 ,william ,beckford was an esquire and a
 somebody  in ,england1 the owner and   
builder of ,fonthill ,abbey1 inheritor  
but not  enjoyer of immense wealth1 and 
the celebrated author of #8,vathek' and 
the #8,halls of ,eblis1' before which1  
in point of imagination1 ,byron1 or     
somebody else1 said #8,rasselas' must   
bow40    ,mr4 ,beckford1 notwithstanding
 original gifts1 and the accident of    
riches1 was a shy and eccentric bird    
that flew from every one1 and  nobody   
must approach2 and so1 when we got      
there1 and were passing along  a        
corridor1 door suddenly in our faces1   
the apology being1 #8he saw ,mr4        
,beckford coming1 and it was more than  
he dare hazard for any one to  notice   

him4' ,and yet he left a gracious       
message in the hands of his             
house-steward1 ,mr4 ,f-1 who himself    
kept a stylish establishment and        
carriage1 #8to show ,mr4 ,cruikshank all
 he desired2' and even added1 #8that  if
 ,mr4 ,cruikshank knew how much he 7,mr4
 ,b47 valued his earlier sketches1  he  
would not have refused some of them when
 once solicited4' ,i asked #8,g4  ,c4'  
the cause of this1 and he remarked1 #8at
 that time he parted with  few of his   
originals2' and when we left ,lansdown  
,crescent1 he commented  warmly on the  
treat and pleasure he had derived1 and  
as a red-letter day  in his biography4  
#8,from the sublime to the ridiculous is
 but a step1'  and so we soon threaded  
the externals of ,royal a black         
dwarf--or rather  a nutmeg shade--banged
 a ,anstey's 8,new ,bath ,guide40       
,crescents and ,circuses1 ,pulteney and 
,milsom ,streets1 and ,queen ,squares1  
and odd holes1 lanes1' and corners1     
until reaching ,avon ,street1 where     

#8the power of sinking could no further 
go1' nor the ,pig and ,whistle meet     
with a more picturesque if degraded     
aspect ,in this latter neighbourhood  it
 was requisite for professional purposes
 and home orders that ,george           
,cruikshank should have a nightly       
sojourn1 if not revel2 and so a         
suitable tavern was chosen that had a   
skittle-alley attached1 that  except in 
name or position might form a capital   
match for that ,lion in  the ,wood in   
,wilderness ,lane1 that he mentions in  
#8,my ,portrait1' at the  commencement  
of bis ,omnibus4 ,whilst we were there  
as lookers-on only1  and sipping        
#8half-and-half' out of the same pewter 
#8between the acts1'  if they may be so 
called1 or during the #8intervals1' at  
this ,beggars'  ,opera1 friend          
,cruikshank amused himself by chalking  
one scene on the  wall1 and all eyes    
were soon upon it1 for it was lifelike  
and spirited4  ,oh that ,i could have   
removed that wonderful cartoon from its 

surface1  or preserved a copy6 it would 
now realize the value of many ordinary  
frescoes and presumed originals--and    
more than drunken ,morland's            
#8,goat-in-,boots' signboard4 ,but      
leaving ,bath for ,cape ,town three     
months  afterwards1 the mind was        
absorbed in other matters1 and both     
places  and scenes forgotten at the     
time1 but now stand out in bold relief  
and  vividly40    ,illustration3 #aje   
,this was ,george ,cruikshank only a few
 years before he gave himself  wholly up
 to the cause of ,temperance4           
,illustration3 #ajf            ,,epoch  
,,ii4 #ahdh--ahgh4          ,,chapter   
,i4 ,,at ,,gillray's ,,grave4    ,no    
great stretch of the imagination is     
needed to conjure up an  interesting    
picture in the corner of the graveyard  
of ,st4 ,james's1  ,piccadilly1 in that 
momentous ,june when the forces of      
,france and the  ,allies were gathering 
hastily for the field of ,waterloo4 ,it 
was on the  first of the month4 ,from   

the famous print-shop of ,mistress      
,humphrey in  ,st4 ,james's ,street1    
before which hosts of laughing men and  
women had  been wont to linger1 a coffin
 was home1 containing the mortal part of
  the 8,juvenal of caricature0 as he had
 been called--of the hapless man of     
genius1 who had lain1 with short flashes
 of sanity1 full six years with  mind   
unstrung--a dreadful shadow over the    
mirthful shop4 ,behind followed  the    
good ,mistress ,humphrey and her        
faithful ,betty1 her maid2 probably     
stout ,mortimer the picture dealer1     
possibly ,mr4 ,gifford4 ,let us think   
of ,landseer and ,james ,stanley and    
others to whom poor ,gillray had been   
known in his bright days1 standing by   
the open grave near the ,rectory        
,house1 within full sound of the hum of 
,piccadilly4 ,and at hand we shall  note
 a slim young man1 with eager1 piercing 
eyes1 a hook nose1 with fall  whiskers  
trimmed to the corners of his mouth2 a  
young man with incessant  spasmodic     

action4 ,his eyes start and his mouth   
works1 as1 the service  ended1 he gazes 
into the yawning grave4 ,to his         
neighbour he says1 under  his breath1   
8,a great man1 sir--a very great man40  
,with a bow to weeping ,mistress        
,humphrey he retires4 ,the good soul1   
who  has now done her last duty to the  
poor madman with whom she has borne     
patiently and gratefully so long1 is    
pleased to note that ,mr4 ,cruikshank   
had not forgotten to pay his last       
tribute of respect and gratitude to  his
 master4 ,mrs4 ,humphrey1 no doubt1     
regarded the young man whom she had     
employed to finish ,gillray's work when 
he first fell ill1 and who had  since   
managed to keep the crowds laughing     
before her windows1 as a  very poor     
substitute for the dead genius4 ,and in 
those days ,cruikshank  himself was     
still very modest1 and was proud to be  
accounted strong  enough to hold the    
pencil and the needle of the stricken   
,gillray4    ,upon a sensitive1         

imaginative1 observant man like ,george 
,cruikshank1  the life of him whom he   
owned in his early days as his master1  
with its  awful close1 must have made a 
deep impression4 ,men said that ,gillray
 had  wrecked his career through        
frequenting low company1 and by         
intemperate  habits4 ,cruikshank knew   
something of this1 had seen much of such
  company1 and was in close             
companionship with tipplers4 ,gillray   
was not  the first man of mark whom he  
had watched from tavern to tavern1 and  
so on to poverty and death4 ,almost his 
earliest recollections were of  drinking
 bouts1 and their debasing consequences4
 ,his boyish sight had  been offended at
 his father's house with the spectacle  
of drunken men  rolled up in carpets1   
upon whose blank and soddened faces the 
morning  sun was shining499 ,he had been
 saddened as a son by his father's      
example1  and inexpressibly shocked by  
the manner of his death4 ,it appears    
that  ,isaac ,cruikshank1 who was a     

heavy whisky drinker1 laid a bet with a 
boon companion that he would drink more 
tumblers than his friend without        
falling under the table4 ,he won his    
wager1 but his excess brought upon  him 
the illness of which he died1 about his 
fifty-fifth year4 9999         99 8,at a
 meeting held at ,manchester1 this great
 artist gave       an address on        
,temperance2 in the course of which1    
referring       to the early days of his
 life1 and to the drinking habits       
which existed at that period1 he said he
 recollected       gentlemen coming to  
dine occasionally at his father's house1
       and he was often surprised on    
coming downstairs of a morning       to 
find some of them rolled up in the      
carpet in an       extraordinary manner4
 ,his own father took too much drink1   
and shortened his life by it4 ,he       
shortened his life by the       fashion 
of the day1 and left him 7the speaker7  
uneducated4444 ,he had watched the      
effects of drink ever       since he had

 begun to reflect1 both among the higher
 and       lower orders40--,poor        
,richards ,almanac1 #ahgf4         9999 
,this story was told to the ,rev4 ,dr4  
,rogers by ,george       ,cruikshank4   
,such experiences1 albeit they led      
,cruikshank to reflect seriously on the 
evils of excessive drinking1 did not1 as
 we have seen1 at once turn him  from   
the bottle4 ,mr4 ,paget remarked in     
,blackwood that ,cruikshank was  a      
severe anatomist of the vice long before
 any idea of his celebrated  8,bottle0  
could have crossed his mind4 ,in his    
8,sunday in ,london10   published in    
#ahcc1 he depicted the drunkard paying  
his week's score4 ,in  one of his       
,temperance speeches he said3 8,i am    
ashamed to say that for  many years ,i  
went on following the ordinary custom of
 drinking1 till  ,i fell into pecuniary 
difficulties4 ,i had some money at a    
banker's2 he  fell into difficulties1   
took to drinking brandy-and-water1 and  
ended by  blowing out his brains4    ,i 

lost my money1 and in my distress       
applied to friends who aided me for  a  
time1 but they themselves fell into     
difficulties1 and ,i was forced to      
extricate myself by the most            
extraordinary exertions4 ,in this strait
 ,i  thought1 ,the best thing ,i can do 
is to take to water2 but still ,i went  
on for some time before ,i quite weaned 
myself from my own drinking  habits4 ,i 
went to take luncheon with my friend    
,dickens 7who1 ,i am sorry  to say1 is  
not a teetotaler72 he asked me to take  
wine1 but ,i told him ,i  had taken to  
water1 for1 in my opinion1 a man had    
better take a glass of  prussic acid    
than fall into the other habit of taking
 brandy-and-water2  and ,i am happy to  
say that ,charles ,dickens quite agreed 
with me1 that  a mam had better wipe    
himself out at once1 than extinguish    
himself by  degrees by the              
soul-degrading and body-destroying      
enemy40    ,illustration3 #aab          
,immediately after the death of         

,gillray1 we find evidence of the       
twinges  of conscience which ,cruikshank
 felt1 even while he continued to fall1 
at  intervals1 into wild excesses4      
,these were followed by dark passages of
  remorse1 and by resolutions which were
 again and again broken4 ,the  fate of  
the men--and that of ,gillray           
especially--whom he had seen fall       
victims to what he was pleased to call  
the fashionable vice1 would  rise before
 him4 ,but1 in an impulsive1 convivial  
moment1 his own sad  experiences of time
 wasted and opportunities gone1 and of  
the friends he  had lost1 were often    
forgotten2 and he found himself1 as of  
old1 wending  his way home1 in the small
 hours1 covered with a sense of         
disgrace4  ,cruikshank was no better1   
and no worse1 than his contemporaries4  
,a  letter in ,procter's 99 neat hand   
lies before me4 ,it is dated from       
,gray's  ,inn ,square1 ,march #acth1    
#ahci2 and he says3    8,i shall be very
 happy to be one of the number to dine  

with ,macready4  ,but1 remember1 ,i     
cannot be one of those who will         
doubtless be found  under the table at  
four a4m4 7as ,i understand was the case
 upon a late  occasion740         99    
,barry ,cornwall4    ,if1 however1      
,cruikshank was not early a convert to  
the practice of  temperance1 he was1 as 
,i have remarked1 a preacher betimes4   
,his 8,introduction to the ,gout0       
7#ahah7 is in his best vein4 ,a toper is
  seated over his pot1 and holding a    
peach upon his fork1 with which he  is  
about to cool his mouth4 ,an imp--one   
,gout--approaches from the  fireplace1  
and with the tongs is about to drop a   
red coal on the  great-toe of ,toper4   
,another drawing 7a lithograph7 of this 
date  is suggestive4 ,it is called      
8,deadly ,lively40 ,death has stepped   
in1  surprising a man and two women1 who
 are drinking in a kitchen1 before a    
blazing fire4 ,death is filling the     
man's glass2 the old woman is falling   
from her seat1 and the young man is     

tumbling drunk under the table4         
,presently 7in the same year7 the artist
 is in a gayer mood as a  satirist4 ,the
 picture is called 8,tit-,bits40 ,an    
,irishwoman1 overcome by  beer1 has     
fallen into a deep sleep under a tree4  
,her slumbers give a  yokel an          
opportunity of stealing one of her      
chickens1 while a cur licks  the tarts  
in her basket499 ,then we have 8,the    
,three ,bottle ,divine10 no  rara avis  
in those days4 ,it is the head of a     
heavy1 coarse-featured  man1 in sporting
 guise1 his face garnished with         
carbuncles and large  spectacles4    ,so
 far back as #ahcf1 ,cruikshank gave the
 public a foretaste of  8,the ,bottle0  
in a vignette to a music title4 ,two    
individuals are  represented--one old   
and spectacled1 the other young and with
 an  eyeglass1--examining with horror   
the contents of a spirit bottle1 which  
is filled with malignant imps           
emblematical of alcohol as 8doctored by 
publicans10 and sold for 8,old ,tom10   

etc4 ,the cork has turned devil1 and    
throws up his arms in delight at the    
work of his imps4         99 ,the       
foregoing were drawn by ,cruikshank from
 ,captain ,hehl's       designs4        
8,gin0 remarks ,mr4 ,thackeray1 years   
before ,cruikshank had become a         
,temperance advocate1 or in the least   
degree an abstainer2 8gin has  furnished
 many subjects to ,mr4 ,cruikshank1 who 
labours in his own sound  and hearty way
 to teach his countrymen the dangers of 
that drink4 ,in  the #8,sketch-book' is 
a plate upon the subject1 remarkable for
 fancy and  beauty of design2 it is     
called the #8,gin ,juggernaut1' and     
represents  a hideous moving palace1    
with a reeking still as the roof1 and   
vast  gin-barrels for wheels1 under     
which unhappy millions are crushed to   
death4 ,an immense black cloud of       
desolation covers over the country      
through which the gin monster had       
passed1 dimly looming through the       
darkness1 whereof you see an agreeable  

prospect of gibbets with men  dangling1 
burnt houses1 etc4 ,the vast cloud comes
 sweeping on in the  wake of this       
horrible body-crusher2 and you see1 by  
way of contrast1 a  distant1 smiling1   
sunshiny tract of old ,english country1 
where gin as  yet is not known4 ,the    
allegory is as good1 as earnest1 and as 
fanciful  as one of ,john ,bunyan's1 and
 we have often fancied there was a      
similarity between the men40    ,the    
similarity1 if you look deeply into the 
two imaginations1 is strong  and        
striking1 as it is between the genius of
 ,dor in its grotesque and  moral moods1
 and that of ,cruikshank4 ,compare      
,dor's 8,wandering ,jew10 his           
8,rabelais10 his 8,contes ,drolatiques10
 with ,cruikshank's work about #ahbf1   
and even later1 and you cannot fail to  
discover the strong affinity  between   
the two great artists4 ,dor knew nothing
 of ,cruikshank's work  in his early    
time1 and ,cruikshank had never heard   
,dor's name when1 in  #ahed1 ,i brought 

over to ,england the blocks of his      
8,wandering ,jew40 9999         9999 ,i 
introduced ,george ,cruikshank to       
,gustave ,dor in the       ,dor ,gallery
 in ,bond ,street4 ,dor looked          
wonderingly at the       vivacious1 wild
 old man as he went through a pantomime 
in       default of ,french1 to express 
his admiration of the pictures       the
 gallery4    ,in his illustrations to   
8,sketches by ,boz10 ,cruikshank first  
approached  intemperance from that point
 of view in which he treated it         
afterwards  in 8,the ,bottle40 ,his view
 of the gin-shop comprehends a complete 
story4    8,we have sketched this       
subject1 says ,dickens1 8very slightly1 
not only  because our limits compel us  
to do so1 but because1 if it were       
pursued  further1 it would be painful   
and repulsive4 ,well-disposed gentlemen 
and charitable ladies would alike turn  
with coldness and disgust from  a       
description of the drunken besotted men 
and wretched1 broken-down1  miserable   

women1 who form no inconsiderable       
portion of the frequenters  of these    
haunts2 forgetting1 in the pleasant     
consciousness of their own  high        
rectitude1 the poverty of the one and   
the temptation of the other4            
,gin-drinking is a great vice in        
,england1 but poverty is a greater2 and 
until you can cure it1 or persuade a    
half-famished wretch not to seek  relief
 in the temporary oblivion of his own   
misery with the pittance  which1 divided
 among his family1 would just furnish a 
morsel of bread  for each1 gin-shops    
will increase in number and splendour   
,if-,temperance  ,societies could       
suggest an antidote against hunger and  
distress1 or  establish dispensaries for
 the gratuitous distribution of bottles 
of  ,lethe-water1 gin palaces would be  
numbered among the things that were4    
,until then1 their decrease may be      
despaired of40 ,dickens here glanced1   
and only carelessly1 at the surface of  
the great question4 ,this poverty  which

 he deplored was the result of the      
drink4 ,the ,lethe-water would be       
unnecessary if the gin-and-water were   
stopped4 ,poverty1 dirt1 hunger1        
promote the publican's trade2 but this  
trade breeds the misery on which  it    
thrives4 ,the quartern which the father 
drinks1 helps to raise a  customer in   
his son1 for the trade of the publican's
 son4 ,more than ten  years elapsed     
before this view of the ,temperance     
question was destined  to have complete 
sway and mastery over the genius of     
,dickens's  illustrator2 but already he 
saw deeper into it1 because he looked   
more  earnestly into it than the writer1
 who had not yet done with the comedy   
element of drunkenness4    ,in #ahda1   
,cruikshank drew for ,bentley's         
,miscellany an 8allegorical             
representation of the infatuation of the
 mob for ardent spirits1 and the        
drunkenness occasioned by an election1  
from a design by ,t4 ,l4 ,f40 99 ,in    
#ahdf1 he illustrated ,our ,own ,times1 

and in the ,london ,penetralia  we find 
him moralizing with his etching-needle1 
in the ragged school of  ,chick ,lane1  
,smithfield1 and satirising1 under the  
head of 8,a ,tremendous  ,sacrifice10   
the slop-sellers who live in luxury on  
the work of poor  seamstresses4         
99 8,in the centre of the composition is
 the pedestal of an       altar1        
ornamented with a bas-relief of         
,britannia1 on which       is resting a 
barrel of liquor1 inscribed1 #8,ruin    
,members and                            
,co4--,poverty--,treadmill--,botany     
,bay1' the tap running for       the    
gratification of an assemblage of       
drunken wretches1 who       eagerly     
endeavour to get their favourite        
beverage1 excepting       those who are 
helplessly drunk or fighting40--,reid's 
,descriptive ,catalogue4                
,illustration3 #abj    ,cruikshank was  
now inclining strongly to the work to   
which he was  destined to give the last 
thirty years of his life4 ,and in #ahdg 

he gave  himself up heart and soul to   
the preaching1 by example as well as by 
tongue and etching-needle1 the moral    
which had haunted him so long1 that  had
 left him no rest till he grappled with 
and conquered it1 since he  had watched 
the eclipse of ,gillray's genius1 and   
seen his own father  hurried1 by a      
boastful toper's bet1 to his premature  
grave4    ,illustration3 #aba           
,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,bottle4    ,,we 
have seen that many years before the    
,temperance question fastened  itself   
upon ,cruikshank's mind1 never to be    
blotted out again for a  single day1 he 
had marked and satirized the effects of 
drunkenness in  the desolate home1 the  
workhouse1 and the gaol4 ,his 8,gin     
,shop10 where  ,death sets a trap for a 
party of topers1 the 8,ale-house10 and  
the  8,pillars of the ,gin ,shop10 were 
drawn some fifteen years before he added
  to the preaching of his needle and his
 pencil1 the force of his personal      
example4    ,in #ahcf1 as the reader has

 already learned1 the germ of 8,the     
,bottle0   appeared in a lithographed   
vignette to a music title1 8,the ,dream 
of the  ,bottle10 and was published by  
poor old ,a4 ,schloss1 proprietor of    
8lie  ,bijou ,almanac10 a little annual 
that was issued with a magnifying       
glass499 ,schloss was a well-known      
figure in ,london years afterwards1     
first as ,staudigl's secretary1 and     
afterwards as an employ at  the office  
of ,dickens's 8,household ,words40 ,then
 again1 in 8,sunday in  ,london10       
,cruikshank drew a ,temperance moral    
from 8,the ,pay ,table40 ,a  publican is
 pointing out a workman's score for the 
foreman to deduct  from his week's      
wages--with the lean and hungry wife and
 children at  hand4 ,in the same series 
we find 8,the ,sunday ,market0--a       
butcher's shop  between two             
public-houses1 where the food money is  
spent4    ,but 8,the ,bottle0 was       
,cruikshank's diploma work1 as ,l4 ,e4  
,l41 who edited  it1 says in her        

dedication of the number for #ahcg to   
,queen ,adelaide4 ,it  was bound in     
vellum and gold2 illustrated with tiny  
portraits of ,pastor1  ,malibran1 and   
others1 enriched by fairy pages of      
music1 and enclosed in  a blue velvet or
 morocco case1 with a magnifying glass  
for the reader's  use4 ,in that for     
#ahci1 poor ,l4 ,e4 ,l4 bade her        
farewell to ,england4    ,it was a      
pictorial ,temperance drama--so         
essentially dramatic indeed1  that on   
its first appearance it immediately     
found its way to the stage4  99         
99 ,it was published by the late ,david 
,bogue1 of ,fleet ,street4    ,the story
 of ,the ,bottle is unfolded in eight   
designs executed in  glyphography--a    
process by which it was possible to     
execute the immense  number of copies   
which the publisher anticipated1 and    
with good reason1  would be required by 
the public1 but which is ungrateful and 
unfaithful  to the touch of the artist4 
,in the first plate we have a cosy      

family party4 ,the open cupboard is     
well supplied4 ,the children are playing
 by the hearth2 a kitten is  toying with
 the cat's tail upon the rug2 the       
mantelpiece is loaded with  pretty      
ornaments2 there is a picture of a      
village church against the  wall2 at the
 table the husband and wife are seated  
at dinner1 and he is  handing her a     
glass1 which she coyly refuses4 ,under  
the plate we read3  8,the bottle is     
brought out for the first time3 the     
husband induces his  wife #8just to take
 a drop4'0 ,the interest deepens apace4 
,the effect  of the first drop is seen  
in ,plate #b4 ,the sottish husband1 with
 a pipe  hanging from his mouth1 his    
kerchief awry1 his clothes in disorder1 
sits  drowsy with drink1 his children   
looking fearingly at him1 while the wife
  is giving a bundle of clothes to the  
servant girl1 to pawn1 8to supply  the  
bottle40 ,the starved cat is licking an 
empty platter upon the table2  the      
cupboard door ajar discloses empty      

shelves4 ,in the next plate 8an         
execution sweeps off the greater part of
 the furniture10 but the drunken  man   
and wife huddle themselves before the   
fire1 and 8comfort themselves  with the 
bottle40 ,there are ,hogarthian touches1
 developing the story  throughout the   
series4 ,in this plate the china cottage
 upon the  mantelpiece is broken1 and   
the husband's battered hat upon a peg is
 the  only ornament to the bare walls4  
,from the empty house the family repair 
to the streets to beg1 8and by this     
means they still supply the bottle40    
,in the fifth plate1 8cold1 want1 and   
misery0 have destroyed their  youngest  
child1 and still 8they console          
themselves with the bottle40 ,a  little 
open coffin is in the room1 and while   
the eldest girl weeps over  it1 the     
father and mother drink1 and weep also4 
,a broken toy dog is upon  the          
mantelpiece near a candle1 with a bottle
 for a candlestick4 ,an old  shawl is   
fastened before the window with a fork4 

,there are only a few  sticks in the    
fire4 ,in the next scene the husband has
 his wife by the  throat2 and his       
children and neighbours intervene4      
8,fearful quarrels and brutal violence10
 says the artist-preacher1 8are  the    
natural consequences of the frequent use
 of the bottle40 ,murder is  the next   
scene4 ,the wife lies dead1 with the    
doctor leaning over her1  and all the   
horrible commres who gather round death 
in the dark1  byways of great cities1   
are staring and talking4 ,the murderer  
is in the  clutches of the police2 the  
boy looks on aghast1 holding his chin1  
and  trembling in his rags2 the bottle1 
which has done the deed1 is shivered    
upon the floor and the fragments lie    
near a broken pipe1 a ragged  slipper   
and a battered hat4 ,the final scene is 
a mad-house4 8,the bottle  has done its 
work2 it has destroyed the infant and   
the mother1 the boy  and the girl left  
destitute and thrown on the streets1 and
 has left the  father a hopeless        

maniac40 ,the figure of the madman      
before the caged  fire is a very        
powerful bit of realism4    ,the moral  
of 8,the ,bottle0 was enforced by the   
poetic genius1 ,charles  ,mackay4 ,his  
8,gin-,fiend0 sang to the scratching of 
,cruikshank's needle--         8,there  
watch'd another by the hearth1          
,with sullen face and thin2       ,she  
utter'd words of scorn and hate1        
,to one that stagger'd in4       ,long  
had she watch'd2 and when he came1      
,his thoughts were bent on blood2       
,he could not brook her taunting look1  
,and he slew her where she stood4       
#8,and it's hip ,i' said the            
,gin-,fiend1 #8hip1 hurrah6       ,my   
right good friend is he2       ,he hath 
slain his wife1 he hath given his life1 
,and all for the love of me6'0          
,regarded as a sample of ,cruikshank's  
art power1 these plates are  far below  
the level of his best4 ,we do not       
perceive here the  master-craftsman4    
,his dramatic force is evident in every 

plate4 ,he tells  his story with the    
fulness and intensity which are in all  
his pictorial  narratives2 but the      
drawing is without grace1 and the types1
 with the  exception of the husband1 are
 wanting in that strong individuality he
  generally realized4    ,in a letter to
 ,mr4 ,forster 7,september #bnd1 #ahdg71
 ,mr4 ,dickens describes  the impression
 8,the ,bottle0 made on him3--    8,at  
,canterbury yesterday1 ,i bought ,george
 ,cruikshank's #8,bottle4' ,i think  it 
very powerful indeed3 the two last      
plates most admirable1 except that  the 
boy and girl in the very last are too   
young1 and the girl more  like a        
circus-phenomenon than that             
no-phenomenon she is intended to        
represent4 ,i question1 however1 whether
 anybody else living could have  done it
 so well4 ,there is a woman in the last 
plate but one1 garrulous  about the     
murder1 with a child in her arms1 that  
is as good as ,hogarth4  ,also the man  
who is stooping down1 looking at the    

body4 ,the philosophy  of the thing1 as 
a great lesson1 ,i think all wrong2     
because1 to be  striking1 and original  
too1 the drinking should have begun in  
sorrow1 or  poverty1 or ignorance--the  
three things in which1 in its awful     
aspect1  it does begin4 ,the design     
would thus have been a double-handed    
sword--but too #8radical' for good old  
,george1 ,i suppose40    ,and yet such  
calamities as that which 8old ,george0  
has drawn happen  every day2 beginning  
not in sorrow1 or poverty1 or ignorance1
 but in  little yieldings to temptation1
 in apparently trivial and accidental   
excesses4 ,what constitutes             
intemperance8 ,according to ,dr4 ,alfred
  ,carpenter1 any consumption of alcohol
 sufficient to furnish the blood  with  
one part of alcohol in five hundred of  
blood1 is dangerous to  health1 and     
therefore is an act of intemperance4 ,a 
more moderate  indulgence1 he says1 is  
not yet proved to be deleterious4 ,the  
late  ,dr4 ,anstie put temperance in a  

different way4 ,an average man or woman 
cannot1 according to him1 take more than
 a couple of glasses of sherry  daily   
without injury4 ,dr4 ,carpenter has     
denounced the habitual use of           
stimulants1 even in a very diluted form1
 to enable the drinker to do  more work 
than he could get through without them1 
as unquestionably  injurious--and       
therefore an act of intemperance4 ,there
 is not a  middle-aged man of education 
who has not come across the wrecks of   
lives  where the ruin was a gradual     
giving way to-the temptation of         
stimulants4    ,the police courts unfold
 daily stories of clerks and others1    
holding  positions of honour and of     
trust1 who have first staggered out of  
the  straight path under the influence  
of drink4 ,cruikshank's beginning of    
his drama is only too true to life2 and 
,i think he would have made a  mistake1 
that he would have weakened the         
tremendous force of his moral1  if he   
had put the excuse of sorrow1 or        

poverty1 or ignorance into  his opening 
scene4 ,as his story1 stands1 it teaches
 humble and happy  households1 in a     
rough text which all who run may read1  
to have a care  whenever the bottle     
appears on the scene2 and to lose no    
opportunity of  impressing1 upon the    
children the danger1 of putting2 the    
enemy near1  their mouths1 who may steal
 away1 not their brains only1 but their 
heart  and soul4    8,coarsely designed 
and coarsely executed1 yet very         
suggestive1 very full  of that          
story-teller's power which was so much  
,hogarth's and his own10   as ,mr4      
,frederick ,wedmore remarks1            
8,cruikshank's #8,bottle1' and the      
#8,drunkard's ,children1' which         
immediately followed it1 albeit executed
  when the finer qualities of his genius
 were suffering decay1 must always  be  
welcomed as admirable contributions to  
the matriel of ,temperance  advocacy40  
,cruikshank used to relate how1 when his
 8,bottle0 was  finished1 and he was    

anxious to secure for this first        
,temperance sermon  the widest possible 
publicity1 he carried the plates to ,mr4
 ,william  ,cash1 then chairman of the  
,national ,temperance ,society1 for his 
approval1 and the support of his        
powerful ,association4 ,mr4 ,cash1      
although a ,quaker1 was a gentleman with
 a very sharp1 humorous manner4  ,having
 attentively examined the series1 he    
turned upon the artist1 and  asked him  
how he himself could ever have anything 
to do with using 8,the  ,bottle10 which1
 by his own showing1 was the means of   
such dreadful evil8  ,cruikshank1 in his
 own forcible way1 described how he was 
8completely  staggered0 by this         
point-blank question4 ,he said1 when he 
had left ,mr4  ,cash1 he could not rid  
himself of the impression that had been 
made upon  him4 ,after a struggle1 he   
did not get rid of it1 but acted upon   
it1 by  resolving to give his example as
 well as his art to the total           
abstainers4    ,he was immediately      

rewarded by the extraordinary success   
which 8,the  ,bottle0 achieved4 ,it was 
sold by tens of thousands1 and was the  
talk of  the day4 ,if it has not        
directly led to a tangible result1 as   
,hogarth's  8,harlot's ,progress0 is    
said to have led to the foundation of   
the  ,magdalen ,hospital1 it and the    
8,drunkard's ,children10 a poor sequel  
7but  then sequels are always poor71    
have had the effect of powerful1        
popular1  and permanent sermons against 
the monster evil of our time4    ,not   
the least of the artist's rewards was   
the tribute to his genius it  inspired  
in ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold1 who wrote3--  
,,to ,g4 ,,cruikshank1         ,,on     
,,seeing1 ,,in ,,the ,,country1 ,,his   
,,picture ,,of 8,,the ,,bottle40        
8,artist1 whose hand1 with horror wing'd
 hath torn       ,from the rank life of 
towns this leaf6 and flung       ,the   
prodigy of full-blown crime among       
,valleys and men to middle fortune born1
       ,not innocent1 indeed1 yet not   

forlorn--       ,say1 what shall calm us
 when such guests intrude       ,like   
comets on the heavenly solitude8        
,shall breathless glades1 cheer'd by shy
 ,dian's horn1       ,cold-bubbling     
springs1 or caves8--,not so6       ,the 
soul ,breasts her own griefs1 and1 urged
 too fiercely1 says--       #8,why      
tremble8 ,true1 the nobleness of man    
,may be effaced2 man can control        
,to pain1 to death1 the bent of his own 
days4       ,know thou the worst6       
,so much1 not more1 he can4 '0          
,illustration3 #acc          ,,chapter  
,,iii4 ,,george ,,cruikshank ,,as ,a    
,,teetotaler4    ,george ,cruikshank was
 an enthusiast in all things to which he
 gave his  mind4 ,he did nothing in a   
halfhearted way4 ,whether preparing to  
address  a great ,exeter ,hall audience 
on the evils of drunkenness1 or marching
 at  the head of his riflemen1 or       
arraying himself in a table-cover to    
enact  the part of ,lord ,bateman2 in   
small things as in great1 he was ever at

  fever-heat4 ,he would have made a good
 actor1 had he not been incapable  of a 
moment's repose2 he would have been an  
admirable ,temperance  advocate1 had it 
been in him to give himself pause in    
order to think  over the heads of his   
discourse2 he would have been a good    
volunteer  officer1 had it been possible
 for him to sit quiet in his saddle4    
,but he  seemed to be troubled with an  
excess of life4 ,life at fever-heat is  
the dominant characteristic of all his  
work4 ,the 8quiet spaces0 in his        
etchings are rare4    ,having been      
converted by his own 8,bottle0 to total 
abstinence from  fermented liquors1 he  
could be nothing less than an earnest   
and a  vehement worker in the cause4 ,he
 threw himself heart and soul into  it2 
and during the thirty remaining years of
 his life his zeal never  slackened1 and
 he had never made sacrifices enough in 
it4 ,his impulsive  advocacy often took 
ludicrous forms4 ,he sometimes offended 
people by his  denunciations of even the

 most moderate drinkers1 but he never   
made an  enemy by his gaucherie or his  
downright phrases imported into quiet   
circles1 because the parity of his      
motive and the well-known impetuosity   
of his nature excused him4 ,i can       
remember1 in the first year of his      
total abstinence1 meeting him at a ball 
given in ,fitzroy ,square1 by ,mr4      
,joshua ,mayhew1 the father of ,horace  
and the ,brothers ,mayhew4 ,he danced   
and was light-hearted with the youngest2
 but when at supper the wine  began to  
circulate1 he stole round to the head of
 the table1 and1 laying  his hand upon  
the shoulder of the venerable host 7who 
was a very haughty  and quick-tempered  
old gentleman71 said1 in a deep1 warning
 voice1 8,sir1  you are a dangerous     
man40 ,mr4 ,mayhew had a glass of wine  
in his hand1  and was about to drink a  
toast to the health of one of his sons1 
when ,cruikshank's hand fell upon his   
shoulder4 8,i look upon every           
wine-drinker10 ,cruikshank added firmly1

 8as a dangerous man1 sir40 ,the        
company1 knowing the hot temper of their
 host1 expected an explosion  of rage2  
but it was staunched by ,horace ,mayhew1
 who burst into a hearty  laugh1 and    
told his father to go on1 for 8it was   
only dear old ,george40    ,in the same 
way1 when dining at the ,mansion ,house1
 ,cruikshank1 at the  passing of the    
loving-cup1 would go through an         
extraordinary pantomime  before all the 
company1 expressive of his horror of    
strong drinks4 ,he  would shake his hand
 angrily at the ,lord ,mayor1 and raise 
his arms with  horror while his         
neighbour quaffed of the cup4 ,the      
company humoured  the eccentric old     
gentleman2 for1 in their hearts1 they   
could not but  respect his downright    
earnestness4 ,he lost no opportunity4   
,returning  home at the head of his     
volunteer corps1 he showed his jaded    
officers1  who had freely taken beer1   
how fresh he was--on two oranges4       
8,ah6 you may laugh10 he would say1 when

 his friends bantered him about  his    
aggressive protests in society2 8you may
 laugh1 but ,i can tell you  this----the
 presence of the old jackdaw checked the
 drinking1 if didn't  stop it1 and ,i am
 very grateful to feel sure of that40 99
 ,as ,mr4 ,sala has  observed1 8the     
veteran sticks bravely to his text40    
,and well he might1  for his temperance 
renewed his youth4 8,he neither smoked  
tobacco nor  drank fermented liquors in 
his old age2 but he was a hearty eater1 
an early riser1 and a vigorous walker   
and his reward was that which1          
according to ,gray1 is only felt by boys
 at school--a perpetual  #8sunshine of  
the breast4'0 ,he was fond of showing   
this vigour renewed by  temperance1 at  
every possible opportunity2 for he very 
wisely regarded  it as his most forcible
 argument4 ,it enabled him1 in his old  
age1 to  capture a burglar on his own   
premises4 ,the story runs that when he  
was  following the burglar to the       
station1 with the police1 he drew him   

under a lamp1 and told him that he could
 see drink had brought him to           
this--adding that he himself drank      
nothing but water4 8,i wish ,i'd ha'    
known that10 said the ruffian1 8,i'd ha'
 broken your head for you40             
,cruikshank delighted to show an        
audience how he could hold a tumbler    
full of water steady upon the palm of   
his outstretched hand4 ,at eighty1  he  
was seen in costume at a fancy dress    
ball at ,willis's ,rooms1 joining       
heartily in the dance1 and letting      
everybody know that it was 8water  that 
did it40         99 ,grace ,stebbing's  
article on ,cruikshank in the ,graphic4 
,it was very difficult to obtain from   
him the toleration of tobacco smoke  in 
his company2 for1 after he had given up 
alcoholic stimulants1 he  threw away his
 pipe4 ,he would say to a man of letters
 whom he favoured1  laying his hand upon
 his arm1 and turning those fierce eyes 
of his full  upon him1 8,i want you to  
give up drinking and smoking1 and you   

tell me  that if you don't smoke you    
can't write4 ,now1 ,i'll meet you       
half-way4  ,give up the drink1 and you  
may smoke---just a little40 ,but1 as a  
rule1  he was as stern in the matter of 
tobacco as in that of beer or gin4 ,one 
evening ,m4 ,legros1 the distinguished  
,french artist1 lighted a cigarette  in 
his hall as he was leaving ,mornington  
,place4 8,to that vice10 said  8the     
inimitable ,george0 in his deepest tone1
 8,i was a slave for many  years1 but   
now ,i am a free man40    ,to it also1  
it must be added1 he owed one of his    
most imaginative and  delightful        
etchings1--8,the ,triumph1 of           
,cupid10--published in his 8,table      
,book40    ,his earnestness was         
extravagantly expressed in all things4  
,as a furious  anti-,papist1 he would   
draw aside and shake his coat when      
,sisters of  ,charity or a ,catholic    
priest passed him4 8,do you see that    
fellow in  front80 he suddenly asked a  
friend with whom he was walking4 ,it was

 a  workman quietly enjoying his pipe4  
8,do you know what ,i would do to him   
if ,i were a man of fortune8 ,i'd kick  
him6 ,to think that any man should  be  
fool enough to place a tube between his 
lips1 and go puff1 puff1  puff60 ,this  
was his 8counter blast40 ,and he glared 
at the workman as he  passed on4 ,he had
 himself been an inveterate smoker for  
more than forty  years6    ,on another  
occasion he drew sharply up before the  
windows of his old  wine merchant1 and  
called out1 8,give me back my thousand  
pounds60    ,when the ,crystal ,palace  
was opened at ,sydenham1 ,cruikshank1 in
 his rage  that it had not been made a  
,temperance palace1 drew some           
extravagant  drawings of the opening    
ceremony for ,messrs4 ,cassell1 one of  
which  represented the ,archbishop of   
,canterbury bestowing his blessing upon 
a  public-house4    ,dining one day at  
,grampian ,lodge1 ,forest ,sill1 with   
his friend ,dr4  ,rogers1 he suddenly   
began to tell the company that he had   

had a vision  the night before4 ,then he
 related it with much gesticulation1 and
 with  dramatic effect4    ,he had seen 
two devils in council4 ,one had said1   
8,england is moral1  prosperous1        
happy--this will never do4 ,how can we  
put an end to it8 ,her  crops are       
splendid2 look1 for instance1 at her    
barley1 her-0 ,the  second devil        
interrupted3 8,i have an idea4 ,her     
barley1 which makes such  splendid food1
 let us teach them to soak it1 to sour  
it1 to make it  ferment2 in short1 to   
turn it into a tempting poison40        
8,agreed60 cried the first devil4       
8,why10 the second devil continued1 8we 
will actually make them drink it  of    
their own accord2 they shall lift the   
poison to their own lips with  their own
 hands40    8,ha6 ha60 shouted the first
 devil2 8and then of course1 there will 
be  murder1 robbery1 violence1 and      
misery all over the land40    8,the     
devils have had their way10 the old man 
added his keen eyes  glancing round the 

table to mark the effect of his vision4 
,he was indeed1 as a writer called him1 
a 8muscular teetotaler40    8,in his    
time10 a ,temperance writer 99 records  
to his honour1 8he must  have attended  
thousands of temperance meetings1 and at
 these few men  were more welcome4      
99 ,the ,temperance ,record1 ,february  
#gth1 #ahgh4    ,the style of his       
advocacy was peculiar1 he passed from   
grave to gay with  facility1 but he     
never lost sight of the great object he 
had in view4  ,he seemed for years1 to  
be deeply impressed at the numerous     
murders  that were taking place1 all of 
them1 or nearly so1 being in the last   
instance1 if not in the first1          
attributable to drink4 ,he used to      
exclaim1 with deep fervour1 #8,can      
nothing be done to stop these dreadful  
murders8' ,the clear remedy of total    
abstinence from that drink which  was   
their inciting cause then came naturally
 from his lips2 but though  individuals 
responded to his appeal1 the general    

mass of the public  remained unmoved4   
,sometimes he would suggest a deputation
 to the ,house  of ,lords4 ,but though  
this idea was not acted upon1 yet he    
lived to see  that august assembly      
collect evidence well fitted to be of   
service  to them1 and also to the public
 at large4 ,mr4 ,cruikshank's powers of 
mimicry were also very great1 and often 
has he convulsed his audience  with his 
inimitable acting2 but1 at the same     
time1 there was no  mistaking his deep  
earnestness1 and the sincerity with     
which he  expressed the convictions of  
his heart4    ,he did his utmost1 when  
the teetotalers had failed at the       
,crystal  ,palace1 to establish a       
teetotal palace in the old ,surrey      
,zoological  ,gardens2 and he was drawn 
in state from the ,hampstead ,road to   
,walworth1  in a carriage and four1 to  
open a bazaar in aid of the scheme4 ,he 
even  prepared a design for the         
building4 ,but although many went to    
cheer the  honest1 earnest old man1 few 

remained to invest1 and the design fell 
to the ground4 ,it may have been some   
consolation to him and to his           
,temperance friends to mark1 afterwards1
 the services which the ,crystal        
,palace was destined to render to the   
cause of ,temperance1 for a drunkard    
has hardly ever been seen under its     
shining roof4    ,cruikshank could never
 convert his mother to his views4 ,she  
lived with  him during the latter years 
of her life1 and died under his roof1 in
  the care of a most reverent and       
attentive son44 ,she had always been a  
careful1 sober body1 and would not be   
coerced1 because her son could  not take
 his beer or toddy without committing   
excesses4 ,she had been a  handsome     
woman in her days1 a grandson records1  
and it was picturesque  to see the lame 
old lady1 leaning upon her crutch1 and  
wrapped in a  plaid1--with her          
shrivelled features and wild grey       
hair1--raise her  withered arm1 and with
 the old fire declare that she would not

 surrender  her principles4 ,a glass of 
beer with dinner1 and a little toddy at 
bedtime1 she had always taken1 and she  
took them to the end1 and ,george  had  
to submit4    ,addressing1 on one       
occasion1 a ,temperance oration to a    
,bristol audience1  he appealed to his  
female hearers not to believe that      
8nourishing  stout0 was necessary to    
nursing-mothers2 and he pointed to      
himself as a  melancholy example1       
saying1 8,my mother first lifted the    
poisoned chalice  to my lips40 ,his aged
 mother read this in the morning paper4 
,her wrath  was violent4 8,what60 she   
cried1 8am ,i to be told publicly1 at   
eighty  years of age1 that ,i1 who      
always begged and prayed him to be      
sober1  taught him to drink80 ,her son  
did not return home for several days2   
but  he heard of his speech in no       
uncertain tones when he presented       
himself  to the old lady1 who had1 in   
his youth1 often physically chastised   
him  for his excesses4    ,perhaps the  

best specimen of his manner of laying   
his subject before an  audience is the  
speech which he delivered at the ,grand 
,demonstration of  the ,national        
,temperance ,league1 in the ,guildhall1 
on the #aith of  ,november1 #ahfd4 ,it  
wants his by-play1 his dramatic         
delivery1 his  grotesque movements1 and 
then the solemn sounds of his voice1 to 
be  completely understood2 but it is    
sufficiently original and suggestive as 
reported3--    8,my ,lord ,mayor1       
,ladies and ,gentlemen1---,my worthy    
friend the doctor  has given you a very 
excellent discourse upon his own        
profession4 ,it ,so  happens that as ,i 
was coming to this meeting ,i met with a
 gentleman who  had just been to consult
 his medical man2 and finding ,i was    
coming to  this meeting1 he laughed at  
all idea of abstaining from intoxicating
  drinks4 ,he told me he had been to see
 a very eminent member of the  medical  
profession4 ,i asked him what was the   
result4    8,he said the physician told 

him he wanted a stimulant and prescribed
 one4  ,i said1 #8,what did you give    
him3'    8,he replied1 #8,of course1 ,i 
gave him the usual fee--a guinea4' ,i   
said1 #8,i  can show you how to save    
that guinea in future4 ,if you will give
 me half  of it4 ,i will give it to some
 good charity1 and the other half you   
may  keep in your pocket4' ,he said1    
#8,how is that8' ,i said1 #8,instead of 
going  to the physician1 go to the      
publican1 and tell him what is the      
matter  with you1 and he will prescribe 
the same thing2 and if the landlord is  
not in1 say the same to the potboy1 and 
he will do as well4 ,rely upon  it1 they
 will prescribe exactly the same thing  
as the doctor1 and the  effects will be 
the same4 ,now1 ,i must say one word1 if
 you please1 to  defend a very eminent  
prince who has been mentioned here      
to-night4 ,i am  sorry to say it        
happened to be my fate to hold up to    
ridicule the  ,prince ,regent--very     
often indeed2 but he was not such a bad 

man as he is  represented to be4 ,it    
must be recollected that if he committed
 excess in  the way of drinking1 it was 
then the fashion for all the eminent    
persons  to get drunk4 ,no man was      
considered a liberal man--no man was    
considered  a gentleman1 in fact1 unless
 he made his companions drunk2 and      
therefore1 with all due respect to my   
friend ,mr4 ,scott1 who mentioned  the  
circumstance1 it must be recollected    
that about half a century back  it was  
the fashion--it is a fearful thing1 but 
it was the fashion--of  gentry to get   
drunk2 therefore we ought to make       
allowances4 ,but now1  my ,lord ,mayor1 
to come to this very serious question4  
,this hall is the  place where the great
 ,city feasts are held1 and the question
 is1 is it  possible that there can be  
any grand entertainment given without   
mixing  up with it the intoxicating cup8
 ,what will be said8 ,it is very well   
for you1 my lord1 who are almost an     
abstainer yourself--very well for       

you--but what will be said of another   
,lord ,mayor who comes here and  gives a
 dinner without wine and beer8 ,what    
will be said of him8 ,he will  be called
 a shabby fellow2 and the question is1  
whether the guests will  not all be     
melancholy4 ,it will1 perhaps1 be       
somewhat in this style3  #8,have a      
little more soup8' #8,no1 thank you4'   
#8,more fish8' #8,no1 thank  you4'      
#8,bit of fowl8' #8,no4' #8,venison8'   
#8,no4' #8,what1 can't you eat any      
more8' #8,no1 ,i don't like it3 ,i want 
something to drink4' ,there is the      
serious thing3 what is to be done8      
,there is one way of settling that      
question4 ,it is supposed that there can
 be no sociality1 no comfort1 no        
enjoyment1 without intoxicating drinks4 
,now1 ,i recommend the next ,lord       
,mayor who may succeed our honoured     
chairman1 if he be in favour of the     
moderate use of these delightful drinks1
 to be so good as to ask the  present   
company to come to dinner4 ,wouldn't you

 enjoy yourselves8 ,and  then1 when we  
have had enough to eat1 and want        
something to drink1 here  you are       
7holding up a glass of water7--,mr4     
,chairman1 your very good  health6      
,ladies and gentlemen1 your good health6
 7drinking the toast47 ,we  should have 
a jolly time of it4 7,loud and          
long-continued cheering47 ,mr4  ,morley 
says we will take the sherbet without   
the punch4 ,that is the way  in which   
these things are looked at2 but         
supposing that it is  impossible that   
any social enjoyment can be had without 
the use of these  stimulants1 let us    
take another view of the question4 ,i   
have had the  honour of dining here1 and
 ,i have enjoyed myself very much1 not  
only in  the time when ,i used to take  
wine myself--because ,i recollect there 
was such a time as that--but when ,i    
have been a teetotaler ,i have been1    
here1 and enjoyed my dinner very much   
indeed1 without any of these  drinks4   
,but supposing we had this hall upon the

 occasion of the ,lord  ,mayor's feast  
with the most elegant people in the     
world 7for ,i believe  of all the people
 in the world the ,british people are   
the best looking  and the best dressed73
 imagine the scene6 ,the tables are set 
out in  the most splendid manner2       
everything looks grand and happy2 but   
what  is going on outside8 ,ay6 my      
friends1 the most splendid monument in  
the  world where this drink is used in  
moderation as it is in this country1    
may in the inside be a splendid monument
 of good order1 taste1 and  sobriety1   
but at the outside there is filth and   
dirt and crime through  drink4 ,i say1  
suppose these social meetings cannot be 
enjoyed without  these drinks1 let us   
look at the outside4 ,now1 there are a  
certain  number of circumstances or acts
 committed in society1 which are always 
injurious1 not only to the individual   
himself1 but also to society at  large4 
,now1 ,i do not mean to say that every  
teetotaler is an honest man4  ,there may

 be some dishonest fellows amongst them4
 ,i have heard of two  in the last      
thirty years4 ,this reminds me1         
by-the-bye1 of a teetotal  turnkey at   
,coldbath ,fields4 ,there were two      
youths brought into the  prison1 who    
were teetotalers1 and the other turnkeys
 jeered the teetotal  turnkey upon it4  
,he said1 #8,it is true that there are  
two teetotalers  here1 but they are here
 only for begging1 whereas you have     
about fifteen  hundred brought in who   
drink1 and they are most of them        
committed for  stealing4' ,there are a  
number of besetting sins connected with 
drinking1  such as robberies1 brutal    
assaults1 garotting1 house-breaking1    
suicide1  and murder4 ,by-the-bye1      
speaking of murder1 there has been a    
very strong  feeling existing for many  
years1 and still increasing1 against the
  punishment of death4 ,i think it is a 
very horrible thing indeed to hang      
anybody2 but1 my friends1 do not forget 
that it is a still more horrible  thing 

for one to be murdered4 ,do not let us  
forget that4 ,there was a  young man in 
the country a little while ago hanged   
for murder--quite a  young man4 ,it was 
a sad thing indeed1 no doubt1 to see    
this poor fellow  gibbeted2 but what was
 he hanged for8 ,he had been drinking on
 the  ,saturday night1 and he murdered a
 young woman as she was going to church 
on the ,sunday morning4 ,do not forget  
that these horrible1 detestable1        
damnable crimes are committed under the 
influence of drink4 ,we will  talk about
 doing away with the punishment of death
 after we have stopped  murders4 ,i had 
the honour of speaking in the ,mansion  
,house when ,mr4  ,charles ,pearson1 the
 ,city solicitor1 brought on the        
question about the  convicts2 and ,i    
told the ,lord ,mayor then1 that if we  
could do away  with intoxicating liquors
 altogether1 we might wheel out that    
dreadful  instrument the gibbet into the
 ,old ,bailey1 and make a bonfire of it4
 ,i  believe you will find1 if you go   

into the question1 that there is hardly 
a murder committed in this country out  
of a hundred--,i may say out of  a      
thousand--not ten out of ten            
thousand--but drink has something to  do
 with it4 ,remove the drink1 and you    
will stop murder4 ,but there is  a      
gentleman who ought to have been        
speaking instead of myself1 and         
therefore ,i will not detain you much   
longer2 but ,i will say this1 my        
friends1 and call your attention to it  
especially1 that the teetotal  question 
has now been before the world for about 
thirty years1 and  during that short    
time ,i challenge any one to point out  
any teetotaler  who has been committed  
for a brutal assault upon his wife1 or  
for  garotting1 or picking pockets1 or  
house robbery1 or murder4 ,i challenge  
the world to produce one single case    
wherein any real teetotaler has  been   
convicted of one of those crimes4 ,then1
 if this be so1 what have we  to do but 
to spread this ,temperance movement     

throughout the length and  breadth of   
the land8 and then we should stop1 if   
not all crimes1 if not  all offences1   
still the great majority of them2 and   
that is what we are  aiming at4 ,and    
recollect this1 my friends1 that we are 
not a society  formed merely for the    
purpose of reclaiming the drunkard4 ,it 
is a very  good thing to do so1 and ,i  
am sorry to say that my time is so      
occupied  that ,i am almost in despair4 
,i have six most dreadful cases in hand 
at  the present moment ,there is nobody 
to assist them4 ,i could not go to the  
brewer or distiller1 and ask them to    
give me funds for the support of  these 
people whom they have rained2 and why   
not8 ,because there is blood  upon the  
money4 ,i would not have it4 ,but ,i had
 to-day a letter imploring  me for help 
from the nephew of an old friend of my  
father4 ,what am ,i  to do8 ,i have a   
lady in the country at this moment1 the 
wife of a  barrister1 who is starving   
for want of help1 and whose husband has 

been  ruined by drinking4 ,my time is   
occupied1 and my friends are gone1 and  
,i am called upon for all ,i can afford4
 ,but1 my friends1 if you do away  with 
these drinks1 you do away with these    
cases4 ,but it is utterly  impossible to
 go into the evils arising out of these 
drinks in the time  ,i have to          
speak--they are so extensive2 all ,i    
have to say is1 #8,go on and  prosper6' 
and prosper we shall4 ,i cannot sit down
 without saying that ,i  look upon this 
meeting to-night to be one of the       
grandest movements that  this cause has 
ever had4 ,i say it from my heart1 and  
think that those  gentlemen who have    
assisted in getting up this meeting     
deserve our best  thanks40    ,the idea 
of a temperance ,lord ,mayor's ,banquet 
suggests1 no doubt1 many  vastly amusing
 incidents and episodes to the mind of  
the comic writer1  but honest-hearted   
,george ,cruikshank could not1 and would
 not1 in his  latter dav1 see any       
element of fun in drunkenness1 and he   

was quite in  earnest in recommending   
the next ,lord ,mayor to fill his       
loving-cup with  pump water4 99         
99  ,since ,cruikshank delivered the    
above speech1 a ,temperance             
banquet has been held at the ,mansion   
,house4    ,the account he gave1        
moreover1 of his trouble about the many 
people who  were seeking his assistance1
 was true of his experience year after  
year4  ,his doors were besieged4 ,he was
 waylaid by petitioners for his known   
bounty 7the recklessness of which1 as we
 have seen1 ,dickens reproved7  whenever
 he went abroad4 ,a poor man himself1   
for ever in money troubles1  even to the
 end of his laborious life1 his heart   
lay always open to a  tale of distress4 
,he was never without 8cases0 on hand4  
,it has been remarked of his ,temperance
 days1 by one of his friendliest        
critics1 that his style suffered from   
the contraction of his ideas and        
sympathies1 8and it cannot be questioned
 that with the general public  his      

reputation declined in proportion to the
 increase of his popularity  among the  
teetotalers40 ,he lost heavily1 in a    
pecuniary sense1 by his  ,temperance    
advocacy4 ,publishers ceased to employ  
him4 ,he remarked that1  for the last   
ten years of his life1 he was without   
commissions4 ,he had  refused none1 he  
would say4 ,he was willing to work1 and 
he held that his  powers were           
unimpaired4    ,temperance preacher2 to 
them the inimitable ,george1 the        
illustrator  of ,boz1 the kindly        
satirist1 the creator of 8,points of    
,humour10 the  illustrator of ,grimm1   
was dead4    ,and1 firmly believing     
this1 the brave old man held on in the  
rigid  course of duty he had laid down  
for himself4 ,he had seen all the       
horrors  which lie behind drunkenness2  
in his early time he had himself been a 
tavern hero2 and he had dedicated the   
remainder of his life to the work  of   
warning the rising generation out of the
 path in which he himself had  stumbled4

    8,i come forth10 he said1 in one of 
his earliest temperance harangues1  8to 
set by my humble example the opinion of 
this unthinking world at  defiance40    
,but the public had come to regard him  
simply as a keen a sense of the         
ridiculous as most men4 ,i can see      
clearly what is ridiculous in others4   
,i am so sensitive myself1 that ,i am   
quite alive to every situation1  and    
would not willingly place myself in a   
ridiculous one2 and1 ,i must  confess1  
that if to be a teetotaler was to be a  
milksop1 if it was to  be a namby-pamby 
fellow1 or a man making a fool of       
himself or of others1  then indeed ,i   
would not be one--certainly not2 but if1
 on the contrary1  to be a teetotaler is
 to be a man that values himself1 and   
tries by  every means in his power to   
benefit others2 if to be a teetotaler is
 to  be a man who tries to save the     
thoughtless from destruction2 if to be  
a teetotaler is to be a man who does    
battle with false theories and bad      

customs1 then ,i am one4 ,i have been a 
convert but a short time1 not much  over
 twelve months4 ,i only wish that ,i    
could say1 with ,dr4 ,gourley1 that  ,i 
had never taken a glass of spirits in my
 life2 ,i wish that ,i had acted  upon  
the principles of total abstinence only 
thirty years ago2 for if  ,i had1 ,i am 
convinced that at this time ,i should   
have been much better1  both in body and
 mind4 ,i have experienced much benefit 
already1 both  physically and mentally4 
,i never did sneer at or scorn the      
question of  ,temperance1 yet ,i never  
thought that ,i should stand up as a    
teetotal  advocate2 but ,i am proud that
 ,i have been put into the position in  
which  ,i am now placed4    ,later on1  
still conscious of the disadvantage at  
which he was placing  himself as an     
artist1 he said to another audience--4  
8,when ,i left off drinking wine        
altogether1 and became a total          
abstainer1  ,i became a healthier and   
stronger man1 more capable of meeting   

the heavy  responsibilities that were   
upon me1 and for the following two years
 ,i  had my life renewed1 and all the   
elasticity of my schoolboy days came    
back to me4 ,domestic afflictions then  
came upon me1 ending in death1 and  my  
spirits and health were crushed down4   
,in this extremity ,i applied  to my    
medical adviser4 ,he said1 #8,medicine  
is of no use to you2 you  must drink    
wine again4' ,i refused1 and my medical 
friend called in some  others of his    
profession2 he told me they had had a   
consultation1 the  result being that all
 of them agreed it was necessary ,i     
should drink  wine to restore my sinking
 constitution4 ,i replied1              
8#8,doctor1 ,i'll take your physic1 but 
not your wine4 ,let me try everything   
else first1 and only when there is no   
other chance give me wine1 because  ,i  
feel there is a great principle at stake
 in this matter4' ,i have said1  and ,i 
believe1 wine is unnecessary1 even as a 
medicine1 and ,i do not  wish to do a   

single act which would tend to weaken or
 destroy the weight  and force of that  
conviction4 ,and here ,i stand4 ,i have 
not tasted the  vile and destroying     
enemy1 and ,i am almost restored to     
health1 without  having risked the      
violation of my principles4 ,i call this
 a triumph2 and  ,i stand here as an    
evidence that wine is totally           
unnecessary1 even as a  medicine40      
,much later1 we find the preacher an    
octogenarian--albeit rudely buffeted  by
 the world1 and well-nigh forgotten as a
 living artist--still true to  his noble
 text4 8,alcoholic liquors10 he         
exclaimed to an audience1 little  more  
than two years before his death1 8were  
recommended to keep up  strength6 ,but  
what kept up his strength8 ,he had not  
taken a drop of  wine1 beer1 or any     
alcoholic drink1 for twenty-seven years1
 and he would  be eighty-three next     
,september1 if he lived till then4 ,what
 was it1  then1 that kept up his        
strength8 ,since he had given up        

drinking beer and  smoking1 he had had a
 higher enjoyment of life1 because all  
his nervous  system was in proper tone40
    ,cuthbert ,bede1 who knew           
,cruikshank intimately in his teetotal  
days1 has  drawn this graphic picture of
 the ,temperance advocate at home3--    
8,though ,i had interchanged letters    
with ,mr4 ,george ,cruikshank for       
several years1 it was not until early in
 the autumn of #ahec that ,i made  his  
personal acquaintance4 ,he had asked me 
to write a serial story for a  projected
 publication to be illustrated by       
himself 2 and1 as it would  simplify    
matters if we could talk over the       
subject together1 ,i went up  from the  
country to ,london to call upon him4 ,he
 was then living in  ,mornington        
,crescent1 near to ,regent's ,park4     
,numerous portraits had made  me        
familiar with his personal appearance1  
so that ,i needed not to be  told who   
was the gentleman who so courteously    
received me downstairs1  and then took  

me upstairs to his comfortable studio1  
where he introduced  me to his wife4    
,some of our first conversation1 indeed1
 was on the  subject of his portrait2   
for1 among the pictures on his walls1 ,i
 had  noticed the original of the       
portrait by ,frank ,stone1 which was    
engraved  on steel for the ,omnibus1 and
 was certainly a far more flattering    
representation of ,george ,cruikshank   
than the caricaturist's sketches of     
himself4 ,i told him that ,i considered 
the best portrait of himself was  to be 
found in his own etching1 #8,the        
,reverie1' published in his ,table-     
,book1 and in every respect a           
wonderfully fine specimen of his art and
  genius4 ,i also referred to his own   
account of #8,my ,portrait1' in the     
,omnibus1 in which1 with his own pen and
 pencil1 he portrayed himself1  and made
 comments on a curious description of   
himself that had been  given in a       
publication called #8,portraits of      
,public ,characters'2 how he  was said  

to be of the medium height1 with a      
forehead of a prominently  receding     
shape1 with a handsome pair of whiskers1
 and hair partaking of  a lightish hue2 
and1 moreover1 how the ludicrous and    
extraordinary  fancies with which his   
mind was constantly teeming often       
imparted a sort  of wildness to his look
 frighten from his presence those       
unacquainted  with him4    8,he read    
these and similar passages to me1 and   
was immensely tickled at  their         
egregious absurdity4 ,in truth1 his     
manner at once impressed me as  being   
peculiarly gentle1 and kind1 and genial4
 ,instead of assuming any  airs of      
superiority1 ,i found him possessed of  
all the humble modesty and  chivalrous  
courtesy of the truly great artist and  
thorough gentleman2  and although ,i was
 quite young1 and he was in his         
sixty-first year1 he  treated me as     
though ,i had been his equal1 if not    
superior1 in ability4  ,we had so much  
to talk about1 and he had so much to    

show me1 that my  first interview with  
,george ,cruikshank had been prolonged  
to nearly four  hours before ,i became  
aware how quickly the time had flown4   
,the time had  then arrived for their   
luncheon1 or early dinner2 and as both  
,mr4 and  ,mrs4 ,cruikshank pressed me  
to stay1 and ,i had by this time        
overlapped  the hour at which ,i had    
made another engagement1 ,i readily and 
peculiarity to his manner1 which would  
suffice to consented to remain1  and we 
went downstairs to dinner4 #8,there will
 be nothing else than a leg  of mutton1'
 said ,cruikshank4 #8,i happen to know  
that1 for ,i came in with  it1' ,i      
replied2 #8for as ,i knocked at the hall
 door the butcher's boy was  down in the
 area1 delivering the leg of mutton to  
the cook4' ,cruikshank  seemed to be    
greatly amused at this1 for he laughed  
heartily1 and said  to his wife1 #8,my  
dear1 ,mr4 -------- came in with the    
mutton4' ,something  in the occurrence  
seemed to mightily tickle his fancy1 for

 more than  once he repeated the words  
to his wife1 #8,my dear1 ,mr4 --------  
came in  with the mutton6' ,it was while
 ,i was eating it that ,i terribly      
forgot myself4 ,the day was very sultry2
 it was five hours since ,i had         
breakfasted2 we had been busy talking1  
and ,i felt thirsty4 ,so1 while the     
parlourmaid was handing something to me4
 ,i asked her to give me a glass  of    
beer4 ,she replied1 #8,we have no beer1 
sir4' #8,then1' ,i said1 #8please  to   
bring me the sherry4' #8,there is no    
sherry1 sir4' ,whereupon my  host       
interposed1 and laughingly explained    
that he could not allow the             
introduction of any alcoholic liquor    
into his house2 and that1 while  ,i was 
his guest1 ,i must content myself with  
drinking water4 ,then ,i  suddenly      
remembered that which ,i ought not to   
have forgotten1 even for  a moment1 that
 my host had devoted himself to         
teetotal1 who1 six years  before1 had   
drawn the eight scenes of #8,the        

,bottle1' and had thereby  struck a     
powerful blow at one of the greatest    
vices of the age4    8,i duly apologized
 for my forgetfulness2 and the incident 
naturally led  ,cruikshank to dilate on 
that important theme1 in furtherance of 
which he  so steadily devoted his great 
powers to the very end of his career1   
with a persistent courage and devoted   
zeal that won for him the genuine       
respect and admiration of those even who
 could not wholly agree with him  in    
details4 ,i was one of those4 ,i could  
travel with him1 very willingly1  up to 
a certain point1 after which our paths  
parted1 and we #8agreed  to differ4' ,i 
could accompany him to temperance1 but  
not to total  abstinence4 ,during the   
remainder of the time that we occupied  
over  dinner1 we scarce spoke on any    
other subject than that which gave ism1 
and that ,i was sitting at the table of 
the artist rise to the scenes  of #8,the
 ,bottle1' #8,the ,drunkard's           
,children1' #8,the ,gin ,trap1' #8,the  

,gin  ,juggernaut'--and1 at a later     
period1 his large oil-painting1 #8,the  
,worship of ,bacchus4'    8,our         
discussion on the subject was preserved 
with perfect good humour2  so much so1  
that ,i ventured to remind him that only
 a year or so before  he had been       
converted to teetotalism he had         
caricatured ,father ,mathew1  in an     
etching for the ,comic ,almanac for     
#ahdd1 representing him as an  old pump4
 ,i reminded my host that these were his
 sentiments for more  than fifty years  
of his life1 and that he had never      
during that period  objected to the     
moderate use of alcoholic liquors1      
although he had  always vigorously      
lashed their gross abuse2 and ,i pleaded
 that ,i had  not lived for half those  
years that ,i had named1 and that ,i    
might be  pardoned for my forgetfulness 
in asking his servant for beer and wine4
    8,then he told me how the crying sin
 of the age had sunk deep down into  his
 heart1 especially when he had seen it  

flourishing1 like an upas  tree1 in all 
its foul deformity1 in those courts and 
alleys into which  he was so often led  
in search of subjects for his pencil2   
and how the  design for #8,the ,bottle' 
had gradually grown upon him1 and the   
necessity  for practising what he       
preached1 which he found he could do    
only by  cutting himself adrift from all
 alcoholic drinks4 ,he also explained   
how  his plans to disseminate the scenes
 of his #8,drunkard's ,progress1' in    
such a form and at such a low price that
 they should reach those  masses for    
whom he specially designed them1 were   
hampered and well-nigh  frustrated1     
chiefly by the cost of engraving such   
large drawings on  wood2 and how the new
 art of glyphography had come to his    
assistance1  and enabled him to draw the
 eight designs1 and to sell them 7with  
,dr4  ,charles ,mackay's explanatory    
poem7 for a shilling--which in the year 
#ahdg was an extraordinarily low price  
for such a production4 #8,you will      

remember1' he said1 #8how ,maclise      
represented me seated on a beer-barrel1 
getting my inspiration from pothouse    
scenes1 and pencilling them on the      
crown of my hat8' #8,yes1 ,i remember3  
it was in the ,fraser gallery of        
portraits4    ,and you have amply proved
 to the world since then that you can   
turn to  the best account1 and for the  
public good1 the people and incidents   
that you saw in those places4' ,i told  
him that of #8,the ,bottle' and         
#8,drunkard's ,children' series ,i      
preferred the one where the poor girl   
commits suicide from ,waterloo          
,bridge--the idea of the body falling   
from  a height being so vividly conveyed
 to the eye1 as to impress one with  the
 conviction that we can really see the  
swift descent of that #8one  more       
unfortunate4'0    ,an instance of       
,cruikshank's earnestness in the        
,temperance cause happened  in ,may     
#ahed4 ,he had been invited to preside  
over a meeting of total  abstainers1 to 

be held in ,sadler's ,wells ,theatre1 a 
place associated in  his mind with the  
glories of his friend ,joe ,grimaldi1   
the clown1 and the  days when he was a  
frequenter of the clown's club1 8,the   
,crib10 hard by4  ,the great ,temperance
 advocate1 ,j4 ,b4 ,gough1 was to       
address the audience4  ,cruikshank      
introduced him in his own original way1 
delivering1 as the  papers remarked1 a  
speech full of piquant and              
incontrovertible truth4  ,but it was at 
the close of the orator's speech that   
the chairman proved  himself equal to   
the occasion4 ,seeing that the audience 
were under the  spell of ,mr4 ,gough's  
eloquence1 he rose and exhorted them at 
once  to come forward and sign the      
pledge4 ,with this he advanced to the   
footlights1 bridged the orchestra with a
 few planks1 and stood by to  receive   
the ladies who came forward in crowds1  
many of them leading  their children4   
,so delighted was the artist with the   
number of converts  he led to the table 

to sign the pledge1 that he drew the    
scene for the  ,illustrated ,london     
,news1 with himself for central figure4 
,illustration3 #afh    ,i remember      
attending another meeting in ,george    
,cruikshank's company4 ,it  was a       
gathering of ,london pickpockets1 called
 by ,mr4 ,henry ,mayhew1  when he was   
engaged upon his ,london ,labour and    
,london ,poor inquiry4 ,the  solemn1 but
 still somewhat grotesque impressiveness
 of the ,temperance  preacher1 as he    
rose1 while that dreadful company of    
keen-eyed vicious  lads were eating the 
plain ,temperance supper which had been 
provided for  them1 to bid them renounce
 the evils of their way1 and as a       
beginning1  to shun the bottle and the  
beer-pot1 dwelt long in my memory4      
8,man10   said ,lord ,lytton1 8has no   
majesty like earnestness40 ,that night1 
honest1  whole-hearted ,cruikshank1 as  
with wild gesticulation he talked to    
8the  dear lads0--for the forlornest and
 wickedest waif was dear to him--was    

clothed in majesty2 and it cowed a man  
at hand1 who acknowledged1 within  his  
hearing1 that he had smuggled something 
stronger than water into the  room4     
,illustration3 #agj          ,,chapter  
,,iv4 ,,the ,,triumph ,,of ,,bacchus4   
,mr4 ,wedmore1 in his critical sketch of
 ,cruikshank1 has described in a  few   
pregnant sentences1 how in his later    
days the public fell away from  the     
great humourist and subtle observer3--  
8,as time went on apace1 neither the    
passage of time itself1 nor the hard    
work which crowded the days of his      
maturity in art1 nor the comparative    
neglect of the later years1 when        
,cruikshank1 no longer quite in the     
movement of the day1 was solaced by     
visits in the ,hampstead ,road1  chiefly
 of a very few who were collectors of   
his work1 or of some stray  humourist   
still faithful and confident in the     
achievement of so many  years ago4 ,as  
time went on1 ,cruikshank wore well and 
slowly1 so that it  was truly said of   

him that he looked as if he had once    
been very old and  then had forgotten   
it4 ,employed no longer in sketching and
 satirising  the society of which he was
 hardly any more a part1 he betook      
himself1  a good deal by choice1 to work
 more distinctly ambitious than any he  
had  attempted when his hand was really 
the strongest and his brain the  most   
fertile4 ,he furnished the design for a 
monument to ,king ,robert the  ,bruce4  
,he painted in oils1 not only this or   
that moral lesson1 but a  tale of       
heroism in humble life4 ,no doubt the   
absence of the knowledge  of academical 
draughtsmanship told against him not    
less in #ahga than it  would have done  
half a century before1 and no doubt the 
absence of any  capacity for the subtle 
modulations of colour--nay1 the absence 
even of  sensitiveness to these--made   
his painting in oil a failure when      
judged  by the side even of quite       
every-day work by every-day artists4    
,thus it  was that no fresh honours came

 to him when he was still eager for     
them4  ,the popularity of the great days
 was a little forgotten by the public   
in the presence of the failure of the   
most recent4 ,and then again1           
advertised poverty is never a helpful   
thing4 ,we worship merit a little1  but 
success more1 and success must have its 
stamp4 ,the public of  ,cruikshank      
narrowed4 ,of course critics and        
journalists--the men whose  business it 
is to keep in memory some work that the 
chance public  praises one day and      
forgets the next--knew that ,cruikshank 
was great1  and how he had been great1  
and having in more than one notable     
instance  said so faithfully during his 
old age1 said so again last month1 when 
he died4 ,and of course1 again1 so much 
of his work having become rare1         
collectors of it had arisen--curious and
 anxious seekers1 to whose  interest we 
shall owe the preservation of many of   
his early and many  even of his riper   
things4 ,for them1 when ,cruikshank's   

work was pretty  well accomplished1 and 
#8finis' seemed about to be written to  
that  immense volume of production1 ,mr4
 ,g4 ,w4 ,reid engaged on a task of     
care--the great catalogue raisonn in    
which1 with here and there  errors not  
easily avoided1 he has chronicled       
well-nigh five thousand  designs3 #8the 
smiling offspring1' as ,thackeray so    
admirably said  of them1 #8the smiling  
offspring of painful labour4' ,but in   
the main  ,cruikshank was forgotten1 and
 the weekly smiles--feint though now    
and again they needs must be1 and of    
indulgence rather than                  
commendation--which are given by the    
,english public to the efforts of  our  
youngest ,english humour1 a little      
trivial and slight1 had ceased to  be   
bestowed on that larger and more massive
 humourist who lingered from  the past  
he was part of40    ,this is very true1 
and is a very sad story skilfully told4 
,think what  would have become of the   
neglected or forgotten humourist1 if1   

when the  mere laughing public had      
turned away from him to ,leech and      
,doyle1 and  ,tenniel and ,du ,maurier1 
he had not been fired with the ardour of
 an  apostle in the cause he had taken  
up4 ,his ,almanac had failed for lack of
  readers2 and ,david ,bogue had thrown 
up ,cruikshank's ,magazine1 after the   
second number--convinced that the artist
 had outlived his public4 ,his  ambition
 to become a painter was mercifully     
renewed1 with the renewal of  his health
 and mind1 through temperance4 ,full of 
vigour he used to say1  8,a painter     
should paint from his shoulder1 sir40   
,he became almost wholly  a serious man 
in his work1 and appealed to a public in
 a new capacity4  ,he resolved1         
stimulated by the success of 8,the      
,bottle10 to execute a  great picture   
that should remain behind him1 a        
monument of his genius1  and an immortal
 ,temperance lesson4    ,in the early   
ardour of his second youth he had braced
 himself to  supply1 so far as he might1

 albeit he had reached his sixtieth     
year1 the  deficiency in his art        
education1 by working as a student at   
the ,royal  ,academy4 ,he had1 he       
believed1 all his powers unimpaired2 why
 then  should he not yet obtain the     
academical knowledge1 of which he had   
been  deprived1 as he had said bitterly1
 through the improvident habits of  his 
whisky-drinking father4 ,mr4 ,charles   
,landseer says3 8,he entered as  student
 at the ,royal ,academy1 during my      
keepership1 ,april #bbnd1 #ahec2  but   
made very few drawings in the ,antique1 
and never got into the  ,life4 ,he was  
placed upon the ,turner ,fund in        
#ahff--ej per annum4 ,i  have heard that
 he made an application to ,fuseli for  
admission to the  ,r4,a41 and was       
informed that the school was too full1  
but that he might  go and draw there if 
he could find a place40 99         99   
,letter from ,charles ,landseer to ,b4  
,j41 ,feb4 #ah1 #ahgh4    ,this is the  
brief record of ,george ,cruikshank's   

relations with the  ,academy4 ,he was   
past the years when men learn4 ,time    
pressed too heavily  upon the elderly   
man to leave him patience for the slow  
progress from  the 8,antique0 to the    
8,life40 ,he had been at the 8,life0 in 
his own  keen way since he was a boy2   
and he must be content to paint with the
  imperfect but original knowledge which
 had sufficed for his etchings4    ,and 
so he turned to his easel1 and painted  
in oils1 with something of  his own     
inimitable power of concentration and   
dramatic story-telling1  such subjects  
as he had treated in earlier days with  
his etching-needle4  ,his 8,tam o'      
,shanter10 8,grimaldi the ,clown ,shaved
 by a ,girl10 8,the  ,runaway ,knock10  
8,the ,fairy ,ring10 8,titania and      
,bottom the ,weaver10   8,dressing for  
the ,day10 8,a ,new ,situation10 and    
8,disturbing the  ,congregation10 were  
exhibited at the ,royal ,academy or at  
the ,british  ,institution2 and were    
welcomed1 for the fancy1 the life1 the  

humour that  were in them--although they
 were one and all crude or violent in   
tone1  and betrayed in every part a hand
 unpractised with the brush1 and an  eye
 dead to the delicacies of colour4 ,they
 were1 in truth1 such bits  of humour or
 fancy as the master humourist was wont 
in the old time  to throw off at the    
rate of two or three in a week--only    
laboriously  rendered in oils4 ,the     
,runaway ,knock1 for instance1 might be 
a plate in  the 8,sketch-,book10 or in  
8,points of ,humour0--and the remark    
applies  to ,grimaldi being ,shaved by a
 ,girl1 and the ,disturbing the         
,congregation--which latter1 to the     
artist's great delight1 the ,prince     
,consort1 who was one of ,cruikshank's  
cordial admirers1 bought4 ,some of      
these fetched high prices4 ,the ,fairy  
,ring1 the most imaginative1 and as  a  
composition the best of ,cruikshank's   
oil-paintings1 painted in  #ahee1 was a 
commission given to the artist by ,mr4  
,henry ,miller1 of  ,preston--the price 

being #hjj4 99 ,the fairy revel is full 
of exquisitely  suggestive bits4 ,the   
canvas swarms with fairy life1 and      
abounds with  fanciful episodes4        
99 ,it is now in the possession of      
,captain ,douglass ,kennedy1       of   
,summerfield1 ,kirkby-,lonsdale1 ,mr4   
,miller's son-in-law4    ,the grace and 
spirit with which the artist could treat
 fairy or elfin  life may be seen in    
scores of his earlier works4 ,look at   
this 8,fairy  ,revenge10 from 8,scott's 
,demonology10 drawn in #ahcc4           
,illustration3 #agh    8,the ,runaway   
,knock0 is1 as the reader will perceive1
 simply such a  bit of ,cruikshankian   
humour as he had been wont to treat with
 his  etching-needle4 ,it is full of    
life and excitement4 ,the entire        
household1  to the pug puppy-dog1 has   
been aroused2 nor could the painter     
refrain  from throwing life into the    
carved stone head over the street-door4 
,again1 8,disturbing the ,congregation0 
is an etching subject1 elaborated4  ,a  

little boy1 in church1 has dropped his  
pegtop1 and the awful eye of  the beadle
 7,cruikshank created the ,british      
beadle as a humorous figure7  is upon   
him4 ,the ,prince ,consort1 whom a      
genuine bit of humour delighted1  was   
glad to add this most characteristic    
,cruikshank to his collection4          
,cruikshank's old friend1 ,clarkson     
,stanfield1 first persuaded him to      
trust himself to oils4 ,in his tinted   
designs1 he showed that sense  of colour
 which was everywhere manifest in the   
etchings of his best  time--in his      
designs to ,ainsworth1 for instance4    
,the watercolour  drawings for his      
,walter ,scott plates1 again1 are       
admirable4 99 ,but in  oil1 it must be  
repeated1 he failed utterly4         99 
,they were for a long time the property 
of ,mr4 ,lumley1 of       ,her          
,majesty's ,theatre1 and on the sale of 
his effects       passed1 fortunately1  
into the hands of ,mr4 ,ellison1 who    
bequeathed his collection to the ,south 

,kensington ,museum4    ,the touch of   
the etcher remained4 ,he was hard and   
crude4 ,the first  painting he exhibited
 was 8,bruce attacked by                
,assassins0--the ,bruce upon  a         
burlesque horse smothered in drapery6   
,it was exhibited at the ,royal         
,academy4 ,his next picture was 8,moses 
dressing for the ,fair0--a subject  more
 within his power2 but it was coarse1   
inharmonious1 and sketchy4 ,the  wonder 
was that ,cruikshank could not perceive 
that he was on the  wrong road4 ,so far1
 however1 was he from suspecting this1  
that he was  constantly meditating great
 historical subjects2 and actually 8got 
in0 upon a spacious canvas the ,battle  
of ,agincourt4 ,he even began a         
scriptural subject1 8,christ riding into
 ,jerusalem40 ,but the genius that      
could realize a street or fairy mob 99  
upon a surface no broader than the  palm
 of the hand1 could not paint a         
battle-piece4 ,without his outline  he  
was all abroad4 ,the sacred subject     

remained in the studio1 with many  other
 canvases1 to the end4 ,it was his      
8,battle of a ,gin ,court10 in his      
8,sunday in ,london0 that showed the    
master4 ,he admitted1 when it was       
suggested to him1 that the              
8etching-point feeling0 was always in   
his  fingers1 giving a 8living0         
sensation to the brush1 and that he     
never  could get rid of it4 ,his        
,falstaff tormented by the ,fairies1    
was1 on  the whole1 the painting he     
completed with most thorough            
satisfaction to  himself4         99    
8,cruikshank's crowds give one exactly  
the impression of       reality4 ,they  
show a certain monotony1 from the common
       impulse of the mob1 yet they are 
full of characteristic       figures1 no
 two exactly alike4 ,there is also all  
the due       sense of air1 and motion1 
and fluctuation about them4 ,they       
are penetrable crowds1 especially the   
,irish1 which he       delights to      
draw1--true mobiles1--ready to break out

 into       new mischief1 or disperse   
before the onslaught of the             
,saxon40--,francis ,turner ,palgrave4   
,mr4 ,wedmore1 dwelling on the          
shortcomings of biographers1 complains  
that  where an artist is the subject    
they tell 8not much of the work he had  
planned but never executed2 work1       
nevertheless1 on which perhaps he  had  
set great store1 and looked forward to  
completing1 and #8purposes  unsure4'    
#8,that weighed not as his work1 yet    
swelled the man's amount4'    8,you     
should see the comedies ,i have not     
written10 said a pensive  playwright4   
,cruikshank was1 throughout his life1   
disturbed by  unfulfilled dreams of     
great subjects1 with which he felt his  
genius  could cope4 ,he would have      
grappled with ,milton1 as we have seen1 
but  hard fate kept him tied to         
bread-and-cheese work1 and to minor     
themes4  ,his 8,pilgrim's ,progress0    
remains unfinished1 and1 even so far as 
he  executed it1 unpublished4 99        

99  ,the plates are in the possession of
 ,mr4 ,truman4         8,ah6 who shall  
lift that wand of magic power1          
,and the lost clue regain8       ,the   
unfinished window in ,aladdin's tower1  
,unfinished must remain40    ,it would  
have gone sadly then1 when the          
publishers could no longer find  profit 
in his work1 when the public had turned 
from his old-fashioned  humour and      
fancy1 to the fresher and more peaceful1
 albeit more  circumscribed and less    
earnest1 genius of ,leech1 had he not   
been buoyed  up and comforted with the  
self-imposed mission1 for which he had  
buckled  on new armour1 resolved to die 
fighting in the good cause4 ,and so     
while  his rival rode prosperously on   
the fashion of the hour1 catching1 in   
the  words of ,herrick1         8,a     
winning wave1 deserving note1       ,in 
the tempestuous petticoat0--    he      
ordered a broad canvas to be carried to 
his modest studio in the  ,hampstead    
,road1 and sat himself patiently        

down--his morrow's bread  secured by the
 sympathetic admiration of a few real   
friends--to build  up that monument of  
his many-sided genius1 his cartoon1     
composed in the  manner of his master   
,gillray's 8,democracy1 or a ,sketch of 
the ,life of  ,bonaparte0--in a series  
of compartments4    ,the story of the   
,triumph of ,bacchus is honourable to   
all parties  concerned4 ,on the one hand
 we find the veteran artist eager to    
perform  an enduring work in support of 
the ,temperance cause2 and on the other 
a  knot of friends1 also good servants  
of the cause1 anxious to put him  in a  
position to labour in comfort4 ,it has  
been said the ,national  ,temperance    
,league was the means of giving the     
great painting  and engraving to the    
world2 but the truth is1 that no        
temperance  association--as an          
association--took action in the matter4 
,the many  earnest men who have this    
good cause at heart co-operated in      
several  ways in furtherance of the     

artist's plans2 but these plans were    
actually  directed by a small           
independent committee1 who held on to   
their task  through many troubles and   
some disagreements1 until the plate was 
completed1 and the picture was finally  
made over to the nation4    ,when       
,cruikshank had drawn a rough sketch in 
oils of his design1 he  invited a few   
friends to his house to consult with him
 as to ways and  means4 ,the gentlemen  
who met as a committee were ,sir        
,francis ,crossley1  ,john ,stewart--the
 art critic1 ,mr4 ,hugh ,owen of the    
,poor ,law ,board1 ,mr4  ,john ,taylor1 
and ,mr4 ,w4 ,tweedie1 the publisher4   
,the result of their  consultation was  
the adoption of a proposal submitted by 
,mr4 ,stewart1  who was a fervent       
admirer and devoted friend of the       
artist4    ,george ,cruikshank undertook
 to produce his complete design in      
water-colours1 from which a steel       
etching was to be executed4 ,the artist 
assumed the entire pecuniary            

responsibility of the undertaking1 on   
the condition that his friends would    
supply him with what he called          
8spending money10 or money for his daily
 wants1 while the engraving was  in     
progress4 ,the advances of his          
supporters were to be refunded out of   
the proceeds of the sale of the plate4  
,on this arrangement ,cruikshank  went  
to work with his usual vigour4 ,the     
water-colour design was soon  completed1
 and placed in the hands of ,mr4        
,mottram1 the engraver--the             
understanding being that the outline of 
every figure was to be etched  by       
,cruikshank himself4 ,this laborious    
work he finally performed1 but not      
before serious and harmful delays had   
occurred4    ,it had been distinctly    
understood that the great oil           
painting--the  ultimate form which the  
design was to take--was not to be begun 
until  the engraving had been completed2
 but ,cruikshank's impatience to be at  
his magnum opus led him to break through

 his agreement4 ,a member of  the       
committee1 on calling at his house one  
morning1 found him before  the broad    
canvas1 with the upper row of figures   
already sketched in4 ,in  reply to      
remonstrances1 he gave the reasonable   
explanation that no man  could etch all 
day long4 ,the committee then agreed    
that he should work  as fast as was     
prudent at the engraving1 and 8for rest0
 take a turn  at the big picture4 ,in   
order further to encourage him1 an      
honorary  committee of about seventy    
gentlemen was formed1 to promote the    
subscription to the engraving4 ,but so  
engrossed did ,cruikshank become in  his
 oil-painting1 that1 although he knew   
that the delay in the print was         
destroying the chances of a great       
subscription list1 he never touched an  
etching tool until the painting was     
finally lifted from the easel4    ,this 
work was to bring him1 not only glory1  
but fortune4 ,he was  confident that    
crowds would flock to see it ,he had    

visions of policemen  at the door of his
 gallery to keep off the tumultuous     
throng4 ,the  advances of his friendly  
committee exceeded a thousand pounds2   
but in a  few weeks1 he believed1 the   
public1 for whom he had been labouring  
since  the beginning of the century1    
would fill his coffers1 and he would be 
able to release himself from his        
obligations4 ,flushed with hope1 he     
wreathed some choice specimens of his   
early work about the magnum  opus1 in a 
little gallery next to the ,lyceum      
,theatre1 in ,wellington  ,street1      
,strand2 and threw open the doors1 and  
summoned the world to  enter4 ,but the  
world passed his door4 99         99 ,it
 was a bitter pecuniary disappointment  
also4 ,cruikshank       believed that he
 would have excelled as an actor1 but   
his       power amounted to nothing more
 than the realization of a              
burlesque brigand4 ,he was violent1     
fierce in ridiculous       excess1 and  
extravagant in all his movements4 ,he   

had always       a yearning for the     
stage1 and thought1 as we have seen1 of 
adopting it as a profession in his      
youth4 ,he played with the              
,charles ,dickens troupe in #ahdh       
7,oliver ,cob in 8,every ,man in        
his ,humour10 ,doctor ,camphor in 8,love
 and ,physic10 and ,pistol       in     
8,the ,merry ,wives of ,windsor071 but  
he could not compare       with such    
accomplished amateurs as ,dickens and   
,mark ,lemon4       ,he never lost      
faith1 however1 in his power2 and even  
late in       life when he              
contemplated--to compensate for his     
pecuniary       disappointment with his 
,triumph of ,bacchus--a benefit at      
,drury ,lane ,theatre1 he proposed to   
play ,macbeth himself1       saying to a
 friend1 8,i will show them how the     
dagger-scene       should be done4'0    
,on the #bhth of ,april1 #ahfc1 he      
carried his painting1 by command1 to    
,windsor ,castle1 for the inspection of 
the ,queen2 and he never tired of       

talking gratefully and excitedly about  
the interview1 acting with great        
solemnity the sweeping bow he made to   
,her ,majesty4 ,but the ,queen's        
kindness failed to draw her subjects in 
the crowds the artist had  expected4    
,then his trusty friends organised a    
little soire in the  exhibition room on 
the #bhth of ,august1 and invited him to
 deliver a  lecture on his picture1     
which he did in his own original manner1
 giving  a reason for every group1      
almost every figure1 upon his crowded   
canvas4  99 ,still the laggard public   
disappointed the expectant veteran1 who 
had cherished visions of a peaceful     
close for his life1 won by this         
extraordinary labour4 ,kind ,thackeray  
came1 with his grave face1 and  looked  
through the little gallery1 and went off
 to write one of his  charming essays1  
which appeared in the ,times 7,may      
#ae1ahfc74 ,he said3--         99 ,see  
,appendix ,i4    8,in a quiet little    
room in ,exeter ,hall a veteran lecturer

 is holding  forth all day upon a       
subject which moves his heart very      
strongly4 ,his  text1 on which he has   
preached before in many places1 is still
 #8,the  ,bottle4' ,he divides his      
sermon into many hundreds of heads1 and 
preaches  with the most prodigious      
emphasis and grotesque variety4 ,he is  
for no  half measures4 ,he will have no 
compromise with the odious god ,bacchus2
  the wicked idol is smashed like ,bel  
and ,dagon4 ,he will empty into  the    
gutter all ,master ,bacchus's pipes1 his
 barrels1 quarter-casks1  demijohns1    
gallons1 quarts1 pints1 gills1 down to  
your very smallest  liqueur glasses of  
spirits or wine4 ,he will show you how  
the church1  the bar1 the army1 the     
universities1 the genteel world1 the    
country  gentleman in his polite circle1
 the humble artisan in his1 the rustic  
ploughman in the fields1 the misguided  
washerwoman over her suds and  tubs--how
 all ranks and conditions of men are    
deteriorated and corrupted  by the use  

of that abominable strong liquor3 he    
will have patience with  it no longer4  
,for upwards of half a century1 he says1
 he has employed  pencil and pen against
 the vice of drunkenness1 and in the    
vain attempt  to shut up drinking shops 
and to establish moderate drinking as  a
 universal rule2 but for seventeen years
 he has discovered that  teetotalism1 or
 the total abstaining from all          
intoxicating liquors1  was the only real
 remedy for the entire abolition of     
intemperance4 ,his  thoughts working in 
this direction1 one day this subject of 
#8the ,worship  of ,bacchus' flashed    
across his mind1 and hence the origin of
 a work of  art measuring #ac ft4 #d in4
 by #g ft4 #h in41 which has occupied   
the author  no less than a year and a   
half4    8,this sermon has the advantage
 over others1 that you can take a       
chapter  at a time1 as it were1 and     
return and resume the good homilist's   
discourse at your leisure4 ,what is your
 calling in life8 ,in some part  of this

 vast tableau you will find it is de te 
fabula4 ,in this  compartment the       
soldiers are drinking and fighting2 in  
the next the  parsons are drinking      
#8,healths to the young ,christian4'    
,here are the  publicans1 filthily      
intoxicated with their own horrible     
liquors2 yonder  is a masquerade supper1
 #8where drunken masquerade fiends drag 
down  columbines to drunkenness and     
ruin4' ,near them are #8the public      
singers  chanting forth the praises of  
the 8,god of ,wine40' #8,is it not      
marvellous  to think1' says ,mr4        
,cruikshank in a little pamphlet1       
containing a  speech by him which is    
quite as original as the picture on     
which it  comments1--#8,is it not       
marvellous what highly talented poetry  
and what  harmonious musical            
compositions have been produced1 from   
time to time1  in praise of this        
imaginative1 slippery1 deceitful1       
dangerous myth8'    8#8,this myth1' the 
spectator may follow all through this   

most wonderful  and labyrinthine        
picture4 ,in the nursery the doctor is  
handing a pot of  beer to mamma2 the    
nurse is drinking beer2 the little boy  
is crying for  beer2 and the papa is    
drawing a cork1 so that #8he and the    
doctor may  have a drop4' ,here you have
 a group of women1 victims of           
intemperance1  #8tearing1 biting1 and   
mutilating one another4' ,yonder are two
 of the  police carrying away a drunken 
policeman4 ,does not the mind reel and  
stagger at the idea of this cumulated   
horror8 ,and what is the wine which     
yonder clergyman holds in his hand but  
the same kind of stuff which has  made  
the mother in the christening scene     
above #8so tipsy that she has  let her  
child fall out of her lap1 while her    
idiotic husband points to  his helpless 
wife1 and exclaims1 8,ha1 ha2 she's     
dr-unk'080    ,and then ,thackeray      
appealed to the public to come and be   
grateful to the  painter3--    8,with   
what vigour1 courage1 good-humour1      

honesty1 cheerfulness1 have  this busy  
hand and needle plied for more than     
fifty years6 ,from #agii1 99  when about
 eight or nine years of age1' until     
yesterday1 the artist has2  never taken 
rest4 ,when you would think he might    
desire quiet1 behold he  starts up      
lively as ever1 and arms himself to do  
battle with the  demon drunkenness4     
,with voice and paint-brush1 with       
steel-plate and  wood-block1 he assails 
#8that deceitful1 slippery1 dangerous   
myth6' ,to  wage war against some wrong 
has been his chief calling2 and in      
lighter  moments to waken laughter1     
wonder1 or sympathy4 ,to elderly lovers 
of  fun1 who can remember this century  
in its teens and its twenties1 the      
benefactions of this great humourist are
 as pleasant and well remembered  as    
papa's or uncle's #8tips' when they came
 to see the boys at school4  ,the       
sovereign then administered bought      
delights not to be purchased by         
sovereigns of later coinage1 tarts of   

incomparable sweetness which are  never 
to be equalled in these times1 sausages 
whose savour is still  fragrant in the  
memory1 books containing beautiful      
prints 7sometimes  ravishingly coloured7
 signed with the magic initials of the  
incomparable  #8,g4 ,ck4' ,no doubt the 
young people of the present day have    
younger  artists to charm them2 and many
 hundred thousand boys and girls are    
admiring ,mr4 ,leech1 and will be       
grateful to him forty years hence1 when 
their heads are grey4 ,these will not   
care for the ,cruikshank drawings  and  
etchings as men do whose boyhood was    
delighted by them2 but the  moderns can 
study the manners of the early century  
in the ,cruikshank  etchings1 as of the 
,french ,revolution period in ,gillray1 
,woodward1  ,bunbury40    ,still the    
public1 the paying public1 held back4   
,mr4 ,francis ,turner ,palgrave took up 
the ,exhibition in the ,saturday        
,review1 and thought it necessary to    
reintroduce ,cruikshank to the  ,british

 public3 8,old ,george ,cruikshank has  
been old ,george ,cruikshank10   he     
said1 8any time during the last thirty  
years to those whose nursery  days date 
so far back4 ,indeed1 we have heard his 
illustrations to  ,grimm's ,fairy       
,stories spoken of as the delight of    
their youth by some  whose childhood    
dates forty years ago1 whilst the       
similar labour of  love which he has    
devoted to ,jack and the ,beanstalk is  
the thumbed  and tattered darling of    
many who do not yet aspire to rank in   
the rising  generation4 ,he must1 in    
fact1 be old ,george ,cruikshank1 we are
 afraid1  in the number of his years2   
yet our century has seen no better      
example  of that ever-youthfulness which
 is one of the most frequent and least  
doubtful signs of genuine genius4 ,that 
the name of ,cruikshank deserves  to be 
coupled with this epithet has never been
 dubious to those who1  looking beyond  
certain mannerisms and limitations in   
his power as an  artist1 can appreciate 

high gifts to move both tears and       
laughter1  exhibited on however small   
and unpretending a scale2 or who can    
value  downright originality1 expressing
 itself in its own manner1 irrespective 
of popular fashion2 or who are aware    
what peculiar skill he has reached  as  
an etcher40    ,but the opus ,georgii   
had been scattered through modest ways1 
in  children's books1 title-pages to    
forgotten music1 ephemeral pamphlets1   
mediocre works1 or romances of passing  
popularity1 as well as in the  pages of 
,fielding1 ,smollett1 ,grimm1 ,scott1   
and ,dickens4 ,nearly thirty  years had 
passed over his head since he           
illustrated 8,oliver ,twist02 and  so   
the crowd passed by his sterling        
excellence1 and1 in the old fashion1    
turned 8to some loud trumpet-blowing    
hero of the hour40    ,illustration3    
#aif    ,i remember seeing him standing 
in his exhibition room4 ,it was empty4  
,there was a wild1 anxious look in his  
face1 when he greeted me4 ,while we     

talked1 he glanced once or twice at the 
door1 when he heard any sound in  that  
direction4 ,were they coming at last1   
the tardy1 laggard public for  whom he  
had been bravely toiling so many years8 
,here was his last mighty  labour       
against the wall1 and all the world had 
been told that it was  there4 ,his      
trusty friend ,thackeray had hailed it  
in the ,times4 ,a great  committee of   
creditable men had combined to usher it 
with pomp into the  world4 ,all who     
loved and honoured and admired him had  
spoken words of  encouragement4 ,yet it 
was near noon1 and only a solitary      
visitor had  wandered into the room4    
,thackeray might well say1 8,how little 
do we  think of the extraordinary powers
 of this man1 and how ungrateful we are 
to him60    ,i was reminded of a visit  
,i had paid years before to a room in   
the  ,egyptian ,hall1 where ,haydon1    
wild and lowering1 lingered by his      
pictures1 a solitary1 almost            
heart-broken man4 ,in a letter he said  

that  ,douglas ,jerrold was one of the  
two or three who answered his summons to
  ,piccadilly4 ,but it was ,i1 then a   
young art-student1 who had begged my    
father's ticket1 and stood for him1 in  
the empty ,haydon gallery4 ,it  was     
thus1 with a sinking at the heart1 that 
,i went away from ,wellington  ,street4 
,in order to make the exhibition more   
attractive1 ,mr4 ,john ,taylor          
suggested to ,cruikshank that he should 
group around him a complete  collection 
of his art work of sixty years2 his     
original water-colour  sketches of the  
,miser's ,daughter1 the ,tower of       
,london1 the ,irish  ,rebellion1 and    
indeed a selection from the rich store  
he had garnered in  his home1 in the    
hope that he should be able to leave a  
complete record  of his long art-life as
 a legacy to his country4               
,illustration3 #aii    ,this was the    
origin of the collection which was      
ultimately bought by  the ,aquarium     
,company1 and is now1 unfortunately1    

huddled in a corner of a  gallery of    
their building4    ,from ,wellington    
,street the ,cruikshank exhibition was  
transported late in  #ahfc to ,exeter   
,hall4 ,all who knew the worth of       
,cruikshank's genius  went1 and were    
delighted2 but ,cruikshank was made to  
see that the new  generation had turned 
irrevocably to other and less gifted    
favourites1  and that he had outlived   
his popularly with the multitude4 99 ,as
 one of  the committee remarks1 8,the   
public neither spake nor moved40        
99 8,the ,triumph of ,bacchus0 was taken
 afterwards through the       provinces2
 and although the provincials in many   
places gave       it a heartier welcome 
than it had obtained in ,london1 the    
upshot of the speculation was that the  
expenses of       exhibition were barely
 covered4    ,and yet ,cruikshank1      
although burdened with the pecuniary    
liability  which he had incurred1 and   
which had continuously increased while  
the  exhibition was in progress1 set    

himself down with heroic fortitude to   
complete the etching4 8,following the   
big picture painfully1 wearily10   one  
of the committee writes1 8the etching   
was at last completed2 but  the long    
delay had damped the ardour of          
subscribers4 ,the engraving is a  noble 
work1 unique as a steel etching in its  
great size and multiplicity  of figures4
 ,each one is complete2 nothing is      
scamped4 ,its power as a  teacher has   
yet to be fully felt40    ,yet etching  
and picture brought only heart-aches to 
the artist4 ,both  were got through     
under the pressure of grave money       
complications4 ,now  the water-colour   
drawing had to be made over to ,mr4     
,samuel ,gurney1 as an  equivalent for  
the #djj which he had contributed       
towards the 8spending  money0 fund2 now 
the collection was pledged to another   
friend2 now  the artist found himself   
deeper in the books of ,mr4 ,w4         
,tweedie1 his  publisher2 and now the   
plate and engravings were made over to  

the  8spending money0 committee1 to     
recoup them for their advances4 ,there  
were bickerings--nay1 there were        
absolute quarrels1 in the course of     
these entanglements2 for ,cruikshank was
 an unmanageable business man1  and     
prone1 as we have seen1 to fall out even
 with his most devoted  friends4 ,still 
there was so much that was good and     
lovable in him1 that  they bore with his
 foibles and his outbursts1 and remained
 willing to  help the brave old man     
again4 ,his admirer1 ,mr4 ,raskin1 and  
his secretary  or representative1 ,mr4  
,howell1 with others1 got up a          
testimonial which  cast something       
approaching a thousand pounds into      
,cruikshank's lap1 and  at the same time
 they offered him five guineas apiece   
for such little  thumb-nail water-colour
 drawings of fairies as he could throw  
off at  least by the half-dozen in the  
week4 ,but ,cruikshank was fevered with 
mighty ideas1 harassed by complicated   
monetary transactions1 and at the  same 

time elated by dreams of a great        
national transaction which was  to put  
him clear of the world1 and at ease in a
 serene light of steady  popularity4 ,an
 art union of his works was talked      
about2 but it fell  through4 ,but no    
good end could be served by a minute    
account of  the projects and            
counterprojects which arose around the  
8,triumph of  ,bacchus40    ,the        
painting and the etching consumed nearly
 three busy years of the  artist's life2
 and his pecuniary reward was exactly   
#b1jec #gs4 #f;d4 as  ,mr4 ,tweedie's   
ledger shows4    ,of the art merits of  
this great cartoon the critics have     
pronounced many  clashing opinions4 8,i 
think1 on the whole10 ,mr4 ,sala says1  
8looking  at the amount of sheer labour 
in the picture1 the well-nigh incredible
  multiplicity of figures1 and the      
extreme care with which the minutest    
details have been delineated by a hand  
following the eye of a man past         
threescore years and ten1 the #8,triumph

 of ,bacchus' must be regarded as a     
phenomenon4 ,its pictorial merit is     
slight2 but it possesses and commands   
interest of a very different nature from
 that excited by a mere picture1  when  
we remember the painter's purpose1 and  
the tremendous moral lesson  he sought  
to teach4 ,it is an eloquent protest    
against the  drinking customs of        
society1 and a no less eloquent--and    
terribly  ghastly--exposition of the    
evils wrought on that same society by   
the  vice of drunkenness40    ,if for no
 other reason than to do honour to      
,george ,cruikshank1 it is  well that   
this monument of work by an earnest old 
man has found its way  to ,south        
,kensington1 having been presented to   
the nation by a committee  of           
subscribers1 one of whom contributed a  
cheque for #hjj4 ,here1  according to   
many ,temperance authorities1 it has ir 
made converts4  ,a member of the        
,cruikshank committee writes3 8,an actor
 one day stood  before the painting at  

,south ,kensington1 gazing at it1 and   
taking in its  sad history1 till1       
bursting into tears1 he left the museum1
 took a  cab direct for ,mr4            
,cruikshank's house1 and signed the     
pledge for three  years4 ,dr4           
,richardson told the other day of a     
clergyman who was  pulled up by the     
vestry scene4 ,though the public did not
 patronise the  exhibition1 yet the     
warmest commendations of the picture    
have come from  non-abstainers1 and for 
this cause ,i suspect that the argument 
of the  picture was to them a new idea  
never before fully considered40    ,mr4 
,john ,stewart's estimate of his        
friend's work is technically the most   
satisfactory verdict which has been     
written4 8,as a whole the #8,bacchus'   
is easily described1 although #8none but
 itself can be its parallel4'  ,it is   
the province of genius to make rules    
where there are none1 but as  truth is a
 consistent whole1 true genius bends the
 rule it makes into  harmony with those 

already in existence2 and in nothing has
 the artist  been more successful than  
in combining his novel creation with the
  recognised canons of art4 ,this was a 
daring effort2 and1 however             
hyper-criticism might carp or ignorance 
may sneer at details1 nothing  but the  
feeling of a poet1 which enables him to 
compose with a poet's  facility1 could  
have sustained the effort so            
successfully4 ,the general  composition 
contains all the elemental types of     
pictorial grouping1  generalised on the 
two axioms of balance and variety4 ,so  
fully has the  artist carried out this  
subtle truth of art--because an         
essential truth  of nature--that it     
would not be difficult to point out     
every principle  ,haydon could extract  
from the combined works of ,raphael     
successfully  modified by ,cruikshank to
 build up and support this picture4 ,the
  horizontal is represented by the      
groups in the immediate foreground2 the 
pyramidal by the ,bacchus1 ,silenus1 and

 ,bacchante2 the circular by  the       
publicans1 and repeated by the widows   
and orphan children2 the  perpendicular 
by the saloons of high life introduced  
on either side3 and  these are repeated 
out and still out1 till the art which   
produced them  is lost in the higher art
 necessary to hide the method of        
production4    8,what is true of the    
picture as a whole is still more visible
 in the  individual groups4 ,these1     
however1 must be seen to be appreciated1
 for  they cannot be described in words1
 not even by ,george ,cruikshank4 ,but  
this may be affirmed without hesitation1
 that no other artist in ,britain  or in
 ,europe could have produced the same   
variety of incident1 action1  and       
expression--that is1 the same amount and
 quality of thought1 in the  same period
 of time--as ,cruikshank has displayed  
in this #8,triumph of  ,bacchus4' ,the  
number that could have done it at all is
 easily counted1  and they--artists like
 ,frith--knowing most fully the         

difficulties1 are  most enthusiastic in 
their admiration of the genius and      
devotion by  which ,cruikshank has      
worked and conquered4 ,true1 the work   
wants  finish1 but this want is most    
felt by those ignorant enough to        
confound  smoothness and prettiness with
 finish2 but a lifetime would be too    
short  to finish such pictures up to    
their standard1 and they should         
understand  that the artist never       
intended to finish after their fashion4 
,his  objects were entirely different3  
first1 to produce his thoughts in a     
style that could be seen by an audience 
at a distance2 and second1 using  the   
work in oil as a basis and a guide for  
the etching and engraving  the more     
permanent work which is now in          
preparation4 ,in the first the  success 
is greater than the greatest smoothness 
could have given1 and  it would be as   
reasonable to blame ,rembrandt for not  
finishing those  studies in oil he      
painted to etch from1 as to blame       

,cruikshank for  following ,rembrandt's 
example4 ,with this #8,triumph of       
,bacchus1' as with  ,yan ,ryan's        
#8,hundred ,guilders1' the etching--the 
print--is the true  completion of the   
work2 while the picture is only a       
portion of the  preparatory means to the
 nobler and more enduring end and aim4  
,it is  different with artists whose    
works1 if engraved1 must be translated  
from  paintings into prints by          
others--often by those with little      
sympathy for  the subject or the style  
in which it has been treated by the     
painter4  ,such pictures1 however highly
 finished1 lose much that is valuable   
in process of translation4 ,with etchers
 like ,rembrandt or ,cruikshank1        
however diverse their styles1 they have 
this in common1 that their  prints are  
more perfect than the pictures from     
which they are produced1  because the   
artist is perfecting his idea while     
elaborating his  plate4 ,the shrewd old 
,dutch burgomasters1 alive to this fact1

 secured  ,rembrandt's most matured     
works by subscribing for impressions of 
his  plates1 and the wisest admirers of 
,cruikshank's genius are following the  
same course1 not doubting that his      
finished etching of this great work     
will be the most finished embodiment of 
his grand idea40    ,illustration3 #bjh 
,,chapter ,v4 8,,frauds ,,on ,,the      
,,fairies0 ,,and 8,,whole ,,hogs40      
,the works which ,george ,cruikshank    
illustrated1 and the enterprises on     
which he entered during the thirty-years
 of his teetotal career1  would be      
enough to fill the life of an ordinary  
worker4 ,after he had  contributed 8,the
 ,bottle0 and 8,the ,drunkard's         
,children0 to the ,temperance  cause1 he
 engaged with renewed ardour1 if with   
failing fortunes1 in his  old work of   
book illustration4 ,for the ,brothers   
,mayhew he illustrated  8,the ,greatest 
,plague in ,life10 8,whom to ,marry and 
,how to get ,married10   8,the ,magic of
 ,kindness10 and 8,the ,adventures of   

,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,sandboys  during #8the  
,world's ,show' of #ahea40 ,in the first
 two are some etchings  full of the old 
spirit and the old quickness of         
observation4 ,in the  8,magic of        
,kindness0 are some charming fairy      
scenes1 notably the 8,genius  of        
,industry ,and 8,whole ,hogs40          
8,turning the ,forest into a ,fleet10   
and in the 8,adventures of the          
,sandboys0 is ,cruikshank's famous plate
 of all the world going to ,hyde        
,park--a new rendering of his pictorial 
preface to the ,omnibus4 ,in this  we   
find that the hand had lost none of its 
cunning1 and that the fancy  and the    
power of observation were undimmed4     
,illustration3 #baa    ,about this      
time--that is1 between #ahdi and        
#ahec--;,cruikshank illustrated  two    
,christmas stories by ,mrs4 ,g-ore1     
8,the ,snowstorm0 and 8,the             
,inundation10 in ,angus ,b4 ,beach's    
8,clement ,lorimer10 99 the 8,songs of  
the late ,charles ,dibdin10 ,frank      

,smedley's 8,frank ,fairleigh10 and     
8,uncle  ,tom's ,cabin0--representing   
some seventy etchings1 and as many wood 
blocks4 ,the 8,frank ,fairleigh0        
etchings introduced ,cruikshank to      
,frank  ,smedley1 and led to a final    
venture in the magazine form1 with which
  ,david ,bogue1 the publisher1 had     
resolved to test finally the hold the   
artist still had on the public4         
99 ,mr4 ,wedmore1 in his article on     
,cruikshank1 says of one of       the   
etchings in this book1 8,miss ,eske     
carried away during       her ,trance10 
that it is among the things that show   
him to       have had 8the imagination  
of tragedy40    ,bogue had long been    
,cruikshank's fast friend and admirer1  
and was loth  to believe that his name  
had ceased to be an attraction to the   
,british  public upon a title-page4     
,moreover1 he had had some recent       
successes  with the 8inimitable0        
,george4 ,in two years the 8,sandboys10 
in which was  his amazingly minute 8,all

 the ,world going to see the            
,exhibition0 and his  drawing of the    
transept1 packed with myriads of people 
at the opening  ceremony 7,i remember   
standing by him while he sketched it    
from the  south-western gallery71 had   
gone through four editions4 ,but his    
recent  ,fairy ,library had been a      
failure4 ,dickens 7in ,household        
,words71  among others1 had protested   
against teetotalism being introduced    
into  fairyland2 and had1 two years     
previously1 even ridiculed what was     
called  ,cruikshank's temperance        
fanaticism1 in a paper called 8,whole   
,hogs40 ,these attacks1 no doubt1 helped
 to put an end to the ,george           
,cruikshank's ,fairy ,library1 after he 
had illustrated with some  exquisitely  
dainty scenes1 8,pass in ,boots10 8,hop 
o' my ,thumb10 u  ,jack and the         
,beanstalk10 and 8,cinderella40 99      
,cuthbert ,bede1 in a  8,reminiscence of
 ,cruikshank0 in ,notes and ,queries1   
remarks3 8,it was  very evident from    

that article1 #8,frauds on the          
,fairies1' and also from  a previous one
 from the same pen1 called #8,whole     
,hogs1' that ,dickens  considered       
,cruikshank to be occasionally given    
over to the culture of  crotchets1 and  
to the furious riding of favourite      
hobbies4 ,but in all  these things it is
 indisputable that the great moral      
artist was firmly  persuaded that he was
 acting in the cause of suffering       
humanity1 and  engaged upon some work   
for the amelioration of his             
fellow-creatures4 ,and  whatever was the
 act1 and however small and trivial it  
might appear in  the sight of the       
majority1 ,cruikshank threw himself into
 it heart and  soul1 and1 like          
everything else he put his hand to1 he  
did it with all  his might40         99 
,these have been since published in a   
volume by ,bell and       ,daldy1 and by
 ,routledge and ,co4    ,to be driven   
from fairyland1 which was the realm of  
his happiest dreams1  was a bitter      

disappointment1 and he felt deeply the  
blow of the friend  who drove him forth 
from it4    ,illustration3 #baf         
,dickens had said of him and his        
fairies1--    8,he is the only designer 
fairyland has had4 ,callot's imps1 for  
all their  strangeness1 are only of the 
earth1 earthy4 ,fuseli's fairies belong 
to the infernal regions2 they are       
monstrous1 lurid1 and hideously         
melancholy4 ,mr4 ,cruikshank alone has a
 true insight into the #8little         
people4' ,they are something like men   
and women1 and yet not flesh and  blood2
 they are laughing and mischievous1 but 
why we know not4 ,mr4  ,cruikshank1     
however1 has had some dream or the      
other1 or else a natural  mysterious    
instinct1 or else some preternatural    
fairy revelation1 which  has made him   
acquainted with the looks and ways of   
the fantastical  subjects of ,oberon and
 ,titania40    ,when this wizard of the 
etching-needle1 some fifteen years after
 he had  drawn 8the awful ,jew10        

pretended to put forth a whole ,fairy   
,library of  his own1 the author of the 
,jew sat himself down and wrote3--      
8,we have lately observed1 with pain1   
the intrusion of a #8,whole ,hog' of    
unwieldy dimensions into the fairy      
flower-garden4 ,the rooting of the      
animal among the roses would in itself  
have awakened in us nothing but         
indignation2 our pain arises from his   
being violently driven in by a  man of  
genius1 our own beloved friend1 ,mr4    
,george ,cruikshank4 ,that  incomparable
 artist is1 of all men1 the last who    
should lay his  exquisite hand on fairy 
text4 ,in his own art he understands it 
so  perfectly1 and illustrates it so    
beautifully1 so humorously1 so wisely1  
that he should never lay down his       
etching-needle to #8edit' the ,ogre1  to
 whom with that little instrument he can
 render such extraordinary  justice4    
,but1 to #8editing' ,ogres1 and         
,hop-o'-my-,thumbs1 and their  families1
 our dear moralist has in a rash moment 

taken1 as a means of  propagating the   
doctrines of ,total ,abstinence1        
,prohibition of the  ,sale of           
,spirituous ,liquors1 ,free ,trade1 and 
,popular ,education4 ,for the           
introduction of these topics1 he has    
altered the text of a fairy story2  and 
against his right to do any such thing  
we protest with all our might  and main4
 ,of his likewise altering it to        
advertise that excellent series  of     
plates1 #8,the ,bottle1' we say nothing 
more than that we foresee a new  and    
improved edition of #8,goody ,two       
,shoes1' edited by ,e4 ,moses and ,son2 
of the #8,dervish' with the box of      
ointment1 edited by ,professor          
,holloway2  and of #8,jack and the      
,beanstalk1' edited by ,mary ,wedlake1  
the popular  authoress of #8,do you     
,bruise your ,oats yet8'0 ,dickens goes 
on to point  out what would become of   
our great books if this kind of liberty 
were to  be tolerated4 8,imagine a total
 abstinence edition of #8,robinson      

,crusoe1'  with the rum left out4       
,imagine a peace edition1 with the      
gunpowder left  out1 and the rum left   
in4 ,imagine a vegetarian edition1 with 
the goat's  flesh left out4 ,imagine a  
,kentucky edition1 to introduce a       
flogging  of that #8tarnal old nigger   
,friday1 twice a week4 ,imagine an      
,aborigines  ,protection ,society       
edition1 to deny the cannibalism and    
make ,robinson  embrace the amiable     
savages whenever they landed4 ,robinson 
,crusoe would  be edited out of his     
island in a hundred years1 and the      
island would be  swallowed up in the    
editorial ocean40 ,then follows a most  
humorous story  of 8,cinderella10 edited
 by a stump orator on ,temperance1      
,ocean ,penny  ,postage3    8,frauds on 
the ,fairies once permitted1 we see     
little reason why they may  not come to 
this1 and great reason why they may4    
,the ,vicar of ,wakefield  was wisest   
when he was tired of being always wise4 
,the world is too much  with us1 early  

and late4 ,leave this precious old      
world1 escape from it  alone40    ,poor 
,george ,cruikshank dropped his pencil1 
and ,cuthbert ,bede has told us  how he 
found the artist1 on an ,october day in 
#ahec1 still smarting from  the effects 
of ,dickens's article4 ,cruikshank1     
however1 was not the man  to feel a blow
 and sit down under it4    ,bogue had   
resolved1 as ,i have already stated1 to 
test finally the extent  of             
,cruikshank's remaining popularity with 
a magazine that was to bear  his name1  
and that was to be edited by ,mr4 ,frank
 ,smedley1 then a popular  writer of    
fiction4 ,cruikshank had no sooner an   
organ of his own1 than he  buckled on   
his armour1 and prepared for a lively   
assault upon the author  of the two     
,house-hold ,words articles1 ,in the    
second 7and last7 number  of ,george    
,cruikshank's magazine 99 7to which ,i  
have already referred7 is  a letter from
 ,hop-o'-my-,thumb to ,charles ,dickens1
 ,esq41 upon 8,frauds on  the ,fairies10

 8,whole ,hogs10 etc4 ,it is in         
,cruikshank's homely style1 but  the    
reader will see that it is not without  
several good home-thrusts4 ,he          
begins3--    8,right trusty1            
well-beloved1 much-read1 and admired    
,sir1--,my attention  has lately been   
called to an article in ,household      
,words1 entitled  #8,frauds on the      
,fairies1' in which ,i fancy ,i         
recognise your master hand  as the      
author--and in which article1 as it     
appears to me1 you have gone  a leetle  
out of your way to find fault with our  
mutual friend ,george  ,cruikshank1 for 
the way in which he has edited          
#8,hop-o'-my-,thumb and  the ,seven     
,league ,boots4' ,you may1 perhaps1 be  
surprised at receiving a  letter from so
 small an individual as myself2 but1    
independently of the  deep debt of      
gratitude which ,i feel that ,i owe to  
that gentleman1 for  the way in which he
 has edited my history1 my anxiety to   
maintain the  honour and credit of the  

noble family to which ,i belong impels  
me to  take up my pen 7made from the    
quill of a humming-bird71 to endeavour  
to  justify the course adopted by my    
editor1 and also to take the liberty  of
 setting you right upon one or two      
points in which you are entirely        
mistaken4    8,these may seem bold      
words1 from such a mite as ,i am1 to    
such a literary  giant as you are2 but  
,i have had to deal with giants in my   
time1 and  ,i am not afraid of them1 and
 ,i shall therefore take leave to tell  
you1  that although you may have held in
 your memory some of the remarkable     
facts in my interesting history1 yet    
that you were ignorant of the  general  
character of the whole2 and the only way
 in which ,i can account  for a man of  
your remarkable acuteness having made   
such a great  mistake is1 that you have 
suffered that extraordinary seven-league
  boot imagination of yours to run away 
with you into your own ,fairy           
,land1--and thus have given your own    

colours to this history2 and1           
consequently1 a credit and a character  
to the old editions which do not  belong
 to them40    ,cruikshank then quotes   
passages from ,dickens's article1 and   
continues3  8,now this1 which you call  
#8,frauds on the ,fairies1' in my humble
 opinion1  might as well have been      
called #8,much ,ado about ,nothing'2    
for1 had  my editor been altering the   
title of any standard literary work1    
the writing of any man of mark--one of  
your own glorious books1 for            
example--then1 indeed1 you might have   
raised a hue and cry2 but to  insist    
upon preserving the entire integrity of 
a fairy tale1 which had  been and is    
constantly altering in the recitals1 and
 in the printing of  various editions of
 various countries1 and even counties1  
appears to my  little mind like shearing
 one of your own #8whole hogs1' where   
there is  #8great cry and little wool4'0
    ,then ,cruikshank asks where is     
tenderness and mercy in ,tom ,thumb's   

father1 when he induced his wife to take
 their seven children into the  forest  
to perish miserably of hunger1 or to be 
devoured by wild beasts8  8,my editor10 
,hop-o'-my-,thumb proceeds1 8seeing that
 such a statement was  not only         
disgusting1 but against nature1 and     
consequently unfit for the  pure and    
parentloving minds of children1 felt    
certain that any father  acting in such 
a manner must either be mad or under the
 influence  of intoxicating liquor1     
which is much the same thing1 and       
therefore1  wishing to avoid any        
allusion to such an awful affliction as 
insanity1  has accounted for my father's
 unnatural conduct by attributing to  it
 that cause which marks its progress1   
daily and hourly1 by acts of  unnatural 
brutality40 ,farther on1                
,hop-o'-my-,thumb1 referring to the     
little peculiarity of the young ogres   
8biting little children on purpose  to  
suck their blood10 wants to know whether
 they are good things to be  nourished  

in a child's heart4 8,and ,i should also
 like to know10 he adds1  8what there is
 so enchanting and captivating to       
#8young fancies' in  this description of
 a father 7ogre though he be7 cutting   
the throats of  his own seven children8 
,is this the sort of stuff that helps to
 #8keep  us ever young1' or give us that
 innocent delight which we may share    
with children80 ,having thanked ,mr4    
,cruikshank for rescuing his family     
character from the moral taints which   
former biographers had put upon  it1    
representing him to be1 in the          
transaction of the seven-league boots   
and the mother of the slaughtered       
children1 8an unfeeling1 artful liar1   
and a thief10 and his parents 8receivers
 of stolen goods10 he turns  upon ,mr4  
,dickens for his attempt to throw       
ridicule upon the ,temperance  question1
 and also his 8evident contempt1 and    
even hatred1 against that  cause10 as   
shown in his 8,whole ,hogs40            
,hop-o'my-,thumb hereupon valiantly  and

 defiantly remarks3 8,this is not the   
place1 nor is it my purpose1 now  to    
discuss the ,temperance question1 but ,i
 take the liberty of telling  you that  
it is a question which you evidently do 
not understand1 for  if you did1 your   
good heart and sanguine disposition     
would make you1 if  possible1 a more    
enthusiastic advocate than my editor40  
,about the good intentions of both      
artist and critic there cannot be  any  
doubt in any honest mind1 ,cruikshank   
had his parting thrust at his           
assailant2 he could not help that3--    
8,you are generally10 he says to his    
friend ,dickens1 8most happy in  your   
titles2 but1 in this instance1 the      
application seems singularly            
inappropriate4 ,the #8whole hog' should1
 by rights1 belong to those  parties who
 patronise pork butchers2 and the term  
as applied to the  peace people would be
 better used in regard to the ,great    
,bear1 or any  other war party2 and     
surely1 as to any allusion to the       

#8unclean animal1'  in connection with  
total abstinence1 the term would more   
properly attach  to those who wallow in 
the mire1 and destroy their intellects  
by the use  of intoxicating liquors1    
until they debase themselves to the     
level of  the porcine quadruped6 ,and1  
as far as my editor is concerned1 ,i    
consider  it a great act of injustice to
 mix him up with other questions1 and   
with  which1 you know1 he has nothing   
whatever to do4 ,i have therefore to    
beg that in future you will not drive   
your #8whole hogs' against us1 but  take
 them to some other market1 or keep them
 to yourself1 if you like2  but we'll   
none of #8em1 and therefore ,i take this
 opportunity of driving  them back40    
,the controversy is closed with a       
capital cut of ,hop-o'-my-,thumb driving
  some prodigious porkers back to       
,household ,words4    ,the first number 
of the magazine had warned the public   
that hobbies were  to be ridden         
regularly4 ,one of the folded etchings  

was the first of  a series of 8,tobacco 
,leaves10 in which the habit of smoking 
was to be  attacked4 ,the plate was a   
series of grotesque absurdities1 in     
which a  moral was torn to tatters4     
,boys with hoops are smoking pipes2 an  
adult  son is offering a 8long day0 and 
a spittoon in a drawing-room to his     
venerable mother2 a young gentleman is  
passing ladies in the street with  a    
cigar in his mouth1 and under the       
picture is written1 8,no one but a  very
 unthinking gentleman or a most         
contemptible snob or puppy would  smoke 
in the streets or public places1        
regardless who he may annoy with  his   
offensive tobacco smoke40 ,in one corner
 of the plate a gentleman is  offering a
 cigar to his sister1 saying1 8,come1   
sister dear1 soothe your  distressed    
feelings with a mild ,havannah60 in the 
opposite corner a  lover on his knees is
 making a declaration in these words3   
8,dearest  7puff7 ,virginia 7puff71 ,i  
7puff7 love you 7puff7 dearer 7puff7    

than my  pipe 7puff740 ,virginia is     
listening1 with a cigar in her hand4    
,other hobbies were in preparation4     
,cothbert ,bede1 who was then in        
constant communication with ,cruikshank1
 was invited to co-operate in  them with
 his pen4 8,at one of our interviews at 
his house10 he says1  8relative to his  
projected magazine1 he showed me some   
wood-blocks1 on  which were his own     
designs1 and which he had already gone  
to the expense  of having carefully     
engraved by 7if ,i remember rightly7    
,mr4 ,t4 ,williams4  ,he then explained 
to me the nature of the designs and the 
special object  for which he had        
prepared them4 ,i must continually have 
noticed 7he  said7 an evil that was     
patent to every one1 both indoors and   
out of  doors1 in the streets1 and      
railway carriages1 and omnibuses1 and   
all  public vehicles4 ,it was an evil   
not confined to the young or the old2   
it was most injurious in its effects1   
and it only required the public         

attention to be pointedly directed to it
 to have it stopped and put  down4 ,this
 was what he desired to do with his     
pencil1 and it was for  this that he    
sought the co-operation of my pen4      
8,now1 what does the reader imagine was 
this evil that had obtained such  a hold
 upon the nation8--,it was nothing more 
or less than the habit of  ladies and   
gentlemen1 and boys and girls1 placing  
the handles of their  sticks1 canes1    
parasols1 or umbrellas to their mouths1 
and either  sucking them or tapping     
their teeth with them6 ,suiting the     
action to the  word1 and acting the     
characters1 ,cruikshank showed me how   
the gent of  the period tried to make   
himself look excessively knowing by     
sucking the  ivory or bone handle of his
 cane2 how the young lady1 and even the 
very little girl1 made their morning    
calls1 and sucked their parasol         
handles--a sure sign of great gaucherie2
 how other ladies1 even  elderly ones1  
who ought to know better1 did the same  

in carriages and  omnibuses1 thereby    
running the risk of having their teeth  
broken if the  vehicle gave a sudden    
lurch2 and how even grave physicians    
carried  their gold or ivoryheaded canes
 up to their lips4 7,i here reminded    
,mr4  ,cruikshank that if they did so it
 was in traditionary keeping with an    
old custom dating from the days of the  
,great ,plague of ,london1 when  every  
doctor who carried #8fate and physic in 
his eye' had a cunningly  devised box   
for aromatic scents fixed on the top of 
his cane1 so that he  might hold it     
under his nose whenever he visited an   
infectious case47    8,cruikshank spoke 
most gravely on this #8hideous1         
abominable1 and most  dangerous custom1'
 an evil that he was determined to try  
to put down1  and for this end he had   
prepared the designs that he showed to  
me1 and  which had been already         
engraved4 ,these illustrations he wished
 me  to work into letterpress1 which    
should first appear in the projected    

magazine1 and should then be reprinted  
in the form of a small pamphlet4  ,he   
did not desire to make money by the     
publication of this pamphlet2 on  the   
contrary1 he intended to have many      
thousand copies printed at his  own     
expense1 and to employ men to distribute
 them gratuitously to the  public4      
,there were to be men posted outside    
every railway station in  ,london1 and  
as each cab or carriage rolled from     
under the gateway1  one of the pamphlets
 was to be tossed into the vehicle4 ,the
 omnibus  travellers were to be         
liberally dealt with in the same way1   
and by these  means ,cruikshank was     
quite sanguine that the reform which he 
so much  desired would be effected in   
generation4    8,i could not see in this
 a very promising subject my pen2 but1  
as the  article was to make its first   
appearance in the new magazine1 ,i      
agreed1  to write something in          
furtherance of the object that he had in
 mind1 and  to incorporate the          

illustrations that he had prepared4     
,after a while  ,i took ,mr4 ,cruikshank
 the article that ,i had written4 ,he   
was more than  disappointed with it--he 
was horrified4 ,i had treated that grave
 and  earnest question in a light and   
jocular spirit6 ,it would only amuse    
instead of warn the reader6 it would    
never do6 and so on1 with a great  deal 
of action of hands and head4 ,i argued  
that it was more likely to  make the    
desired impression upon their minds1 if 
they read what ,i had  written1 than if 
they were presented with a grave        
sermon-like treatise  on the theme4 ,but
 my arguments failed to move him1 and he
 asked me  to write another1 and far    
more serious1 paper on the subject4     
,this ,i  declined to do1 and requested 
him to get some other author to carry   
out  his ideas4    8,whether he ever did
 so or not1 ,i do not know4 ,the        
collapse of the new  magazine in its    
early infancy prevented the appearance  
in that quarter  of ,george             

,cruikshank's tilt against stick and    
parasol sucking1 and ,i am  not aware if
 the engraved blocks of which ,i have   
spoken were ever made  public4 ,if any  
one is sufficiently curious to know the 
nature of the  manuscript that ,i       
submitted to ,cruikshank1 he may do so  
by referring to  ,motley1 by ,cuthbert  
,bede1 published by ,james ,blackwood in
 #ahee4 ,there  he will find eight pages
 taken up by an article1 illustrated by 
myself1 called #8,dental ,dangers1'     
which is1 verbatim1 printed from  the   
manuscript that ,i had written for ,mr4 
,cruikshank--which1 however1 ,i  called 
#8,take ,care of your ,teeth6'    8,in  
that paper ,i spoke of a lady in an     
omnibus1 whose set of false teeth  were 
projected into her opposite neighbour's 
lap through a sudden jolt  of the       
vehicle while she was sucking her       
parasol handle4 ,this led me to  tell   
,cruikshank an anecdote that ,i had then
 recently heard1 and which1  as it has  
not been in print1 ,i may here narrate2 

for ,cruikshank  laughed very heartily  
at it1 and said that he should like to  
make an  illustration to it1 and asked  
me if ,i could not write a paper on     
country  rectors and their adventures1  
in which it might be introduced1 and    
which  he would further illustrate4     
,very likely this suggestion might have 
been  carried into effect if ,mr4 ,d4   
,bogue had carried on the magazine4 ,as 
it  was1 it was lost to the world40     
,cuthbert ,bede has also given us an    
account of ,cruikshank's first          
introduction to the editor of his       
unfortunate final magazine3--    8,he   
told me that1 as in my own case1 he had 
not known ,cruikshank  personally until 
this projected magazine brought them    
together1 although  ,cruikshank had     
illustrated #8,frank ,fairleigh4' ,the  
great artist's first  call upon ,smedley
 was made only a few days previous to my
 own2 and  ,smedley gave me the         
following account of it3 #8,he was shown
 into this  room1 while ,i was sitting  

at that writing-desk by the window1 ,i  
wheeled  my chair round 7poor ,smedley  
had to use a self-acting wheeled chair71
  and advanced to meet him4 ,thus ,i had
 my back to the light1 and he was       
facing the window4 ,he appeared so      
amazed at seeing me such a cripple as   
,i am1 that he could not overcome his   
wonder1 but kept exclaiming1  8,good    
,god6 ,i thought you could gallop about 
on horses60 and the like  expressions4  
,i explained how it was2 and we then    
proceeded to discuss  business details4 
,it was a hot1 sultry day1 and          
,cruikshank had walked  fast2 he was    
heated1 and his face and forehead were  
very red4 ,his hair  was blown about1   
and1 instead of sitting quietly on a    
chair1 he was  standing up and          
gesticulating wildly4 ,i have a sense of
 the ludicrous1  and had the greatest   
difficulty to keep from laughing1 or to 
look him  in the face4 ,for all this    
time1 in the very centre of his         
capacious and  very red forehead1 there 

was a round something of ivory1 not     
plain1 but  carved in circles1 and as   
big as a large button4    ,i wondered   
what it could be4 ,was it some          
,temperance badge8 ,was it some  emblem 
of office in some secret society1 in    
which he held rank as a  ,great         
,panjandrum with the little button atop8
 ,for the life of me ,i could  not      
divine what it was4 ,and all the time he
 was holding me with his  glittering    
eye1 and going through a whole pantomime
 of gesticulations4  ,suddenly1 and to  
my from his forehead1 and dropped on the
 hearthrug at  his feet4 ,cruikshank    
looked at it with bewilderment1 and     
said1 8,wherever  did that come from80  
8,from off your forehead10 ,i replied4  
8,from off my forehead60 he echoed1  as 
he rubbed it fiercely4 8,yes10 ,i said1 
8it has been there ever since  you      
entered the room40 ,cruikshank seized   
his hat1 and looked into its  crown1    
when it appeared that the ivory circlet 
had dropped from1 the  ventilating hole 

in the crown of the hat as ,cruikshank  
had walked to my  house1 and that it had
 found its way down to his forehead1    
where1 what  with the heat of his head  
and the fragments of glue on the ivory1 
it  had become firmly fixed1 and would  
perhaps have remained there for some    
hours longer if he had not accompanied  
his conversation with so much  action   
,when he found out the truth1 and fully 
realized the absurdity of  the intense  
relief--for ,i was beginning to feel    
that ,i could not bear  the mystery much
 longer--the ivory badge fell situation1
 he burst into  such a hearty roar of   
laughter as ,i have not heard for many a
 day4 ,this  was my first personal      
introduction to ,george ,cruikshank4'0  
,cuthbert ,bede had also the advantage  
of seeing ,cruikshank at work on  that  
plate of his magazine which will make   
its two numbers live longer  than many a
 serial which has lasted twenty years4  
8,when ,i first went into his studio1'' 
says ,cuthbert ,bede1 8there were  many 

specimens of his work around him1 oil   
paintings1 etchings1 and  wood-block    
drawings in various stages of execution4
 ,he seemed to take  a particular       
pleasure in showing me these1 and in    
explaining their  designs4 ,the chief   
work on which he was thus engaged was   
his wondrous  etching of #8,the ,comet  
of #ahec1' which was to form the        
frontispiece for  the projected         
magazine4 ,on account of its            
dimensions--the actual plate1  without  
the title1 #8,passing ,events1 or the   
,tail of the ,comet of #ahec1'  being   
#ae #a_/d by #g inches--it had to appear
 as a folding plate4 ,it was  crammed   
with hundreds of figures1 giving1 at one
 view1 an epitome of the  leading events
 of the year--the ,peace ,conference1   
the war between  ,russia and ,turkey1   
the war in ,china1 the ,queen's review  
of the troops at  ,chobham1 the naval   
review at ,portsmouth1 ,spirit ,rapping1
 ,table ,turning1  the ,derby ,day1     
,betting1 the ,city ,corporation        

,commission1 ,john ,gough and  the      
,temperance ,demonstration1 the ,nineveh
 ,bulls1 the ,zulu ,kaffirs and         
,earthmen1 the ,anteater1 ,albert       
,smith's #8,mont ,blanc1' ,charles      
,kean's  #8,sardanapalus1' ,bribery and 
,corruption1 the ,australian ,gold      
,discovery1  ,mrs4 ,stowe and #8,uncle  
,tom1' the ,new ,york and ,dublin       
,exhibitions1 the  ,vivarium1 ,guy      
,fawkes1 ,lord ,mayor's ,day1 ,wyld's   
,great ,globe1 ,captain  ,mc,clure and  
the ,north-west ,passage1 ,miss         
,cunningham's ,seizure by the  ,grand   
,duke of ,tuscany1 the ,ceiling-walker1 
,smithfield ,cattle ,show1  ,chiswick   
,flower ,show1 ,christmas ,merry-making1
 and the ,pantomimes--these  are among  
the subjects that appear in the ,comet's
 ,tail1 and the gradual  progress of    
which to its ultimate perfection ,i was 
so fortunate as to  see4444    8,the    
hundreds of tiny figures in this etching
 are shown with a  distinctness and     
power of characterisation unrivalled by 

any other  artist4 ,i think that he     
surpassed ,callot in this respect2 and  
that no  one could approach ,george     
,cruikshank in his vigorous1 life-like1 
and  picturesque delineation of surging 
crowds and packed masses of human       
beings40    ,it was his wont to open a  
serial with a tour-de-force of this     
description4    ,illustration3 #bch     
,illustration3 #bci          ,,chapter  
,,vi4 ,a ,,slice ,,of ,,bread ,,and     
,,butter4    ,george ,cruikshank's habit
 of putting himself forward as the      
originator  of any work with which he   
was connected was never more amusingly  
displayed than when1 in ,march #ahgj1 he
 made one of a deputation of the        
,national ,education ,league to ,mr4    
,gladstone4 8,i must say10 he remarked  
on  this event1 in his introduction to  
the second edition of his #8,slice of   
,bread and ,butter1' 8that it afforded  
me much gratification to hear all  the  
suggestions which ,i had placed before  
the public so many years ago1  so       

eloquently and forcibly advocated upon  
this occasion40    ,it was a harmless   
assumption in this instance1 to be      
freely forgiven in  the earnest old man 
who was still exerting himself to the   
utmost of  his ability for what he      
conceived to be the right way1 in the   
cause of  popular education4    ,he had 
thrown his ideas into one of those      
whimsical forms1 peculiar to  him4 ,he  
was fond of illustrated pamphleteering1 
and the reclamation of  ragged children 
left out in the cruel streets hungry and
 half naked had  always been a subject  
near to his heart4 ,his last effort in  
their behalf  he called 8,a ,slice of   
,bread and ,butter40 ,on the title page 
we find one  of his bright little       
pictorial stories in wood4 ,an outcast  
child  lies upon the pavement surrounded
 by a crowd of men1 who are in eager    
consultation as to the restorative which
 shall be administered4 ,in  the        
distance is the parish church1 but      
overhead swings the sign of the         

,britannia1 and the landlord1 with a    
pipe in his mouth1 is contemplating  the
 scene from the bar parlour4 ,the story 
is told with all the old  completeness4 
,the crowd consists of 8some worthy     
gentlemen1 magistrates1 and others10    
who1 on their way 8to the ,town ,hall on
 county business10 have found  this     
forlorn boy upon the pavement leaning   
against the wall4 ,as he was  neither   
begging nor stealing1 and did not       
obstruct the pathway1 he could  not be  
taken into custody4 ,when asked what was
 the matter1 he replied1  8,i wants     
summut to eat40 ,then follows the       
learned consultation around  the        
starving boy3--    8,now the worthy     
magistrates and the other               
gentlemen--some of whom  were clergymen1
 and ministers1 and lawyers--were all   
kind-hearted and  benevolent men as well
 as the doctor2 and they all exclaimed1 
as with  one voice1 upon hearing what   
the doctor said1 #8,oh1 dear me1 how    
very  shocking6--let him have some food 

instantly6'    #8,yes1 yes6' cried one3 
#8here1 officer6 go into the ,britannia1
 and get  him something to eat          
instantly4'    #8,i suppose1' said he1  
turning to the doctor1 8a bit of plain  
bread and  butter wall be best for him  
in his present condition8' #8,the very  
thing1'  he replied2 and as the officer 
was about to run into the house to get  
a bit of bread and butter1 another      
gentleman of the party cried out1       
#8,stop6 see that you bring brown       
bread4' #8,pooh6 pooh6' said another2   
#8it does not matter what sort of bread 
it is1 but it must be toasted4'         
#8,white or brown1 or plain or toasted1 
it matters not much1' exclaimed  a      
fourth1 #8provided there is plenty of   
butter on it4' #8,i object most         
decidedly to the butter1' observed a    
very sedate gentleman4 #8,as to  that1' 
shouted out another1 #8,i consider the  
butter as most essential3  it is full of
 nourishment2 and1 besides1 the poor boy
 might be choked by  cramming dry bread 

down his throat without butter2 but then
 we must  be careful that it be salt    
butter4' #8,no6 no6' cried another2     
#8fresh  butter1 if you please1 and as  
much as you please2 but no salt4' #8,you
  are all wrong1 my friends6--quite     
wrong6' vociferated another of the      
party2 #8depend upon it1 that dry toast 
is the best thing he can have4'  #8,oh6 
oh6 oh6' exclaimed all the other        
gentlemen2 #8who ever heard of such  a  
thing as giving dry toast to a starving 
child8' #8,who ever1 indeed6'  chimed in
 another2 #8it is quite ridiculous to   
toast the bread at all2  the poor child 
might die before it was ready6 ,no6 no6 
plain bread and  butter is best for him2
 but mind1 if ,i have to pay my part    
towards it1  the bread must be new--yes1
 new bread4'    #8,new bread6' exclaimed
 some of the party why1 that's worse    
than all2 for  if it does not stick in  
his throat1 it will in his stomach1 and 
perhaps  kill him4 ,new bread is        
indigestible and most unwholesome       

stuff4' #8,well1  well2 let it be plain 
stale bread and butter1 but only the    
crumb of  the loaf1 and ,i will pay my  
part willingly1' observed another4      
#8,crumb  without crust6' said one of   
the former speakers2 #8why1 the crust of
 the  loaf contains ten times more      
nourishment than the crumb1 and ,i1 for 
one1  will have nothing to do with it1  
nor pay a farthing towards it1 unless   
he has a good lump of crust4'    8,now  
during this contention1 or         #8all
 this splutter ,about the toast and     
bread and butter1'    the poor boy      
seemed to be getting worse and worse1   
and at the same time  all these worthy  
gentlemen becoming more and more        
excited2 some calling  out for #8,fancy 
bread1' some for #8,french rolls1'      
others for #8,german black  bread1' and 
all refusing to pay any part towards the
 bread and butter1  unless cut after    
their own fashion1 when they were       
reminded by one of  the party that there
 was not the least necessity to trouble 

themselves  about paying for what the   
boy might have1 as it could be charged  
to the  county4 ,to which they all      
replied1 rather sharply1 that1 as to    
that1 if  they did not think it right to
 pay out of their own individual        
pockets1  neither did they think it     
right that the public money should be   
used  for purposes which they could not 
individually approve of4 #8,gentlemen1  
gentlemen1' cried the doctor1 #8pray let
 the child have something4 ,is it  not  
dreadful to let this poor boy perish    
before our eyes1 when there  are the    
means of relief within reach8 ,for      
mercy's sake1 let him have  something to
 keep him alive6' #8,well1' replied one 
of the magistrates  7who was chairman of
 the ,sessions71 #8as you see he cannot 
have the bread  and butter1 you must    
prescribe something else for him4'      
#8,dear1 dear me6' said the doctor1 #8,i
 am really shocked at such              
inconsistency4 ,will you let him have a 
little brandy1 then6' #8,oh yes  ,i'    

they all cried out together1 #8let him  
have some brandy--by all means  give him
 some brandy6'0    ,the brandy made     
,ragged ,jack drank2 and presently1     
being still hungry1 he  is tempted to   
steal a roll from a baker's shop1 and   
dragged to the ,town  ,hall1 where the  
magistrates1 who had left him upon the  
pavement taking  brandy1 give him a     
month's imprisonment1 and detention in a
 reformatory  school4' ,the chaplain was
 kind to him1 and said1 8,yes1 now that 
,jack was  a convicted thief1 he had    
plenty of good wholesome bread and      
butter40   ,in the reformatory he was   
educated1 and taught a trade1 and sent  
to a  distant town where his antecedents
 would not be against him4 ,on his way  
he met his cousin1 ,tom ,rag--8a boy as 
ragged and wretched as he used  to be   
himself40 ,tom wants to know how ,jack  
has managed to get such nice  clothes   
and a basket of tools1 that he may go   
and do likewise4    8,cousin ,jack1 who 
had been taught1 and indeed now knew1   

that thieving  was a wicked thing to do1
 was sorely puzzled how to advise his   
friend in  this matter2 for1 having a   
great regard for ,tommy1 he wished to   
save him  from the miserable state in   
which he himself had once been--skulking
 and  wandering about the streets all   
day1 picking up hits and scraps of food1
  even out of the gutters like the dogs1
 and at night sleeping in the  corner1  
perhaps1 of an open sheep-pen in the    
cattle-market1 or crouching  from the   
drenching rain by the side of a doorway2
 and when he contrasted  that state of  
his existence with the comfort he had   
felt1 and the  attention he had received
 whilst in the jail and the reformatory1
 he  knew not how to advise his poor    
cousin1 knowing that poor ,tom was1 as  
he  himself had been1 almost perishing  
for want of a little good wholesome     
bread and butter1 clean clothes1 and a  
comfortable bed to lie in1 which  he    
well knew poor ,tom would have if he    
could be sent to jail1 as he  had been4 

,when he thought of all this he was     
sorely puzzled what to  recommend2 but  
at last he said3 #8,tom1 you must not   
steal2 so you had  better go a-begging1 
and perhaps you may be lucky enough to  
be sent to  jail for that1 and then you 
will have everything done for you1 as ,i
 have  had1 and come out better than me2
 for nobody will be able to say that    
you have been a thief4 ,yes2 go and beg1
 ,tom6    ,but if this don't answer1    
why1 then1 ,i suppose you must go       
a-,,thieving1  as ,i did4'0    8,it may 
be asked1 ,where were the parents of    
these poor boys all this  time8 ,well1  
they could tell you at the ,britannia   
public-house1 only they  don't like to  
talk about such disagreeable matters    
there4 ,but the fact  is1 ,jack's father
 used to use that house1 and was once a 
decent sort  of man1 and was at one time
 a #8moderate drinker'2 but upon one    
occasion  he got mad drunk1 and in that 
state of drunken insanity went home and 
killed his wife1 was sent to jail1 and  

died there4 ,tom's father was           
transported for committing some crime   
after he had #8been drinking' at  the   
,britannia2 and ,tom's mother took a    
little drop at first to comfort  her1   
and then drank herself to death40 ,the  
foregoing will remind many  readers of  
the scheme of ,mr4 ,jenkins's 8,ginx's  
,baby40    ,but ,cruikshank gives his   
views on popular education in his homely
 simple  way3--    8,one of the great   
social questions of the day is the      
necessity and  importance of a general  
or national system of education for the 
humble  classes1 upon such a            
comprehensive plan as shall give every  
child born  in the ,united ,kingdom a   
certain amount of book knowledge1 and   
also of  moral and religious training1  
as they are1 or ought to be1 entitled   
to as juvenile members of a civilized   
community--such training as may  prepare
 them to fill useful and honest         
positions in life1 or1 perhaps1  be the 
first step to those high stations so    

often filled by honest1  hardworking1   
mercantile men1 or ingenious mechanics4 
,now1 every thinking  and right-minded  
person will agree that this object is a 
most desirable  one1 and that no        
innocent child should be so neglected as
 to be allowed  to grow up in a state of
 savage ignorance2 and at the first     
blush  nothing seems more easily to be  
accomplished1 in a wealthy and          
intelligent country like ours1 than to  
arrange such a general system as  is    
here alluded to1 and to provide the ways
 and means4 ,well6 all this  would be   
simple and easily accomplished1 but for 
one obstacle--namely1  the differences  
in the religious opinions of a portion  
of the adult  population4 ,yes1 strange 
as it may appear1--nay1 monstrous as it 
is1--nevertheless these religious       
differences have been1 and are now1  the
 only bar to the adoption of any wide   
and general system of secular           
education40    8,it is of course        
impossible to please all parties2 but   

few persons1 ,i  imagine1 could surely  
object to a national system of education
 upon  the following plan3--,in the     
first place1 an ,act of ,parliament     
should  be passed1 making it imperative 
that every child should receive some    
education1 and where the parents are    
destitute or depraved1 then that  the   
,state shall take the position of the   
parents1 and educate and train  up all  
the neglected and helpless children4 ,in
 the second place3--,in  the schools1   
let reading1 writing1 and arithmetic be 
taught 7with  other branches of         
education1 if possible1 or required71   
and such  moral training as will teach a
 child the difference between ,right and
  ,wrong--and here let the              
schoolmaster's duty cease1 and that of  
the  ministers of religion begin4 ,and  
in the third place3--,let it be the duty
  of the clergyman1 and ministers of all
 denominations1 to instruct all  those  
children who belong to their particular 
church1 chapel1 or sect1  in the        

religious belief of their parents2 but  
when the parents do not  attend any     
place of worship1 or profess any        
particular creed--then1 that  the clergy
 of the ,established ,church be allowed 
to instruct all such  children in the   
religion of the ,state4 ,by such an     
arrangement as this1  it appears to me  
that if all the poor helpless children  
of the land were  schooled in the common
 elements of reading1 writing1 etc41 for
 five days  in the week1 and the clergy 
and ministers of all denominations were 
to  instruct these children one day in  
the six in the religion of the class  to
 which they belong 7independent of the  
,sunday71 that then all parties  might  
be satisfied1 and a great objection done
 away with as to the great  general     
system which ,i here propose for secular
 instruction and moral  and religious   
training40    ,he goes on to remark that
 a reformatory may be wanted in any     
country1  under any circumstances1 8but 
why should we have ,ragged ,schools in  

rich ,england80 ,he proceeds to argue   
that there would be no need for  either 
,ragged ,schools or ,reformatories if   
the use of 8strong drink0 were          
abolished2 and he calls upon 8the       
grown-up people not to allow innocent   
children to starve and fall into evil   
ways1 because they cannot agree  upon   
the mode of cutting a ,slice op ,bread  
and ,butter40 ,he adds3 8,but  as       
prevention is better than cure1 ,i call 
upon all those who delight  in good     
works to aid the ,temperance cause1     
which is1 in truth1 the only  radical   
cure for the evils complained of40      
,the tail-piece to this characteristic  
pamphlet--as charming as it is          
characteristic--is a brightly-executed  
drawing on wood of ,britannia  seated   
upon the ,british lion1 couchant1 with  
her arms about 8her ragged  and         
reformatory pets40    ,cruikshank's zeal
 for the cause to which he had devoted  
himself led him  to take delight in the 
illustration even of little ,temperance 

pamphlets  and fly-sheets4    ,ruskin   
had said1 in his 8,time and ,tide1 by   
,weare and ,tyne0 7#ahfg71 8,it  is no  
more his business to etch diagrams of   
drunkenness than it is mine  at this    
moment to be writing these letters      
against anarchy40 ,yet just as  ,mr4    
,ruskin has gone on with his letters1 so
 ,cruikshank went on with his  diagrams 
of drunkenness to the end4    ,in #ahfg1
 when ,cruikshank brought out his       
8,british ,bee-,hive10 with a  worker at
 a trade or profession in every cell1   
the estates of the realm  at the top1   
and the army and navy at the bottom1 and
 called it 8a penny  political picture  
for the people1 with a few words upon   
,parliamentary  ,reform1 by their old   
friend ,george ,cruikshank10 he was     
opposed to the  ,reform ,bill1 and      
advised the working-men to be content   
with the glorious  constitution as it   
stood1 and keep away from ,reform       
meetings1 as  8revolutionary            
proceedings40    ,perhaps the best of   

,cruikshank's pamphlets1 taking the text
 and the  drawings together1 is 8,the   
,glass and the ,new ,crystal ,palace10  
published  by ,john ,cassell4 ,it is    
thoroughly ,cruikshankian1 and in his   
most  vivacious mood3 some of the       
illustrations--as the ,spirit ,level--a 
drunkard at full length upon the        
pavement2 the ,social ,villagers1 with  
,death for the host1 and the villagers  
represented by their tombstones2  and   
the whisky after the goose1 and the     
goose after the whisky1 for  instance4  
,think what would have become of the    
neglected or forgotten humourist1  if1  
when the mere laughing public had turned
 away from him to ,leech and  ,doyle1   
and ,tenniel and ,du ,maurier1 he had   
not been fired with the ardour  of an   
apostle in the cause he had taken up4   
,his ,almanac had failed for  lack of   
readers2 and ,david ,bogue had thrown up
 ,cruikshank's magazine1  after the     
second number--convinced that the artist
 had outlived his  public4 ,his ambition

 to become a painter was mercifully     
renewed1 with  the renewal of his health
 and mind1 through temperance4 ,full of 
vigour  he used to say1 8,a man should  
paint from his shoulder1 sir40 ,he      
became  almost wholly a serious man in  
his work1 and appealed to the public in 
a  new capacity4 ,he resolved1          
stimulated by the success of 8,the      
,bottle10 to  paint a great picture that
 should remain behind him1 a monument of
 his  genius1 and an immortal temperance
 lesson4 ,he was ready1 and eager1 to   
give a helping hand in all directions to
 the last4 ,in #ahgj1 ,i asked  him to  
join my ,committee1 when ,i was a       
candidate for the ,maryle-bone  division
 of the ,london ,school ,board4 ,i give 
his prompt answer as an  example of his 
clear head and hearty readiness in his  
old age to serve a  friend3--           
8,october #bgth1 #ahgj4    8,dear       
,blanchard ,jerrold1--,your request     
would have been complied with  on the   
instant1 but it so happens that a       

gentleman called upon me a few  days    
back with a message from friend         
,hepworth ,dixon1 asking me to allow  my
 name to be placed on his ,committee for
 this #8,educational ,council1'  to     
which1 of course1 ,i assented4    8,now 
if one man can have his name placed on  
two ,committees1 then by  all means     
place my name on your ,committee1 but if
 not1 then let me know  if there is any 
other way in which ,i can assist in this
 matter the man  who is a relative of1  
and who bears the name of two dear      
friends who  were always held in the    
highest esteem by1    8,yours truly1    
8,geo4 ,cruikshank40    ,illustration2  
#bee          ,,chapter ,,vii4          
,,cruikshank',s ,,last ,,twenty ,,years4
    ,the most notable of ,george        
,cruikshank's book-work1 after the      
failure  of bis magazine1 was his 8,life
 of ,sir ,john ,falstaff10 99           
illustrating  a biography of the knight1
 written in ,robert ,brough's happiest  
manner4  ,cruikshank's twenty ,falstaff 

etchings are admirable examples of his  
peculiar excellences as an etcher1 and  
of his matured artistic faculty  of     
composition and observation4         99 
,published by ,messrs4 ,longman and     
,co41 #aheg4    ,in these plates are    
some of the brightest bits of his       
picturesqueness of  outline1 his happy1 
sprightly treatment of light and shade1 
and of his  higher faculties as an      
artist1 of which fate permitted him to  
give the  world only scattered          
fragmentary evidences4 ,thackeray said  
of him1 that  he could draw an ancient  
gloomy market-place as well as ,mr4     
,front or ,mr4  ,nash4 ,what could be   
more picturesque1 or daintier in the    
play of light1  or happier in the       
variety of the architecture1 than the   
backgrounds of  the scenes where ,sir   
,john is arrested at the suit of ,mrs4  
,quickly1 or  when the knight not only  
persuades ,mrs4 ,quickly to withdraw her
 action1  but also to lend him more     
money8 ,mr4 ,f4 ,wedmore has called     

attention1  and with ample reason1 to   
the exquisite pathos of the death of    
,falstaff1  8in which the face of one   
who has died #8a babbling of green      
fields1'  lies very calm1 with the sign 
of gentle fancies but lately flown40    
,these plates were reissued in a        
8,library ,shakspeare0 published in     
parts  between #ahga and #ahgd1 together
 with illustrations by ,sir ,john       
,gilbert  7who1 by the way1 in his youth
 delighted in copying ,cruikshank's     
etchings and drawings on wood72 but it  
is to be hoped that they may some  day  
be rewedded to ,brough's biography1 and 
reappear as the artist's last  important
 creation4    ,illustration3 #beh       
,the twenty years which elapsed between 
the first issue of 8,falstaff0 and  the 
artist's death1 albeit no idle years1   
have left not much completely  worthy of
 the best that had gone before4         
,cruikshank furnished etchings  to the  
8,life and ,enterprises of ,robert      
,william ,elliston1 ,comedian0          

7#aheg71 8,midnight ,scenes and ,social 
,photographs--revelations of  the ,wynds
 and ,dens of ,glasgow0 7#aheh71 ,mr4   
,alfred ,cole's 8,lorimer  ,littlegood0 
7#aheh71 8,stenelaus and ,amylda1 a     
,christmas ,temperance  ,tale0 7#aheh71 
a frontispiece to ,lowell's 8,biglow    
,papers0 7#ahei71 ,dudley  ,costello's  
8,holiday with ,hobgoblins0 7#ahfa71    
8,the ,bee and the ,wasp2 a  ,fable in  
,verse0 7#ahfa71 8,a ,discovery         
concerning ,ghosts0 7#ahfc71 ,robert    
,hunt's 8,popular ,romances of the ,west
 of ,england0 7#ahfe71 the 8,savage     
,club ,papers0 7#ahfg71 8,the ,oak10 a  
magazine1 edited by his friend the      
,rev4 ,charles ,rogers 7#ahfh71         
8,coila's ,whispers10 by the ,knight of 
,morar  7#ahfi71 8,the ,brownies10 and  
other tales1 by ,juliana ,horatia ,ewing
  7#ahgj71 8,the ,true ,legend of ,st4  
,dunstan and the ,devil10 by ,edward    
,g4 ,flight 7#ahga71                    
8,lob-lie-by-the-,fire10 and other      
tales1 by ,juliana  ,horatia ,ewing     

7#ahgd74 ,then there are two works1 the 
illustrations to  which proclaim the    
coming end4 8,peeps at ,life10 and      
8,studies in my  ,cell10 by the ,london 
,hermit1 published in #ahge1 are signed 
8,george  ,cruikshank1 aged #hc1 #ahge20
 and in ,mrs4 ,octavian ,blewitt's 8,the
 ,rose and  the ,lily10 is a            
frontispiece--,george ,cruikshank's last
 design--signed1  8,designed and etched 
by ,george ,cruikshank1 age #hh1 #ahge40
 ,this plate is  here reproduced4       
,not before #ahfi did ,george           
,cruikshank publish his last political  
plate4    ,in #ahfg he put forth 8,the  
,british ,bee-,hive10 which was a       
rearrangement  of a design made in      
#ahdj4 ,the artist drew a section of the
 hive1  displaying fifty-four cells1 in 
which the various grades of             
society--from the ,queen to the         
costermonger--are shown1 all supported  
by  the army1 the navy1 and the         
volunteers1 and surmounted by the crown1
 the  royal standard1 and the union     

jack4 ,this was a protest against       
further  ,parliamentary ,reform2 for1 as
 it has been observed1 ,cruikshank was  
something of a ,radical and something of
 a ,tory--but more of a ,tory4  ,he     
afterwards issued this plate on a double
 sheet1 inscribed 8,a ,penny  ,political
 ,picture for the ,people1 with a few   
words upon ,parliamentary  ,reform1 by  
their old friend1 ,george ,cruikshank40 
,in the following year the old satirist 
drew a 8,design for a ,ritualist  ,high 
,church ,tower and ,steeple10 which he  
dedicated to ,dr4 ,pusey and the  ,vicar
 of ,bray4 ,it was etched on glass by   
,hancock's process4 ,the tower  of the  
church was a fool's cap and bells1 with 
the ,pope for weathercock4  ,the porch  
was a bull's head1 with a procession of 
,ritualist fools  entering by the       
nostrils4 ,the last1 dated ,july #ahfi1 
is a satire upon  ,miss ,rye's          
proposition to export 8gutter children0 
to ,america4 8,the  little dears10 as   
the artist always called children1 are  

being scooped  by a clergyman into a    
mud-cart1 from the volunteers1 and      
sur-royal  standard4    ,the satire was 
against those who had christened the    
little waifs and  strays of our streets 
8gutter children40 ,the name jarred upon
  ,cruikshank's sensitive heart4    ,mr4
 ,wedmore1 referring to the closing     
years of the great pictorial  moralist1 
remarks1 8,he continued to labour2 some 
of his work being even  now but little  
known4 99 ,early unpublished plates for 
the #8,pilgrim's  ,progress' remain1    
amongst others1 in the hands of ,mr4    
,truman4 ,quite in  recent years0 7it   
was in #ahfh7 8he must have executed a  
private plate  for ,mr4 ,frederick      
,locker1 which shows that there were    
moments at least  in which the store of 
his fancy was not impoverished4 ,no more
 ingenious  design could have been      
furnished to a collector than this of   
#8,fairy  ,connoisseurs examining ,mrs4 
,locker's treasures of ,durer1          
,rembrandt1  etc4' ,for ,mr4 ,ruskin1   

too1 in #ahff1 there had been designed  
the #8,piper  of ,hamelin1' leading the 
children mountain wards with the spell  
of his  wonderful music4 ,and in #ahgj a
 a frontispiece representing the fertile
  ,mr4 ,barham1 surrounded by the       
creatures of his brain4 ,and yet more   
recent plates1 the property of ,mr4     
,bell1 the publisher--one of the        
#8,family ,window1' and one in          
#8,lob-lie-by-the-,fire'--show that     
,cruikshank  did not wholly outlive his 
talent4 ,what he outlived was the social
  conditions he had best comprehended4  
,dying as it were only yesterday1  he   
belongs so much to the past1 because1   
though his period of production  did not
 seem long over1 his time of            
receptiveness was gone by4 ,as a        
satirist1 he belonged in spirit to      
another generation2 we could not ask    
him to grapple1 at fourscore years1 with
 the foibles of ours40         99 ,his  
8,bachelor's own ,book2 or1 ,the        
,adventures of ,mr4       ,lambkin1     

,gent10 the story as well as the        
etchings being by       ,cruikshank1 for
 instance4    ,this is a true account of
 him1 to all who knew ,cruikshank well  
in his  latter days4    ,earnest1       
healthy1 vigorous1 and ambitious to the 
last2 he could not  resign himself to   
live on the glory of the past ,he must  
be ever up and  doing--especially in the
 work that lay nearest his valiant      
heart4  ,he scattered his temperance    
work far and wide4 8,the ,fruits of     
,intemperance10 published by ,john      
,cassell1 about #ahee1 is a minor       
design akin to that of the ,triumph of  
,bacchus4 ,the tree is covered with     
medallion-shaped fruit1 and on each     
medallion is a picture showing the      
effects of intoxicating liquors4 ,the   
roots of the tree are a bundle  of      
serpents1 and the surrounding ground is 
covered with tombstones1  inscribed     
8early fruit40 ,but ,cruikshank never   
lost an opportunity of  preaching his   
moral4 ,he made a drawing of 8a drunken 

man knocking down  a drunken woman1 in  
,oxford ,street0 on a ,sunday afternoon2
 and another  of 8a drunken ruffian     
knocking down a woman who carries a     
child10 in  ,farringdon ,street4 ,he    
illustrated the 8,autobiography of a    
,thirsty ,soul0   in the ,weekly        
,record2 and for the same paper he drew 
a publican's  quart measure1 with a     
death's head in lieu of ale froth1 two  
drunkards  babbling of the strengthening
 properties of beer by a 8,noted ,stout 
,house40 ,in the ,band of ,hope ,review 
he illustrated a series1 a parody  on   
8,the ,house that ,jack ,built10 called 
8the ,gin ,shop40 ,he threw off         
fly-leaves for ,mr4 ,tweedie1 as 8,a    
,man a ,thing10 8,the ,house in         
,shadow10   8,the ,loaf ,lecture10      
8,there is ,poison in the ,pot10 8,the  
,red ,dragon10   and 8,the ,smokeless   
,chimney10--the last of which he        
designed as a  contribution to the      
,cotton ,famine ,fund1 during the       
,american ,civil ,war4  ,but it didn't  

pay4 ,he was consoled1 when publishers  
fell away from him  and his means of    
living became precarious by the steady  
friendship of  many admirers4 ,he       
received a pension of #ie from the      
,crown1 and one  of #ej from the ,royal 
,academy4 ,in #ahge1 an endeavour was   
made by ,mr4  ,charles ,rogers to raise 
a second testimonial2 but this effort   
finally  took the shape of a committee  
7of which his good friend ,dr4 ,b4 ,w4  
,richardson was chairman7 to purchase   
the ,cruikshank collection of  etchings 
and drawings for the nation and drawings
 for the nation--the  price put on it   
being #c1jjj--ejj more than the artist  
himself had  fixed4    ,after much      
trouble and many disappointments1 the   
collections passed into  the possession 
of the ,westminster ,aquarium ,company2 
,cruikshank receiving  in ,december1    
#bejj--the price put upon it being what 
artist himself had  fixed2 then         
receiving in #ahgf1 #b1ejj1 and a       
survivorship life-annuity  for himself  

and wife of about #ce4    ,the closing  
years of ,george ,cruikshank's life were
 harassed by a  controversy about a     
design he made and a statue he modelled 
of ,king  ,robert the ,bruce1 to be     
erected by subscription at ,bannockburn4
 ,the  consequence was a very lamentable
 quarrel1 during which ,cruikshank      
claimed that he had been engaged by the 
committee to make the design1  99 and   
that the statue modelled by ,mr4 ,currie
 was originated by him--the  contrary   
being1 according to the committee1 the  
fact4 ,cruikshank1 in  co-operation with
 ,mr4 ,adams-,acton1 produced a model2  
that is1 ,cruikshank  made a design1 and
 then himself stood in the attitude of  
it as ,mr4  ,adams-,acton's model--the  
result being a statue1 and one which    
found  favour with members of the       
committee4 ,but money disputes put an   
end to  negotiations with ,cruikshank4  
,he had drawn #he for expenses2 his plan
  involved in any case an outlay which  
the funds would not cover2 and  finally1

 after many difficulties1 the statue was
 committed to the care  of ,mr4 ,currie4
         99 ,in a letter to the ,times  
7,december #eth1 #ahgg71 he             
remarked3 8,as ,i am the artist who was 
first engaged by the       ,bruce       
,committee to make a design for a       
monumental statue of       ,king ,robert
 the ,bruce1 ,i was very much surprised1
 upon       reading in the ,times of the
 #bfth ult4 the account of the          
unveiling of the ,bruce statue at       
,stirling1 to find that no              
statement was made as to my being the   
original designer10        etc4    ,but 
,cruikshank's share in the transaction1 
as set forth by himself1 and  as        
addressed to the ,scottish people in his
 eighty-fourth year1 is too  remarkable 
an example of his vigour in old age to  
be omitted4    8,an ,address and        
,explanation to the ,scottish ,people1  
by ,george  ,cruikshank1 with respect to
 the proposed ,statue in ,honour of     
,king ,robert  the ,bruce4    8,in the  

month of ,may #ahgj1 several ,scottish  
noblemen and gentlemen  formed          
themselves into a committee with the    
object of raising a fund  by            
subscription1 for the purpose of having 
a statue of ,king ,robert the  ,bruce   
placed on 8the field of ,bannockburn10  
in honour of that hero1  and in memory  
of the great victory achieved by him and
 his army in that  field on the #bdth of
 ,june1 #acad4    8,some friends of     
mine1 who were on this committee1       
invited me to be a  member              
thereof--which honour ,i was obliged to 
decline1 as ,i could not  spare the time
 to attend the meetings2 but1 as #8,the 
,bruce' was one of  my great heroes1 ,i 
promised to give them all the assistance
 ,i could1 and  suggested the attitude  
for the figure1 which they all approved 
of1 and  at their first meeting they    
decided that ,i should be requested to  
make  the design for the statue4    8,i 
must here explain that1 although ,i am  
an artist and designer1 ,i am  not what 

is termed a sculptor2 but it so happened
 that a friend of  mine1 a brother      
artist1 who is a sculptor1 chanced to   
see my design1  and was so pleased with 
it1 that he volunteered to make a model 
of it1  which he did1 acting upon my    
suggestions1 and from me as ,i stood in 
the attitude and equipped in the armour4
    8,i also designed a pedestal2 and   
when the model was completed1 a cast in 
plaster of ,paris was taken1 and        
exhibited in my studio to the committee1
  and the noblemen1 gentlemen1 and      
friends who attended4 ,all highly       
approved of the design and the model1   
and the gentlemen gave most  flattering 
reports1 for which ,i most sincerely    
thank them4 ,after this ,i  had the very
 great honour of submitting the model   
for the inspection of  ,her ,most       
,gracious ,majesty ,queen ,victoria at  
,windsor ,castle4    8,several casts in 
plaster were taken from the model for   
exhibition  in ,london and ,scotland1   
for the inspection of any one who might 

feel  disposed to subscribe2 and the    
committee gave a commission to the      
sculptor1 ,mr4 ,john ,adams-,acton1 to  
execute a bronze statue of #8,the       
,bruce1' ten or twelve feet in height1  
to be placed on a rocky grey  granite   
pedestal twenty-two feet high2 and all  
seemed to be going  on well1 and the    
work was about to be commenced1 when    
suddenly  the subscriptions all stopped 
at once6 and this1 no doubt1 was in     
consequence of the breaking out of the  
late war between ,france and  ,germany1 
which terrible contest so entirely      
absorbed the public mind1  that #8,the  
,bruce' was quite forgotten4    8,this  
was1 of course1 a great disappointment  
to all connected with the  press1 who   
had visited my studio1 concerned in the 
movement1 and the  matter since that    
time has been almost at a standstill2   
but ,i am happy  to say that a military 
officer has joined our ranks1 and who   
now takes  the lead1 and seems          
determined1 if possible1 to conquer and 

overcome  all difficulties4 ,this is    
,major-,general ,sir ,james ,e4         
,alexander1 ,c4,b41  of ,westerton1     
,bridge of ,allan1 and who is chairman  
of the #8,bruce ,local  ,committee of   
,stirling4'    8,i have now to mention  
another disappointment to myself and the
  committee1 which was1 that the ,odd   
,fellows of ,stirling had erected a     
large flagstaff 7by permission of the   
owner of the land7 on the very  spot    
where we had intended to have applied   
for permission to place the  statue2    
that being the site where the ,scottish 
standard was fixed on  the day of the   
battle4 ,this bit of ground being       
occupied1 it was then  thought that the 
best place to have the statue would be  
on the esplanade  of ,stirling ,castle4 
,sir ,james ,alexander thereupon applied
 to the  ,secretary of ,state for ,war  
for a space on the esplanade for this   
purpose1 which request has most kindly  
been complied with4    8,i must now     
explain to those who have not seen the  

original model that  ,bruce is there    
represented as if he were looking down  
with pity on the  slain1 and as if he   
were saying1 #8,the fight is o'er1 the  
day is won3 ,i  sheathe my sword4' ,but 
now that the site is quite different to 
what  was originally intended1 it is    
necessary that the position of the      
figure should be altered2 and1 as will  
be seen by the accompanying rough       
sketch1 the head is now elevated1 and   
,bruce is supposed to be looking  across
 the esplanade towards the field of     
,bannockburn1 which is a mile  and a    
half from ,stirling ,castle1 and1 as in 
the first model1 ,bruce has  sheathed   
his sword4    8,with respect to the     
pedestal1 ,i may just explain that on   
the front part  are the words #8,king   
,robert the ,bruce' in large letters1   
and following  this1 in smaller letters1
 is #8,bannockburn1 ,june #bd1 #acad4'  
,under this  line are two branches--one 
of laurel and the other of willow1      
emblems  of victory and sorrow for the  

slain4 ,then is stated1 #8,erected by   
public  subscription in the reign of    
,victoria1 ,queen of the ,united        
,kingdom of  ,great ,britain and        
,ireland4 ,between the words ,victoria  
and  ,queen is a circular wreath formed 
of the ,rose1 the ,thistle1 and the     
,shamrock1 in which circle are two hands
 joined1 a male and female1 as an       
emblem of the union by marriage of the  
two royal families of ,england and      
,scotland1 and on one side of these     
royal families were the descendants  of 
#8the ,bruce4'    8,nearly fifty years  
back ,i painted a picture of an incident
 in the life  of ,bruce1 exhibited in   
the ,british ,institution1 ,pall ,mall1 
,london1 and  was then careful to have  
the correct costume2 but when making the
 design  for the statue1 #8to make      
assurance doubly sure1' ,i got my friend
 ,mr4  ,bond1 keeper of the ,ancient    
,manuscripts at the ,british ,museum1 to
 let me  look over the ,,mss4 of the    
time of ,bruce1 and then found that ,i  

had got  the correct costume4 ,i think  
this is important2 for should the statue
 be  erected1 all those who might look  
at it would see just such a powerful    
man as ,bruce was1 in the exact sort of 
armour and coat of mail that he  wore on
 the field of ,bannockburn4    8,the    
,bruce in his early progress met with   
many difficulties1 all  of which1       
however1 he overcame by his             
perseverance1 and the #8,bruce          
,committee' and myself are following his
 noble example in this respect2  and ,i 
trust that all the descendants of those 
#8,scots whom ,bruce had  often led'    
will rally round the ,major-,general and
 his committee corps1  and assist them  
to place the statue of him who was the  
great commander  of the ,scottish army  
at the battle of ,bannockburn in this   
safe and  commanding position on the    
esplanade of ,stirling4    8,with regard
 to myself1 as my ancestors were all    
natives of  ,scotland--some ,lowlanders 
and some ,highlanders--,i should indeed 

be  pleased to have my name associated  
with any national work of art that      
might be placed in the land of my       
forefathers1 and ,i should consider it  
one of the greatest honours that could  
be conferred upon me if it could  be    
written on the pedestal that this       
monument in honour of ,king ,robert  the
 ,bruce was designed by the artist1     
8,george ,cruikshank4    8,hampstead    
,road1 ,london1 ,august #ahgd4    8,p4  
,s4--,i am authorized to state that     
subscriptions may be remitted  to ,w4   
,christie1 ,esq41 secretary to the      
,bruce ,committee1 ,port ,street1       
,stirling2 or to the treasurer1 ,john   
,a4 ,murrie1 ,esq41 the manager of the  
branch of the ,national ,bank of        
,scotland at ,stirling2 and at ,london4 
,and  ,i am given to understand that    
about fourteen or fifteen hundred pounds
  are required1 in addition to what is  
already in hand1 in order to carry  out 
the work in the first style of art40    
,illustration3 #bgd    ,at the ceremony 

of unveiling ,mr4 ,currie's statue in   
front of ,stirling  ,castle 7,november  
#bd1 #ahgg71 ,major-,general ,sir ,james
 ,alexander1 of  ,westerton1 in handing 
over the work to the ,provost and       
,corporation  of ,stirling1 said1 that  
as they could not get a bronze statue   
8under the  direction of an eminent     
artist1 ,mr4 ,george ,cruikshank1 of    
,london10 they  had resolved to have one
 of durable stone4    ,this closing     
transaction of his life poor ,cruikshank
 felt most bitterly2  and he charged his
 old friend ,dr4 ,rogers1 ,sir ,james   
,alexander1 and  all concerned in it1   
with having behaved in 8a most          
dishonourable and  disgraceful manner40 
,these were hot1 ill-considered words1  
uttered in  the pain of a very trying   
disappointment3 words to be forgotten   
over the  artist's grave4    ,mr4       
,frederick ,wedmore gives us a peep at  
him as he went about of late1  his heart
 still upon his sleeve as when he was   
young1 in the days of the  ,regency3    

8,many of us who did not know him at    
home have at least met him  about2 for  
not only was he a familiar figure of the
 dreary quarter which  he               
inhabited--where the dingy squalor of   
,st4 ,paneras touches on the  shabby    
respectability of ,camden ,town--but he 
travelled much in ,london1  and may well
 have been beheld handing his card to a 
stranger with whom  he had talked       
casually in a ,metropolitan ,railway    
carriage1 or announcing  his personality
 to a privileged few who were invited to
 see in him  the convincing proof of the
 advantages of a union of genius with   
water-drinking4 ,he was an entirely     
honest man2 and who is there that  would
 not forgive the little pleasurable     
vanities that he chose to allow  himself
 at the fag end of a life not           
over-prosperous--a career no one  had   
carefully made smooth1 a career filled  
full of inventive work as  rich as      
,hogarth's and as genial as ,dickens's80
    8,occasionally10 ,mr4 ,frederick    

,locker writes199 8he used to come to us
 and  tell us his troubles1 and what was
 occupying him2 but1 like many other    
interesting people1 he did not talk     
about what would have been most  worth  
hearing4 ,the last time ,i saw him he   
spoke of having known ,tom  ,hood 7the  
elder7 9999 very well1 but he did not   
tell as anything about him  worth       
remembering4         99 ,march #bfth1   
#ahgh4         9999 ,when it was agreed 
that ,cruikshank was to illustrate      
,hood's 8,epping ,hunt10 author and     
artist1 with two or three       friends1
 spent a highly convivial day in the    
,forest4 ,hood       and ,cruikshank    
were fast friends1 and sat up together  
very       late of nights in ,amwell    
,street--the wild humour and            
prodigious animal spirits being a       
delight to the quiet       humourist1   
under whose form lay a serious poetic   
mind1 and a       tender heart4    ,poor
 man1 it was a bitterly cold morning    
last ,december1 and he arrived  before  

breakfast1 and stayed to breakfast4 ,mr4
 ,austin ,dobson was there2  and he told
 us the story of how he invented ,old   
,fagin in the condemned  cell40 ,mr4    
,dobson says of him at this breakfast3  
8,on the morning in  question 7,i think 
it must have been the #adth of ,december
 last1 #ahgg71  ,mr4 ,cruikshank came   
in2 and ,i1 who had not seen him more   
than once or  twice in my life1 was only
 too eager to ask him all sorts of      
questions  about himself4 ,except that  
he was a little bent1 he had no         
appearance  of age--certainly not of the
 advanced age he had reached4 ,he was   
very-bright and alert1 and appeared to  
have an excellent memory for the        
circumstances of his career40    ,he    
celebrated his silver wedding on the    
#hth of ,march1 #ahge1 when his  house  
was crowded with his friends and        
admirers1 who took tea with him4  ,mr4  
,s4 ,o4 ,hall1 his old friend1 addressed
 a few words to the company1  which so  
affected ,mrs4 ,cruikshank1 that she    

fell weeping upon her  husband's neck4  
,mr4 ,walter ,hamilton1 who was present1
 remarks3 8,to  receive the             
congratulations of so many friends was a
 task which would  have fatigued and    
excited many a younger man than ,mr4    
,cruikshank2 but he  preserved his      
self-possession through it well1 having 
a ready jest and a  smile for each and  
all2 whilst ,mrs4 ,cruikshank1 who was  
fairly hedged  in on every side with    
bouquets1 looked far too young to be one
 of the  principals in such a ceremony4 
,a guard of honour from his old corps   
attended to congratulate their late     
colonel4 ,it was late in the  afternoon 
before ,mr4 ,cruikshank withdrew for a  
few moments from the  crowded rooms1 and
 as he went he whispered1 laughingly1 to
 the author1  #8,you are down on our    
list of visitors for the ,golden        
,wedding4'0    8,on the morning of the  
#ast of ,february10 writes his young    
friend1 ,grace  ,stebbing1 9999 8there  
was still living a bright1              

brave-spirited old man1  who had worked 
on untiringly almost to the end1 even to
 within three  weeks of his death1 when 
,i1 one of those privileged to claim his
  friendship even from my infancy       
upwards1 met him hurrying along the     
streets with cheerful1 eager aspect1 to 
keep #8a business appointment4'0        
9999 ,the ,graphic1 ,february #ith1     
#ahgh4    ,illustration3 #bgi           
,illustration3 #bhj          ,,chapter  
,,viii4 ,,the ,,end4    ,george         
,cruikshank fell ill in the first month 
of #ahgh1 and was attended  by his      
sympathetic and distinguished friend1   
,dr4 ,b4 ,w4 ,richardson4    ,he died at
 his house in the ,hampstead ,road1 on  
the #ast of ,february4 ,he  was buried  
temporarily--the ,crypt of ,st4 ,paul's 
being under repair--at  ,kensal ,green4 
,the only member of the ,royal ,academy 
who attended his  funeral was ,charles  
,landseer1 ,r4,a41 who was almost as old
 as ,cruikshank4  ,but ,messrs4 ,tenniel
 and ,du ,maurier were there1 with poor 

,w4 ,brunton1 a  clever caricaturist1   
who was to fall in his youth4           
,cruikshank's friend1  ,george ,augustus
 ,sala1 and ,lord ,houghton1 were among 
his pall-bearers2  and in the group     
about the coffin were ,edmund ,yates1   
,s4 ,g4 ,ball1 ,general  ,m',murdo1 and 
,john ,sheehan1 the 8,irish             
,whisky-drinker40    ,on the #bith of   
the following ,november1 a hearse1      
followed by a  mourning-coach containing
 ,mrs4 ,george ,cruikshank1 conveyed the
 mortal  part of the illustrious artist 
to ,st4 ,paul's1 and four sergeants of  
the  volunteer corps which he had       
commanded brought up the procession4    
,the  coffin was silently lowered to its
 final resting-place immediately after  
the afternoon service4    ,illustration3
 #bha