"PHIZ."

BY RICHARD BAGOT

(WITH ENGRAVINGS BY THE AUTHOR).

INCE the revival of wood engraving by Bewick, and

SIN

the subsequent development of book illustration in England, many famous names have been associated with this branch of art; some as embellishers only, others as illustrators of the text. Amongst the book illustrators, I claim for Hablot Knight Browne the foremost place. "He has given us portraits of ideal personages, and made them familiar to all the world."*

The advent of Charles Dickens marks an epoch in the history of the English novel. With Dickens came Hablot Browne to illustrate him; and the belief that during his lifetime the value of his work in this connection was not adequately recognized is the motive of this short paper.

The untimely death of Seymour, and the failure of Buss to participate pictorially in that spirit of rollicking fun which characterizes the pages of Pickwick, led to the engagement of Browne (who had previously supplied a set of drawings for Sunday Under Three Heads) as the colleague of Dickens in the production of this work. Seymour produced the first seven plates, and is the pictorial parent of Mr. Pickwick; Buss produced only two. With the tenth plate Browne commenced "that series of masterly creations of comic

* Thackeray.

THE MANCHESTER QUARTERLY. No. XII.-October, 1884.

art," happily conceived and dashingly executed, which contributed so largely to the immense popularity of the Pickwick Papers, and which made the name of "Phiz" almost as famous as that of "Boz."

Hablot Browne and George Cruikshank were the first artists who worthily illustrated the English novel. Much of Cruikshank's fame is due to his satirical sketches. His reputation as a caricaturist was established before he turned his attention to book illustration. He was truly a prince among etchers, and had a wonderful knowledge of the power of line; every touch of his etching point, even in those plates which are most elaborated, has its true value in producing the effect of the whole. Browne's special cha

racteristic was his ability to produce portraits of ideal personages, and to invest them with the individuality given to them by their author. His efforts in this direction, in most

cases, earned the hearty approbation of Dickens. They occur to our memories now like the faces of old friends. Whoever thinks of Sam Weller without a mental glimpse of the slim figure, the horsey "get up," and the artful leer; or of Pecksniff without remembering Browne's rendering of his.

* Sala.

unctuous countenance, with its self-satisfied smirk? We are acquainted with numberless Falstaffs and Romeos, but with only one Weller, Pecksniff, Mark Tapley, or Micawber. Thackeray has lamented that Hogarth could not have illustrated Fielding and given to posterity portraits of Parson Adams and Squire Allworthy. Oh, that "Phiz" had fixed down on paper Becky Sharp, Rawdon Crawley, old Sir Pitt, Amelia, and Dobbin; for, if we except the initial letters and tail-pieces, who can look at the author's own illustrations to Vanity Fair without a shudder?

of

A portrait once realized, a noticeable feature in the work Phiz" is the successful manner in which the same individuality is preserved throughout a series of plates. Pecksniff the "renouncer," or Pecksniff fallen and kicked: he shows us the same wily humbug. In Nicholas Nickleby, Squeers is introduced in the first number. Once acquainted with him, his well-known figure is easily recognized whenever we again meet with him pictorially.

A most excellent plate is the one representing the scene in Ralph Nickleby's office. With the artist, as with the author, Mantalini is a caricature. But note the trouble expressed in the face of the milliner, and the keen earnestness in that of the money lender; while the grotesque countenance of Newman Noggs is seen peering through the fanlight. In the drawing of the figure of Nicholas " astonishing Mr. Squeers and family," there is honest indignation expressed in every line.

The illustrations to Master Humphrey's Clock, drawn on wood, contain some of Browne's very best work. His genius is exhibited by the manner in which he enters into the spirit of a written description, producing with his pencil all its characteristics, be the subject a scene of pastoral beauty or the wrecking of a tavern by a drunken mob. Who else could have drawn so successfully the humours of the

immortal Dick Swiveller, or the devilish antics of Daniel Quilp? Note the scene near the river side where the most ruffianly of dogs, straining at the shortest of chains, is

taunted with "Why don't you come and bite me? you coward !" Quilp rolling on the ground, enjoying with demoniac glee the dog's inability to advance another inch. The vignette which shows the drowned corpse of Quilp lying among the ooze and rushes of the river's margin suggests in a most powerful manner the desolate loneliness of the Thames marshes.

In Barnaby Rudge, the illustrations arise naturally out of the text, representing not only the weird antics of Barnaby and his raven, the insane conceit of Simon Tappertit, and the tragedy and horror of the Gordon riots; but with equal force and truth, beautiful glimpses of rustic scenery and the quaint characteristics of ancient architecture. In this work he was fortunate in having associated with him artist engravers, men who had some idea of form as well as colour, and who could express form by means of clean expressive lines drawn with the graver.

In Martin Chuzzlewit "Phiz" again resorted to etching,