Читать книгу Dickens and His Illustrators - Frederic George Kitton - Страница 8

In 1847 Dickens instituted a series of theatrical entertainments for certain charitable objects, the distinguished artists and writers who formed the goodly company of amateur actors including George Cruikshank. On one occasion they made a tour in the provinces, giving performances at several important towns, and on the conclusion of this "splendid strolling" Dickens wrote an amusing little jeu d'esprit in the form of a history of the trip, adopting for the purpose the phraseology of Mrs. Gamp. It was to be a new "Piljian's Projiss," with illustrations by the artist-members; but, for some reason, it was destined never to appear in the manner intended by its projector. Forster has printed all that was ever written of the little jest, where we find a humorous description of Cruikshank in Mrs. Gamp's vernacular: "I was drove about like a brute animal and almost worritted into fits, when a gentleman with a large shirt-collar and a hook nose, and a eye like one of Mr. Sweedlepipe's hawks, and long locks of hair, and wiskers that I wouldn't have no lady as I was engaged to meet suddenly a turning round a corner, for any sum of money you could offer me, says, laughing, 'Halloa, Mrs. Gamp, what are you up to?' I didn't know him from a man (except by his clothes); but I says faintly, 'If you're a Christian man, show me where to get a second-cladge ticket for Manjester, and have me put in a carriage, or I shall drop!' Which he kindly did, in a cheerful kind of a way, skipping about in the strangest manner as ever I see, making all kinds of actions, and looking and vinking at me from under the brim of his hat (which was a good deal turned up), to that extent, that I should have thought he meant[Pg 27] [Pg 28] something but for being so flurried as not to have no thoughts at all until I was put in a carriage. … " When Mrs. Gamp was informed, in a whisper, that the gentleman who assisted her into the carriage was "George," she replied, "What George, sir? I don't know no George." "The great George, ma'am—the Crookshanks," was the explanation. Whereupon Mrs. Gamp continues: "If you'll believe me, Mrs. Harris, I turns my head, and see the wery man a making picturs of me on his thumb-nail at the winder!" The artist took part in several plays under Dickens's management, but, although it is not recorded that he created great sensation as an actor, it seems evident that his impersonations met with the approval of the novelist, who was a thorough martinet in Thespian matters.

That George Cruikshank was by no means a prosperous man is perhaps explained by the fact that he never was highly remunerated for his work. "Time was," wrote Thackeray, "when for a picture with thirty heads in it he was paid three guineas—a poor week's pittance, truly, and a dire week's labour!" The late Mr. Sala declared that for an illustrative etching on a plate, octavo size, George never received more than twenty-five pounds, and had been paid as low as ten—that he had often drawn "a charming little vignette on wood" for a guinea. On February 1, 1878, this remarkable designer and etcher—the most skilled book-illustrator of his day—passed painlessly away at his house in Hampstead Road, having attained the ripe old age of eighty-five. His remains were interred at Kensal Green, but were ultimately removed to the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, where a bust by Adams perpetuates his memory.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A set of the twenty-eight etchings, proofs before letters (First and Second Series), realised £30 at Sotheby's in 1889. Lithographic replicas of the plates in the Second Series were published in Calcutta in 1837.

[2] In a large water-colour replica of this subject, signed "George Cruikshank, Octr. 14th, 1873, in my 82nd year," the artist stated that the landscape represented the old Pentonville fields, north of London.

[3] The name of Sikes is frequently thus mis-spelt. It is odd that Dickens himself first wrote it "Sykes," as may be seen in the original manuscript of the story.

[4] This is, doubtless, a reference to an article by Dickens entitled "Whole Hogs," which appeared in Household Words, August 23, 1851, protesting against the extreme views of the Temperance party.

[5] In the original title on the plate, Ned Twigger's Christian name is incorrectly given as Tom.

[6] Cruikshank designed the illustrations for the "Memoirs of Grimaldi," 1838, but this work was merely edited by Dickens, and therefore does not come within the scope of the present volume.

Plate XV

ROBERT SEYMOUR

From an Unpublished Drawing by

TAYLOR

Lent by Mr. Augustin Daly.