t other publishers, similarly
situated with respect to other works, have not seen their way to
render it possible for him to supply specimens of the style of certain
artists, two of whom in particular, John Leech and H. K. Browne, must
needs be conspicuous by their comparative absence.

Such Caricatures and Book Illustrations as have seemed specially
desirable--of which the copyrights have lapsed and no editions are at
the present day in print--have been engraved for this work by MR.
WILLIAM CHESHIRE.

ENGLISH CARICATURISTS.

CHAPTER I.

_OF THE ENGLISH CARICATURE AND ITS DECAY._

DEFINITION OF CARICATURE

If you turn to the word "_caricatura_" in your Italian dictionary, it is
just possible that you will be gratified by learning that it means
"caricature"; but if you refer to the same word in old Dr. Johnson, he
will tell you, with the plain, practical common-sense which
distinguished him, that it signifies "an exaggerated resemblance in
drawings," and this expresses exactly what it _does_ mean. Any
distinguishing feature or peculiarity, whether in face, figure, or
dress, is _exaggerated_, and yet the likeness is preserved. A straight
nose is presented unnaturally straight, a short nose unnaturally
depressed; a prominent forehead is drawn unusually bulbous; a
protuberant jaw unnaturally underhung; a fat man is depicted
preternaturally fat, and a thin one correspondingly lean. This at least
was the idea of _caricature_ during the last century. Old Francis Grose,
who, in 1791, wrote certain "Rules for Drawing Caricaturas," gives us
the following explanation of their origin:--"The sculptors of ancient
Greece," he tells us, "seem to have diligently observed the form and
proportions constituting the European ideas of beauty, and upon them to
have formed their statues. These measures are to be met with in many
drawing books; a slight deviation from them by the predominancy of any
feature constitutes what is called character, and serves to discriminate
the owner thereof and to fix the idea of identity. This deviation or
peculiarity aggravated, forms caricatura."

As a matter of fact, the strict definition of the word given by Francis
Grose and Dr. Johnson is no longer applicable; the word caricature
includes, and has for a very long time been understood to include,
within its meaning any pictorial or graphic satire, political or
otherwise, and whether the drawing be exaggerated or not: