or himself a considerable
position among the ranks of designers and etchers: this was Hablot
Knight Browne, then and now known to us under his monosyllabic
_nom-de-guerre_ of _Phiz_.

It seems to us fitting in this place to say a few words on the subject
of George's pretension to be the originator of two of Ainsworth's
stories, because the truth of his assertion has been questioned by a
late commentator.[94] George's statements simply amount to this: that so
far as the illustrations to the "Miser's Daughter" and "The Tower of
London" are concerned, the author wrote up to _his_ designs. We have
considered Ainsworth's answers to this statement, and find that although
he fences with, he does not deny it. It was one essential condition of
Cruikshank's success that his fancy should be free and untrammelled, and
the truth of his statement appears to us to be proved by the
illustrations to these works, which are certainly the finest which he
ever designed; that he was therefore (as he stated) the originator of
these tales in the sense in which he used the word, we can entertain no
manner of doubt.

Most of the Cruikshank commentators, whilst writing on the subject of
the Harrison Ainsworth etchings, have thought fit to decry the author's
share of the performance; but the fact that the pictures are so much
better than the letterpress should not prevent us from dealing fairly
with the veteran author, who, like the distinguished artist with whom he
so long co-operated, has now gone to his rest. Even Mr. Ainsworth's
detractors will, we think, admit that without him we should have lost
the admirable illustrations to "Windsor Castle," "Jack Sheppard," and
"St. James's"; it may even be doubted whether without him we should have
had the still better series of etchings which adorn the "Tower of
London" and the "Miser's Daughter." If this be the fact, it seems to us
we owe a lasting debt of gratitude to this venerable writer, who
experienced the vicissitudes which inevitably befall mere talent when
allied with genius. He was a writer of the George Payne Ransford James
school, dispensing, however, with the inevitable setting sun and two
travellers, and received a price for his productions which many a better
author might well envy. For his novel of "Old St. Paul's" (1841) he was
paid by the proprietors of the _Sunday Times_ one thousand pounds; "The
Miser's Daughter" attained an extraordinary success; and the same remark
applies to "Wi