f Bunsby, bent on rivetting matrimonial chains upon that
confused and ancient mariner. Bunsby is one of the happiest of Dickens's
creations; stupid as an owl, he has nevertheless an oracular mode of
delivering himself, and the simple-minded Cuttle places as much reliance
upon this wooden-headed sailor as the ancients did on the mysterious
utterance of the Delphic Apollo. That the powerful will of Macstinger
should hold himself in subjugation so long as he was under the dominion
of her eye was a matter of course; but that this man of wisdom should be
so easily boarded and captured by the enemy, is so absolutely beyond his
simple comprehension that he scratches his head in sheer amazement. As
for poor Bunsby, the cup of his humiliation is full. So far as his
wooden features are capable of expression, they indicate two distinct
trains of thought: a conviction that his own pretensions have been
detected and exposed, and a desire to run,--an inclination repressed by
the powerful clutch of his strong-minded bride, who retains his wrist in
a grasp of iron. Compare the look of bewilderment on Cuttle's face with
the look of mingled contempt and triumph on the features of Macstinger;
and then look at poor Bunsby!

"Phiz" began etching when he was seventeen, and was in full work when he
was twenty-one. It was his three drawings on the wood for Dickens's rare
tract, "Sunday Under Three Heads,"[173] which introduced him first to
public notice. This was intended as a protest against the cant and
narrow-mindedness of the bigots whose ignorance of the sacred writings
is so dense that they confound the Jewish Sabbath (_i.e._ the Saturday)
with the English Sunday; misunderstand (which in their ignorance of
Hebrew may be excusable) the directions to _his own people_ of the
Jewish law-giver,--and ignore (which is absolutely inexcusable) the
dictates of common sense, and the plain directions of our Saviour and of
the Gentile Apostle. The strong common sense of Charles Dickens, and of
many good Christian men after him, have striven in vain to expose an
error due to the narrow-mindedness of our Puritan forefathers, to whom
are due also the impurities of Dryden and of the dramatic writers of the
Restoration. Cant, however, has prevailed; and the English Sunday--to
the delight of these fanatics, and the absolute terror of their
children--remains the most unrefreshing and most doleful of the seven
days of the week.

THE "JACK SHEPPARD" MANI