A.

Theatrical London in 1840 was visited by an excitement second only to
the "Tom and Jerry" mania of 1821. The mania of 1840, if occupying a
narrower area, was more morbid in its character, and certainly not less
mischievous in its results. Harrison Ainsworth had brought out his
peculiar romance of "Jack Sheppard," which, resting on its own merits,
might have achieved perhaps a mild popularity and done but little harm.
Thanks, however, to the genius and fancy of George Cruikshank, the
public became for a time Sheppard mad; the heroes presented to admiring
and applauding audiences at the theatres were murderers, housebreakers,
highway robbers, thieves, and their female companions. The morbid taste
of the populace had in fact been thoroughly roused, a condition of
things which was satirized by the artist's little-known etching of _The
Way to the Gallows made Easy and Pleasant_, which appeared in "The New
Monthly Magazine" of 1840.[174] The inventive powers of the artist were
almost _nil_, and the rare and able etching referred to was suggested to
him by John Poole, the author of "Paul Pry," to whom we are indebted for
the descriptive letterpress: "At the foot of a gently sloping path
strewed with flowers, stands a gibbet decorated, not with a halter, but
wreaths of roses. Around it are many tombs of elegant construction,
supposed to enclose the ashes of the illustrious departed. Upon one is
inscribed, 'Here repose the mortal remains of the ever-famed Jerry
Abershaw'; upon another, 'Sacred to the memory of Poor Johnny
Greenacre.' A third is remarkable for its touching simplicity--'Alas!
Poor Thurtell!' Another, somewhat more elaborate, gives us 'Burke and
Hare! As they were loving friends in life, so in death are they
undivided! Erected by their affectionate disciples, Bishop and May.'
Besides these there are many others all bearing names of mark and fame.
The whole is surrounded by a pretty arabesque composed of crowbars and
other implements of burglary, pistols, knives, death's heads and
cross-bones, halters, handcuffs, and fetters, ingeniously disposed and
prettily intertwined with wreaths of roses."

We said at the opening of this chapter that "Phiz" was not _born_ a
comic artist. He possessed a certain amount of humour, which was evoked
in the first instance by the example of Cruikshank, and his abilities
and desire to emulate the greater artist have enabled him unquestionably
to realize many humorous designs. It i