ched illustrations of his day formed a
most important--in some cases (the works of inferior men, such as Albert
Smith, for instance) by far the most important--portion of the work
itself. Under the charm of the illustrations and the mode of issue, the
tale was protracted to a length which would be impossible in a novel of
Charles Reade or Wilkie Collins, which depends for its success upon the
skill of the novelist alone. The novel issued in monthly numbers
depended on two sources of attraction--the skill of the novelist and the
skill of his artistic coadjutor. Dickens' requirements, however, were of
so exacting a nature that they proved in the end too exacting even for
the patience of the accommodating artist, and the reader will not be
surprised to learn that a coolness was ultimately established between
artist and author, the outcome of which was the employment of Marcus
Stone and Luke Fildes on the later novels of "Our Mutual Friend" and
"Edwin Drood."

Those who would find fault with Charles Dickens for the mode in which he
controlled his artists quite fail to understand the man himself.
Although he had no knowledge of the pencil, although he himself had no
knowledge of drawing, he was nevertheless a thorough artist in heart and
mind. There is scarcely a character in his books which does not show the
care and thought which he bestowed upon its elaboration. Ralph Nickleby,
Squeers, Smike, little Nell, Quilp, Barnaby Rudge, Steerforth, Paul
Dombey, Lady Dedlock, Joe, each and all show how carefully they were
elaborated; how distinctly they presented themselves to the retina of
the mind of their distinguished creator. When this is borne in mind, it
will be at once understood why the Mrs. Pipchin of Hablot Browne was not
_the_ Mrs. Pipchin with whose outward appearance and mental
peculiarities the author himself was so intimately acquainted.

"AURIOL."

Notwithstanding the exhibition, after his death, of water-colours and
other works, which took the public by surprise, Hablot Knight Browne
will continue to be known to most of us as an illustrator of books, and
nothing more. "Oh! I'm aweary, I'm aweary," he said himself in a letter
to one of his sons, "of this illustration business." Some of these
illustrations, however, are wonderfully graceful, and one in particular
seems to call for special notice. It will be found in the "New Monthly
Magazine" for 1845, and is undoubtedly one of the best examples of the
artist