to secure an edition
with the two "Buss plates," will be pleased to learn that, although the
design was his, not one line of the etchings which bear his name are due
to the artist's point.[180]

The father of Robert William was an engraver and enameller, and under
his directions he acquired a knowledge of this technical branch of art;
but evincing a taste and preference for drawing and painting, he became
a pupil of George Clint, A.R.A., under whose direction he studied
subject and portrait painting. He painted fifteen theatrical portraits
for Mr. Cumberland in illustration of his "British Drama," and a
collection of these works was afterwards exhibited at that melancholy
monument to past exhibitions, the Colosseum in the Regent's Park. He was
employed by Charles Knight in the illustrations to his "Shakespeare,"
"London," "Old England," "Chaucer," and the now forgotten "Penny
Magazine," for all of which publications he executed many designs on
wood.

It must not be supposed because Robert William Buss was not considered
the right man to illustrate "Pickwick," that he was therefore an
indifferent draughtsman. His finest book etchings are probably those
which he executed for Harrison Ainsworth's novel of "The Court of James
II."; but in a higher and far more ambitious walk in art he was not only
more successful, but achieved in his time a considerable reputation.
Among his pictures may be mentioned one of _Christmas in the Olden
Time_, which, apart from its merits as a painting, showed that he
possessed considerable antiquarian knowledge. Other works of his are,
_The Frosty Morning_, purchased by Lord Charles Townshend; _The Stingy
Traveller_, bought by the Duchess of St. Albans; _The Wooden Walls of
Old England_, the property of Lord Coventry; _Soliciting a Vote_, and
_Chairing the Member_; _The Musical Bore_; _The Frosty Reception_;
_Master's Out_; _Time and Tide Wait for no Man_; _Shirking the Plate_;
_The First of September_; _The Introduction of Tobacco_; _The Biter
Bit_; _The Romance_; and _Satisfaction_. For Mr. Hogarth, of the
Haymarket, he painted four small subjects illustrative of Christmas,
entitled, _The Waits_; _Bringing in the Boar's Head_; _The Yule Log_,
and _The Wassail Bowl_; all afterwards engraved. For Mr. James Haywood,
M.P., he executed a series of drawings illustrative of student life at
Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, London, and Paris; while two vast subjects,
_The Origin of Music_ and _The Triumph