n composing.

"My godmother was very ingenious. She had been mainly guided in her
choice of these characters by the prints she happened to meet with, as
she did not trust herself to design a figure. But if she could not get
exactly what she wanted, she had a clever knack of tracing the outline
of an attitude from some engraving, and altering the figure to suit
her purpose in the finished sketch. She was the soul of truthfulness,
and the notes she added to the index of contents in my picture-book
spoke at once for her honesty in avowing obligations, and her
ingenuity in availing herself of opportunities.

"They ran thus:--

No. 1.--GUY FAWKES. Outlined from a figure of a warehouseman
rolling a sherry flask into Mr. Rudd's wine-vaults. I added
the hat, cloak, and boots in the finished drawing.

No. 2.--PUNCH. I sketched him from the life.

No. 3.--HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE KING. On a quart jug
bought in Cheapside.

No. 4.--BOGY, _with bad boys in the bag on his back_.
Outlined from Christian bending under his burden, in my
mother's old copy of the _Pilgrim's Progress_. The face from
Giant Despair.

No. 5 and No. 6.--THE MAN IN THE MOON, and THE CLERK OF THE
WEATHER OFFICE. From a book of caricatures belonging to Dr.
James.

No. 7.--A DUNCE. From a steel engraving framed in rosewood
that hangs in my Uncle Wilkinson's parlour.

No. 8.--OLD FATHER CHRISTMAS. From a German book at Lady
Littleham's.

CHAPTER II.

"My sister Patty was six years old. We loved each other dearly. The
picture-book was almost as much hers as mine. We sat so long together
on one big footstool by the fire, with our arms round each other, and
the book resting on our knees, that Kitty called down blessings on my
godmother's head for having sent a volume that kept us both so long
out of mischief.

"'If books was allus as useful as that, they'd do for me,' said she;
and though this speech did not mean much, it was a great deal for
Kitty to say; since, not being herself an educated person, she
naturally thought that 'little enough good comes of larning.'

"Patty and I had our favourites amongst the pictures. Bogy, now, was a
character one did not care to think about too near bed-time. I was
tired of Guy Fawkes, and thought he looked more natural made of straw,
as Dick did him. The Dunce was a little too personal; but Old Father
Christmas took our h