and
distinct are the figures of the four coachmen, even the one of whom we
have only a back view.

Perhaps no one of the plates displays Phiz's vivid power so forcibly as
the one of the trial "Bardell v. Pickwick." Observe the dramatic
animation, with the difficulty of treating a number of figures seated in
regular rows. The types of the lawyers are truly admirable. In this
latter piece there are no less than thirty-five faces, all
characteristic, showing the peculiar smug and pedantic cast of the
barristerial lineaments. Note specially the one at the end of the third
bench who is engrossed in his brief, the pair in the centre who are
discussing something, the two standing up. But what is specially
excellent is the selection of faces for the four counsel concerned in the
case. Nothing could be more appropriate or better suit the author's
description. What could excel, or "beat" Buzfuz with his puffed, coarse
face and hulking form? His brother Serjeant has the dried, "peaked" look
of the overworked barrister, and though he is in his wig we recognize him
at once, having seen him before at his chambers. Mr. Phunkey, behind, is
the well-meaning but incapable performer to be exhibited in his
examination of Winkle; and Mr. Skimpin is the alert, unscrupulous, wide-
awake practitioner who "made such a hare" of Mr. Winkle. The composition
of this picture is indeed a work of high art.

In "Mr. Pickwick sliding," how admirably caught is the tone of a genial,
frosty day at a country-house, with the animation of the spectators--the
charming landscape. In the scene of "Under the Mistletoe" at Manor Farm,
the Fat Boy, by some mistake of size, cannot be more than five or six
years old, and Tupman is shown on one knee "making up" to one of the
young ladies. Beaux seemed to have been very scarce in the district
where stout, elderly gentlemen were thus privileged.

The curious thing is that hardly a single face of Mr. Pickwick's
corresponds with its fellows, yet all are sufficiently like and
recognizable. In the first picture of the club he is a cantankerous,
sour, old fellow, but the artist presently mellowed him. The bald,
benevolent forehead, the portly little figure, the gaiters, eye-glass and
ribbon always put on expressively, seem his likeness. The "Mr. Pickwick
sliding" and the "Mr. Pickwick sitting for his portrait in the Fleet"
have different faces.

There has always been a sort of fascination in tracing out an