s.

"Phiz" may now be said to have fairly commenced his career as a
book-illustrator. His sense of humour corresponded so exactly with that
of DICKENS, that a mere suggestion enabled him to vividly represent the
scenes described by the author. It has been remarked (and truly) that in
many cases the plates do not correspond with the text; but this can be
accounted for. DICKENS, then an enthusiastic young author, and somewhat
impetuous in his demands for drawings, would arrive unexpectedly at
BROWNE'S studio, hurriedly read a few pages of manuscript, and
exclaiming, "Now, I want you to illustrate that," would take an abrupt
departure, carrying the manuscript off with him. As soon as the artist
could collect his faculties, he would try to recall the scene so hastily
described, and endeavour to put it on paper. DICKENS himself, in his
preface to the _Pickwick Papers_, gives a similar explanation, viz.--"It
is due to the gentleman, whose designs accompany the letterpress, to
state that the interval has been so short between the production of each
number in manuscript and its appearance in print, that the greater
portion of the illustrations have been executed by the artist from the
author's verbal description of what he intended to write." It is
therefore not surprising that a few errors, in such details as the
number of boys in a procession,[C] or the dress of an individual, should
occur.

[Illustration]

Of DICKENS' Novels, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ contains, perhaps, our etcher's
most vigorous productions, but the small woodcut illustrations in
_Master Humphrey's Clock_ are very praiseworthy, and without doubt
conduced greatly to the popularity of the book.

The illustrations in the _Pickwick Papers_ are on the whole inferior to
many which "Phiz" subsequently executed. But an exception must be made
in favour of the artist's realization of the character of Sam Weller,
than which, even SEYMOUR'S happy invention of Mr. Pickwick did not more
effectually ensure the popularity of DICKENS' comic epic and give it a
"deathless date."

The extraordinary demand for copies of the _Pickwick Papers_
necessitated a re-etching of the copper-plates, which, owing to friction
caused by the printer's hand, had become very much worn. This
reproduction will account for any slight difference in the details of
the illustrations; for the repetition of subjects once etched, was a
task by no means congenial to the artist; and this no doubt induced