, but _The
Academy_ of a few days later, in the following remarks, thus demurs to
his criticism:--

"In the _Bleak House_ illustrations hardly anything is wrong; there is
no shortcoming. Not only is the comic side, the even fussily comic, such
as 'the young man of the name of Guppy,' understood and rendered well,
but the dignified beauty of old country-house architecture, or the
architecture of the chambers of our inns-of-court is conveyed in brief
touches; and there is apparent everywhere that element of terrible
suggestiveness which made not only the art of Hablot Browne, but the art
of Charles Dickens himself, in this story of _Bleak House_, recall the
imaginative purpose of the art of Meryon. What can be more impressive in
connection with the story--nay, even independently of the story--than
the illustration of Mr. Tulkinghorn's chambers in gloom; than the
illustration of the staircase at Dedlock's own house, with the placard
of the reward for the discovery of the murderer; than that of Tom All
Alone's; the dark, foul darkness of the burial ground shown under scanty
lamplight, and the special spot where lay the man who 'wos very good to
me--he wos!'? And then again, 'the Ghost's Walk,' and once more the
burial ground, with the woman's body--Lady Dedlock's--now close against
its gate. Of course it would be possible to find fault with these
things, but they have nothing of the vice of tameness--they deliver
their message effectually. It is not their business to be faultless; it
is their business to impress."

[Illustration]

A very successful rendering of character in _Bleak House_ is that of
Harold Skimpole, whose prototype was Leigh Hunt, an intimate friend of
the Novelist, who, by his unintentional disregard for the feelings of
Hunt in caricaturing his peculiarities, nearly severed that friendship.
Again, there is intense humour in the illustration facetiously styled,
"In re Guppy, extraordinary proceeding." The love-sick Guppy is seen in
a kneeling posture, while declaring to Miss Summerson the burning
passion that consumes him. The expression on the face of the young lady
shows that she is more amused than flattered by his preference.

In _Little Dorrit_ (1855-7) the experience gained by both Author and
Artist during their tour of the London prisons, stood them in good
stead, for here the Marshalsea is fully described, the type of a
debtor's jail. The first illustration represents the interior of a
French pr