This will explain why my history of the different branches of popular literature and art ends at very different periods. The grotesque and satirical sculpture, which adorned the ecclesiastical buildings, ceased with the middle ages. The story-books, as a part of this social literature, came down to the sixteenth century, and the history of the jest-books which arose out of them cannot be considered to extend further than the beginning of the seventeenth; for, to give a list of jest-books since that time would be to compile a catalogue of books made by booksellers for sale, copied from one another, and, till recently, each more contemptible than its predecessor. The school of satirical literature in France, at all events as far as it had any influence in England, lasted no longer than the earlier part of the seventeenth century. England can hardly be said to have had a school of satirical literature, with the exception of its comedy, which belongs properly to the seventeenth century; and its caricature belongs especially to the last century and to the earlier part of the present, beyond which it is not a part of my plan to carry it. These few remarks will perhaps serve to explain what some may consider to be defects in my book; and with them I venture to trust it to the indulgence of its readers. It is a subject which will have some novelty for the English reader, for I am not aware that we have any previous book devoted to it. At all events, it is not a mere compilation from other people's labours. THOMAS WRIGHT. [Illustration] CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE ORIGIN OF CARICATURE AND GROTESQUE--SPIRIT OF CARICATURE IN EGYPT--MONSTERS: PYTHON AND GORGON--GREECE--THE DIONYSIAC CEREMONIES, AND ORIGIN OF THE DRAMA--THE OLD COMEDY--LOVE OF PARODY--PARODIES ON SUBJECTS TAKEN FROM GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY: THE VISIT TO THE LOVER; APOLLO AT DELPHI--THE PARTIALITY FOR PARODY CONTINUED AMONG THE ROMANS: THE FLIGHT OF ÆNEAS 1 CHAPTER II. ORIGIN OF THE STAGE IN ROME--USES OF THE MASK AMONG THE ROMANS--SCENES FROM ROMAN COMEDY--THE SANNIO AND MIMUS--THE ROMAN DRAMA--THE ROMAN SATIRISTS--CARICATURE--ANIMALS INTRODUCED IN THE CHARACTERS OF MEN--THE PIGMIES, AND THEIR INTRODUCTION INTO CARICATURE; THE FARM-YARD; THE PAINTER'S STUDIO; THE PROCESSION--POLITICAL CARICATURE IN POMPEII; THE GRAFFITI 23 CHAPTER III.