The last illustration, or "All's Well that End's Well." It is, however,
near ending badly, both as to the incident and the illustration--in the
latter all is good, excepting only Arabella Wilmot; perhaps there is a
defect in the printing, which gives her an odd look--but altogether she
is not a good figure. She should have been elegance personified.
Burchell looks the sturdy runner that could overtake the chaise, and
rescue manfully his Sophia, to win and wear a favour, though he seems
here in little hurry; but that is in character. "But as I stood all this
time with my book ready, I was at last quite tired of the contest, and
shutting it, 'I perceive,' cried I, 'that none of you have a mind to be
married.'" We should like to have seen the dinner-party, and the two
Miss Flamboroughs ready to die with laughing. "One jest I particularly
remember: old Mr Wilmot drinking to Moses, whose head was turned another
way, my son replied, 'Madam, I thank you.' Upon which the old gentleman,
winking upon the rest of the company, observed that he was thinking of
his mistress; at which jest I thought the two Miss Flamboroughs would
have died with laughing." We should like to have seen their faces by Mr
Mulready's hand, because we are sure that the two Miss Flamboroughs were
thinking of themselves, in conjunction with Moses and the jest.
We have noticed every illustration. We hope there will be another
edition, and then we may have a few more plates. We have therefore, as
we have gone on, ventured to suggest some subjects--but, above all, we
would recommend Mr Mulready to supply a few portraits, heads only, such
as that of the "Schoolmaster in the Deserted Village," by the Etching
Club.
* * * * *
THE ATTORNEY'S CLERK IN THE MONK'S HOOD.
"I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy--
The sleepless soul that perish'd in his pride."
Had the "resolution and independence" which dignify the lowly, and
strengthen the unhappy, when no visible eye befriends them, been among
the rich endowments of Chatterton's wonderful mind--had he possessed and
cherished the courage that bears up against obloquy and neglect--had he
pursued the rough tenour of his way undaunted, in spite of "solitude,
pain of heart, distress, and poverty," how different must have been the
fate of the inspired boy of Bristol! He might be alive yet; he would be
ninety years old, graced with honour, love, obedience, troops of
friends, and all that should accompany old age. He might have achieved
some great epic, or some gorgeous historical dramas,--have finished the
Fairy Queen, or given us a Fairy King of his own creation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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