story,--"it must be something very striking and unusual," he explained. The artist immediately recalled Willis as he appeared when "surrounded by the trophies of his art," and informed Dickens that he could introduce him to the very thing. Delighted with the suggestion, the novelist appointed "two o'clock sharp" on the following day, for a visit to Willis. It happened that the man was absent when they called, but Dickens, with his unusually keen power of observation, was enabled during a very brief space to take mental notes of every detail that presented itself, and his readers were soon enjoying his vivid portrayal of that picturesque representative of a curious profession, Mr. Venus. The novelist was so elated by the discovery that he could not refrain from confiding the secret to Forster: "While I was considering what it should be," he wrote, "Marcus, who has done an excellent cover, came to tell me of an extraordinary trade he had found out, through one of his painting requirements. I immediately went with him to St. Giles's to look at the place, and found--what you will see." Footnote 48: This picture, called "Working and Shirking," was exhibited at the Royal Academy during the same year. Mr. Stone visited Willis's shop two or three times for the purpose of sketching, in order that he might effectively introduce the more salient features into his drawing. The illustration gives an approximate representation of that dingy interior, with its "bones warious; bottled preparations warious; dogs, ducks, glass eyes, warious;" but, in delineating the proprietor, the artist did not attempt to give a true presentment of Willis, whom, by the way, Dickens never saw, and who never suspected that it was his own establishment which figures in the story. In all the illustrations there is that happy delineation of character which indicates how admirably the artist understood his author. Perhaps the most successful designs are those where Rogue Riderhood appears, particularly that in which we behold the thankless ruffian at the moment of his recovery from "that little turn-up with Death;" while among other drawings deserving attention special mention must be made of those containing the quaint and pathetic figure of Jenny Wren, and of that entitled "The Boofer Lady," the latter denoting Mr. Stone's ability, even at this early date, in depicting a pretty woman,--an art in which he has since displayed such consummate skill. PLATE LX "TAKING LEAVE OF JOE" _Facsimile_ of the Original Drawing for the Library Edition of "Great Expectations" by MARCUS STONE, R.A. In the engraved version of this Design, Pip is seen wearing a "bowler" hat. _Lent by the Artist._ [Illustration]