Caricatures and cartoons -- Great Britain; Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878; English wit and humor, Pictorial
As to the literary contents of the book, they have passed sheer away. It
was, most likely, not particularly refined; nay, the chances are that it
was absolutely vulgar. But it must have had some merit of its own, that
is clear; it must have given striking descriptions of life in some part
or other of London, for all London read it, and went to see it in its
dramatic shape. The artist, it is said, wished to close the career
of the three heroes by bringing them all to ruin, but the writer, or
publishers, would not allow any such melancholy subjects to dash the
merriment of the public, and we believe Tom, Jerry, and Logic, were
married off at the end of the tale, as if they had been the most moral
personages in the world. There is some goodness in this pity, which
authors and the public are disposed to show towards certain agreeable,
disreputable characters of romance. Who would mar the prospects of
honest Roderick Random, or Charles Surface, or Tom Jones? only a very
stern moralist indeed. And in regard of Jerry Hawthorn and that hero
without a surname, Corinthian Tom, Mr. Cruikshank, we make little doubt,
was glad in his heart that he was not allowed to have his own way.
Soon after the "Tom and Jerry" and the "Life in Paris," Mr. Cruikshank
produced a much more elaborate set of prints, in a work which was called
"Points of Humor." These "Points" were selected from various comic
works, and did not, we believe, extend beyond a couple of numbers,
containing about a score of copper-plates. The collector of humorous
designs cannot fail to have them in his portfolio, for they contain
some of the very best efforts of Mr. Cruikshank's genius, and though not
quite so highly labored as some of his later productions, are none the
worse, in our opinion, for their comparative want of finish. All the
effects are perfectly given, and the expression is as good as it could
be in the most delicate engraving upon steel. The artist's style, too,
was then completely formed; and, for our parts, we should say that we
preferred his manner of 1825 to any other which he has adopted since.
The first picture, which is called "The Point of Honor," illustrates the
old story of the officer who, on being accused of cowardice for refusing
to fight a duel, came among his brother officers and flung a
lighted grenade down upon the floor, before which his comrades fled
ignominiously. This design is capital, and the outward rush of heroes,
walking, trampling, twisting, scuffling at the door, is in the best
style of the grotesque. You see but the back of most of these gentlemen;
into which, nevertheless, the artist has managed to throw an expression
of ludicrous agony that one could scarcely have expected to find in
such a part of the human figure. The next plate is not less good. It
represents a couple who, having been found one night tipsy, and lying
in the same gutter, were, by a charitable though misguided gentleman,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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