In his social habits and relations, Cruikshank was a most modest, self-respecting man. He never courted great folk, he submitted to no form of patronage, and he never pretended to ape the manners and habits of the fashionable world. He lived the first half of his life in Pentonville,* and the second in Camden Town. He confined his acquaintance to congenial friends; and when these happened to be persons of rank and wealth, in its unfashionable neighbourhood. In this he set an example which many of his brother artists--his inferiors in genius--might have followed with advantage to their fame. He stood, at the end of his life, in strong contrast with the _petits maîtres_ in the arts, who give themselves fashionable airs, decorate their houses extravagantly, and spend their too easily acquired gains in slavish imitations of Mayfair life. Cruikshank, in his _Omnibus_, reproved, in his own quaint way, a writer who had said that he was a collector of curiosities. * Among the visitors to Amwell Street was the Baron de Berenger, a remarkable adventurer and spectator. George Cruikshank, when a young volunteer, had been intimate with Charles Ransom of his corps, who as a print colourer at Ackermann’s, and who, as a volunteer, was remarked as a good shot. Being a well-mannered young fellow, he was patronized by Mr. Hammerley the banker; and at this gentleman’s house he met the Baroness de Berenger, a German widow. He married her, and assumed the title of Baron de Berenger. Being a man fond of athletics, he conceived the idea of turning Cremorae Farm, Lord Cremome’s place at Chelsea, into a suburban gymnasium and place for field sports. Cremorne Farm became the Stadium, and flourished under the Baron’s management. He rode out always attended by his four sons on horseback, dressed in grey military tunics, and with swords at their sides. This cavalcade occasionally clattered along Amwell Street, Pentonville, to pay a business visit to Cruikshank, who, with his brother, was illustrating with sporting etchings the guide-book to the Stadium.