m attaining lasting celebrity in the line of book
illustration which George made so peculiarly his own. The final result,
however, was the same in both cases; and the brothers might have said
with truth, that, in suffering both to die poor and neglected, the
British public treated both with the strictest impartiality. Here,
however, the impartiality ended; for whilst over two hundred articles
have been penned in praise of the brilliant man of genius, poor Robert
Transit[50] (a name strictly appropriate to his memory) reposes in his
nameless grave still unregarded and still forgotten. Few writers indeed
have wasted pen and ink about Robert Cruikshank or his work: Robert
William Buss, in his book on "English Graphic Satire" (a work published
for private circulation only), devotes exactly a line and a half to his
memory; his friend, George Daniel, gives him a few kindly words _in
memoriam_; Professor Bates's essay on his brother George contains
several pages of valuable information in relation to some of his book
illustrations; whilst Mr. Hamilton presents us with a dozen specimens of
work of this kind which are nothing less than libels on his graphic
powers. To the general public of to-day the name of Robert Cruikshank is
so little known, that comparatively few are cognizant of the fact that
he was one of the most popular and successful graphic satirists of his
time. It is the misfortune of the caricaturist that his wares attain
only a transitory popularity, whilst it is their peculiarity that after
he is dead their value is increased fourfold. It is by no means uncommon
for five and even seven shillings to be demanded and obtained for one of
the impressions of Robert's plates, which in his lifetime could have
been purchased at the cost of a shilling. It is the design of this
chapter to rescue the memory of a clever artist from undeserved
oblivion, and restore him to that place in comic art which he once
occupied, and which it seems to us he deserved to fill not only on
account of his own merits, but by reason of being associated in
illustrations of a different character with such men as his brother
George, Robert Seymour, Thomas Rowlandson, John Leech, and other artists
of genius and reputation.

Isaac Robert, or rather Robert Cruikshank (as he usually styled
himself), was born in 1790. He had as a boy acquired the groundwork of
his technical education as an artist and etcher under the direction of
old Isaac his father;