nce in more than one direction, has never fitly
recognised _Thackeray's great gift as a comic draftsman_. Here [_i.e._
in a work edited by his daughter] he will be found advantageously
represented; inferior, it is true to the unjustly neglected Hablot
Browne ('Phiz'), _but often equalling if not sometimes surpassing the
greatly over-rated John Leech_."

[Illustration:
"GRUFFANUFF."

"PRINCE BULBO SEIZED BY THE GUARDS." "MONKS OF THE SEVEREST ORDER OF
FLAGELLANTS."

SKETCHES BY THACKERAY FROM HIS "ROSE AND THE RING."

_Back to p. 378._]

Ay! "the world _is_ loth to admit high excellence in more than one
direction," and experience has taught it that few men, however gifted,
are capable of exercising two different arts with an equal measure of
success. Thackeray was both a genius and an artist, but the world has
long recognised the fact that the former manifested itself only when he
laid down the pencil and took up the pen. If called on to _prove_ his
incapacity to illustrate his own work, we will refer the reader to his
admirable novel of "Vanity Fair." The time selected for the story is the
early part of the present century; and on the plea that he had "not the
heart to disfigure his heroes and heroines" by the correct but "hideous"
costumes of the period, Thackeray has actually habited these men and
women of 1815 in the dress of 1848! Cruikshank, Leech, "Phiz," or Doyle,
it is unnecessary to say, would have been guiltless of such an
absurdity; and the difficulty in which the gifted author found himself,
and the confession of his inability to cope with it, afford the clearest
possible evidence of his utter incapacity to illustrate the story
itself. If any further proof be wanted, look at the designs themselves.
Captain Dobbin would be laughed out of any European military service;
such a guardsman as Rawdon Crawley could find no place in her Majesty's
guards; "Jemima" (at p. 7), "Miss Sharp in the schoolroom" (p. 80), the
children waiting on Miss Crawley (p. 89), the figures in the fencing
scene (p. 207), "The Family Party at Brighton," "Gloriana" trying her
fascinations on the major, "Jos" (at p. 569), and "Becky's second
appearance as Clytemnestra," without meaning to be so, are caricatures
pure and simple; and yet these are admirable compared with the
designs to "The Virginians," which may safely be reckoned amongst the
worst in the entire range of English illustrative art. Contrast them
with illustrat