convey" in any of his pictures "the
exact feeling he has described in the text"?--how, in the face of the
admitted incorrectness of "his delineations," he could be in any way
fitted to illustrate a novel of such transcendent excellence as "Vanity
Fair"?

It has been assumed, without any sort of authority, that it was only
when Thackeray found he could not succeed as an artist that he turned to
literature. The statement is altogether unwarranted. At or about the
very time he was engaged in drawing the cuts for "Figaro in London," he
was--if we are to judge of the sketch of "the Fraserians" in the
"Maclise Portrait Gallery," in which young Thackeray may easily be
recognised--writing for "Fraser's Magazine." Be this, however, as it
may, it seems tolerably certain that the rebuff he received from Dickens
had no hand in turning him into the path of letters, towards which his
genius and unerring judgment alone most fortunately guided him.

FOOTNOTES:

[177] There is a scarce edition of the "Bon Gaultier Ballads," which
contains some unacknowledged tailpieces, etc., by Kenny Meadows; in
all subsequent editions these are omitted--why, we know not.

[178] So great was the scarcity of good engravers in 1880, that in
September of that year the proprietors of the _Graphic_ newspaper
acknowledged the difficulty they experienced in obtaining the
assistance of high-class engravers, and stated their intention to
found a school of engraving on wood. Specimens of a new style of
illustration have lately come from America, which appear in
illustrated serials; some are good, but the majority, notwithstanding
the song of praise with which they were first received, are nothing
less than _abominable_.

[179] Onwhyn's name occurs frequently in illustrative literature. He
etched a set of designs for "Pickwick" and "Nicholas Nickleby;" for
Mr. Henry Cockton's "George St. Julian," and a translation of Eugene
Sue's "Mysteries of Paris." He is well known as the illustrator of
"Valentine Vox," "Fanny the Little Milliner," and other works. Some
of his best designs will be found in Mrs. Trollope's "Michael
Armstrong." He occasionally displays some ability, but his
performances are very unequal.

[180] See Mr. Alfred G. Buss, in "Notes and Queries," April 24th, 1875.

[181] A very clever and promising artist, who died early, of
consumption.

[182] As the _Tom