in _Punch_. The late Sir John Millais and other
artists of almost equal rank used to furnish illustrations to serial
stories, and all their pictures were of this kind--two or three
figures--well drawn, certainly--one standing, the others sitting down, it
may be, engaged in conversation. This brought us "no forrarder" and
supplied no dramatic interest.

It should be said, however, that it is only to "Pickwick" that this high
praise can be extended. With every succeeding story the character of the
work seemed to fall off, or rather the methods of the artist to change.
It may have been, too, the inspiration from a dramatic spirited story
also failed, for "Boz" had abandoned the free, almost reckless style of
his first tale. There was a living distinctness, too, in the Pickwickian
_coterie_, and every figure, familiar and recognizable, seemed to have
infinite possibilities. The very look of them would inspire.

In this spirit of vitality and reality also, "Phiz" rather suggests a
famous foreign illustrator, Chodowiecki, who a century ago was in
enormous request for the illustration of books of all kinds, and whose
groups and figures, drawn with much spirit and roundness, arrested the
eye at once and told the situation. Later "Phiz" fell off in his work
and indeed adopted quite new and more commercial methods, such as would
enable him to get through the vast amount of work that came to him. There
were no longer these telling situations to limn which spoke for
themselves, and without straw, bricks are not to be made. In this later
manner we seem to have bid adieu to the inspiration--to the fine old
_round_ style of drawing--where the figures "stand out" completely. He
adopted a sort of sketchy fashion; his figures became silhouettes and
quite flat. There was also a singular carelessness in finish--a mere
outline served for a face. The result was a monotony and similarity of
treatment, with a certain unreality and grotesqueness which are like
nothing in life. In this, however, he may have been inspired by the
grotesque personages he was put to illustrate--the Smallweeds and the
like.

It would be an interesting speculation to consider what would have become
of "Pickwick" had this artist not been forthcoming. Would we have really
known our Mr. Pickwick and his "followers" as we do now, or, indeed,
would we have so keenly appreciated the humorous situations? I believe
not. It was the graven figures of these per