sonages, and the brilliant
way in which the situations were concentrated, as it were, into a point,
that produced such striking effect: without these adjuncts the Head of
the Club and his friends would have been more or less abstractions, very
much what the characters in Theodore Hook's "Gilbert Gurney" are. Take
Mr. Pickwick. The author supplied only a few hints as to his personal
appearance--he was bald, mild, pale, wore spectacles and gaiters; but who
would have imagined him as we have him now, with his high forehead, bland
air, protuberant front. The same with the others. Mr. Thackeray tried
in many ways to give some corporeal existence to his own characters to
"Becky," Pendennis, and others; but who sees them as we do Mr. Pickwick?
So with his various "situations"--many most dramatic and effective, but
no one would guess it from the etchings. The Pickwick scenes all tell a
story of their own; and a person--say a foreigner--who had never even
heard of the story would certainly smile over the situations, and be
piqued into speculating what could be the ultimate meaning.

At the exhibition "illustrating a century and a half of English
humorists," given by the Fine Art Society--under the direction of Mr.
Joseph Grego--in October, 1896, there was a collection of original
Pickwick drawings no less than fifty-six in number. There were three by
Seymour, two by Bass and thirty-four by Phiz, all used in the book; while
of those unused--probably found unsuitable, there were five by Buss,
including a proposed title-page, and two of the Fat Boy "awake on this
occasion only." There were also five by Phiz, which were not engraved,
and one by Leech. The drawing of the dying clown, Seymour was engaged
upon when he committed suicide. Of Buss' there were two of Mr. Pickwick
at the Review, two of the cricket match, two of the Fat Boy "awake," "the
influence of the salmon"--unused, "Mr. Winkle's first shot"--unused,
studies of character in Pickwick, and a study for the title-page. The
poor, discarded Buss took a vast deal of pains therefore to accomplish
his task. Of Phiz's unused designs there was "Mr. Winkle's first shot"
and two for the Gabriel Grub story, also one for "the Warden's room."
Most interesting of all was his "original study" for the figure of Mr.
Pickwick.

Mr. Grego, himself an excellent artist, placed at the door of the society
a very telling figure of Mr. Pickwick displayed on a poster and
effectively col