esigner, but in most cases by an engraver.
Rowlandson next completed the colouring of his own Indian-ink shaded
impression in delicate tints harmoniously selected. This tinted
impression served as a copy for Ackermann's famous staff of colourists,
who, having worked under his supervision for many years, attained a
degree of perfection and neatness never arrived at before, and almost
beyond belief in the present day." The result of this elaborate care may
perhaps best be seen in _The Microcosm of London_, _The Dance of Death_,
and the charming edition of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, published in 1817.

[Illustration: SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKS]

[Illustration: VAUXHALL GARDENS]

II

ROBERT AND GEORGE CRUIKSHANK

In the early years of the nineteenth century, when Gillray was fast
drinking himself into imbecility, and Rowlandson had turned his
attention to book-illustration, English caricature, that once vigorous
plant, showed signs of premature decay. In the opinion of all lovers of
pictorial satire, the promise displayed in the as yet immature designs
of a couple of youthful brothers, Robert and George Cruikshank, held out
the best hopes for the future. The two boys were the sons of a Lowland
Scotchman, Isaac Cruikshank (_c._ 1756-_c._ 1811), who came to London
with his Highland wife some time in the "eighties," and made a modest
mark as a water-colour painter and caricaturist. He produced a large
number of political caricatures in the style of Gillray, which were
coloured by his wife and later by his two boys, who enjoyed but little
schooling, and only so much artistic training as he could give them. It
was owing, probably, to Isaac's passion for Scotch whisky, which is said
to have hastened his end, that the little household in Duke Street,
Holborn, had a hard struggle to make both ends meet, and George
(1792-1878), while yet a child himself, was set to illustrate children's
books for the trade. Before he was out of his teens he was producing
coloured caricatures, of which the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett is the
earliest important example, and contributing etchings to _The Scourge_
(1811-16), a scurrilous publication, edited by "Mad Mitford." The
principal subjects of his somewhat crude satire were the Regent,
Buonaparte, and a certain number of too notorious personages in "high
life." In 1814, George illustrated a _Life of Napoleon_ in Hudibrastic
verse, by Dr. Syntax, not our friend Combe, but some anonym