ous admirer
of his hero. Young Cruikshank's talent attracted the attention of
William Hone of _Table-Book_ fame, who employed him to illustrate a
series of radical squibs, including _The Political House that Jack
built_, _The Political Alphabet_, and _The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder_.
It was for Hone that George designed his famous Bank-note "_not_ to be
imitated," which, he fondly believed, put a stop to hanging for the
forgery of one pound notes. Hone seems to have been a very poor
paymaster, but his custom brought the young artist great notoriety, and
by 1820 "the ingenious Mr. Cruikshank" was firmly established as a
popular favourite.

After his father's death, George continued to keep house with his
mother, sister, and brother, and we are told that the wild ways of her
two boys gave the thrifty, serious Mrs. Cruikshank a great deal of
anxiety. She is reported to have chastised George with her own hands
when he came home tipsy o' nights, and she was accustomed to say, with
more than maternal candour, "Take the pencil out of my sons' hands, and
they are no better than two boobies." However, it was probably owing to
their familiarity with "the haunts of dissipation" that they became
acquainted with Pierce Egan (1772-1849), the pet of peers and pugilists,
an accomplished professor of Cockney slang, and the greatest living
authority on questions relating to boxing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting,
and all such "manly sports." Pierce, who handled a pen much as he might
have handled a quarter-staff, had already won fame as a sporting
reporter, and as the author of _Boxiana, or Sketches of Modern
Pugilists_, published in 1818. In 1821 he conceived, or had suggested to
him, the idea of a book on Life in London as seen by a young man about
town, and he engaged the brothers Cruikshank to illustrate it. It has
been claimed that the idea originated with Robert Cruikshank, who drew
the characters of Corinthian Tom, Jerry Hawthorn, and Bob Logic, from
himself, his brother, and Pierce Egan. George IV. gave permission for
the proposed work to be dedicated to himself, and in July 1821 it began
to appear in monthly numbers, under the title of _Life in London; or the
Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend
Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic the Oxonian, in their Rambles
and Sprees through the Metropolis_. The work was illustrated by
fifty-six hand-coloured etchings by the two Cruikshanks, as well as
nume