Paris, where he
wrote his account of life in that city; and then, his health breaking
down, returned to his native town to die of consumption. It was claimed
for the illustrations to his book, which were from the pencil of George
Cruikshank, that "To accuracy of local delineation is added a happy
exhibition of whatever is ludicrous and grotesque in character." Now
George had never been in France, and therefore was obliged to take his
local colour from the "views" of other artists, but the ludicrous and
grotesque side of French life and character came only too easily to his
John Bullish imagination. To him, as Thackeray points out, all Frenchmen
were either barbers or dancing-masters, with "spindle shanks, pig-tails,
outstretched hands, shrugging shoulders, and queer hair and moustaches."
In his regenerate days, George was wont to assert, _a propos_ of _Life
in London_, that, finding the book was a guide to, rather than a warning
against, the vicious haunts and amusements of the Metropolis, he had
retired from the alliance with Egan, leaving about two-thirds of the
plates to be executed by his brother Robert. If this be true, he showed
some inconsistency in consenting to illustrate Carey's book, which is a
frank imitation of Egan's, though in a French setting.

CHARLES MOLLOY WESTMACOTT

A more ambitious book in the same genre was _The English Spy; an
Original Work, Characteristic, Satirical, and Humorous, comprising
Scenes and Sketches in every Rank of Society, being Portraits of the
Illustrious, Eminent, Eccentric, and Notorious_. The author, Charles
Molloy Westmacott, _alias_ Bernard Blackmantle, editor of _The Age_, has
been described as a typical editor of the rowdy school of journalism. He
claimed to be the son of Sir Richard Westmacott, the Royal Academician,
by a certain Widow Molloy, who kept the King's Arms at Kensington. The
system of journalistic blackmail was brought to a higher degree of
perfection by Westmacott than by any other free lance of the time. For
the _pieces justificatives_ relating to a certain scandalous intrigue in
which various exalted personages were implicated, Westmacott is said to
have received nearly L5000. With his ill-gotten gains he fitted up a
villa near Richmond, where for a time he lived in luxury, though not, it
would appear, in security. In 1830 he was soundly horsewhipped by
Charles Kemble for an insulting allusion to his daughter Fanny in _The
Age_, and he was threatened wit