ued, which are now so scarce, that they are often catalogued at
eight or ten times their original price.

Two years after the visit of Dickens to America in 1842, _Martin
Chuzzlewit_ was published, the illustrations to which excel in vigour
all the previous efforts of "Phiz." Here we are brought face to face, in
a pictorial sense, with the hypocrite, Mr. Pecksniff, the _abstemious_
Mrs. Gamp and her bosom friend, Betsy Prig, simple Tom Pinch and his
charming sister, Ruth. The frontispiece is a most ambitious work, but
none the less successful, for "Phiz" has represented, in the space of a
few square inches, all the leading events, humorous and pathetic,
described in the novel. In the illustration where Mark Tapley is seen
starting from his native village for London, "Phiz" exhibits his sense
of the picturesque in the old gables and dormers of the cottages which
form the background. The plate, "Mr. Pecksniff on his Mission," is full
of interest, and gives us an insight into the character of Kingsgate
Street, Holborn, at that time. The female neighbours of Mrs. Gamp, the
midwife, flock round Pecksniff, commiserating with him on his supposed
domestic cares, and advising him to "knock at the winder, Sir; knock at
the winder. Lord bless you, don't lose no more time than you can
help--knock at the winder!"

[Illustration]

But the etching in _Chuzzlewit_ which most strikes the reader as a
ludicrous conception, is that where "Mrs. Gamp propoges a toast." Here
he has admirably illustrated the text, wherein is described, with other
details of a droll character, how some rusty gowns and other articles of
that lady's wardrobe depended from the bed-posts; and "these had so
adapted themselves by long usage to her figure, that more than one
impatient husband, coming in precipitately, at about the time of
twilight, had been for an instant stricken dumb by the supposed
discovery that Mrs. Gamp had hanged herself." In the background of the
picture are represented these indispensable articles of dress, while at
the table sit, in friendly chat, Mrs. Gamp and Betsy.

"Betsy," said Mrs. Gamp, filling her own glass and passing the tea-pot,
"I will now propoge a toast. My frequent pardner, Betsy Prig!"

"Which, altering the name to Sairah Gamp; I drink," said Mrs. Prig,
"with love and tenderness."

In 1846, _Dombey and Son_ commenced, with forty illustrations by "Phiz."
The frontispiece is similar in design to that of _Chuzzlewit_,
int