e are the "Greenwich Hospital" designs, which must not be
passed over. "Greenwich Hospital" is a hearty, good-natured book, in the
Tom Dibdin school, treating of the virtues of British tars, in approved
nautical language. They maul Frenchmen and Spaniards, they go out
in brigs and take frigates, they relieve women in distress, and are
yard-arm and yard-arming, athwart-hawsing, marlinspiking, binnacling,
and helm's-a-leeing, as honest seamen invariably do, in novels, on the
stage, and doubtless on board ship. This we cannot take upon us to say,
but the artist, like a true Englishman, as he is, loves dearly these
brave guardians of Old England, and chronicles their rare or fanciful
exploits with the greatest good-will. Let any one look at the noble head
of Nelson in the "Family Library," and they will, we are sure, think
with us that the designer must have felt and loved what he drew. There
are to this abridgment of Southey's admirable book many more cuts after
Cruikshank; and about a dozen pieces by the same hand will be found in
a work equally popular, Lockhart's excellent "Life of Napoleon." Among
these the retreat from Moscow is very fine; the Mamlouks most vigorous,
furious, and barbarous, as they should be. At the end of these three
volumes Mr. Cruikshank's contributions to the "Family Library" seem
suddenly to have ceased.

We are not at all disposed to undervalue the works and genius of Mr.
Dickens, and we are sure that he would admit as readily as any man the
wonderful assistance that he has derived from the artist who has given
us the portraits of his ideal personages, and made them familiar to
all the world. Once seen, these figures remain impressed on the memory,
which otherwise would have had no hold upon them, and the heroes and
heroines of Boz become personal acquaintances with each of us. Oh, that
Hogarth could have illustrated Fielding in the same way! and fixed down
on paper those grand figures of Parson Adams, and Squire Allworthy, and
the great Jonathan Wild.

With regard to the modern romance of "Jack Sheppard," in which the
latter personage makes a second appearance, it seems to us that Mr.
Cruikshank really created the tale, and that Mr. Ainsworth, as it were,
only put words to it. Let any reader of the novel think over it for
a while, now that it is some months since he has perused and laid it
down--let him think, and tell us what he remembers of the tale? George
Cruikshank's pictures--always Geor