The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-13 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

THE DRUNKARD'S CHILDREN ; a Sequel to
the Bottle, in Eight Plates. By George Cruikshank.
Although the original idea of " The Bottle" was
unquestionably suggested to Cruikshank by poor
O'Neil, the bard of temperance, it is equally indis-
putable that the hand which pencilled these sixteen
plates, has been guided solely by the inspirations of an
innate and unsuggested genius. At last George
Cruikshank seems to have recognised the true field
for the exercise of his great artistic abilities. The
success of his first series in illustration of the vice of
drunkenness has encouraged him to the production of
a sequel, descriptive of the career of the drunkard's
children, which sequel, if it be not as powerful as that
series of tableaux, has at least this advantage over its
predecessor, that it contains perhaps the masterpiece
of our distinguished artist. The story of the career
of the two miserable children is told as powerfully
as that of young Oliver Twist by the novelist, with this
peculiarity in the fiction of the draughtsman, that it
is told in little more than a dozen lines of letter-press.
Plate I. represents the interior of a gin-shop, accom-
panied by this explanatory label—" Neglected by
their parents, educated only in the streets, and falling
into the hands of wretches who live upon the vices of
others, they are led to the gin-shop, to drink at
that fountain which nourishes every species of
crime." The scene is a calotype—witness in it the
horribly old-fashioned face of the little baby, who
is having a precocious drain of Hodges's best, in
the arms of the lucifer-match vender. Plate
11. is the interior of a still lower haunt of de-
bauchery, the beer-shop. Thus speaks the artist—
" Between the fine flaring gin-palace and the low
dirty beer-shop, the boy thief squanders and gam.
bles away his ill-gotten gains." The old fellow
" bonnetted," and getting relieved of the superfluous
cash in his waistcoat pocket, is a pictorial epi-
sode Pierce Egan would have revelled over; and
the drayman and the unfortunate Cyprian who
have exchanged their hed-gear, are of the carrica-
turist whose first theme of artistic fun were suggested
by the plaster bust of Shakspere, with a dudheen
stuck in its mouth. Plate 111. is a sketch borrowed
partly from Cremorne, partly from the Garrick's Head,
and partly from the Walhalla—"From the gin-shop to
the dancing-rooms, from the dancing-rooms to the gin-
shop, the poor girl is driven on in that course which
ends in misery." The scene is sufficiently repulsive
—but that, us a matter of course, in an establishment
where the charges of admission are, for gents. 6d.,
for ladies 3d., and where a placard announces that
"all liquors are to be paid for before delivery."
Plate IV. is thus described—" Urged on by his
ruffian companions, and excited by drink, he commits
a desperate robbery. Ho is taken by the police at a
threepenny lodging-house." The nonchalant air of
the policeman (accustomed to these sort of things,
you see that in a glance), the sleepy face of the
lodginghouse-keeper, the suspicious side-look of the
negro, and the terror of the culprit just
frightened out of his sleep by the glare of
the lantern—are all in character. Part V.—
" From the bar of the gin-shop to the bar
of the Old Bailey it is but one step." In spite of the
half-jocular tone of the punning underline, there is a
deep domestic pathos in the engraving—the young
girl with her face buried in her handkerchief is
drawn with a touch of exquisite feeling. Those who
are familiar with the precincts of the Old Bailey—we,
of course, mean as spectators merely—will recognise
among the sketches of the legal gentlemen capital
portraits of .air. Clarkson, Sergeant Wilkins, kc.
Plate VI. is simple but touching; it is this :—" The
drunkard's son is sentenced to transportation for life ;
the daughter, suspected of participation in the rob-
bery, is acquitted. The brother and sister part
for ever in this world." Plate VII. has
power in it ; but the scene is too horrible to be
pleasing—" Early dissipation has destroyed the
neglected boy. The wretched convict droops and
dies." Plate VIII., the last of the concluding series,
and the consummation of this " sad eventful history,"
is the plate we have already alluded to, as the
master-
piece of George Cruikshank. " The maniac father
and the convict brother are gone—the poor girl,_
houseless, friendless, deserted, destitute, and gin-mad,
commits suicide." The body is in mid air, in
theh
act of falling, the clothes flickering upwards from
hby
velocity of the descent—the moon, partially
d bridge
clouds, shining through an arch of Lteanrin
over the tall shipping—avision of faces staring g
spectacle,
stricken over the parapet—the whole orror-
is finely conceived, and is pencilled
Cruikshank bad never deli-
neatedso true to nature, and so tragic b:ictahustehoshoantrud
oef,
real genius. If George
o
irisenllustralitti illustration of
called the Bridge
into
celebrity. anything
those noble lines of Thomas
depicts the harlot's suicide :
Itelissethhee own 1131 iolovdoh,ratvbey
of Sighs, wmhaedrefrohme
Glad to death's mystery,
Swift to beep url d,
life's history,
Anywhere, aywherve,,
Out of the world .

A T JOUIUVAL FOR JULY.
THE;.iteR engraving by C. W. Wass, from the
An exqu'''--„,,10f "Cupid and Psyche," by W.
Etttehxequhc,:usEirilt.A.:_liygs 'the frontispiece to the Art Journal for
current month; and the other engravings are
Mother" of Westmacott, and the
ATrethusa of Carew. One admirable contribution
we must mention at once ; we mean a paper entitled
The National Gallery, Past, Present, and Future."
It is worthy of a very general and attentive perusal.
The History of Costume in France" is also clever,
though its excellence is of a perfectly different cha-
racter. Some of the original designs for manufac-
tures are admirable, as, for instance, " The Fairy
Summons," the design fora hand-bell, but the majority
are rather inferior to their predecessors.

PERSIAN PRECOSITY.—Letters from Tabreez men-
tion that the heir-apparent of Persia, a youthful Prince
of 16 years of age, lately appointed to the governorship
of Az:Tbijan, promises to be a second Fatteh Aly Shah,
his paternal great grandfather, for he has already taken
unto himself nine wives (selected from the most lovely
maidens of Circassia and Georgia), and has publicly
signified his royal will and pleasure that the Chamber-
lain of his household shall and do provide him with an
addiLional new one every Thursday night, until the
number of 365, in which his vigorous ancestor luxuriated,
is fully made up and completed.
Lady Theresa Lewis had a soiree at her Ladyship's
residence at Knightsbridge, on Monday night. -Nearly
200 fashionables were present.
M. LAMARTINE.—" A work lately published in
England, entitled L'isvenu de la France et de l'Angle-
terre, and ascribed to the pen of M. Lamartine, has oc-
casioned some observation in England, and much sur-
prise to the reputed author. We have authority to state
that M. Lamartine is iu uo way connected with the work
in question."
SEATS IN THE PA.nxs.—By order of the Woods
and Forests upwards of 200 chairs hare been placed in
Hyde- park, and a. proportionate number in St. James's°
park, for the public accommodation.

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