The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-13 00:00:00

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doelwtrnuisiuklpsikhon that little bit of carpet mentioned in the
Arabian Fairy Tales—opening once more this
wonderful ommuin-yathprum book of fun, by our
greatest English caricaturist. As quickly as the
Scotch trespasser, in one of the etchings in the pi e-
'sent number, we are " Bock agen"—in the days of
our fathers,when ladies wore dresses apparently with-
out any underclothing, and had their waists imme-
diately under their arms, and donned bonnets of the
memorable shape of the ancient coal-scuttles ! When
gentlemen adorned themselves with great shelving
_hats, with curled up brims of very flagrant dimen-
sions, and struggled painfully into coats with skin-
tight sleeves, the waist-buttons immediately between
their shoulder-blades, the collar half-way up the
back of their heads, the tails draggled down into
close proximity with the tendon Achilles ! When, to
adopt the words of an arch-wag who delightefl us
with a hearty laugh on this last New Year s Day—
" Small boys had a dreadful high-shouldered, sleeved,
strait waistcoat put upon them by their keepers, over
which their dreadful little trousers were buttoned
tight, so that they roamed about disconsolate, with
their hands in their pockets, like dreadful little
pairs of tongs that were vainly looking for the rest
of the fire-irons ! " Back into that, extremely
ridiculous age we are carried at one wink from the
familiar eyelid of Cruikshank Redivicus. 'As tho
title of this delightful serial informs us, the work
here commenced, and which will be completed in
ten instalments, consists of a—" Re-issue of Scraps
and Sketches," by George Cruikshank. It is tho
republication, in other words, of a collection of
renowned humorous illustrations—masterpieces. of
the ridiculous—chefs d'ceuvre of the grotesque,...ala
bizarre, the utterly laughable, and irresistibly indi-
crous ex travagances.We envy t hose who come fresh to
the examination of all this rare pictorial comicality.
One after one here the series pours forth from the
publisher's shop in Fleet Street—the well-known
printseller's, No. 86; hard by St. Bride's Church, ovt r
against the Punch office. Here they come stream-
ing out in procession upon the illustrated outer
cover of the Re-issue— Illustrations of Time—
Phrenological Illustrations—Scraps and Sketcht s
—Sketch Book—while the public of to-day (such
a different public altogether) loiters wondering upon
the pavement at the unexpected reappearance.
There, for example, stands the gentleman with a
beard, a wide-awake, a cutty-pipe, an all-round
collar, Balmoral boots, and peg-top trousers. There
the lady with an oyster-shell bonnet, clad in crino-
line. Oh ! Ha! Hum! Puff ! Puff! Puff ! "
says my gentleman smoking superciliously—and
out they stream again into daylight, those dear old
delightful provocatives of good humour. Part One
gives us the immortal " Illustrations of Time "--
the analysis of the fun of which would be an imper-
tinence, particularly after the panegyric by
Thackeray in the "'Westminster." Wherefore we
content ourselves here with cordially welcoming
back in this revised and collected form, the famous
masterpieces of our inimitable Cruikshank.