Every one has heard of kicking the world before them, though,
comparatively, so few succeed in the task. The wights in the cut are in
an enviable condition.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
A sketch of one of those inveterate story tellers which are the standing
dishes of a _table d'hôte_, introduces one of the best of the cuts,
Mr. Blase Bronzely, _loquitur_:
"Well, gentlemen, as I was saying, when I saw at Stratford-upon-Avon the
Shakspearean procession pass in the street, it rained so violently that
Caliban and Hamlet's Ghost carried umbrellas, whilst Ophelia----"
"Obvious, my dear Blase; or, as a late premier used to say, 'It can't be
missed,' 'Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia:' and, besides, your
wet ghost is a mere crib from yourself; for whenever you go hunting in
cloudy weather, don't you regularly ride with a smart silver parasol
over your dear little head?"
[Illustration]
* * * * *
Soon growing tired of lounging in the library, loitering on the pier,
and of all the rest of the usual dull sea-side routine, he literally
knew so little what to do with himself, that, to kill an hour or two
before dinner, he would frequently be seen seated on a tombstone in the
churchyard, yawning; staring at the church clock, and comparing it with
his own watch;--in short, in some degree resembling
"Patience on a monument."
[Illustration: A SEA-SIDE TIME-KILLER--(_Dover._)]
* * * * *
The reader will conclude by these specimens that fun and frolic are the
characteristics of the _Dramatic Annual_; and we have given him a
spice of its best humour. These Cuts, by the way, are in a style which
all illustrators would do well to cultivate. We have seen much labour
expended on illustrations of works of humour, such as fine etchy work,
and points wrought up with extreme delicacy. The effect, however, is any
but humorous: you think of painstaking and trouble, whereas a few lines
vividly dashed off, by their unstudied style, will ensure a laugh, where
more elaborate productions only remind us of effort. Hood's pen-and-ink
cuts are excellent in their way--as bits of fun, but not of art. Now,
Brooke's designs are both works of fun and art.
* * * * *