112 Monthly Review of Literature. [JAN. 



Kingston was held of the Crown by grand sergeantry, for the service of presenting 

 4 a cup of beer to the king on the four principal feasts of the year ;' as appears by 

 a record of the thirteenth century." 



ROSCOE'S NOVELIST'S LIBRARY, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE 

 CRUIKSHANK. 



WE take shame to ourselves for having so long neglected to notice, in a degree 

 somewhat proportioned to its merit, the re-edited and re-embellished series of 

 novels known by the above title. We will, however, now atone for our neglect, 

 as amply as our circumscribed limits will permit, by impressing upon the public 

 a correct idea of that excellence, which in these times forms the only true 

 claim to patronage. The object of the publishers is, to present the best works 

 of the best authors of the class of novelists edited and embellished in a style 

 scarcely to be surpassed. How this object has been attained we will proceed 

 to shew. Mr. Roscoe has brought to the performance of his share of the labour, 

 a mind thoroughly imbued with elegant literature, and a taste which has been 

 perfected under the auspices of a great master. That Mr. Thomas Roscoe has 

 made the best use of his talent and judgment is evident from the mode in which 

 the prefatory biographies of Defoe, Smollet, and Fielding are executed. In that 

 of Defoe, there is displayed a thorough knowledge of the cramped and disagree- 

 able politics of that period; at the same time, he does not lose sight of those 

 minute events in Defoe's life which tended more than any other to develope 

 character and mind. It would afford us much pleasure did our space permit us 

 to give an epitome of this biography ; for, at this distance of time, when party 

 animosity has ceased, and when the most striking points of Defoe's character 

 come under fair and impartial criticism, we cannot but concede to him a high 

 grade amongst the spirits of his day. Not the least remarkable of the circum- 

 stances attendant on Defoe's life is the fact, which we gather from a com- 

 parison of dates, that he had nearly arrived at the age of sixty, a period when 

 the minds of ordinary men seem hastening to decay, ere he produced that 

 work, on the merits of which his name has stood, and will continue to stand, 

 the test of numberless literary cycles. The lives of Smollet and Fielding are 

 executed in a style which does not derogate from the praise accorded to that of 

 Defoe; and if the preceding volumes are equally good with their predecessors, 

 which we have no reason to doubt, we shall have to congratulate the public 

 upon the possession of an invaluable store of light literature, which is seldom 

 offered to them in so cheap and commodious a form. With respect to the eiru 

 bellishments, if we were disposed to be brief and emphatic, or if we were inclined 

 to sum up their excellence, in the concise arid eloquent phrases which are so 

 much in vogue in various reviewing circles, we should say, according to 

 the most approved fashion, " This book ought to be on every lady's table" 

 " No gentleman's library can be complete without this work" " Every one 

 must possess himself of this bijou of literature" no matter whether furtively or 

 otherwise ; but two words will suit our purpose best " George Cruikshank." 

 We doubt whether any person, who is able to receive impressions through the 

 medium of sight, could for one moment dispute the power of Cruikshank over 

 that rebellious membrane of cachinnation, or control his mirth within seemly 

 bounds, in turning over the contents of a portfolio which at this moment lies 

 open before us. It was our destiny to acquire early in the career of that 

 gifted and original artist an intense taste for his productions, and the result of 

 which is, that we are now in possession of a never-failing cure for the " blue 

 devils" and the " spleen." Amongst our collection we find two or three illus- 

 trations to Peregrine Pickle, viz. the " Dinner of the Ancients" the " Duel at 

 Antwerp" and the " Discomfiture of the Physicians by the Gouty Colonel of 

 Bath." These may be said, without any exaggeration, to embody the concep- 

 tion in the text as perfectly as the author could have desired ; and the illustra- 

 tions to the volumes before us are, in that respect, no way inferior, although, in 

 one or two instances, the selection of subjects might have been made more hap- 



