CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE, one of the most gifted of English pictorial satirists, was b. in London, Sept. 27, 1792. His father was a native of Aberdeenshire, and the son of a person who had fought for prince Charles Stuart at Culloden. C. at first thought of the stage as a profession; but some of his sketches having come under the notice of a publisher, he was induced to engage in the illustration of children's books and songs. When about twenty years of age, a publication, called The Scourge, afforded scope for the display of his satiric genius, and from that time forth he has continued to pursue with remarkable success this his true vein. Ills illustrations for Mr. William Hone's political squibs and pamphlets attracted much attention, and sent some of them through no less than fifty editions. But these political caricatures, many of which were personal, were not altogether to C.'s taste. Nor, indeed. in this narrow party field did he find verge enough for the full exhibition of his rich fund of humor and depth of moral sar casm. He consequently abandoned this style about 1824. In Points of Humor, and the designs for Grimm's German Tales, Tom 7humb, Peter Schdemihl, Punch and Judy, My Sketch-book, Boz, Oliver Twist, and the Comic Almanac, his comic genius first found ample manifestation; while in his Sunday in London, his Gin-shop, The Upas Tree, and especially The Bottle, he showed himself a moral teacher possessed of a grim Hogarthian earnestness and force. The Bottle consisted of a series of eight large-sized plates repre
senting the various stages in a drunkard's career; and through the instrumentality of the temperance societies, as well as on account of its own merits, the work has had an enormous circulation. C. latterly devoted himself to oil-painting; and in his pictures, "Dressing for the Day," "A Runaway Knock," "Tam o' Shanter," and "Disturbing the Congregation," he combines humor and artistic skill. To these may be added the "Fairy Ring," and the "Merry Wives of Windsor." His latest production in oil-paint ing was a harp picture, Worship of Bacchus." The list of his works amounts to 5,500. He died 1st Feb. 1878.