Billy.

Yet strange to tell, these facts appear

Full oft in Chalcographian sphere;

Though dealers with Bill on par,

prove

Who 'gainst plain English wages war,
No single rule of grammar knowing,
Vulgarity from tongue fast flowing:
As for his breeding-under banners
Of swine he marches-void of manners;

The sum of all his race-mere funning,
Back'd by sheer impudence and cunning. (b)

(b) In addition to his other qualifications, this bookbinder informs the trade, with a vast deal of consequence, that he has many rarissimo prints, but that he is so fearful of fire, that he has deposited them in the hands of a banker, for security against that destructive element; now this statement may in a certain degree be correct, if in place of banker we insert the words pawnbroker, as in all probability in imitation of his brother, such scarce specimens of Chalcography are in durance vile at the Golden Ball Repository in S-t M-rt-n's Lane.

C--If -d.

Of sloven fame, with paws as black

As kettle or the chimney's back,

Experienced C-lf-d now appears,

Whom Catalogus much reveres.

Nor is there Chalcographian sage bus élus aid no) ed Than him more vers'd in Granger's page; digus

Or better knows old portrait's price,

And fram'd to give the best advice (c);

baton 10

His acumen hath oft outrun tiloin How oil code 10

The trade combin'd and deep ones—DONE (d):

(c) The personage now before us has for many years back made portraits in particular his constant study, nor is there in the whole trade a mind better stored with this branch of the Chalcographian art. In the course of C -d's career, many fortunate windfalls have occurred, and so many rare and valuable prints have not perhaps passed through the hands of any other individual; one failing however he has displayed, which is, the suffering them to pass into other collections, without reaping their real value.

(d) I could enumerate several instances where dealers, who

C-Ifd.

Who furious have revil'd the act,

Whereas the very self same fact

Themselves had practis'd, had the sconce
Been stor'd sufficient for the nonce.

As for his acts and person too,

Naught brings him stronger to the view,
Than subject which his brain engross'd,
Of noted Characters—queer host, (e)
Of whom he well might rank the Chief,
And of said book grace foremost leaf.

arrogated to themselves great knowledge of prints, have been completely outwitted by the above personage, upon which occasions the most unqualified abuse has been lavished upon him. These revilers, at the same time forget, that their own consciences would willingly have sustained the burthen thus heaped upon his, had they been possessed of acumen equal to the task of circumventing him upon similar occasions.

(e) C-lf-ld has displayed no small share of judgment in his

C-r-m.

Sarcastic C-r-m next is seen,

The former's friend,-with visage keen;
He's slow of speech, but wond'rous dry (ƒ),
And seldom shoots his shaft awry:

literary efforts.

The publication of his Remarkable Characters, which is now completed by Mr. Kirby, (the publisher of the Wonderful Museum in a series of volumes), is a sufficient proof that his efforts in delineating biographical sketches are very far above mediocrity, added to which he is extremely fortunate in selecting subjects likely to arrest public attention. If we consider the general conduct of this Chalcographian, few individuals can lay claim to greater oddity; and in regard to his costume, it would be sacrilege either to brush his coat or clean his shoes: in short, negligence is the predominant feature of his character.

(ƒ) C—r—m some years back sustained the loss of his collection by fire, and having dropped his insurance, the event fell the heavier upon him; this calamity however he sustained with manly fortitude, and by perseverance and integrity of conduct in all his dealings, he is endeavouring to retrieve his loss. I have frequently stationed myself beside this individual at sales, in order to converse with him, when I have found his judgment acute and his

I

C-r-m.

'Twas he increas'd a Townley's store (g),

Whose loss the Muse must here deplore,

Whose valued friendship long was mine,
Whose breast contain'd an heart benign;
Whose lib'ral hand ne'er fail'd to bless
The pining victims of distress:

remarks upon men and manners delivered with that species of sarcasm, for which he is particularly noticed. I cannot refrain from adding, that his relationship to that great philanthropist Thomas Coram, through whose means the Foundling Hospital was established, should have entitled him to the consideration of the persons who are at the head of that wealthy establishment.

(g) Many years back C-r-m and C-lf-d, having conjointly illustrated a Granger, sold it to M-F-nn-r-u, whom they supplied with prints, until that gentleman, wearied with the collecting mania, sold his specimens at King's auction room. But the best customer of the person now under review was the late Mr. Townley, who, although gifted with a refinement of taste in every branch of science and literature, was still possessed of a more inestimable gem-the noble and feeling qualifications of a heart that conferred honour upon the title of man.