Page:Fitzgerald - Pickwickian manners and customs (1897).djvu/131

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PLATES OF PICKWICK.
121

"Mr. Weller and his Friends Drinking to Mr. Pell." Plates almost the same, save for a slight alteration in the faces, and a vinegar cruet introduced next to Mr. Pell's oysters. Admirable and most original and distinct are the figures of the four coachmen, even the one of whom we have only a back view.

Perhaps no one of the plates displays Phiz's vivid power so forcibly as the one of the trial "Bardell v. Pickwick." Observe the dramatic animation, with the difficulty of treating a number of figures seated in regular rows. The types of the lawyers are truly admirable. In this latter piece there are no less than thirty-five faces, all characteristic, showing the peculiar smug and pedantic cast of the barristerial lineaments. Note specially the one at the end of the third bench who is engrossed in his brief, the pair in the centre who are discussing something, the two standing up. But what is specially excellent is the selection of faces for the four counsel concerned in the case. Nothing could be more appro-