BETTER-HALF (_loq._): "Is this what you call sitting up with a sick friend, Mr. Wilkins?"]
Here follows a drawing of a different character, opening up very appreciable possibilities, and not very pleasant consequences for the hero of the piece. Mr. Wilkins left the domestic hearth to sit up with a sick friend. "Yes, my dear," I can hear him say to his spouse, "I may be late; for if I find I can comfort the poor fellow by my conversation, I cannot find it in my heart to hurry away from him." Wicked Mr. Wilkins! What was there wrong in going to a masquerade? and if it was criminal to do so, why leave the evidence of your guilt where Mrs. W. could find it? Was that a _lady's_ mask? In the eyes of the outraged wife I dare say it was, though it may only have been used to cover the homely features of the deceiver, whose pale face and empty soda-water bottle plainly prove that the evening's entertainment will not bear the morning's reflections.
JUVENILE: "I say, Charley, that's a jeuced fine gurl talking to young Fipps! I should like to catch her under the mistletoe."]
The first drawings of "The Rising Generation," in which are portrayed the premature affections and the amusing affectations of the manners and sayings of their elders that, according to Leech, distinguished the _jeunesse doré_ of England, appeared in 1846, and have been so admirably described by Dickens elsewhere as to leave me only the task of placing some of the drawings before the reader, carefully avoiding those the great writer has noticed so felicitously. The young gentleman in the drawing introduced here would like to catch the pretty creature talking to the fascinating young man under the mistletoe, no doubt! We know his wicked intentions; but how would he carry them out? He is not tall enough to reach the lady's elbow; but love in such passionate natures laughs at difficulties, and he will find a way; and he calls a man old enough to be his father _young_ Fipps! Delightful little dog! and no less delightful is his friend Charley, who smiles encouragement, and would do likewise. These works of Leech possess what it is not too much to call an historical interest, as they chronicle truly the dresses of the time. In the object of our young friend's admiration, I fancy I see the approach of crinoline, while her ringlets afford a striking contrast to the fringes of the present day. An old lady would now create a sensation indeed if she appeared in a turban like that which bedecks the sitting figure.