Then follows a long and minute description of all the plates, when it is stated, 'For the sake of effect the artist has given all the views as they would appear in daylight; but, with the exception of Plate II. (finding the body of Weare in the pond), the scenes ought to have been represented as at night.' Some of the engravings illustrating the murder of Mr. Weare appeared in the _Morning Chronicle_ the day before their publication in the _Observer_, and they were also published simultaneously in the _Englishman_, which appears to have been in substance another edition of the _Observer_ without the advertisements. The name of W. Hughes is attached to them as the engraver.
The _Observer_ was loudly condemned for publishing the Weare and Thurtell illustrations, and it did not for some time bring out any more engravings; but this was probably owing more to the commercial depression prevailing at the time than to the strictures that had been passed upon newspaper morality.
About this time _Bell's Life_ came into Mr. Clement's hands, and henceforth it shared, with the _Morning Chronicle_ and the _Englishman_, in the illustrations prepared for the _Observer_. It had, however, a distinct series of illustrations of its own, which was continued for several years. But before describing them I must refer to one or two characteristic engravings which appeared in _Bell's Life_ in its early days. On November 28, 1824, the first large woodcut was published, representing a prize-fight on a raised stage, and entitled the 'Tip Top Milling at Warwick.' According to the account accompanying the engraving, this prize-fight was a most brutal exhibition, without any display of what boxers call 'science'--a mere exchange of hard blows, ending in one of the combatants being carried insensible from the stage. The coming fight was made known far and wide, so that when the day arrived vehicles from all parts of the country brought hundreds of spectators to the scene. The fight took place, openly and without fear of interruption, on the race-course at Warwick, the grand stand being crammed with spectators, and a ring of waggons, on which clustered crowds of eager gazers, surrounded the stage. This is all shown in the engraving in _Bell's Life_; and the different objects in the background, such as the church, the keep of Warwick Castle, the cemetery, &c., are pointed out by figures of reference with the most conscientious care. There is a very long account of the battle, couched in language only understood by members of the 'fancy.'