Description

"Merrie England in the Olden Time" having found favour with the Public in "Bentley's Miscellany," puts forth new attractions in the present volumes. It has received numerous and important corrections and additions; the story has been illustrated by those eminent artists Messrs. Leech and Robert Cruikshank; and fac-similes, faithfully executed by that "cunninge" limner Mr. Thomas Gilks, of rare and unique portraits of celebrated Players, Jesters, Conjurers, and Mountebanks, (preserved only in the cabinets of the curious, ) exhibit "lively sculptures" of once popular drolls and wizards that shook the sides and "astonished the nerves" of our jovial-hearted and wondering ancestors. To supply the antiquarian portion of Merrie England, a library and a collection of prints and drawings of a highly curious and recherche character have been resorted to; and, though the task of concentrating and reducing into moderate compass such ample materials has not been an easy one.