resulting, after much meditative elaboration, in a Mrs. Gamp or a
Dick Swiveller. The process is not dissimilar, one imagines, from
that by which the artist evolves a character sketch: with this
difference, that whereas a solitary trait, accidentally revealed,
was to Dickens sufficient foundation upon which to construct his
fanciful portrait, such studies of types as Frank Reynolds excels
in must be the outcome, not of one "thing seen," but of reiterated
observation of the same thing in identical or closely similar guise.
The results in either case vary as the method employed. Mrs. Gamp,
the outcome of a single observation, is a type certainly, but
exaggerated and "founded on fact" rather than true to life. "The
Suburbanite" (see p. 24), though an equally imaginary portrait, is
the real thing--the absolute personification of a type or class.

[Illustration]

In the case of Reynolds, his studies of types are the result of
an exceptional power of observation coupled with a very retentive
memory. His keen eye notes--often unconsciously, as he admits--the
small eccentricities by which character is revealed; his sense of
humour emphasises them, and his memory retains them. As a result,
when he essays to portray a type, there rises before his mental
vision, not the figure of this individual or that, but a hazy
recollection of all its representatives that he has ever come into
contact with. The misty impression materialises as he works, and
there grows under his hand a portrait which draws from us an instant
smile of recognition, broadening as we perceive the veiled humour
and satire that lurk beneath the skilful emphasis which has been
laid upon the subject's salient characteristics.