That PIERCE EGAN’S LIFE IN LONDON, or TOM AND JERRY, was a success, we have plenty of printed evidence and ‘hearsay’! to prove. And we also know--beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the news of its metropolitan fame went forth with almost telegraphic speed throughout the provinces:--From John o’Groat’s House to the Land’s End!--From Dan to Beersheba!--and back _again_! With LIFE IN LONDON, its language became the language of the day; drawing-rooms were turned into _chaffing cribs_, and rank and beauty learned to patter flash _ad nauseam_.
The original work went through several editions in a very short time, and the plates, by the Brothers Cruikshank, were considered so full of amusement that they were transferred to a variety of articles without any loss of time. The _Lady_ taking her _gunpowder_ was enabled to amuse her visitors with the adventures of _Tom and Jerry_ on her highly-finished tea-tray. The lovers of Irish _Blackguard_ experienced a double zest in taking a pinch from a box, the lid of which exhibited the laughable phiz of the eccentric BOB LOGIC. The country folks were delighted with the handkerchief which displayed TOM getting the best of a Charley, and DUSTY BOB and BLACK SAL “all happiness!” The _Female of Quality_ felt interested with the lively scene of the light fantastic toe at Almack’s, when playing with her elegant fan; and the _Connoisseur_, with a smile of satisfaction on his countenance, contemplated his screen, on which were displayed the motley groups of high and low characters continually on the move in the metropolis.
Everybody talked of TOM AND JERRY, and crowds rushed to the theatres where the uproarious adventures of these popular personages were represented in a dramatic form. Mr. W. T. Moncrieff’s adaptation brought out at the Adelphi Theatre, November 26th, 1821:--which, “_by-the way_,” was by far the best of the whole _bunch_!--ran uninterruptedly through two seasons. It then appeared in rapid succession at the Theatres all over England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; likewise in most of the United States of America, the West Indies, &c.
But although LIFE IN LONDON, or, TOM AND JERRY did make our grandfathers so very--_very!_ merry in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, we are constrained to admit; that it is a terrible dull and tedious work to read through in the present day, and it is on that very account, that we here place before our readers, what we are pleased to term--THE TRUE HISTORY of TOM and JERRY; for the work has a history of its own, and to exemplify the fact, we have in the first place, made numerous selections from the original work, then given the principal scenes of Moncrieff’s dramatic version of the same, the two concluding chapters of PIERCE EGAN’S continuation of his LIFE IN LONDON which he entitles--THE FINISH TO THE ADVENTURES OF TOM, JERRY, AND LOGIC, in their Pursuits through LIFE IN AND OUT OF LONDON.[1] Together with a “KEY to PERSONS and PLACES, and an Etymological and Critical Vocabulary and Glossary of _Flash_ and _Slang Terms_ occurring in the course of this work,” as at once giving an epitome of the whole: and to our mind, sufficient to be known of PIERCE EGAN’S once popular work. To which we have added such historic facts and scraps of information that have come to hand during our researches in connection with the--RISE and PROGRESS--DECLINE and FALL of the BOOK and its STORY. The present generation will find in some of the scenes depicted in such glowing colours, many of the fashions, manners and customs, which prevailed in the reign of King George the Fourth, together with certain landmarks of the past, which no one need regret leaving far behind, and ought to give every encouragement to those who live under the rule of Queen Victoria to maintain a firm faith in the social progress of the age.