The principles of art represented by the drawings of Mr. Ford have
little in common with those which determine the scheme of Mr. Millar's
many illustrations. Vierge, and Gigoux, the master of Vierge, are the
indubitable suggesters of his style, and the antitheses of sheer black
and white, the audacities, evasions and accentuations of these jugglers
with line and form, are dexterously handled by Mr. Millar. He has not
invented his convention, he has accepted it, and begun original work
within accepted limits. A less original artist would thereby have
doomed himself to extinction, but Mr. Millar has a lively apprehension
of romance, especially in an oriental setting, and interest in
subject is incompatible with merely imitative work. Illustrations to
'Hajji Baba' (1895), and to 'Eothen,' show how dramatic and true to
picturesque notions of the East are the conceptions, and the same
vigour projects itself into themes of western adventure in 'Frank
Mildmay' and 'Snarleyow.' But his right to be considered here is
determined by the rapid visions of fairy romance realized in the pages
of 'Fairy Tales by Q.' (1895), of 'The Golden Fairy Book' with its
companions, and on the more concrete but not less sufficient drawings
to 'The Book of Dragons,' and 'Nine Unlikely Tales for Children.'
[Illustration: FROM MR. MILLAR'S 'FAIRY TALES BY Q.'