_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1841-50.
William Harvey--Mr. Birket Foster--Kenny Meadows--His
Joviality--Alfred "Crowquill"--Sir John Gilbert--Exit
"Rubens"--Hablôt Knight Browne ("Phiz")--Henry Heath--Mr. R. J.
Hamerton--W. Brown--Richard Doyle--Desires Pseudonymity--His
Protest against _Punch's_ "Papal Aggression"
Campaign--Withdraws--His Art--Epitaph by _Punch_--Henry Doyle--T.
Onwhyn--"Rob Roy" Macgregor--William McConnell--Sir John
Tenniel--His Career--And Technique--His Early Work--Cartoons--His
Art--His Memory and its Lapses--"Jack[=i]d[=e]s"--Knighthood.
Three other names belong to the year 1841: Ashley, William Harvey, and
Mr. Birket Foster--the second distinguished landscape artist who may be
said to have been raised upon _Punch_. Of the first-named, nothing need
be said, but that he contributed a single sketch and no more. William
Harvey, however, stands on a different footing, yet his employment on
_Punch_ is inexplicable. He had no real humour, and, what is perhaps
more to his credit, he pretended to none; nor did he take pains, as so
many do, to prove it. Kenny Meadows, we are told, used to rally him on
his excessive sense of gracefulness, which stood in the way of anything
like truthful representation. "Beauty," he would say, "is Harvey's evil
genius, and grace his damnation." It hardly required the couple of
initials ("A" and "E" on pp. 144 and 146 of the first vol.), conceived
and carried out in the Birket Foster manner, with landscape backgrounds
and field-sport symbols, to prove that Nature had not intended the
artist for a _Punch_ draughtsman. He was far better fitted for the
illustration of "Knight's Pictorial Shakespeare" than for comic
draughtsmanship. And when he had spread consternation in the office by
sending in a charge of twelve guineas for the third wrapper, which he
had been commissioned to design--money never being scarcer than at that
moment--the proprietors immediately became equally convinced that such
was not his vocation, and his connection with the paper ceased
forthwith.
I said he drew "in the Birket Foster manner," for that young
draughtsman, who was at the time one of Landells' apprentices, had
already begun to draw initials on p. 85 of _Punch's_ first volume--an
"O," consisting of a laurel wreath with a Lifeguardsman charging
through. These initials--there were thirteen in 1841, eleven in the
following year, and two in 1843--were remarkable work for a boy of
seventeen; and still more remarkable was the fact that he should be
entrusted, even at a pinch, with the execution of a cartoon. It is true
that this was only an adaptation of Cruikshank's plate of "Jack Sheppard
cutting his name on the Beam"--a design highly appreciated at a moment
when the fortunes of Harrison Ainsworth's young housebreaker were being
followed with breathless interest by every section of society; and it is
not less a fact that the head of Lord John Russell was touched up by
Henning. Still the achievement is as remarkable as coming from an artist
of Mr. Birket Foster's temperament, as those other cartoons, executed in
"The Censor" at a later period, by Professor Herkomer. But this was not
all he did, for to him are to be credited also a few miscellaneous
illustrations, as well as those extremely French-looking designs which
he imitated, by order, from drawings by Gavarni for a novelette by
Lecourt (pp. 262, 263 and 275, Vol. I.). As an artist he was entirely
untaught, save for Brine's quaint advice, and for the counsel of
Crowquill that in figure-drawing he should make dots first for the head
and chief joints, as an assistance. For a time he followed these strange
indications on the royal road to drawing, and on them, perhaps, he based
to some extent the illustrations which he made for book-covers, together
with Charles Keene, for Mr. Edmund Evans--who, it may not be out of
place here to repeat, now so well known as the engraver and publisher of
Miss Kate Greenaway's picture books, was a fellow-pupil of Birket
Foster's with "Daddy" Landells. He, too, made a couple of drawings for
_Punch_ in 1842, when he was no more than sixteen: the first a
"blackie," entitled "Train'd Animals"--representing a trainful of wild
beasts (p. 108, Vol. III.), and the other an initial; and his name
appears as well as the engraver of one of "Phiz's" designs in "Punch's
Valentines." It occurred to him a little later on to buy up "remainders"
of unsaleable novels, to employ clever artists to illustrate some
stirring scene of love, adventure, or revenge, and with this design on
the boards to place the book for sale on the railway bookstalls. His
shrewdness met with a rich reward; the picture sold the book; and it
often happened that a book that had failed egregiously on its first
appearance, would run into two or three editions when presented as a
railway novel with a cover sufficiently startling or absorbing in its
interest.
An unprecedented, and an unrepeated, incident occurred in 1842. In that
year there appeared a number of drawings by Gavarni (apart from those
re-drawn by Mr. Birket Foster), and something has been made by
commentators of the early enterprise of the Editor in inviting the
contributions of the eminent French master of caricature. But as a
matter of fact Gavarni was not invited at all, nor did he ever draw for
_Punch_. These blocks, and the one by Gagniet, had simply been bought up
by the publishers, and used after they had appeared in "Les Parisiens
peints par Eux-Mêmes" as well as in the English translation of 1840. The
use of _clichés_, it should be stated, has never since been resorted to.
When Gavarni did make a prudence-visit to England in 1847 he held aloof
from _Punch_, perhaps on account of his former connection with "The
Great Gun." His principal achievement here was to offend the Queen,
Thackeray, Dickens, and others, by coolly ignoring their proffered
hospitality and friendly advances.
In this same volume first appeared a notable quintet--Kenny Meadows,
Alfred "Crowquill," W. M. Thackeray, Sir John Gilbert, and "Phiz"
(Hablôt Knight Browne).
Few men of his day enjoyed so great a vogue as Kenny Meadows. His pencil
was for many years in extraordinary demand; and although as an artist he
could not stand against his great contemporary George Cruikshank, his
popularity--among publishers, at least--if not as great, was nearly as
extensive. His work is more than half forgotten now, but the memory of
his name survives; and to speak of "Kenny Meadows" is to recall the
typical art of the illustrator and (such as it was) of the comic
draughtsman of the first half of the century.
[Illustration: KENNY MEADOWS.
(_From a Water-Colour by Mrs. L. Bentley Smith._)]
Kenny Meadows--he dropped the preliminary "Joseph" for reasons of
"professional distinction"--had first met Douglas Jerrold, in company
with Laman Blanchard, in Duncombe's shop, as early as 1828, and in due
time was employed to illustrate "Heads of the People," which Jerrold
edited in 1840, and for which he had secured the co-operation of
Thackeray, Leigh Hunt, Samuel Lover, William Howitt, and other literary
lights. Henry Vizetelly, who knew Meadows well, wrote to me but a few
months before his death of his acquaintance with the artist. "He was,"
said he, "witty and epigrammatic in conversation. He was a singularly
incorrect and feeble draughtsman, but abounded with clever and often
highly poetic ideas. Like most of the members of the Mulberry and
Shakespeare Clubs, he knew all the principal passages in Shakespeare by
heart long before he became an illustrator of the plays. Like many
artists and literary men of the period, he was always in financial
straits. Every sixpence that he earned he handed over to his wife, a
quiet thriftful woman, sister of Archibald Henning, and she used to give
him a small sum whenever he spent his evenings abroad in company with
Macready, Laman Blanchard, John Forster, Jerrold, and others, at the
Shakespeare Club. He was a little man with a feeble frame, and much
addicted to convivial society." He was, indeed, a boon-companion,
generous and kind-hearted, and a delightful _raconteur_--"happy,
conversational Meadows," as Blanchard Jerrold calls him--when at the
club, and a jovial roystering Bohemian when he left it.
About the time that _Punch_ was started, Kenny Meadows was living hard
by College Place, Camden Town, and one night gave a rollicking dinner to
the members of the newly-formed Staff; but Hine (from whom I had the
story), as a sober man of peace and quiet, declined the invitation, as
was his wont, and the next day, meeting Meadows, was surprised to
receive a very penitent apology for their behaviour of the previous
night. "What behaviour?" asked Mr. Hine, unconscious of any possible
cause of offence. "What! didn't you hear us? Where do you sleep?" "In
front. Why?" "Why? Because before breaking up at three this morning we
said, 'Let's give Hine three cheers to finish up with;' which we did,
with an unearthly noise, and danced a solemn dance on the pavement, and
sang you songs _fortissimo_, and altogether made a diabolical uproar."
"Never heard a sound," said Hine. Meadows turned sorrowfully on his heel
without a word, and for some days could not get over his disappointment
that, in spite of all their best endeavours, his young friend's rest had
been unbroken.
When his first two drawings appeared in "Punch's Valentines"--"Young
Loves to Sell" and "The Speculative Mamma"--Meadows was already
fifty-one years old, with thirty-four more of conviviality before him;
he was, therefore, the Nestor of _Punch's_ Staff, as well as its most
distinguished member. "Meadows was essentially valuable to _Punch_,"
says George Hodder, who by marriage had become his nephew, "for the
thoughtfulness of his designs, which were intended to portray something
more than a burlesque view of a current event or a popular abuse." His
delight when he made a hit was like that of a prize-winning boy; and he
used to pride himself that his drawing of a butterfly at the mouth of a
cannon, typifying peace--published in _Punch_ in February,
1844--inspired Landseer with his celebrated picture entitled "Peace," in
which, however, the butterfly was superseded by a lamb.
Although he was excellent as a "general utility" man, who took as
naturally to tragedy as he did to farce, to subjects of squalor as to
grace of beauty, to Shakespeare as to _Punch_, he is not to be credited
with any great sense of humour, his _vis comica_ running rather to
grotesqueness than to real fun or wit. His intention was usually more
admired than his achievement--in his press work, at least; and the
symbolic treatment of his subjects in certain of the cartoons which he
executed in 1842-3-4, such as his "Temperance Guy Fawkes," his
Cruikshankian "Gin Drop" and "Water Drop," "The Irish Frankenstein," and
"The Bull Frog," are to be included among _Punch's_ early successes. But
better than this sort of design he enjoyed work of a more decorative
type, in which grace and humour, as he understood them, might be
introduced. Of this class is his wrapper used throughout the fifth
volume. (_See_ p. 46.) But his "poetic fancy and inventive genius,"
which aroused the enthusiasm of many others besides the appreciative
John Timbs, were not in harmony with _Punch's_ character, nor was his
fun sufficiently pointed and robust. Whilst he remained he illustrated
Jerrold's "Punch's Letters to his Son" and "Complete Letter-writer,"
which duly received the honour of a reprint; but he left in 1844, and
straightway betook himself to the hostile camp of "The Great Gun," which
aspired to be _Punch's_ chief rival, to "The Man in the Moon," and other
of the Jester's numerous thorns--for of such is the spirit of
caricaturists.
[Illustration: ALFRED "CROWQUILL."
(_From a Photograph by Clarkington and Co._)]
The period of Alfred "Crowquill's" work corresponded with that of
Meadows. Although a versatile man, using his pen and pencil with equal
facility and ability--the former, perhaps, more successfully than the
latter--Forrester (for that was his real name) was but an indifferent
humorist. He was of those who thought that fun could be imparted to a
drawing by the simple expedient of grotesque exaggeration of expression;
and as a great admirer of Seymour's "Cockney humour," he was frequently
pointless and stilted. Personally he was highly popular with the Staff,
for he was philosophically happy and jovial, and sang good songs, and
was, moreover, greatly sought after at a time when comic artists were
few. He was cartoonist, too, in a small way, in the second, third, and
fourth volumes of _Punch_; but his chief merit lay in his _jeux de
mots_, for he was a good punster. Yet even his pictorial puns, good as
they were, constituted little claim on a paper which was steadily
improving its Staff; and when he left, in 1844, his place was easily and
advantageously filled.
Passing over the name of Thackeray, who takes his place among the
literary contributors, we come to Sir John Gilbert. His work, though
slight, has spread over a longer period than that of any other _Punch_
artist--save Sir John Tenniel, forty years later. His first contribution
was the frontispiece to the second volume for 1842, which also
constituted its wrapper, and was used as such for the monthly parts for
many years. He continued with a few drawings to "The Natural History of
Courtship" and "Punch's Letters to his Son," but his most ambitious
effort was that representing the late Duke of Cambridge, coronet in
hand, begging for public money as a marriage portion for his daughter.
But when Jerrold's fiat went forth, "We don't want Rubens on _Punch_"
young Gilbert turned his attention to the newly-started "Illustrated
London News," on which his services were warmly welcomed and
continuously employed, with such brilliant results to itself and to the
black-and-white art in England. I was one day conversing with a
distinguished foreign artist on the comparative merits of Gilbert and
Doré, whose fecundity in their art was equal, and I ventured to assert
the great artistic superiority of Gilbert. "You are right!" cried my
enthusiastic friend, with more judgment of art than accuracy of English
idiom; "Gilbert cocks Doré into a top-hat!"
Not for twenty-one years did he reappear in the pages of the London
Charivari, until after an interval in which he built up his reputation
as the greatest draughtsman on wood that England, and perhaps any
country, has produced. Then he contributed the first illustration, in an
admirable spirit of caricature, to Mr. Burnand's "Mokeanna," and then
again, after another nineteen years, he made a full-page drawing for
the Almanac of 1882, representing the unhappy plight of a knight who,
summoned hastily to the wars, cannot induce his new suit of armour to
come together over his fattened frame, even with the combined assistance
of female relations and muscular retainers.
[Illustration: HABLÔT K. BROWNE.]
In this same year of 1842 Hablôt Knight Browne, overcoming his former
reluctance, began to draw for the paper. He drew its second wrapper
(_see_ p. 42)--an enormous improvement on Henning's--as well as some
beautiful little comic cuts exquisitely engraved (used to illustrate "A
Shillingsworth of Nonsense"), and a couple of "Punch's Valentines." In
one of these--the Lawyer--the original of Mr. Squeers may be seen in the
character of an orthodox pettifogging attorney perched upon a stool. But
_Punch_ could not support such twin stars as Leech and "Phiz," and the
latter left in 1844 for "The Great Gun," whose leading draughtsman he
became. In the pages of "The Great Gun" he illustrated Maxwell's
"Memoirs of a London Latch-key;" and then, in 1850, he drew for "Life,
the Mirror of the Million." In the _Punch_ volumes for 1842, 1844, and
1852, his hand may be traced; and again in 1861, after his great
illness, he turned once more to _Punch_. The brave worker, who would not
admit his stroke of paralysis, but called it rheumatism, could still
draw when the pencil was tied to his fingers and answered the swaying of
his body. In 1861 are eleven of his sketches--initials, most of them; in
1862, but one or two; in the following year, sixteen; in 1864, eleven;
in 1865, five; and again in 1866, 1867, 1868, seven cuts, and one in
1869; altogether, a little over three-score drawings, besides three
full-page cuts in the Pocket-book of 1850. But, for all that, "Phiz"
died more than half forgotten. His biographer, indeed, had never heard
of his _Punch_ work; and even the paper which had been so kind to him,
and dedicated on July 22nd, 1882, two graceful obituary stanzas to
"delightful Phiz--immortal Phiz," entirely forgot to mention that his
facile pencil had been employed in _Punch's_ service.
A single cartoon came from Henry Heath (Vol. III.), who was well enough
known as a political caricaturist through having made many such plates
for Spooner, the publisher, in the Strand. Heath emigrated to Australia,
and Mr. R. J. Hamerton, who was soon to become a notable member of the
_Punch_ corps, filled the place he left, signing his "B. H." (Bob
Hamerton) to resemble as closely as might be the initials of the old
favourite. But when, later on, _Punch_ work came to Mr. Hamerton, the
Spooner caricatures were dropped. A couple of unimportant contributions
sent in under the initials "J. R." complete the record for 1842.
It was through Jerrold's and Lemon's friend, Joe Allen, to whom he
handed some of his pen-and-ink drawings, that Mr. R. J. Hamerton secured
his footing on _Punch_. This was in the middle of the year, and in the
opening number of the new volume appear his first contributions. For
some weeks they were signed "Shallaballa"--the itinerant Punch's first
cry on his jumping up before the public in his show, and apparently an
appropriate pseudonym; but when the artist was reminded by Mark Lemon of
the real significance of the objectionable word, he abandoned it for the
better-known picture-rebus of his name--a Hammer on the side of a Tun.
The only meeting of the _Punch_ men which he attended was that at the
"Whistling Oyster," next door to the "Crown," at the time when the
musical bivalve, as narrated in the description of the "Punch Club," was
the talk of the town. Mr. Hamerton, who was introduced by Mark Lemon,
and who made the fantastic portrait of it which was published in the
following number of _Punch_, remembers Douglas Jerrold reciting on that
occasion his version of the ingredients and constitution of _Punch_,
which was worked up and contributed by Horace Mayhew to the next volume,
but, of course, without the names attached, as here given:--
The Spirit is "The Comic Blackstone" (Gilbert à Beckett).
The Acid is "The Story of a Feather" (Douglas Jerrold).
The Sweet is The Great "Saxon Suggestor" (W. M. Thackeray).
The Spice is "The Sub" (Horace Mayhew).
The Water is The "Professor" (Percival Leigh).
And the Spoon is The "Editor" (Mark Lemon).
Where, then, was the art?
[Illustration: R. J. HAMERTON.
(_From a Photograph by E. Higgins, Stamford._)]
Mr. Hamerton was one of the few Irishmen who have worked on the paper.
He had begun to teach drawing at a school in Co. Longford when he was
but fourteen, and came to London to draw upon stone under the eye of
Charles Hullmandel, the father of the lithographic art in England. With
the exception of occasional incursions into oil and water colour--he was
a popular member of the British Artists half-a-century ago--and a few
years' book-illustration for the London publishers, "it was stone,
stone, stone, till 1891, when the drawing on the huge stones became too
much for my old back." Like his life-long friend and contemporary, Hine,
he was not of _Punch_ Punchy--at least, in respect to conviviality; and
after a record of Staff service extending to 1844, with fitful
contributions up to 1848, he deserted the precincts of Whitefriars, and
soon after renounced wood-drawing in favour of his more lucrative
employment. He had, however, already contributed ten cartoons--striking
for their handling, if not at first for their finish. The majority of
his subjects were Irish--such as the "Irish Ogre Fattening on the
'Finest Pisintry,'" "The Shadow Dance," "King O'Connell at Tara,"
"Bagging the Wild Irish Goose," and so forth--and terribly severe he
was, as only an Irishman could be, on Daniel O'Connell and Lord
Brougham. He illustrated à Beckett's "Comic Blackstone;" but his
masterpiece in wood-draughtsmanship was his illustration of John
Forster's "Life of Goldsmith" for Bradbury and Evans. Then after a
couple of contributions from "W. B."--W. Brown, whose "Comic Album" was
deservedly popular in its day, and whose "Statue to Jenkins" pleased
_Punch's_ readers greatly--and the cut signed "B," attributed to Thomas
Hood, and another anonymous contribution by "S," there came Richard
Doyle, one of the most notable acquisitions of the decade. He was the
second son of the famous "[HB]," and had done capital comic work of an
amateur character while still a boy. His "Comic English Histories,"
executed when he was only fifteen years of age, were published after his
death; but he was still young when he first became known to the public.
He was possessed of an extraordinary power of fanciful draughtsmanship;
and his precocity is sufficiently proved by his comic illustrations to
Homer, wrought at the tender age of twelve, with real humour, wealth of
invention, and excellence of expression. His uncle, Mr. Conan, dramatic
critic of the "Morning Herald," showed his work to his friend Mark
Lemon, and Lemon forthwith requested Mr. Swain to instruct the youth in
wood-draughtsmanship. So the engraver set forth with blocks and pencils
to this "certain clever young son" of the once mighty "HB," who was now
in a fair way of falling out of public notice. Arrived at Cambridge
Terrace, he endeavoured to impart to Richard Doyle the art and mystery
of drawing on the wood--how to prepare his blocks, and so forth, and to
give such further information as might be required. But so nervous was
the youth, who was small and thin in person, and greatly agitated in
mind and manner, that he persisted in keeping his distance out of simple
shyness, and literally dodged around the dining-room table, altogether
too excited to lend the slightest attention to the words of his mentor.
In due course, Mr. Swain tells me, the first drawing was delivered, "and
a bad, smudgy thing it was, too, altogether different from the work he
almost immediately contributed for the Almanac of that year." Doyle's
first work in _Punch_ consisted of the clever comic borders to the
Christmas number, one of which enclosed Hood's "Song of the Shirt;" but
with the illustration to the rhymed version of "Don Pasquale" he made
his actual début.
He was not promoted at once to the position of cartoonist; for the first
six months he contributed only one big cut to five of Leech's, and his
proportion during several years that followed did not exceed one in
three. His first cartoon, entitled "The Modern Sisyphus"--representing
Sir Robert Peel, as the tormented one, engaged in rolling the stone
(O'Connell) up the hill, with Lord John Russell and others, as the
Furies, looking on--appeared on March 16th, 1844; and from that time
onwards his work rapidly increased in volume. His initial-letters--an
invention further developed later on by C. H. Bennett, Mr. Ernest
Griset, and Mr. Linley Sambourne--and his cartoons were reinforced by
the famous series of "Brown, Jones, and Robinson," "Mr. Pips hys Diary,"
"Bird's-eye Views of English Society," and "Ye Manners and Customs of Ye
Englyshe," their manner of presentation having been created by the
artist, who was forthwith dubbed by his comrades "Professor of Mediæval
Design." When Doyle was first called to the Table, his punctilious
father did not show any enthusiasm, being in some doubts, apparently, as
to the supposed wild recklessness of those savage orgies. He wrote to
the Proprietors, hoping that they would not insist upon it for a time,
as his son's health was not robust. A little later Doyle himself wrote
stiffly to protest against his real name having been printed on the
cover of _Punch_ contrary to his distinct request to Mark Lemon, who had
promised to retain the name by which he was already known to the
public--"Dick Kitcat"--as in the etched plates to Maxwell's "Hector
O'Halloran." But the demand was not persisted in.
"Dicky" Doyle continued to work regularly for the paper, and his
monogram signature, with a "dicky" either perched upon the top or
pecking on the ground close by, was rarely absent from a single number,
when the Popery scare--which had seized the popular mind towards the end
of 1849--infected _Punch_ with extraordinary virulence. So long as Mark
Lemon confined his cartoons and his text to the general question of
"Papal Aggression," Doyle, who was a devout Irish Catholic, held his
peace; but when the very doctrine of the faith was attacked, and the
Pope himself personally insulted, he severed himself regretfully but
determinedly from the paper. Anterior to this, Doyle had remonstrated,
but had been reminded that he himself had been permitted to caricature
Exeter Hall and all its ways, so that he could not complain if the
tables were turned upon his own party. Jerrold and Thackeray, says Mr.
Everitt, sought to dissuade him in vain. "Look at the 'Times,'" they
argued; "its language has been most violent, but the Catholic writers on
its Staff do not, for that reason, resign. They understand, and the
world at large understands, that the individual contributor is not
responsible for the opinions expressed by other contributors in articles
with which they have nothing to do.' 'That is all very well in the
"Times,"' was Doyle's answer, 'but not in _Punch_. For the "Times" is a
monarchy [I believe, these were his very words], whereas _Punch_ is a
republic.' So when a week or so later an article, attributed to Jerrold
himself, jeeringly advised the Pope to 'feed his flock on the wafer of
the Vatican,' it was too much for Doyle.... So he wrote to resign his
connection with _Punch_, stating his reasons plainly and simply."
But when Doyle resigned, for reasons which earned him the respect of all
who heard of them, it was not realised how strong was the undercurrent
of feeling within the _Punch_ office. It is true that at the bottom of
what I may call the "_Punch_ Aggression" were Jerrold and the
Proprietors; and that the onslaught of the one, with the encouragement
of the others, so profoundly wounded Doyle as to force him into
sacrificing lucrative employment, and condemning him in the result to a
life of toil. But for once in his career Doyle was guilty of behaviour
which, if not inexcusable in the circumstances, was certainly
indefensible. He left the paper in the lurch. His letter of resignation
was sent in on November 27th, he having allowed the Editor to think that
the blocks for the Almanac, already overdue, had all been completed; and
when it was discovered that they had not been done, and that nothing
was forthcoming, consternation reigned in the office. No doubt the
revenge was sweet, but it was ill-judged; for while no Catholic member
of the Staff has ever raised his voice in its justification, Doyle's
conduct served but to increase the bitterness of the anti-Catholic
feeling in _Punch's_ Cabinet, and perhaps to produce attacks more
intemperate than any that had gone before. And, moreover, it rendered
more difficult the position of others of the same faith who became
members of the Staff.
So Doyle quitted the paper at the close of 1850, yet his hand was seen
in its pages in 1857, 1862 (four cuts), and 1864. This was a question of
"old stock"--a matter which often crops up in _Punch_: it is not a
unique circumstance to see a sketch appear many years after it was
drawn, and even when the hand that has drawn it has turned to dust. In
1883 there appeared a cut by Mr. Sambourne which was made fifteen years
before; and in 1894 there was published a sketch by R. B. Wallace (of
the late Lord Beaconsfield) a year after the artist died and fourteen
years after he had ceased to draw for the paper.
But when Doyle left _Punch_ he would draw for none of its rivals. With
the exception of the single lapse already alluded to, his conduct was
always high-minded and generous; and his virtue and nobility of
character have been testified to by all his friends. He declined the
offer of a large sum to draw for a well-known periodical as he
disapproved of the principles of its conductors; and on similar grounds
he refused to illustrate a new edition of Swift. Mr. Holman Hunt has
recorded his testimony as to his sterling worth. "Dicky Doyle," he tells
me, "I knew affectionately. John Leech and Doyle were never very
cordial, Doyle's staunch Romanism separating them. While so rigid and
consistent a religionist, he was one of the most charitable of men, and
would never be a party to any scandal, however much it had been
provoked. I am afraid that no portrait was ever painted of him,
certainly none showing his delightfully amusing laugh, which always
seemed to be indulged apologetically--with the face bent into the cravat
and the double chin pressed forward."
Doyle's great misfortune as an artist was that his father, cultivating
the son's fancy at the expense of his training, not only would allow him
no regular teaching, but would not permit him to draw from the
model--nothing but "observance of Nature" and memory-drawing. The result
was that Doyle remained an amateur to the end--an extremely skilful one,
whose shortcomings were concealed in his charming illustrations and
imaginative designs, but were startlingly revealed in his larger work
and in his figure-drawing. As a draughtsman he was usually feeble,
though graceful; his effects, technically speaking, were constantly
false, and his drawing often as poor as Thackeray's. He was saved by his
charm and sweetness, his inexhaustible fun and humour,[51] his
delightful though superficial realisation of character, and his keen
sense of the grotesque. When he died in December, 1883, _Punch_ devoted
to his memory a poem in which his artistic virtues are generously
appreciated, but not a word is said as to the parting of their ways.
From this tribute, this "reconciliation after death," I transcribe one
stanza:--
"Turning o'er his own past pages,
_Punch_, with tearful smile, can trace
That fine talent's various stages,
Caustic satire, gentle grace,
Feats and freaks of Cockney funny--
BROWN, and JONES, and ROBINSON;
And, huge hive of Humour's honey,
Quaint quintessence of rich fun,
Coming fresh as June-breeze briary
With old memories of our youth,
Thrice immortal _Pips's Diary_!
Masterpiece of Mirth and Truth!"
In 1844 the versatile artist-dramatist, Watts Phillips, first declared
himself in _Punch_ with a few examples of his art, which George
Cruikshank had fostered. They lasted up to 1846, but amounted to very
little. He gave more attention to "Puck," of which Chatto was the
editor; and when, a few years afterwards, he joined "Diogenes" as its
cartoonist, he gave full rein to his undoubted talent.
In the same year Richard Doyle's brother Henry--better known as a
distinguished member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and best of all as
the grave and extremely able Director of the National Gallery of
Ireland--made a number of small cuts for _Punch_, which were published
in 1844 and the following years; but as I was informed, at the time of
his death, by his elder brother James, now also dead (the chronicler,
and the compiler of the "Official Baronage of England"): "The _Punch_
episode was the merest child's play to him. His line, chosen years
before, was sacred or poetic art; and his illustrations to Telemachus,
done before this time, remarkable for invention and colour, were greatly
admired by Prince Albert. That he drew for _Punch_ at one time is, of
course, true; but the mention of it gives a false impression of his
taste and principal work at that period." Yet the spirit of humour was
strong within him, for he was one of the "Great Gunners" in 1845; and
from 1867 to 1869, when he was appointed to Dublin, he was cartoonist
for "Fun," signing with a Hen, or "Fusbos."
Thomas Onwhyn, best known, nowadays, perhaps, by his "extra
illustrations" to "Pickwick" and "Nicholas Nickleby," and by his plates
to "Valentine Vox" and Cockton's other novels, began to contribute a few
blocks to _Punch_--a fact which has hitherto been denied. His first
drawing, published on p. 130, Vol. XIII. (1847), illustrates an article
by Gilbert à Beckett, entitled, "The Friends Reconciled." The next was a
"Social," on p. 230 of the same volume, representing a hatter's wiles
and their victim. But Onwhyn was better used to the etching-needle than
the pencil, and his drawing on wood was hard and unsympathetic, and his
figures were usually rather strained than funny. About this time he was
retiring from his position as a popular illustrator of books. Throne
Crick's "Sketches from the Diary of a Commercial Traveller," embellished
by Onwhyn, had just appeared; and the artist was beginning to bring out
his series of albums of plates, big and small, on all sorts of humorous
subjects. The time was, therefore, appropriate at which to embark on
independent illustration in _Punch_. But in the following year he
contributed not more than a sketch or two; and thenceforward, until he
finally laid down his pencil in 1870, he confined his artistic efforts
to his own happy ideas with but few exceptions--such as "Welcome, a
Charade; by W. Shakesides" (1850). Onwhyn died so late as 1886.
For four years, if we except two or three unimportant cuts contributed
by E. J. Burton in 1847-8-9, no new name appears upon the draughtsman's
roll. Then John Macgregor--the celebrated "Rob Roy"--who had begun to
contribute paragraphs and short articles in 1847, commenced adding
sketches, such as his "Silence in the Gallery," in January, 1848.
"Prince Albert's Hat" was also his, and others besides; and it is worth
remarking that the proceeds of these sketches and articles were given to
the police-courts, wherewith the magistrates might assist poor cases.
The year 1850 became of the first importance in the history of _Punch_.
Not that William McConnell and his gentle art would make the year
remarkable, for his early defection from _Punch_, and his premature
death from consumption, cut short a career which promised considerably
more than it achieved. Mr. Sala tells me that McConnell was a handsome
little fellow, bright, alert, and full of originality. He was always
exceptionally well-dressed--and with good reason, for his father, on
coming over from Ireland and settling in Tottenham Court Road, resumed
his trade of tailor. The youth sent in some sketches, which were highly
thought of by Mark Lemon. He was turned over to Mr. Swain for some
instruction in drawing on the wood, and subsequently took up his
residence in the engraver's house for a time; but, not living long
enough to prove his individuality, he remained to the end an imitator of
Leech. Perhaps that was the reason that he drew so small a salary from
_Punch_; at any rate, he always resented what he considered to be the
contumelious and shabby treatment meted out to him by Mark Lemon. But
for such money as he did receive, it must be admitted that he gave full
value in the fierceness of his cartoons on Louis Napoleon. He did much
book illustration, besides drawing for the Press, serious and comic--his
_Punch_ work including a couple of cartoons in 1852, among a great
number of "socials." His last appearance was in July of that year. He
was a good and improving draughtsman, especially of horses; and he
revelled in beggars, "swells," and backgrounds.
[Illustration: W. McCONNELL.
(_From a Photograph by Southwell Brothers, Baker Street._)]
* * * * *
The great acquisition of the year was John Tenniel. The paper had been
left by Doyle, as I have explained, without its Almanac blocks, and it
found itself, moreover, without a second cartoonist, and, what was quite
as important at the moment, without an artist of distinctly decorative
ability, who would provide the fanciful initial-letters, headings, and
title-pages which have always been a feature in _Punch_. The
circumstances of his joining the paper Sir John once recounted to me in
conversation, with that sort of apologetic humour and true modesty that
are characteristic of him:--
"I never learned drawing, except in so far as attending a school and
being allowed to teach myself. I attended the Royal Academy Schools
after becoming a probationer, but soon left in utter disgust of there
being no teaching. I had a great idea of High Art; in fact, in 1845 I
sent in a sixteen-foot-high cartoon for Westminster Palace. In the Upper
Waiting Hall, or 'Hall of Poets,' of the House of Lords, I made a
fresco, but my subject was changed after my work had been decided on and
worked out. At Christmas, 1850, I was invited by Mark Lemon to fill the
place suddenly left by Doyle, who with very good reasons for
himself--that of objection to the "Papal Aggression" campaign suddenly
severed his connection with _Punch_. Doyle had left them in great
straits--the Pocket-book and Almanac to come out--and I was applied to
by Lemon, on the initiation of Jerrold, to fill the breach. This was
on the strength of my illustrations to Æsop's Fables, which had recently
been published by Murray. I did the title and half-title to the
nineteenth volume, as well as the first page-border to the Almanac,
together with a few initials and odds and ends for the end of that
volume, and the first illustration to the next; but only the half-title,
title, and tail-piece were signed. My first cartoon was that facing page
44 in the twentieth volume; and, only signing occasionally for the first
month or two, I went on from time to time doing cartoons.
[Illustration: SIR JOHN TENNIEL, R.I.
(_From a Pen-Drawing by Himself._)]
"As for political opinions, I have none; at least, if I have my own
little politics, I keep them to myself, and profess only those of my
paper. If I have infused any dignity into cartoon-designing, that comes
from no particular effort on my part, but solely from the high feeling I
have for art. In any case, if I am a 'cartoonist'--the accepted term--I
am not a caricaturist in any sense of the word. My drawings are
sometimes grotesque, but that is from a sense of fun and humour. Some
people declare that I am no humorist, that I have no sense of fun at
all; they deny me everything but severity, 'classicality,' and dignity.
Now, _I_ believe that I have a very keen sense of humour, and that my
drawings are sometimes really funny!
"I have now been working regularly at the weekly cartoons for _Punch_
for close on thirty years (from 1862),[52] missing only two or three
times from illness. In all that time I have hardly left London for more
than a week; yet I enjoy wonderful health, doubtless to be attributed to
regular riding. I carry out my work thus: I never use models or Nature
for the figure, drapery, or anything else. But I have a wonderful memory
of _observation_--not for dates, but anything I see I remember. Well, I
get my subject on Wednesday night; I think it out carefully on Thursday,
and make my rough sketch; on Friday morning I begin, and stick to it all
day, with my nose well down on the block. By means of tracing-paper--on
which I make all alterations of composition and action I may consider
necessary--I transfer my design to the wood, and draw on that. The
first sketch I may, and often do, complete later on as a commission.
Indeed, at the present time I have a huge undertaking on hand, in which
I take great delight--the finishing of scores of my sketches, of which I
have many hundreds. They are for a friend--an enthusiastic admirer, if I
may be permitted to say so. Well, the block being finished, it is handed
over to Swain's boy at about 6.30 to 7 o'clock, who has been waiting for
it for an hour or so, and at 7.30 it is put in hand for engraving. That
is completed on the following night, and on Monday night I receive by
post the copy of next Wednesday's paper. Although case-hardened in a
sense, I have never the courage to open the packet. I always leave it to
my sister, who opens it and hands it across to me, when I just take a
glance at it, and receive my weekly pang. My work would be difficult to
photograph on to the wood, as it is all done in pencil; the only
pen-and-ink work I have done, so far, being for the Almanac and
Pocket-book.[53]
[Illustration: ROUGH PENCIL SKETCH FOR "ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE," FOR
"PUNCH'S POCKET-BOOK."]
[Illustration: "WILL IT BURST?"
_Captain of Gun:_ "Ram 'em all down, my lads! She'll stand it safe
enough!!!"
(_From Sir John Tenniel's Rough Sketch for the Cartoon in "Punch," 14th
Feb., 1870--p. 67, Vol. LXXVIII._)]
"As I never have a model, I never draw from life, always when I want a
portrait, a uniform, and so on, from a photograph, though not in quite
the same spirit as Sambourne does. I get a photograph only of the man
whom I want to draw, and seek to get his character. Then, if the
photograph is in profile, I have to 'judge' the full face, and _vice
versá_; but if I only succeed in getting the character, I seldom go far
wrong--a due appreciation is an almost infallible guide. I had the
opportunity of studying Mr. Gladstone's face carefully when he did me
the honour of inviting me to dinner at Downing Street, and I have met
him since; but I fancy, after my 'Mrs. Gummidge' cartoon and 'Janus,' I
don't deserve to be honoured again! His face has much more character and
is much stronger than Mr. Bright's. Mr. Bright had fine eyes and a
grand, powerful mouth, as well as an earnest expression; but a weak
nose--artistically speaking, no nose at all--still, a very intellectual
face indeed."
Thus it was not only Nature, but the Pope, who marked out Tenniel for
the position of _Punch's_ Cartoonist--the greatest "Cartoonist" the
world has produced. Had the Pope not "aggressed" by appointing
archbishops and bishops to English Sees, and so raised the scare of
which Lord John Russell and Mr. Punch really seem to have been the
leaders, Doyle would not have resigned, and no opening would have been
made for Tenniel. Sir John, indeed, was by no means enamoured of the
prospect of being a _Punch_ artist when Mark Lemon made his overtures to
him. He was rather indignant than otherwise, as his line was high art
and his severe drawing above "fooling." "Do they suppose," he asked a
friend, "that there is anything funny about _me_?" He meant, of course,
in his art, for privately he was well recognised as a humorist; and
little did he know, in the moment of hesitation before he accepted the
offer, that he was struggling against a kindly destiny.
John Tenniel was only sixteen years old when his first oil picture was
exhibited at the Suffolk Street Galleries, and he soon became
recognised, not only as a painter, but as a book and magazine
illustrator of unusual skill. But he and Keene had already proclaimed
themselves the humorists they were by the production of the "Book of
Beauty," to which much public attention was drawn when the sketches
contained in it were exhibited and sold. They had been fellow-students
at the life class, and in the year 1844 were both intimate visitors at
the house of their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Barrett. After dinner, when the
lamp was brought in, the two young artists would amuse themselves,
together with their host, by making drawings in coloured chalks. Mr.
Barrett, it may be said, was a thin man, signing himself "5-12ths," in
recognition of the nobler proportions of Mrs. Barrett, unquestionably
his "better half." Keene chose the "Signs of the Zodiac," to begin with,
as the subject of his admirable burlesques, Tenniel having already
selected quotations from Shakespeare, history, poetry, and so forth, the
humour which he infused into them being equal to anything he afterwards
produced in _Punch_. But it may interest the present owners of these
highly-prized productions to know that those who produced them thought
very little of them as art, while Sir John expressed the greatest
surprise that in their rubbed condition they should attract any notice
whatever. As early proofs, however, of the comic faculty of two of
_Punch's_ giants, they were interesting and valuable designs; while, so
far as Sir John's work was concerned, they were the forerunners of the
extremely humorous illustrations of Shakespearian quotations with which
he advanced his reputation and his position on the paper.
No sooner had the severe young classicist determined to accept the
position offered him in _Punch's_ band, than Mr. Swain was requested to
wait upon him in Newman Street, and instruct him in the art of drawing
upon wood. But he found that Tenniel, the illustrator of the Rev. Thomas
James's edition of Æsop's Fables, published by John Murray in 1848, was
already a brilliant expert. The accomplished young draughtsman soon took
keen delight in the smooth face of a block, and at once began--and
ever continued--to demand a degree of smoothness that was the
despair of Swain to procure. Tenniel, indeed, always drew with a
specially-manufactured six-H pencil--which appears more impressive with
its proper style of "H H H H H H"--and so delicate was the drawing that,
firm and solid as were the lines, it looked as if you could blow it off
the wood. The result is that Swain has always _interpreted_ Sir John
Tenniel's work, not simply facsimile'd it, aiming rather at producing
what the artist intended or desired to have, than what he actually
provided in his exquisite grey drawings. So Swain would thicken his
lines while retaining their character, just as he would reduce Mr.
Sambourne's, particularly in the flesh parts, and otherwise bring the
resources of the engraver's art to bear upon the work of the masters of
the pencil. Doubtless the artists might deplore the "spoiling" of their
lines; but pencil greys are not to be reproduced in printer's ink--they
must be "rendered." And though, as artists, draughtsmen may groan under
the transitional process, they realise that in submitting their work to
the wood-cutter's craft, they must take its drawbacks along with its
advantages.
[Illustration: ROUGH SKETCH FOR "THOR" FOR "PUNCH'S POCKET-BOOK."]
The first drawing by Tenniel in the bound volume is, as he says, the
frontispiece to the second half-yearly volume for 1850, but his actual
first contribution the initial on p. 224 of that volume. Perhaps the
most notable thing about it is the extraordinary resemblance between
the artist's work at the beginning and at the end of his career. Of
course, it is much "tighter;" it is much younger. But the hand and
method are strangely unchanged. It is beautiful in its exquisite
precision and its refinement, and altogether superior in its character
to what its creator, in a spirit of severe self-criticism, chooses to
believe. "My first cartoon," he wrote to me, "was 'Lord Jack the
Giant-Killer'--and awfully bad it is; in fact, all my work, at that
particular time, NOW seems to me about as bad as bad could be, and fills
me with wonder and amazement!!" But this cartoon, continuing the Papal
campaign so hateful to Doyle, by showing Lord John Russell with his
sword of truth and liberty attacking the crozier-armed Cardinal Wiseman,
was greatly inferior to the smaller contributions. His improvement,
however, was rapid. Tenniel's first "half-page social" is on p. 218 of
the same volume; while in 1852 we have his first superb Lion, and his
first obituary cartoon. Gradually he took over the political big cut,
which Leech was happy to place in his hands; but during the long years
that they worked together the two men were admirable foils to one
another. Leech sketched and Tenniel drew; Leech gave us farce and drama,
and Tenniel, high comedy and tragedy; and the freedom of the one
heightened the severer beauties of the other. And when Leech died, his
friend continued the labour alone. Except in 1864, 1868, and 1875-6-7-8,
in which last-named year he took his first holiday from _Punch_ work and
went with Mr. Silver to Venice--(during his illness or absence Charles
Keene contributed thirteen cartoons[54])--and again in 1884 and 1894
(when Mr. Sambourne twice took over the duty), he has never, from that
day to this present time of writing, missed a single week. Nearly two
thousand cartoons, initials innumerable, "socials," double-page cartoons
for the Almanac and other special numbers, and two hundred and fifty
designs for the Pocket-books--such is the record of the great satirist's
career; and the only change has been in the direction of freedom of
pencil and breadth of artistic view.
[Illustration: "HUMPTY-DUMPTY!"
(_From Sir John Tenniel's First Rough Sketch for the Cartoon in "Punch"
20th July, 1875--p. 18, Vol. LXXV._)]
Of his work little need be said here, for in its main bearings it has
already been fully considered. But acknowledgment must at least be made
of how, with all his sense of fun and humour, Sir John Tenniel has
dignified the political cartoon into a classic composition, and has
raised the art of politico-humorous draughtsmanship from the relative
position of the lampoon to that of polished satire--swaying parties and
peoples, too, and challenging comparison with the higher (at times it
might almost be said the highest) efforts of literature in that
direction. The beauty and statuesque qualities of his allegorical
figures, the dignity of his beasts, and the earnestness and directness
of his designs, apart from the exquisite simplicity of his work at its
best, are things previously unknown in the art of which he is the most
accomplished master, standing alone and far ahead of any of his
imitators. The Teutonic character and the academic quality of his work,
modified by the influence of Flaxman and the Greeks, are no blemishes;
one does not even feel that he draws entirely from memory. Indeed, the
things are completely satisfying as the work of a true artist, and--a
quality almost as grateful and charming as it was previously rare--of a
gentleman.
Yet this practice of drawing from memory has its drawbacks; for the
things remembered are apt to grow old-fashioned. The Flying Dutchman was
running when Sir John's locomotive still had the odour of Puffing Bilfy
about it. His indifference to that "actuality" which is the
characteristic of Mr. Sambourne has often raised the howl of the
specialist. When in an excellently drawn cartoon full of point
(November, 1893), entitled "A Bicycle made for Two," he grafted the
features of a modern roadster on to the type of 1860, the cycling world
fluttered in a manner that must have been very encouraging to the
artist. His machine, they said, was the most wonderful one ever placed
on the market. Sir H. H. Fowler, it was said, was sitting on a
half-inch tube without a saddle, and "working with his heels on pedals
shaped like a Mexican gaucho's stirrup"--but his critics had clearly
never seen a gaucho's stirrup. "Nor has the lady--riding behind, instead
of in front--better accommodation, being in suspension over a frame that
lacks a backstay, and above a wheel that buckles under her weight; while
the handles are thrown up instead of down, and their bars so slender
that they must inevitably break." The gear-case is on one side of the
frame and the chain on the other, and the frame itself was a marvel of
ingenuity misapplied. Thus did the cyclists moan in many newspapers,
taking the matter _au grand sérieux_, with quite unusual regard for
mechanical accuracy, and a total disregard for the political allusion
and point. Similarly in January of the same year the "Forlorn Maiden" of
trade was shown lying across the railway lines while an engine is
bearing down upon her. But "there are five rails in sight, all at equal
distances apart, though the railway gauge is four feet eight inches and
a half, and the locomotive is running on the six-foot way." The girl,
too, stretches across it, and spans it from waist to ankles, not
counting a bend at the knees, so that at the lowest estimate she is ten
feet high. This violated the public conscience even more than the fact
that the engine rushes along the inside line of the two sets of rails;
and they declared that never before had the maxim _ars longa_ been more
triumphantly indicated than in the maiden's figure. But what of it all?
Is it not a striking commentary on our English temperament, that while
an inaccuracy of a purely mechanical description raises the protests of
thousands who have no idea beyond the parts of a bicycle or the width of
a railway gauge, a score of artistic beauties pass unnoticed and
unchallenged?
And so Tenniel worked his way upwards. The fact that in a fencing bout
he had partially lost his sight, through the button of his father's foil
dropping off, whereupon he received the point in his eye, was not the
slightest deterrent. He regarded it merely as an annoying, though not a
very important, incident. Being satisfied that the Almighty had only
given us _two_ eyes as a measure of precaution, to provide against such
vexatious little accidents as he had experienced, he went on working as
if nothing had happened. "It's a curious thing, is it not," he said one
day to the writer, "that two of the principal men on _Punch_, du Maurier
and I, have only two eyes between them?" Yet it only made him the more
careful. Free from mannerism, he never allowed carefulness to interfere
with fun, and his cartoon of Britannia discovering the source of the
Nile, and of Lord Beaconsfield as a peri entering the Paradise of
Premiership, are among the memorably funny things of _Punch_. His
elevation to the leading position on the paper has thus been gradual and
certain; not of his own assumption, however, but the ready tribute of
his colleagues, who have always regarded him not only as the great
artist, but as the link incarnate of the tradition of _Punch_ of the
present with the past. So he is the favourite of the band, to whom he is
the beloved "Jack[=i]d[=e]s" of Shirley Brooks's christening. It was
Mark Lemon who, at the Dinner, first applied to him the burlesque
line--"No longer Jack, henceforth Jack[=i]d[=e]s call;" but it was
Brooks who confirmed the practice of according to him the _sobriquet_
which _Punch_ (p. 148, Vol. XLV.) had previously conferred on Lord John
Russell, "England's Briefest Peer."
It was a startling proof of his extraordinary, and by him
half-unsuspected, popularity, that when Tenniel's knighthood became
known the honour was received with loud and general applause--with an
enthusiasm quite unusual in its command of popular approval. "I am
receiving shoals of letters and telegrams," he wrote to me on the day of
the announcement; "I suppose you know the reason Y." It is said that
Lord Salisbury had intended to make the recommendation himself, but that
the nomination was delayed and forgotten; but when Mr. Gladstone came
into office the new Premier repaired the neglect of the old, and at the
same time acknowledged the steady support which _Punch_ had offered to
the Whig policy. By the general public it was regarded as an
appreciation of the man who was the personification of the good-humoured
and the loftier side of political life--who had brought the _Punch_
spirit round to something a good deal better and higher than he found
it, blending fun with classic grace, and humour with dignity. To the art
world it was the recognition of that "Black-and-white" drawing which has
been the glory of England and the Cinderella of the Royal Academy of
Arts. It was in this sense that Sir John Tenniel accepted the
distinction. But it was to "Jack[=i]d[=e]s" that the _Punch_ Staff drank
when Mr. Agnew proposed his health at the Dinner following the
announcement of the nomination; it was "dear old John Tenniel" that the
Arts Club toasted when, with Mr. Val Prinsep, R.A., in the chair and Mr.
du Maurier in the vice-chair, the new knight was the honoured guest of
his club, and received its congratulations with the modest dignity and
kindly good taste characteristic of him. And it was "good Sir John," the
cartoonist--who has also been, at extremely rare intervals, a _Punch_
writer too (see _Punch_, p. 56, Vol. XX.)--who was celebrated by the pen
of Mr. Milliken--"the Pride of Mr. Punch and the delight of the British
Public."
FOOTNOTES:
[51] It may be stated that Doyle contributed a ewe-lamb of literature to
_Punch_ (May 13th, 1843), entitled "High Art and the Royal Academy"
(Vol. XVI., p. 197).
[52] This conversation took place in April, 1889.
[53] Since 1892, I may explain, Sir John Tenniel and _Punch_ have moved
with the times. Sir John now draws his cartoons upon the
Chinese-whitened surface of cardboard, and they are photographed on the
block in the usual way.
[54] But when, in 1866, Keene contributed three cartoons, Sir John
Tenniel's appeared side by side. This was the result of a revived
experiment to add to the attractions of the paper by giving two
cartoons--an experiment resumed in later years in the case of Mr.
Sambourne and Mr. Furniss.