John Leech, His Life and Work, Vol. 2 [of 2]

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Frith William Powell. John Leech, His Life and Work, Vol. 2 [of 2]

CHAPTER I "PUNCH."

CHAPTER II. CARTOONS

CHAPTER III. THE LAWYER'S STORY

CHAPTER IV. LOVE OF FIELD SPORTS

CHAPTER V. INVENTORS AND ILLUSTRATORS

CHAPTER VI "INGOLDSBY LEGENDS."

CHAPTER VII. DICKENS AND THACKERAY ON LEECH

CHAPTER VIII. DEAN HOLE

CHAPTER IX. TYPES

CHAPTER X. LEECH AND HIS PREDECESSORS

CHAPTER XI. KENNY MEADOWS

CHAPTER XII "COMIC HISTORY OF ROME."

CHAPTER XIII. PERSONAL ANECDOTES

CHAPTER XIV. PERSONAL ANECDOTES (continued)

CHAPTER XV. SPORTING NOVELS

CHAPTER XVI. THE "BON GAULTIER BALLADS."

CHAPTER XVII. Sporting Novels (continued)

CHAPTER XVIII. MICHAEL HALLIDAY AND LEECH

CHAPTER XIX. THOMAS HOOD AND LEECH

CHAPTER XX. DR. JOHN BROWN AND LEECH

CHAPTER XXI. AUTOGRAPH-HUNTERS AND OTHERS

CHAPTER XXII. ARTISTS' LIVES

CHAPTER XXIII. LEECH EXHIBITION

CHAPTER XXIV. MILLAIS AND LEECH

CHAPTER XXV. MR. H. O. NETHERCOTE AND JOHN LEECH

Mr. Ashby Sterry

Mr. H. Cholmondeley Pennell and Leech "PUCK ON PEGASUS."

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As I fancy I am one of the few of Leech's friends who have figured personally in Punch, I may be excused for the egotism of the following:

About the year 1852 I began the first of a series of pictures from modern life, then quite a novelty in the hands of anyone who could paint tolerably. When the picture which was called "Many Happy Returns of the Day" (a birthday subject, in which the health of the little heroine of the day is being drunk) was finished, Leech came to see it, and expressed his satisfaction on finding an artist who could leave what he called "mouldy costumes" for the habits and manners of everyday life. As he was speaking, two of my brother artists, whose practice was on different lines to mine, called, and saw my picture for the first time. They both looked attentively at it, and the longer they looked – judging from their faces – the less they liked it. I shall not forget Leech's expression when I gave him a sort of questioning look as to the correctness of his judgment.

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Events of the past, looked at by the light of the present, assume sometimes very strange, almost incredible aspects. Can there have been a time, one is inclined to ask, when a man's religion could prove a bar to college, Bench, and Parliament? Assuredly there was such a time, and not long ago – say forty years or so – when no Jew could be a judge or a member of Parliament; and it was only after severe battles and many defeats that victory at last attended the Jewish banner. One of the most violent opponents of the Jews was Sir Robert Harry Inglis, a very conscientious and worthy gentleman. By a happy thought of Leech's, Sir Robert is made to figure in one of the most humorous of the political cartoons.

About this time my old friend Frank Stone had painted two pictures in illustration of his favourite theme – love. They were called "The First Appeal" and "The Last Appeal." In the first a kind of peasant lover is beseeching his "flame" to listen to his vows. She listens, but without encouraging a hope in the swain that he will prevail. Time is supposed to pass, leaving terrible traces of suffering – apparently to the verge of consumption – in the young man, who, on finding the girl at a well, makes his last, almost dying, appeal. He seizes her hand; but she turns away, deaf to his passionate beseeching.

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