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PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
VOL. 107.
November 3, 1894.
PUNCH TO THE NEW ATTORNEY-GENERAL.
Law is not Pan; but "Bob"'s a man,To make us sure indeed.Themis will play airs bright and gay,Armed with this "vocal Reid"!
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
"'Now I'm furnished,'" hummed the Baron. "'Now I'm furnished'—withseveral books for my journey, and——" "Tickets,please," broke in the inspector. "Just when I was comfortable,"growled the Baron; "but no matter. And now for the Pen andPencil Sketches."
"Little Billee."
The father of Mr. Stacy Marks predestined him for the coach-buildingbusiness. Providence, interposing, made him a painter, and the gaiety ofnations has been increased by the possession of some storks. In Pen andPencil Sketches (Chatto and Windus) he has given the world somereminiscences of a career justly crowned by the laurels of the RoyalAcademy. The work is in two volumes, and my Baronite says would havebeen more than twice as good had it been in one. The first volume ischarming, with its chat about Leigh's studio and the men met there; ofCharles Keene and the delightful cruise off Gravesend in the Williamand Mary; of merry days with the St. John's Wood clique; of nights atArthur Lewis's; and of days with Fred Walker. When the flood of memoryruns dry, and there still remains a second volume to be produced, Mr.Marks grows desperate, and shovels in anything he finds handy in thepigeon-holes of his desk. Thus the pleased reader finds reprintedarticles that appeared in the Spectator thirty years ago, when Mr.Marks was art critic to that respectable journal. Also there is adescription of Bampton, which once thrilled the readers of the TivertonGazette. This gives to the second volume something of the smell of anapple store-room. But the first is good enough to atone for the burdenof the second. By a happy coincidence, whilst Mr. Du Maurier in Trilbyhas made all the world in love with Little Billee, he appears underhis own name in many of Mr. Marks' pages, and is always the samecharming, simple-minded, sensitive man of genius. It is pleasant to readhow our Mr. Agnew—"William" the wise call him—gave the young painterhis first substantial lift. Walker had painted a picture he called"Spring," a young gi