The History of "Punch" Part 14

Other Cartoonists 100

---- 2,750

--representing an amount of thought and artistic achievement colossal in the aggregate, and perfectly appalling in the case of Leech and Tenniel.

Does it not speak well for the good sense and good digestion of these men that in all these hundreds and thousands of skits--satires going by their very nature into personal motives and perhaps into private actions--that the lapses and the mistakes have been nearly as rare as great auks' eggs? Mr. Gladstone had good reason to say, as he did one day at dinner, that "in his early days, when an artist was engaged to produce political satires, he nearly always descended to gross personal caricature, and sometimes to indecency. To-day he noted in the humorous press (speaking more particularly of _Punch_) a total absence of vulgarity and a fairer treatment, which made this department of warfare always pleasing"--which is all very true if we admit that the function of ridicule and banter as political weapons is to be merely "pleasing."

At any rate, if it be so, it is the knell of all great satire--with the corresponding effect of making the more caustic and grosser sides of men like Swift impossible. Yet, on the other hand, so late as 1860, according to Sir Theodore Martin, _Punch_ more than any other paper reflected the national feeling in such matters as our naval defences; so that in its support of Lord Lyndhurst in his patriotic agitation it greatly a.s.sisted in strengthening the hands of the Government.

It is interesting, when you know your _Punch_ as you should your Bible, to lean back in your chair and recall the most striking and important among the three thousand designs, more or less, that stand out as landmarks in _Punch's_ pages.

The first, of course, for a.s.sociation's sake, is that pageful of "Foreign Affairs" which introduced Leech to _Punch's_ readers. It appeared in the fourth number, on August 7th, 1841. The "Foreign Affairs" consist chiefly of groups of foreign refugees to be seen at that time, and even now in some measure, in the vicinity of Soho and Leicester Square--the political sc.u.m of Paris ("Parisites," may they not be called?) and of Berlin. The scroll bearing the t.i.tle in the middle of the page is fully signed, with the addition of the artist's sign-manual, which was afterwards to become known throughout the whole artistic and laughter-loving world--a leech wriggling in a water-bottle. This debut did little justice to Percival Leigh's introduction, for the block was delivered so late that, containing as it did a considerable amount of work, it made it impossible for the engraver to finish it in time for the ordinary publishing hour. The usual means of publication and despatch were consequently missed, and the result was a very serious fall in that week's circulation. For some time after that Leech drew no more, learning meanwhile the elementary lesson that large blocks take longer to cut than small ones--or, at least, did then, before Charles Wells had introduced his great invention of a block that could be taken to pieces in order that each small square might be given to different hands to engrave. Nevertheless, even to the end Leech always had a tendency to be late with his cartoons, and half Mark Lemon's time, according to Edmund Yates and others, was pa.s.sed in hansom-cabs bowling away to Notting Hill, Brunswick Square, or to Kensington, where in succession Leech resided.

Yet he could be astonishingly rapid when he liked, and often would he complete a cartoon on the wood while his Editor smoked a cigar at his elbow. Such a drawing--such a feat--was that remarkable block of "L'Empire c'est la Paix" (1859), representing Louis Napoleon as a hedgehog bristling with bayonets, admirable in expression and execution, yet not original in idea--though it is as likely as not that Leech had never seen, or else had forgotten, the cartoon in the "Puppet Show"

(June, 1854), wherein the Tsar Nicholas appears in a manner precisely similar. The Dinner had by exception been held on Thursday (March 10th, 1859) instead of on the previous day; every moment was precious; and Leech proposed the idea for the cartoon, drew it in two hours, and caught his midday train on the following day, speeding away into the country with John Tenniel for their usual Sat.u.r.day hunt.

But in accordance with that strange law of memory that horror, ugliness, and power should spring to the mind before humour, grace, or beauty, it is the tragic side and pa.s.sionate purpose of _Punch's_ career as shown in his cartoons that first arise in one's recollection. And it is (with but one or two exceptions) exclusively in his cartoons that Leech showed his tragic power. "The Poor Man's Friend" (1845), in which Death, gaunt and grisly, comes to the relief of a wretch in the very desolation of misery and poverty, tells as much in one page as Jerrold's pen, with all its strength and intensity, could make us feel in a score. Ten years later the same idea was splendidly developed and magnificently realised in the cartoon ent.i.tled "General Fevrier turned Traitor," which not more than once or twice in the whole of _Punch's_ history has been surpa.s.sed either in loftiness of conception or depth of tragedy, or in the tremendous effect that immediately attended its publication throughout the country.

During the Crimean War the winter of 1854-55 was terrible in its severity, and the sufferings of our soldiers were appalling. The suspense at home increased the country's emotion as to the terrors they knew of in the field. The callous statement of the Tsar, therefore, about that time reported, that "Russia has two generals in whom she can confide--Generals Janvier and Fevrier," struck indignation and disgust into every British soul. On February 2nd the news arrived of the death of the Emperor. Popular excitement was intense. Consols rose 2 per cent., and the foreign market was in a state of such confusion that brokers refused to cite even a nominal quotation. Eight days later appeared Leech's cartoon, with its double meaning of superb power, though it was, no doubt, not the most favourable specimen of the draughtsman's art. Received by most with wild enthusiasm, by others with condemnation as a cruel use of a cruel fate, it none the less electrified the country. "Never," writes Mr. Frith, "can I forget the impression that Leech's drawing made upon me! There lay the Tsar, a n.o.ble figure in death, as he was in life, and by his side a stronger King than he--a bony figure, in General's uniform, snow-besprinkled, who 'beckons him away.' Of all Leech's work, this seems to be the finest example. Think how savage Gillray or vulgar Rowlandson would have handled such a theme!--the Emperor would have been caricatured into a repulsive monster, and Death would have lost his terrors."

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL FEVRIER TURNED TRAITOR.

(_Reduced from the Cartoon by John Leech. "Punch" 10th February, 1855._)]

Ruskin compares this cartoon for impressiveness in the perfect manifestation of the grotesque and caricature in art with Hood's "Song of the Shirt" in poetry. "The reception of the last-named wood-cut,"

says he, "was in several respects a curious test of modern feeling....

There are some points to be regretted in the execution of the design, but the thought was a grand one; the memory of the word spoken and of its answer, could hardly in any more impressive way have been recorded for the people; and I believe that to all persons accustomed to the earnest forms of art it contained a profound and touching lesson. The notable thing was, however, that it offended persons _not_ in earnest, and was loudly cried out against by the polite journalism of Society.

This fate is, I believe, the almost inevitable one of thoroughly genuine work in these days, whether poetry or painting; but what added to the singularity in this case was that _coa.r.s.e_ heartlessness was even more offended than polite heartlessness."

Just before this Tenniel had given us a fine drawing of England and France--the new allies--as typified by two splendid specimens of Guards of both nations, standing back to back in friendly rivalry of height; and the cut achieved such popularity that, under its t.i.tle of "The United Service," it was reproduced broadcast on many articles of use, and decorated the backs of playing-cards.

The following year Sir John Tenniel (who though hardly more convincing than Leech, yet by his power of draughtsmanship and bigness of conception could be far more imposing) produced the earliest of his magnificent studies of what may be called his "Animal Types" in "The British Lion Smells a Rat" (1856). This heralded what are in some respects his masterpieces, the Cawnpore cartoons (1857), the chief of which is "The British Lion's Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger." Once this fine drawing is seen, of the royal beast springing on its snarling foe, whose victims lie mangled under its paw, it can never be forgotten. It is a double-page cartoon, splendidly wrought by the artist at the suggestion of Shirley Brooks; and while it responded and gave expression to the feelings of revenge which agitated England at the awful events that had pa.s.sed at the time of the Indian Mutiny, and served as a banner when they raised the cry of vengeance, it alarmed the authorities, who feared that they would thereby be forced on a road which both policy and the gentler dictates of civilisation forbade. Vengeance was the cry; and the wise and humane counsels of Lord Canning met only with contempt and anger, and rendered him the most unpopular man of the day.

Soon it was Tenniel's destiny to shine alone in the cartoons of _Punch_.

Leech, in the last few years of his life, tired with the strain of over-work and ill-health, withdrew more and more from the making of "big cuts," till towards the end they were left almost entirely in the hands of his well-loved colleague. Tenniel rose to the position and to the full height of the great events that courted his pencil. The great American struggle of North and South gave unlimited opportunity, and for four years _Punch_, first taking sides hotly against slave-trading, became at times simply pedagogic in his att.i.tude towards both the combatants. From the time (January 26th, 1861) when there was published "Mrs. Carolina a.s.serting her Right to Larrup her n.i.g.g.e.r," down to the crowning cartoon of "Habet"--the combatants as gladiators before the enthroned and imperial negroes ("Ave Caesar!")--many fine cartoons were issued; but the last-named has been held by many to be the finest that has ever issued from the artist's pencil. But, in sentiment at least, a greater was to come--one which helped to melt for us in a measure the hardened heart of the American nation, at that time distrustful of England, and righteously indignant at many a taunt that had been launched against her. This was the affecting picture of Britannia's tribute and _Punch's_ _amende honorable_, called simply, "Abraham Lincoln: Foully a.s.sa.s.sinated April 14th, 1865," while Shirley Brooks's verses which accompany them take highest rank among poetry of its kind--lines which, rugged perhaps in themselves, come straight from the heart, and speak to a whole nation with true emotion and deep sincerity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "PAS DE DEUX."

From the "Scene de Triomphe" in the Grand Anglo-Turkish _Ballet d'Action_. (_The Finished Sketch by Sir John Tenniel for the Cartoon in "Punch," 3rd August, 1878._)]

Then came "A Leap in the Dark" (1867)--Britannia on her hunter, Dizzy, "going blind" through the hedge of Reform; and soon after the series on the Franco-Prussian War and the situation that immediately preceded the outbreak of hostilities, more particularly that (proposed by Mr. du Maurier) in which the shade of the great Napoleon stands warningly in the path of the infatuated Emperor; while those that ill.u.s.trated the close of the struggle, aroused a deeper sympathy for France than all the leading-articles and descriptive essays put together. Tenniel's h.e.l.l-hounds of war, who menace the fallen figure of France distraught, are again seen in the series, almost as fine, that accompanied and followed the Russo-Turkish struggle. A few months later heroics were once more set aside for humour, and the celebrated cartoon representing the successful termination of the Berlin Treaty was given forth--"The _Pas de Deux_" (1878)--in which Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury in official dress are executing their _pas de triomphe_ with characteristic grace and ineffable mock-seriousness of mien.

Another cartoon that attracted general attention for its exquisite fooling, and that still haunts the mind of those who can appreciate a completely happy adaptation of text to subject and situation, is "The Political 'Mrs. Gummidge'" (May, 1885). Mr. Gladstone, as Mrs. Gummidge, sits in the Peggotty boathouse by the fire, on which a pot of Russian stew is simmering, while her knitting, marked "Egypt," has fallen from her weary hands, and, the very picture of misery, moans out: "I ain't what I could wish to be. My troubles make me contrairy. I feel my troubles, and they make me contrairy. I make the House uncomfortable. I don't wonder at it!!!" To which Mr. John Peggotty-Bull, pointing with his pipe-stem at the portrait of Beaconsfield on the wall, mutters (deeply sympathising, aside), "She's been thinking of the old 'un!" It was proposed by Mr. Burnand.

But Sir John Tenniel's greatest success of all in recent years--artistically and popularly successful--is undoubtedly the great picture ill.u.s.trative of Prince Bismarck's resignation in 1889, ent.i.tled "Dropping the Pilot." The subject, it may be stated, was not a suggestion made at the Table, but it was handed in from the late Gilbert Arthur a Beckett, who was too ill to attend the Dinner--(he died very soon after)--and who thus, as so many other _Punch_ contributors have done--Thomas Hood, Artemus Ward, Leech, Gilbert Abbott a Beckett, Charles Bennett, and others--sent in one of the most valuable of all his suggestions just as his career was drawing to its close. The idea was immediately accepted, and its excellence fully appreciated. It was decided that it should occupy a double-page; and Sir John Tenniel, who has always risen to a great occasion, did the fullest justice to the subject. When the paper was sent round to the Staff, as it always is, on the Monday night, they foresaw with delight that here was a great _coup_, and their conviction received ample confirmation on the publishing-day from the country at large. There was a world of pathos in the weather-beaten old mariner who goes thoughtfully, full of doubt and care, down the side of the ship he had originally designed and had since piloted so long and so well--now discharged as no longer wanted; and there was a world of meaning in the ambitious and self-reliant young Commander who looks over the ship's bulwark and gazes at the bent figure of his departing counsellor. The cartoon, said Mr. Smalley, pleased equally the Emperor and the Prince, for there was that in it which both felt and sought for. The original sketch for the drawing on the wood was finished by the artist as a commission from Lord Rosebery, who then presented it to Prince Bismarck. In acknowledging the drawing the ex-Chancellor declared, "It is indeed a fine one!" "The Hidden Hand"--a criticism on Irish political crime and its incitement--was another of Gilbert a Beckett's most striking suggestions. It appears on p. 103, Vol. Lx.x.xIV., 1883.

Next I would mention--besides Mr. Sambourne's admirable Jubilee picture of "The Mahogany Tree," in which the Proprietors and Staff are gathered round the Table as they toast triumphant _Punch_ (_see_ Frontispiece)--another cartoon which, n.o.bly conceived, if not quite so fine in execution, under the t.i.tle of "Forlorn Hope" (October, 1893--proposed by Mr. Milliken), has been held by some as second only to "Dropping the Pilot." It is the pathetic picture of Mr. Gladstone at the moment of his retirement leading the attack against the House of Lords. A grand old fortress crowning an enormous cliff stands out strongly in evening light against the distant sky, and the grand old warrior, in coat of mail, is struggling up the steep and slippery side--a hopeless task, eloquent of the courage of despair.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE POLITICAL MRS. GUMMIDGE.

(_The finished Sketch by Sir John Tenniel for the "Punch" Cartoon, 2nd May, 1885. By Permission of Gilbert E. Samuel, Esq._)]

Last of all upon this list, on May 15th, 1895, was the grand design, also suggested by Mr. Milliken, ent.i.tled "The Old Crusaders!"--Mr.

Gladstone and the Duke of Argyll "brothers-in-arms again" in their crusade against the Turkish persecutions in Christian Armenia--the full significance being insisted on by parallel dates--"Bulgaria 1876: Armenia 1895." There is an air of unsurpa.s.sable dignity in the design of the two old comrade-statesmen, mounted knights armed _cap a pie_, riding forth, representative of Christendom and the nation's conscience.

Immediately on seeing the week's _Punch_ the Marquis of Lorne telegraphed from Windsor to Sir John Tenniel, asking to be allowed to acquire the original drawing; but he had been forestalled by the other Champion's son, Mr. Henry Gladstone, who was then in town, and had secured the prize for his family an hour or two before.

It must not be imagined that the _Punch_ cartoons have always been matters, so to speak, of routine. The unexpected has more than once left _Punch_ in a terribly awkward fix. On one occasion, in 1877, it was confidently expected that Lord Beaconsfield's Government would be thrown out on the Monday night or Tuesday morning, when, of course, it would be too late to begin to think of drawing and engraving a cartoon; besides, the matter was a foregone conclusion. So Beaconsfield was represented in his robes, leaning back "in a heap" upon his bench, his chin on his breast, and his hands thrust deep into his breeches pockets, the very picture of a beaten Minister. But, as it happened, the Government was _not_ defeated--and there was the cartoon! Providentially, however, the Government had been severely badgered about some matter of trivial importance, such as the amount of sealing-wax employed in Her Majesty's Stationery Office, and the cartoon was used with a legend to the effect: "After all the big things I have been in, to be pulled up for _this_!"

The public wondered, and thought that _Punch_ had taken the situation a little too seriously; but it was a _pis-aller_, and the best had been made of a shocking bad job.

Mr. Linley Sambourne, writing on this very matter in the "Magazine of Art," tells something more of _Punch's_ tribulations: "Difficulties in the production of cartoons sometimes arise in the impossibilities of foretelling what, not a day only, but a week may bring forth. In December, 1871, when His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to the profound sorrow of the entire nation, hovered between life and death, Tenniel drew two cartoons, to be used as events might dictate. To the intense relief and joy of all, the one that was issued was called 'Suspense,' with some beautiful verses ent.i.tled 'Queen, People, and Princess: "Three Hearts in One";' while the other, a grief-stricken figure of Britannia, lay almost forgotten in the engraver's bureau, but was remembered, and had unhappily occasion to appear thirteen years after, on April 5th, 1884, to note the sudden loss of His Royal Highness the Duke of Albany. _Punch_ is not infallible. The most serious slip he ever made in the 'c.o.c.k-sure' line was a cartoon appearing on February 7th, 1885, representing the lamented General Gordon shaking hands with General Sir Henry Stewart (who himself lay stiff and cold after glorious action) _inside_ the fated city of Khartoum. When the number appeared (although at the moment unconfirmed), Gordon himself had been butchered by the Mahdi's fanatics; and another whole week had to elapse before it could be corrected by a cartoon of baffled Britannia, with the heading 'Too Late!' I well remember being inside a picture gallery in Bond Street with the Editor, and hearing newsboys shouting without; the Editor turned to me and smilingly said, 'All right for our cut. There!

they're shouting "The fall of Khartoum"!' When we got outside, our faces fell on finding the boot was on the other leg with a vengeance."

A more recent example of the tricks played upon _Punch_ by Fate was on August 11th, 1894 (p. 66, Vol. CVII.), when Sir William Harcourt was represented as an artilleryman mowing down the host of amendments put upon the paper against the Irish Evictions Bill with a Gatling gun labelled "Closure." Closure had, indeed, been promised, and upon that the cartoon was based; but the Tory tactics threw out all calculations, for the party declined to move their amendments, and took no further part in the proceedings, so that there was no question whatever of closure. The Bill pa.s.sed _en bloc_, and the Gatling remained silent.

Finally, there is that cla.s.s of cartoon always graceful in intention, and invariably received by the public with respect and approval--the Obituary Cartoon. It was invented by _Punch_ when Wellington died. The nation was overpowered with a sense of its loss, and _Punch_, with his finger, as ever, on the public pulse, reflected the national emotion with a deep and n.o.ble sincerity that was gratefully felt and recognised.

From that day onwards the great occasions of a people's loss--either of our own mourning or of our sympathy with that of others--have been touched with a dignity and grace in accord with their lofty and solemn purpose, in drawings which have rarely failed to touch a responsive chord in the people's heart, and which, judged as compositions, have often marked the highest point to which Sir John Tenniel's art has reached.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] Contributed one cartoon on July 12th, 1884, and another November 3rd, 1894, when the expected death of the Tsar Alexander III., on the subject of which Sir John Tenniel's cartoon had been prepared, did not occur. "Cartoon Junior" was then promoted to "Cartoon Senior."

CHAPTER VIII.

CARTOONS AND THEIR EFFECT.

Origin and Growth of the Cartoon--Origin of its Name--Its Reflection of Popular Opinion--Source of _Punch's_ Power--_Punch's_ Downrightness offends France--Germany--And Russia--Lord Augustus Loftus's Fix--Lord John Russell and "No Popery"--Mr. Gladstone and Professor Ruskin on _Punch's_ Cartoons--Their Effect on Mr.

Disraeli--His Advances and Magnanimity--Rough Handling of Lord Brougham--Sir Robert Peel--Lord Palmerston's Straw--Mr. Bright's Eye-gla.s.s--Difficulties of Portraiture--John Bull _alias_ Mark Lemon--Sir John Tenniel's Types.

Were you to ask the Editor, Staff, or Proprietors of _Punch_ whether they regarded the political or the social section of the paper as the more important, from the public point of view and their own, the answer would probably be--that they could not tell you. Power and popularity, even in a newspaper--_especially_ in a newspaper--are not synonymous terms, and a great circulation does not necessarily carry influence along with it. It may safely be taken that while the social section of _Punch_, artistic and literary combined, earned for him his vast popularity, his power, which at one time was great almost beyond present belief, was obtained chiefly by his political satires with pen and pencil. Nowadays, no doubt, their relative importance is more evenly balanced, and what preponderating interest the cartoon may have for "_Pater_" is equalled by the special fascination exercised by the social picture over "_familias_."

It has been the mission of _Punch_, as of many another great and original writer, to invent and import into the language words and expressions which are surely destined to remain. It has already been recorded how it was he who christened the great conservatory now at Sydenham "The Crystal Palace"--though he was not so complimentary until he had cultivated the personal friendship of Sir Joseph Paxton over the "Daily News" affair. It is he who, in his most laconic manner, has given his immortal counsel for all time to intending _maries_; it is he who has crystallised the exaggerated idea of Scottish thrift and economy in "bang went saxpence"--to the circ.u.mstances of all of which I have already referred. Mr. Punch, in short, has left the English language richer than he found it, not only in word, but in idea. So, again, the present application of the word "cartoon" is in reality a creation of _Punch's_.

At the birth of the modern satirical print--that is to say, in the reign of Charles I.--we see it called "A Mad Designe;" eighty years later, when George II. was King, it was known as a "hieroglyphic;" and then onwards, through the caustic and venomous days of the mighty Gillray and Rowlandson, and even of George Cruikshank, and their contemporaries, "caricature" was the term applied to the separate copper-plate broadsides that were issued, crudely coloured, from the famous shops of Mrs. Humphreys, of Ackermann, of Fores, and of McLean, and displayed in their windows to the delight and savage applause of a laughing crowd.

Then "HB" had followed, d.i.c.ky Doyle's clever father, whose political lithographs had begun to appear in 1830, and continued until 1851--ceased, that is to say, when _Punch_ was ten years old. The wonder about them was that, even before the days of photography, the likenesses of his subjects were so admirable, and his thrusts so happy, while his art, criticised strictly, was so very poor and amateurish. But as exaggeration found no trace in his designs, and his compositions aimed at raising little more than a suspicion of a smile in the beholder (save in the subjects of them), the word "cartoon" was more applicable to them than to any that preceded or have followed them. Mr. Austin Dobson, it is true, speaks of them as "caricatures;" but their publisher more correctly defined them as "Political Sketches."

Then, after the little wood-cut "caricatures" by Robert Seymour, came _Punch_ with his full-page designs. Announced also as "caricatures," for a long while they were known as "pencillings;" but it was some time before they became an invariable feature of the paper. For several consecutive weeks, indeed, in 1843 there was no full-page cut at all, until John Leech recommenced them with a series of "Social Miseries,"

the first of which represented "Thoughts during Pastorale." But the most successful and the best remembered was "The Pleasures of Folding Doors"

when "The Battle of Prague" is being thumped out relentlessly on the other side.

Now in July of 1843 the first great exhibition of cartoons for the Houses of Parliament was held. These gigantic designs handled the loftiest subjects, executed in the most elevated spirit of the highest art, with a view to ultimate execution in fresco on the walls of the palace of Westminster. It was not in nature for _Punch_ to allow so excellent an opportunity to pa.s.s by without taking sarcastic advantage of it. He--conformably with his role of Sir Oracle, omniscient and omnifarious--must have his "cartoons" too; and so on p. 22 of the second volume for the same year (No. 105 of the journal) he appeared with No. 1 of his series. It was from Leech's pencil, ent.i.tled "Substance and Shadow," with the legend "The Poor ask for Bread, and the Philanthropy of the State accords--an Exhibition." The cartoon represents a humble crowd of needy visitors to the exhibition of pictures on a suggested "free day," in accordance with the recommendation of the Government.

This design, a suggestion of Jerrold's, affords an excellent example of the warm-hearted, wrong-headed sympathy with the poor which led him so often cruelly to misjudge and misrepresent the acts and lives of persons in authority whose views were not, like his own, spontaneously, kindly, and impulsively unpractical. The series of six cartoons was directed against abuses, the last, dealing with the subject of duelling, being ent.i.tled "The Satisfaction of a Gentleman"--in which two duellists appear attended by seconds wearing caps and bells, while the hangman awaits the victor in one corner, and Death digs a grave for his victim in the other.

After this series _Punch_ for a long while dropped the word "cartoon,"

but the public remembered it, and has clung to it ever since. It is a remarkable thing that while the "Encyclopaedic Dictionary" entirely ignores the word in its modern application to satirical prints, Dr.

Murray's monumental lexicon has as its earliest use of the word a reference made by Miss Braddon to Leech's cartoons in the year 1863--or twenty years after it was first coined!