SIR JOHN TENNIEL, FROM A DRAWING BY HIMSELF, IN 1889.

IT

T has been the American tradition that Englishmen lacked the sense of humor, and it has been another cherished tradition among us that the English weekly journal called Punch is the evidence and embodiment of that defect. We will not pause here to argue the question. There is a certain kind of American humor based on extreme exaggeration that does not appeal so directly to Englishmen as to ourselves; but Punch has unquestionably been, and unquestionably remains, the foremost periodical of its class in the whole world. It applies wit, humor, satire, sentiment, and pathos to contemporary political and social life, with a breadth of view, a high order of intelligence, and a genuineness of sympathy and feeling that make it a marvelous reflex of the times. And thus, when one runs back through its files of five or ten, or twenty-five or fifty years ago, it is always delightful to find the flavor of the period so perfectly preserved. The more temperate use of humor, as exemplified in Punch, serves much better for the recording of current history than the violent and extravagant methods of some of Punch's more recent American contemporaries.

These comments of ours, however, are apropos not so much of Punch itself as of the man who, upon the whole, has been for many years past the most conspicuous member of its staff. We refer to Sir John Ten

niel, Punch's leading cartoonist. Sir John has now completed fifty years of continuous and always brilliant service as a political cartoonist on the staff of this London weekly; and scarcely an issue of Punch has appeared in all this half-century without a full-page cartoon of John Tenniel's. The veteran artist continues in good health. He was born, it is recorded, in 1820, in London, and is therefore in his eighty-first year; yet his faculties remain keen and clear, his zestful interest in politics is unabated, and his artistic skill seems in no degree impaired when one compares his latest work with that of, say, twenty years ago; and he himself the other day expressed the cheery hope that he might work for twenty years longer.

The editor of this REVIEW has made it evident enough to its regular readers that he appreciates a cartoon that presents clearly some political situation, or that crystallizes, as it were, some aspect of public opinion in respect to a controverted issue. Sir John Tenniel is the past master of the art of illustrating British and international political history by means of cartoons not intended primarily to cause laughter, but rather intended to chronicle a situation or clinch an argument by means of a picture that uses some portraiture and some symbolism, to which is added a touch of sentiment, of gentle humor, of keen satire, or, in rare instances, of bitter scorn. In almost every case what we call the "caption" of the cartoon-that is to say, the lines written beneath it-is a very essential part of the effort. This same thing was true of the work of the late George Du Maurier, who was for so many years one of John Tenniel's fellow-members of the Punch staff, and whose drawings dealt satirically with fashionable society rather than with politics.

Take, for example, one of the latest of Tenniel's cartoons, that which appears in Punch for December 5, which we reproduce. (See next page.) It contains three figures, one of which is portraiture and represents Lord Salisbury, the English prime minister, in the attitude of a sculptor. The other figure in the foreground is

MONEY NO OBJECT.

SCULPTOR SALISBURY (at work on a statue of Victory): "I'm afraid, Mr. Bull, I must trouble you for something on accountthere's a lot more work on it than I expected."

From Punch, December 5, 1900.

which Lord Salisbury is represented as putting the finishing touches.

The picture appeared last month, at a moment when Parliament and the English press were discussing the unexpectedly heavy and protracted expense of the South African War. The main title of the cartoon,"MONEY NO OBJECT,"-is meant to express the evident state of mind of old John Bull as he gazes at the statue. Meanwhile, sculptor Salisbury is remarking that since there is a lot more work on the statue than he had expected, he must ask for a payment on account. The whole thing is a perfect summing up of the situation from the average British point of view; and Punch has almost invariably in its long career represented that average state of mind. The cartoon expresses patriotism and confidence in the final outcome; it breathes the air of faith in the particular statesman who is responsible for the work; and it expresses a comfortable belief in John Bull's unfailing ability to pay any possible price for a really good thing. Finally, it is intended to give the British public a view of this South African trouble as a definite task, now almost accom

SWAIN S

"SO PERPLEXING!"

OLD LIBERAL PARTY: "Oh, deary me! Which platform shall I take?"-From Punch for August, 1900.

GENERAL FEBRUARY TURNED TRAITOR.

(This cartoon was drawn in March, 1855, on the death of the Emperor Nicholas, of Russia, who had fallen fil in February. The Crimean War was also raging, and Russia had just met with a February reverse. Tenniel cleverly recalled the Russian saying, dating from Napoleon's terrible winter retreat from Moscow, that Russia had two invincible generals-viz., General January and General February. But now General February had turned traitor.)

As we have remarked, he was born in London, in 1820. He was educated at a private school, and early developed a taste for drawing and painting. He never studied art, however, in any regular way, but was self-taught, like most of our American cartoonists. While in the twenties he painted some creditable pictures in oil, but his taste for illustrating and for line-work drawing developed very early; and although he has long been a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors, his real life-work is to be found in the files of Punch. At one time he drew charming illustrations for books, and showed a decided aptitude for fairy pictures. He was the original illustrator, for instance, of Alice in Wonderland" and its sequel.

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He joined the staff of Punch to take the place of Doyle, who was leaving the staff just at the end of 1850; and after some smaller and more incidental bits of drawing his first important political cartoon appeared in February, 1851, on a page facing a cartoon by Leech, his great predecessor and contemporary. John Leech had been on the staff of Punch for nearly nine years when Tenniel joined it, and his brilliant and varied work continued to enliven its pages until his death, in October, 1864, when in his twenty-third year on the staff of the paper. From the death of Leech, John Tenniel, whose reputation was already well established, came naturally into a still greater prominence.

His political grasp is wide and vigorous, and his car

THE YOUNG CZAR COMING INTO HIS PROPERTY. (Alexander II. succeeded his father in March, 1855, in the midst of the Crimean struggle.)

toon work has always been enriched by his familiarity with literature, and especially with Shakespeare. Thus he has been enabled, on occasions almost innumerable, to apply a Shakespearean quotation to a current event in a manner exceedingly apt and felicitous.

Since the invention of photo-mechanical methods of reproduction, the work of most pen-and-ink draughtsmen is no longer reproduced by wood engraving. But Tenniel has to this day persisted in his old-fashioned plan of making his drawings directly on the box wood blocks; and for a great many years the engraving has been done by the familiar hand of J. Swain. Thus, in the righthand lower corner of all Tenniel's drawings appears his familiar monograph, which looks a little like a Chinese character; and in the left-hand lower corner appears the equally familiar "Swain, Sc." This method gives the reproduced work a peculiar sharpness, and it also helps to keep the artist faithful to his idea of giving the highest possible value to the fewest possible lines.

It was not until 1893 that Tenniel was knighted. No man could have been more worthy of the honor, for no man had served the crown and the empire more loyally and effectively than this great political draughtsman of the Victorian period. In his old age he works with more pleasure and cheerfulness because of his fortunate associations. Mr. Linley Sambourne, the other principal political cartoonist of Punch, has now been on the staff of the paper almost thirty years; and several other illustrators and cartoonists, dealing principally with social and sporting topics, sustain Sir John loyally and admirably, while giving the necessary variety to the