CONTENTS
Alarming Symptoms after Having Boiled Beef and Gooseberry Pie....017 Great Want of Veneration.........................................018 Something like a Holiday.........................................019 Innocent and Amusing Tricks for Boys ............................020 Another..........................................................021 A London Gent Abroad.............................................022 Unfeeling Observation............................................023 Sailing versus Railways..........................................024 Innocence........................................................025 Never Satisfied..................................................026 Living in Hope...................................................027 Jealousy.........................................................028 A Puzzling Order.................................................029 How to get rid of a Gratis Patient...............................030 Hooking and Eyeing...............................................031 In for It........................................................032 Bless the Boy....................................................033 Pity the Sorrows of the Poor Police..............................034 Speculators......................................................035 Preparations for War.............................................036 Early Beginnings.................................................037 May difference of opinion never alter Friendship.................038 The Test of Gallantry............................................039 Interesting scene during the Canvas for Mr————...................040 Mal-apropos......................................................041 A little bit of Hunting..........................................042 Alarming.........................................................043 An Impudent Minx.................................................044 Very Acute.......................................................045 Men of Business..................................................046 Delicacy of the Season...........................................047 Unlucky .........................................................048 Nothing like warm Bathing........................................049 The Ruling Passion...............................................050 Different People have Different Opinions.........................051 The Alderman's Advice to his Son.................................052 An Omnibus Incident..............................................053 Very Proper Diet for Warm Weather................................054 Mr. Verdant's attempt at Bookmaking .............................055 Easily Satisfied.................................................056 The Chatalaine—a really useful Present...........................057 Domestic Bliss...................................................058 Rather Disappointing.............................................059 Domestic Bliss-Time 3.30 — Thermometer 30 degrees................060 A Dumb Waiter....................................................061 Murder Will Out..................................................062 Different People have Different Opinions.........................063 Advice Gratis....................................................064 Grandmamma is supposed to have given Tom some plums..............065 The Rising Generation............................................066 Sour Grapes......................................................067 Dog Days.........................................................068 Hall along of the Betting Offices................................069 A Romance of Roast Ducks.........................................070 Delicate.........................................................071 A Great Loss.....................................................072 Rather a Bad Look-out............................................073 Curious Effect of Relaxing Air...................................074 Oh! The Curtains.................................................075 A Left-handed Compliment.........................................076 Taken at his Word................................................077 The Opera........................................................078 Fishing off a Watering Place.....................................079 The Conservatory.................................................080 The Garret.......................................................081 Late Hours.......................................................082 No Place like Home when the family are at a Watering Place.......083 A British Ruffian................................................084 Very Considerate.................................................085 Filling up the Census Paper......................................086 Reward of Merit..................................................087 Doing a Little Bill..............................................088 Alarming.........................................................089 Domestic Bliss...................................................090 Returning from the Seaside—A Little Commission...................091 A Jolly Dog......................................................092 A Bon-bon from a Juvenile Party..................................093 Throwing stones through ice......................................094 True Respectability..............................................095 A Young Gentleman and Scholar....................................096 Perfect Sincerity; or Thinking Aloud.............................097 Perfect Sincerity; or Thinking Aloud.............................098 Perfect Sincerity; or Thinking Aloud.............................099 No Doubt.........................................................100 Very Low People..................................................101 A Weighty Matter.................................................102 A Cheap Day's Hunting, No. 1.....................................103 A Cheap Day's Hunting, No. 2.....................................104 A Cheap Day's Hunting, No. 3.....................................105 The Gentle Craft.................................................106 Apropos of Bloomerism............................................107 One of the Delightful Results of Bloomerism......................108 Bloomerism in a Ball-room........................................109 Barrack Life.....................................................110 Bon-bon from a Juvenile Party....................................111 Domestic Bliss...................................................112 Solicitude.......................................................113 Flunkeiana.......................................................114 A Horrible Business..............................................115 Putting his foot in it...........................................116 Flunkeiana.......................................................117 Flunkeiana.......................................................118 Domestic Bliss...................................................119 Splendid Day with the Queen's....................................120 Domestic Bliss...................................................121 Domestic Bliss...................................................122 Flunkeiana.......................................................123 Flunkeiana.......................................................124 Subject for a Picture............................................125 Fishing off Brighton.............................................126 Flunkeiana.......................................................127 An Enthusiastic Fisher...........................................128 The Worst of Evening Parties.....................................129 Sporting-Youth who has lost the Hounds...........................130 A lapse of twenty minutes—Sporting Youth returns.................131 Flunkeiana.......................................................132 Domestic Bliss...................................................133 The Opera........................................................134 How to Dress a Lobster...........................................135 An Exclusive.....................................................136 Flunkeiana.......................................................137 Snow-flakes,—No. 1...............................................138 Snow-flakes,—No. 2...............................................139 Snow-flakes,—No. 3...............................................140 The Hat-moving Experiment........................................141 A False Position.................................................142 Servantgalism; or, What's to become of the Missusses?............143 Servantgalism; or, What's to become of the Missusses?............144 Servantgalism; or, What's to become of the Missusses?............145 The Camp at Chobhan—Hospitality..................................146 The New Bonnet...................................................147 A Great Mental Effort............................................148 Cruel............................................................149 A Caution to little boys at a Festive Season.....................150 A Playful Creature...............................................151 A Very Vulgar Subject............................................152 Study of an Elderly Female Hailing the Last Omnibus..............153 A Large Bump of Caution..........................................154 Latest from Paris................................................155 A Serious Threat.................................................156 A Trifle the Matter with the Kitchen Boiler......................157 Competition......................................................158 Gammoning a Gent.................................................159 Enter Mr. Bottles, the Butler....................................160 Flunkeiana—a fact................................................161 Railway Smoking..................................................162 How to get a Connection..........................................163 Thinking Aloud...................................................164 A Brutal Fellow..................................................165 A Delicious Sail off Dover.......................................166 Division of Labour...............................................167 A Thorough Good Cook.............................................168 Bottom Fishing...................................................169 First Night in the New House.....................................170 No Offence.......................................................171 Matrimonial Solicitude...........................................172 Aquatics.........................................................173 Difference of Taste..............................................174 Teeth Extracted..................................................175 "By the Sad Sea Waves"...........................................176 Miss Brown kindly takes her cousin out fishing...................177 The Woman at the Wheel...........................................178 The Female of the Future.........................................179 How cool and nice French-Polished floors are—How very Hard ......180 Villikens in the Drawing Room....................................181 Wise Man.........................................................182 Quite Safe.......................................................183 A Great Prospect.................................................184 A Gorgeous Spectacle.............................................185 Something Like Sport.............................................186 Trade............................................................187 Delightful Out-door Exercise in Warm Weather.....................188 Servantgalism ...................................................189 Servantgalism....................................................190 Bit from the Mining Districts....................................191 Bit from the Mining Districts....................................192 Servantgalism....................................................193 Delightful Privilege during Winter Months........................194 Speaking from Experience.........................................195 Surprise for Tomkins.............................................196 All Right........................................................197 Sea-side Saturday Evening........................................198 Serious for the Military.........................................199 Fashions for Fast Men............................................200 A Rare Treat.....................................................201 Alas for the old Institutions....................................202 The Moustache Movement...........................................203 Wonderful Effect of Ether in a case of scolding wife.............204 Rather Awkward for Tompkins......................................205 Servantgalism ; or, What's to become of the Missusses?...........206 Sailing Instructions.............................................207 A Country Ball...................................................208 After Partaking very Heartily....................................209 The Influenza....................................................210 How to Flatter a Gent............................................211 Best Foot Foremost...............................................212 The Rising Generation............................................213 Meeting His Half-way.............................................214 Consols at 90....................................................215 Consols at 80....................................................216 A Brilliunt Idea.................................................217 The Rising Generation............................................218 Invention Hotter than Cure.......................................219 Honeymnon at Sea.................................................220 A Heal Difficulty................................................221 A Case of Real Distress..........................................222 Literal..........................................................223 Good Security....................................................224 On the Moors.....................................................225 Speaks for Himself...............................................226 One of the Fine Arts.............................................227 Table Rapping....................................................228 A Good Education.................................................229 The Finishing Touch to a Picture ................................230 Close of the Season..............................................231 Fires for the Winter—Something wrong with the Chimney ...........232 An Association for the Advancement of Science on an Excursion....233 Business-Like....................................................234 Jack Ashore .....................................................235 No News is Good News (?).........................................236 Paterfamilias Superintends removal of the snow from the roof.....237 Pleasing Effect Below............................................238 The Battle of the Pianos.........................................239 Delightful for Mother............................................240 A Caution to young men who wear sharp pointed moustaches ........241 Scene-Drawing Room...............................................242 Friend, Doctor, and Wife.........................................243 A Visit to the Antediluvian Reptiles at Sydenham.................244 The Too Faithful Talbotype.......................................245 False Pretences..................................................246 Another Bit from the Mining Districts ...........................247 The Moustache Movement...........................................248 Long Vacation....................................................249 Agricultural.....................................................250 Flunkeiana.......................................................251 The Ticket-Showing Nuisance......................................252 Scholastic.......................................................253 Pleasures of Housekeeping........................................254 These Hats.......................................................255 Rather Alarming..................................................256 Thinking Aloud...................................................257 General Thaw and Bursting of the Water Pipes.....................258 Innocent Mirth...................................................259 Frightful........................................................260 Bachelor Housekeeninp............................................261 The Sensational..................................................262 Marly in the Morning.............................................263 Moral Influence of Executions....................................264 No Consequence...................................................265 The First of September...........................................266 Two Aspects......................................................267 The Police ......................................................268 Women and Freemasonry............................................269 Did You live.....................................................270 Awful result of giving a Season ticket to your wife..............271 Such a Lark......................................................272 From the Mining Districts,—an Attempt at diverting Natives.......273 Moderate Terms...................................................274 Fine Business, indeed! The Wretch!...............................275 Old Clothes......................................................276 Servantgalism....................................................277 How Disgreeable the Boys are.....................................278 The Rising Generation............................................279 Poor Muggins.....................................................280 Our Little Friend Tom Noddy......................................281 Coarse, but Characteristic.......................................282 Old Lady and Leveller............................................283 A Perfect Wretch.................................................284 The Moustache Movement...........................................285 Life in London...................................................286 At the Crimea....................................................287 Friendly, but very Unpleasant....................................288 Keeping Step.....................................................289 The Moustache Movement...........................................290 Too Bad..........................................................291 Prudent Resolve..................................................292 Disgusting for Augustus..........................................293 Servantgalism....................................................294 Flunkeiana Rustica...............................................295 A Fact...........................................................296 In Hope..........................................................297 Hope Rewarded....................................................298 Not to be Daunted................................................299 Hope and Fear....................................................300 Most Provoking...................................................301 Never Say Die....................................................302 Marry on 300 a Year..............................................303 The Husband as he ought not to be................................304 Fair and Equal...................................................305 A Very Particular Party..........................................306 Comparisons......................................................307 Good Looking.....................................................308 A Cautious Bird..................................................309 Pleasing Delusion in re Round Hats...............................310 Roasted Chestnuts................................................311 "Where Ignorance is Bliss".......................................312 Folly to be Wise"................................................313 Private Opinion..................................................314 Taken Aback......................................................315 Nicely Caught....................................................316 Perfectly Dreadful...............................................317 Cupid at Sea.....................................................318 Very Considerate.................................................319 A Railway Collision—A Hint to Station Masters....................320 Patience Rewarded................................................321 A Sketch from the Stand at Scarboro..............................322 Astounding Announcement from the Small Country Butcher...........323 Offended Dignity.................................................324 Amateur Pantomine................................................325 Remarkable Occurrence............................................326 Young Upholsterers...............................................327 The Valentine....................................................328 True Gallantry...................................................329 Self-Help........................................................330 Startling Advice.................................................331 Early Responsibility.............................................332 A Moral Lesson from the Nursery..................................333 The Bloated Aristocrat...........................................334 Married for Money—the Honeymoon..................................335 Under the Mistletoe..............................................336 Alarming Proposition.............................................337 Young Lady of the Period.........................................338 Serve Him Right..................................................339 Everything in its Place..........................................340 A Hint to Gentlemen..............................................341 A Hint to Railway Travellers.....................................342 Oh, Yes; Of Course...............................................343 The Quadrille in Hot Weather.....................................344 The New Regulation Mess..........................................345 A Painful Subject................................................346 Photograph Beauties..............................................347 The Opera,—No. 1.................................................348 The Opera,—No. 2..................................,..............349 A Sketch at a Railway Station....................................350 Hi' Art..........................................................351 Flunkeiana.......................................................352 Servantgaliism...................................................353 Symptoms of Hard Reading.........................................354 The Stout Lady...................................................355 Head of the House,—No. 1.........................................356 Head of the House,—No. 2.........................................357 Milk versus Water................................................358 Thrilling Domestic Incident......................................359 Very Artful Contrivance..........................................360 A Windy Day......................................................361 Common Objects at the Seaside....................................362 Astonishing a Young One..........................................363 Awkward Predicament..............................................364 A Notion of Pleasure.............................................365 A Bad Time for John Thomas.......................................366 Learning to Swim.................................................367 On the Roof......................................................368 Nothing but Eating...............................................369 Lively for Jones.................................................370 Very Odd.........................................................371 Wholesome Feast..................................................372 Of a very Studious Turn..........................................373 A very green-eyed monster........................................374 Juvenile Dissipation.............................................375 None but the Brave deserve the Fair..............................376 Tit for Tat......................................................377 Solicitude.......................................................378 Skeletons........................................................379 Great Minds Think Alike..........................................380 An elegant row about a machine...................................381 What a Terrible Turk.............................................382 A Safe Convoy....................................................383 Impertinent Curiosity............................................384 Tickled with a Straw.............................................385 Horrible Question after a Greenwich Dinner.......................386 Touching Appeal..................................................387 A Great Mistake..................................................388 It's the Early Bird that Picks up the Early Worm.................389 Serious Thing for Brown..........................................390 The Moustache Movement...........................................391 The Beard........................................................392 Consolation......................................................393 Fortunate Fellows................................................394 Pursuit of Pleasure..............................................395 A Domestic Extravaganza..........................................396 Sisterly Love....................................................397 Freezing.........................................................398 A Peace Conference...............................................399 When Railway Companies fall out the Public derive the benefit....400 Quite True.......................................................401 A Holiday........................................................402 Cold in the Head.................................................403 Touching.........................................................404 A Fishing Adventure..............................................405 Self-Examination.................................................406 Delicate Test....................................................407 The Moustache Movement...........................................408 Conclusive Table-Turning Experiment made at Greenwich............409 The Farmyard.....................................................410 A Suburban Delight...............................................411 Juvenile Etymology...............................................412 Portrait of the Old Party who rather likes Organ-grinding........413 An Injured Individual............................................414 Practical Science................................................415 A Shock..........................................................416
John Leech was born in London, on the 29th August, 1817. His father, John Leech, was an Irishman, a man of fine culture, and a good Shakespearean scholar. He was the landlord of the London Coffee House on Ludgate Hill, one of the most important of the city hotels at that time. For a while the father was successful in his vocation, but ultimately, through financial embarrassment, was obliged to give up the hotel.
The father was a man of real ability, possessing considerable skill with the pencil, and from him, no doubt, the son inherited his special talent. And, again, on the mother's side there was relationship with the great scholar Richard Bentley, so that on both sides of the house young Leech had considerable advantages so far as mental heredity was concerned.
At a very early age the mother observed the extraordinary aptitude for drawing that her boy possessed, and did all in her power to encourage it. When young Leech was only three years old, he was found by the family friend, the great artist, Flaxman, seated on his mother's knee, drawing with much gravity. The sculptor pronounced his sketch to be remarkable, and gave the following advice:—"Do not let him be cramped with lessons in drawing, but let his genius follow its own bent. He will astonish the world." A few years after this, some more of the youthful artist's drawings were shown to the celebrated sculptor, and, after examination, he said—"The boy must be an artist; he will be nothing else or less."
At seven, the boy was sent to Charterhouse. This early departure from home was, of course, a sore trial to the fond mother, who was bound up in her child, but, knowing that it was for her son's future welfare, she threw no obstacles in the way of his departure from home. She was, however, resolved that somehow she would see her child frequently. With this object she hired a room in one of the houses commanding a view of the playground, and there frequently she sat behind a blind, happy in getting an occasional glimpse of her boy—sometimes at play, and sometimes strolling about in the grounds with his school mates. During his stay of nine years at Charterhouse, the boy did not distinguish himself in classical studies. Indeed, all that can be said, is that he acquired a thoroughly sound English education. He was, however, liked by everyone at school for his good temper and winning ways. Among his fellow pupils was the famous William Makepeace Thackeray, with whom he formed a warm friendship that lasted throughout life.
At sixteen years of age, young Leech left Charterhouse, and, notwithstanding Flaxman's advice that the boy should follow the profession of an artist, his father put him to the medical profession at St. Bartholomew's, under Mr Stanley, the surgeon of the Hospital. After a time he was placed under Mr Whittle, an eccentric practitioner at Hoxton, and subsequently under Dr John Cockle, afterwards physician to the Royal Free Hospital. Throughout his various situations, young Leech become famous among his fellow students and friends for his extremely clever—and, at the same time, always good-natured—caricatures. He was for ever drawing scenes, characters, and incidents in daily life. About this time, young Leech's liking for horses probably received its first development, through his friendship with Mr Charles Adams. Mr Adams was the owner of two horses which it was his delight to drive tandem fashion, and in his excursions Leech was his constant companion. To this circumstance we are, no doubt, partially indebted for many of the clever bits of driving and country road life depicted by the pencil of the artist. At this early period of his career, Leech made numerous life friendships with men who afterwards became distinguished. Notable among these men were Albert Smith and Percival Leigh.
At eighteen years of age, Leech published his first work, entitled "Etchings and Sketchings by A. Pen, Esq." It was a small work of four quarto sheets. As he got more and more engrossed in artistic work, the young student seems to have gradually given up his medical studies, and to have resolved to live by his pencil. In course of time he turned his attention to lithography, and, having drawn pictures upon lithographic stones, he has been known to spend many a weary day in carrying such heavy stones from publisher to publisher in search of a buyer. But as his fame increased, the difficulty of getting remunerative employment rapidly diminished. A good deal of Leech's early work, among other things, was in connection with Bell's Life in London, the best-known sporting paper of the time. Here he was associated with Cruikshank, Madons, "Phiz," and Seymour. It was when at work for Bell's Life that he first imbibed a taste for field sports, which developed into a strong feature in his pictorial career. He joined the hounds in Herefordshire, where Millais became his fellow pupil in acquiring the arts of the chase. Among the schemes of drollery that our artist participated in about this time was the Comic Latin Grammar, Leigh contributing the text, and Leech the illustrations. This was followed by the Comic English Grammar, and likewise by the Children of the Mobility, a parody on a well-known work devoted to the serious glorification of our juvenile aristocracy.
But in August of 1841 Leech began the great work of his life—a work, indeed, which he never quitted but with life—namely, his connection with Punch. The first number of Punch was issued on the 17th July, 1841, and Leech's first contribution to it appeared on the 7th August, in the fourth number. For about twenty years, it may be said, he was its leading spirit, and, by his contributions to its pages, got in all about £40,000. Political caricatures he produced by the score, and held up to ridicule many of the absurd customs of the pretensious and exclusive sections of Society. Like Thackeray and Dickens, Leech detested snobbery in all walks of life, and depicted it unsparingly in a way that it never had been dealt with before. Week after week there flowed from his pencil an endless stream of scenes of high life and low life, of indoor life and street life, now of England, and then of foreign lands, and of all times, seasons, and occasions, as also numerous scenes of deer-stalking and fishing, and of horses and hounds, in all cases depicting whatever he undertook with extraordinary accuracy combined with infinite humour. Also, when social or national wrong called for grave censure, Leech knew how to administer it, not only without giving unnecessary offence, but in the way best calculated to bring about reform and redress. In all circumstances he was essentially a humorist, and he found his most genial vocation in depicting life and character in the social circles he frequented. As a keen observer of the everyday life around him, he delighted to depict the corporation magnate, the artist, the medical student, the spendthrift, the policeman, the cab driver, the coster, the carman, and hundreds of other such phases of everyday life and character, seeing humour and drollery where others failed to observe anything but the commonest aspects of everyday monotony. Of course it should not be forgotten that, if Leech did great things for Punch, his connection with that journal gave him great opportunities, and brought him into the very forefront of British artists. He was considered the most successful humorist of the day, and his pencil was in constant request. In the course of years he became the illustrator of about eighty volumes. When it is realised that the sketches in Punch and the illustrations in these eighty volumes combined amount to some thousands in number, the mind is much impressed with the great amount of industry and application that Leech displayed throughout life. Even a tour to the Highlands, or to Ireland, or an outing to any portion of the country, was at all times turned to practical account for work later on.
This incessant brain-work produced an extreme nervous sensitiveness. In this state he was much affected by noise and was literally driven from his house in Brunswick Square by street music. He removed to Kensington, where he hoped to obtain a release from this annoyance by adopting a device of double windows. But he had no peace. He often introduced in the pages of Punch the barrel-organ nuisance. The public, however, at that time had no idea what these sketches from real life cost the artist. In 1864, Leech was ordered to take a holiday on the Continent. Upon his return to his London home in the autumn of the same year, although better in health, he was still strangely susceptible to noise. He spoke with more than his usual earnestness about the sufferings which the street organs gave him, and about the smallness of the sympathy which he received from people who had no weakness in the same direction. This extraordinary sensitiveness to noise was only a secondary phase or symptom of the real ailment. The real malady from which he suffered was breast-pang, or spasms of the heart, a form of angina pectoris. Although it was necessary to warn Leech against all excitement, riding, quick walking, or overwork, it was not supposed that he was in immediate danger, and, if he could only find rest and quiet, great hopes were entertained of his recovery. However, the sad end came when quite unexpected. In the morning of the 29th of October, 1864, he spoke hopefully of the future to his wife. In a few hours afterwards he whispered into the same living ear—"I am going," and fell into his father's arms in a faint. Three hours afterwards he expired. The news of his death went over the country with a dismal shock; for in what house was John Leech not an inmate in one form or another?
Leech was tall, with an elegant figure, over six feet in height, graceful and gentlemanly in manner, with a fine head and a handsome face. In action he was nimble, vigorous, and yet gentle, capable of the heartiest mirth, and yet generally quiet. He was singularly modest, both as a man and an artist. The perpetual going to nature kept him humble as well as made him rich. His consideration, too, for others was apparent at all times, and the gentleness of his nature was remarkable. When it is considered that all these beautiful traits of character were accompanied by such extraordinary talent and wisdom, one is profoundly impressed with the greatness of the man. No wonder so many mourned when such a great, gentle, and graceful spirit passed away. It was a national loss, and as such was realised throughout the homes of the United Kingdom.
