Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/307

 n s. x. OCT. 17, i9i4.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

301

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 19U.

CONTENTS. No. 251.

NOTES : Sir John Gilbert, J. F. Smith, and ' The London Journal,' 301 Statues and Memorials in the British Isles, 303 Poem attributed to Johnson, 304 Nelson Unpub- lished Letters. 305 Two Eastbourne Worthies Wars of Louis XIV. : Household Linen, 306 Folk-Lore of Death Wharton Family Portraits, 307 St. Paul's Cathedral : Nelson's Sepulchre" The nine different languages of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy," 308.

OUERIES :- Michelangelo's 'David' at Florence, 308 Vegetable Parchment Old Etonians Sherlock Holmes: his Methods and Literary Pedigree Authors Wanted Harford of Plymouth, " Traitor," 309 Biographical Information Wanted ' The Lady's Pocket Magazine ' and 'The Athenaeum 'Clocks and Clockmakers- Author Of ' Paddiana 'Prefix " Scotch- " or "Scot-," Pembroke- shire St. Nicholas's Loaf National Colour of Wales, 310 William Oliver Gray, 311.

REPLIES : Farls of Derwentwater : Descendants, 311 Clerkenwell Tea-Gardens : Cromwell's Gardens Statues and Memorials in the British Isles : Matthew Arnold, 313

Authors Wanted Dene Holes or Dane Holes' The

Fight at Dame Europa's School,' 314 Hundred of Man- hood " Jolly Robbins " Medallic Legends Lowell's 'Fireside Travels,' 315 Sir John Lade Periodicals pub- lished by Religious Houses " Aschenald " College of Chemistry, Scotland The Dukedom of Cleveland Colour and Sound, 317 The Terminal "inck" Sir John Gilbert Louvain and Malines : Old Painted Glass- British Coins and Stamps Early Railway Travelling Burial-Place of Eleanor of Provence, 318.

NOTES ON BOOKS : The Oxford Dictionary" Oxford Garlands " ' Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem : Edward III.'' The Antiquary.'

Notices to Correspondents.

SIR JOHN GILBERT, J. F. SMITH, AND ' THE LONDON JOURNAL.'

(See 11 S. vii. 221, 276, 375 ; viii. 121, 142 ; x. 102, 144, 183, 223, 262.)

THKRE is an admirable article on Gilbert the best I have read in The Magazine )/ Art (1898, pp. 53-64) by the editor 'M. H. Spielmann), who says:

" It is in virtue of his achievements in black ind white that he takes his place. . . .among the w masters who have ranged themselves among he highest."

Nevertheless, Mr. Spielmann reproduces )ictures only, with the exception of the it!.- to Punch in 1843.

Mr. Spielmann thinks the estimate that Albert did 30,000 cuts for The Illustrated London News exaggerated. I have spent ome hours over the question, as, fortunately, here is a complete set of The Illustrated <ondon News in the Reading-Room of the

Public Library at Clapham Common, quite handy. I do not think 30,000 is at all exaggerated. I have asked Mr. Sandford about this, and he agrees with me : his further observations are of interest, so I subjoin them. He says :

" I have been looking over a portion of my collection of woodcuts by Sir John Gilbert in The Illustrated London Neics, 1848 to (about) 1870 : though the series is incomplete, it has taken me two whole evenings to glance at them, as there are hundreds probably 1,500 at least. About half of them are unsigned, but the hand of Gilbert cannot be mistaken, as a rule. It is evident from these cuts that Gilbert worked on any subject, not only on imaginative themes, but also on the most commonplace events of ordinary life, such as views of places tempo- rarily of interest, street scenes, fires and other disasters, flower shows, balls, and so forth. It Appears to me that in many of these baser sub- jects (as we may call them, to distinguish them from subjects more worthy of his pencil) he only supplied the figures in the foreground, as the back- grounds are seemingly by others (landscapes, buildings, &c.) ; but, of course, Gilbert could and would have done the whole with equal facility, and had it been required, he could quite readily have done the landscape to some other artist's figures! Every one knew that in figure drawing and grouping he was first, and for such work he was in high demand.

" Some of his finer drawings, especially those on a large scale, such as issues with the Christmas Supplements, are unapproachable in vigour and interest. The most remarkable of these is the signed illustration of 27 Nov., 1852 (about 21 by 30 in.), representing the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. This is the finest large woodcut by any English or French artist I have ever met with, and can only be called superb. It rivals the huge woodcuts of Germany in the later Middle Ages."

A very cursory mention, if any, is made by the various publications named of Gilbert's illustrations to The London Journal or other periodicals or books (except The Illustrated London News) ; and yet the biography in the 'D.N.B.' (by Mr. Campbell Dodgson, Supplement, 1901) says he "is likely to be remembered rather as an illustrator than as a painter," and " must be regarded as one of the pioneers of pictorial journalism." It is curious to think that, at the same time that Gilbert was illustrating for the Religious Tract Society, he was also working for an author whom I have heard called " noto- rious." Personally, I do not know if he deserved that epithet, for I have never read any of the novels of G. W. M. Reynolds, who, notwithstanding his " notoriety," eventually died " a churchwarden of St. Andrew's, Wells Street, in the odour of sanctity " (Boase,
 * M.E.B.,' vol. v. p. 102).

Gilbert illustrated more books and periodicals than any two or three men