Page:Pen And Pencil Sketches - Volume I.djvu/184



T has been my good fortune to have friendly relations with most of the Punch artists. Leech I knew, met him at Arthur Lewis’s and other houses, but was never so intimate with him as with Keene or Sir John Tenniel. Of these, the leading Punch artists of the early sixties, the last-named of the triumvirate

only remains with us. His friendship I have enjoyed for many years, and hope to enjoy that privilege for many more. My friendship for them may have influenced in some degree the estimate of their work in the critical sketch which follows, though I am unconscious that it has. With few reservations,

the opinions of more than thirty years ago have been confirmed by maturer judgment, and ratified by subsequent writers. In some respects, I should rank the humour of Keene, for instance, as of higher