Page:The illustrators of Montmartre.pdf/86



A very large proportion of the drawings in "La Comédie Parisienne," treat of matters to which it is quite customary to refer in French publications, but which in England are discreetly relegated to the confidential whisper of intimates; so that it is rather difficult here to give specimens of the delicate wit displayed therein, — lest it should be classed as indelicate wit, The standard of delicacy topples over at such very different angles in England and on the Continent.

Whatever the subject treated, however, one is struck by the keen observation these drawings display, the requisite movement or attitude being perfectly rendered with the minimum number of lines. They are snap-shots of propitious moments; but taken by an artist's eye in place of a photographic lens, and an artist's science to display what is necessary and to discard what is unnecessary for the illustration of the point at issue,

The drawings here and there reflect the touch of melancholy in the author's nature, as well as his caustic wit.

A charming and sympathetic drawing is that at the working man playing with his crooning babe, while the mother, who is getting supper ready, says to her husband "Ah! wouldn't you be stunning, if you'd only give up drinking." In another drawing a poor woman says to her drunken husband "Aren't you ashamed to be in this state on a Tuesday?" How telling too the sketch of the rascally picture