Punch, or The London Charivari | Page 5

black, the other in a white,
hat. The first is WILLIAM BRADBURY, the second is 'Pater' EVANS,
our 'proprietors and friends' of that day.
"In 1856 an obituary notice showed that the Table had experienced one
of its earliest losses, that of GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT. And
on June 8th, in the following year, the boding black border appeared 'In
Memoriam' of DOUGLAS JERROLD. Ah, me, Mr. ANNO DOMINI,
the jingling of the cap-and-bells, howsoever merrily it may sound, is
perforce interrupted now and again by the chiming of a bell of deeper
note and sadder tone.
"Volume XXXIX. for 1860 saw the artistic advent of the Society
Satirist of the Victorian Era, GEORGE DU MAURIER; and in Volume
XLIV. for the year 1863, the presence of another 'New Boy' at my
Table, was evidenced by the appearance of the burlesque
London-Journalish Novel, 'Mokeanna,' in which FRANCIS COWLEY
BURNAND parodied the 'Penny Dreadful.'
"The very first page of my Volume for 1864, Mr. ANNO DOMINI,
recorded a great, a grievous, an irreparable loss to me and to the world.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, the greatest of my
contributors, had gone for ever from my Table. And a little later--only a
little later--in my Number for November 12th, 1864, appeared an
obituary notice--alas the day!--of the great, the genial, the loved, the
lamented JOHN LEECH.
"In the Volumes for this year, 1865, appear for the first time the
fanciful, ingenious, elaborately symbolical designs of CHARLES H.

BENNETT, who unhappily did not long enrich my pages with his
facile execution and singular subtlety of fancy. He died on the 2nd
April. His place at my Table was soon after taken by LINLEY
SAMBOURNE.
"On the 23rd May, 1870, he who had sat at the head of my Table ever
since its first establishment, 'who wrote the first article in this Journal,
who from its establishment had been its conductor,' left empty the chief
seat at my board.
"'If this Journal has had the good fortune to be credited with habitual
advocacy of truth and justice, if it has been praised for abstention from
the less worthy kind of satire, if it has been trusted by those who keep
guard over the purity of womanhood and of youth, we, the best
witnesses, turn for a moment from our sorrow to bear the fullest and the
most willing testimony that the high and noble spirit of MARK
LEMON ever prompted generous championship, ever made unworthy
onslaught or irreverent jest impossible to the pens of those who were
honoured in being coadjutors with him.'
"This, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, was the high and merited tribute which
the spokesman of his surviving colleagues paid to the beloved memory
of MARK LEMON.
"SHIRLEY BROOKS succeeded him in the editorial chair, which he
filled fittingly and faithfully for--alas!--only four years. In 1874 I lost
my second Editor. TOM TAYLOR was his successor, taking up with
the Editorship, the extraction of that weekly 'Essence of Parliament,' so
long and so delightfully distilled by the deceased Chief.
"Meanwhile, on April 30th, 1872, HORACE MAYHEW, had departed
from our midst. A little later the Table received a further accession in
the person of ARTHUR WILLIAM À BECKETT, ('Mr. BRIEFLESS
Junior,') son of that GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT who was one of
my earliest 'Stars.' His brother, a second GILBERT À BECKETT, took
his seat at the Table a few years later. In Volume LXVIII. for 1875, E.J.
MILLIKEN made his first appearance as a Punch Writer. The Author
of the 'ARRY papers, 'CHILDE CHAPPIE's Pilgrimage,' &c., joined
my Table two years later.
"On the 12th July, 1880, another great loss befel me. TOM TAYLOR,
my third Editor, left that honourable post vacant, after occupying it
with credit and distinction for six years. Mr. F.C. BURNAND, author

of 'Happy Thoughts,' &c., reigns in his stead. R.F. SKETCHLEY, who
had a seat at my Board for several years, resigned it a little later.
"The same year, 1880, saw the introduction of a new Artist, in the
person of HARRY FURNISS; and the next introduced HENRY W.
LUCY, the 'TOBY' of _Mr. Punch's_ remodelled Essence of
Parliament.
"In 1887, the appearance of '_Mr. Punch's_ Manual for Young
Reciters,' gave evidence of the fact that the Author of _Vice Versâ_, Mr.
F. ANSTEY, had joined my Table. He, with R.C. LEHMANN, Author
of 'Modern Types,' &c., and E.G. REED, the Artist, are the very latest
additions thereto. That Table has, within the last two years, sustained
yet two other losses: PERCIVAL LEIGH, last survivor of the 'Old
Guard,' dying on 24th October, 1889, whilst, early in the present year,
the inimitable CHARLES KEENE, universally acknowledged to be the
greatest master of 'Black-and-White' technique who ever put pencil to
wood-block, was taken away from me.
"Merely to mention all the