Part 31 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAS. H. BENNETT. _”Shadow and Substance.”_

”... creeping like a snail Unwillingly to school.”--AS YOU LIKE IT.

_Face p. 371._]

Some of our readers may possibly remember seeing in one of the comic publications published concurrently with or shortly after the appearance of Mr. Charles Darwin's work, a series of comical designs ridiculing the theory of the ”origin of species” in a manner which must have astonished as well as amused the learned philosopher. The origin of the genus _footman_, and of the dish he carries to his master's table, is traced out as follows: The dish carries a bone, which eventually finds its way into the jaws of a mongrel cur with a peculiarly short tail. The process then goes merrily onwards; the dog gradually develops; his skin turns into a suit of livery with b.u.t.tons, the dog-collar gradually a.s.sumes the form of a footman's tie, until the process is ended and the species complete. In like manner, a cat develops into a spinster aunt; a monkey into a mischievous urchin; a pig into a gourmand; a sheep into a country b.u.mpkin; a weasel into a lawyer; a dancing bear into a garrotter; a shark into a money-lender; a snail into the schoolboy to which Shakespeare likens him; a fish into a toper, and so on. These ”developments” (twenty in number), which were dedicated to Mr. Darwin, are signed ”C. H. B.” and these are the initials of CHARLES H. BENNETT, one of the gentlest, most promising, and withal most original graphic humourists of the century.

Amongst the earliest of the serials which he ill.u.s.trated was, we believe, _Diogenes_, a sort of rival of _Punch_, which made its appearance and ran a brief course in 1853-4. a.s.sociated with him in the ill.u.s.trations were McConnell and Watts Phillips, the latter of whom contributed largely also to the literary matter. We find a clever design of his (in Leech's style) in the second volume: ”Now, gentlemen of the jury,” says a brazen-faced barrister, ”I throw myself upon your impartial judgment as husbands and fathers, and I confidently ask, Does the prisoner [the most murderous-looking ruffian un-hung] look like a man who would knock down and trample upon the wife of his bosom?

Gentlemen, I have done!”

There was considerable originality in the designs of Bennett, which is more particularly manifested in the well-known series of humorous sketches in which the effect intended to be produced is effected by means of the _shadows_ of the figures represented, which are supposed to indicate their distinguis.h.i.+ng failings and characteristics. Among them may be mentioned a tipsy woman amused at the _shadow_ cast by her own figure of a gin bottle; an undertaker, in his garb of woe wrung from the pockets of widows and orphans, casts the appropriate shadow of a crocodile; a red-nosed old hospital nurse of a tea-pot; a worn-out seamstress of a skeleton; a mischievous street boy of a monkey; an angry wife sitting up for a truant husband of an extinguisher; a tall, conceited-looking parson, with a long coat, of a pump; while a sweep, with his ”machine,” to his mortal terror beholds his own shadow preceding him in the guise of Beelzebub himself. The series is continued in a work published by W. Kent & Co. in 1860, under the t.i.tle of ”Shadow and Substance,” the letterpress of which is contributed to Bennett's pictures by Robert B. Brough. Literary work of this description, like William Combe's ”Doctor Syntax,” is necessarily unsatisfactory; but the pictures themselves are distinctly inferior to the series which preceded them, the best being _Old Enough to Know Better_,--a bald-headed, superannuated old sinner behind the scenes, presenting a bouquet to a ballet girl, his figure casting a _shadow_ on the back of the scene of a bearded, long-eared, horned old goat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAS. H. BENNETT. ”_Shadow and Substance._”

”OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER.”

_Face p. 372._]

We are in no position to give a detailed list of Charles Bennett's work, which was of a very miscellaneous kind, comprising among others a series of slight outline portraits of members of parliament, which appeared in the _Ill.u.s.trated Times_, an edition of the ”Pilgrim's Progress,”

edited by the Rev. Charles Kingsley; ”John Todd,” a work by the Rev.

John Allen; ”Shadows,” and ”Shadow and Substance,” just spoken of; ”Proverbs, with Pictures by Charles H. Bennett,” etc., etc. His talent at last attracted the notice of the weekly _Punch_ council, and he received the coveted distinction of being engaged on the permanent staff of that periodical.

His life, however, was a brief one. The diary of s.h.i.+rley Brooks, who took much personal interest in him, refers with some anxiety to his illness on the 30th of March, 1867. On the 31st of March the report was somewhat more favourable; but the 2nd of April brought a letter from the editor of _Punch_, Mark Lemon, which said that Charles Bennett had died between the hours of eight and nine o'clock that morning. ”I am very sorry,” adds s.h.i.+rley Brooks in an autograph note appended beneath the letter referred to. ”B[ennett] was a man whom one could not help loving for his gentleness, and a wonderful artist.” The obituary notice by the same hand which appears in _Punch_ records that ”he was a very able colleague, a very dear friend. None of our fellow-workers,” it continues, ”ever entered more heartily into his work, or laboured with more earnestness to promote our general purpose. His facile execution and singular subtilty of fancy were, we hoped, destined to enrich these pages for many a year. It has been willed otherwise, and we lament the loss of a comrade of invaluable skill, and the death of one of the kindliest and gentlest of our a.s.sociates, the power of whose hand was equalled by the goodness of his heart.” Charles Bennett was only thirty-seven when he died.

He left a widow and eight children unprovided for, for his health having precluded it, no life insurance had been effected. The _Punch_ men, however, with the unselfishness which so n.o.bly characterizes them, put their shoulders to the wheel for the family of their stricken comrade.

”We shall have to do something,” said s.h.i.+rley Brooks in his diary of the 3rd of April; and they did it accordingly. A committee was immediately started, on which we find the names of Messrs. Arthur Lewis,[184]

Wilbert Beale, Mark Lemon, Du Maurier, John Tenniel, Arthur Sullivan, and W. H. Bradbury. Then came rehearsals, and, on the 11th of May, a performance at the Adelphi in aid of the Bennett fund. Mr. Arthur Sullivan had, in conjunction with Mr. F. C. Burnand, converted the well-known farce of ”Box and c.o.x” into an operetta of the most ludicrous description. This was the opening piece--the forerunner of ”Pinafore,”

”Pirates,” ”Patience,” and other triumphs. Arthur Sullivan himself conducted, and the players were Mr. Du Maurier, Mr. Quinton, and Mr.

Arthur Blunt. Then followed ”A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing,” in which Mesdames Kate Terry, Florence Terry, Mrs. Stoker, Mrs. Watts (the present Ellen Terry), and Messrs. Mark Lemon, Tom Taylor, Tenniel, Burnand, Silver, Pritchett, and Horace Mayhew took part. This was succeeded by Offenbach's ”Blind Beggars,” who were admirably personated by Mr. Du Maurier and Mr. Harold Power. The evening concluded with a number of part songs and madrigals sung by the Moray Minstrels--so called from their chiefly performing at Moray Lodge, the residence of Mr. Arthur Lewis. Between the two portions of their entertainment, s.h.i.+rley Brooks came on and delivered an address written by himself, which contained the following allusion to him for whose family the generous work had been undertaken:--

”Only some friends of a lost friend, whose name Is all the inheritance his children claim (Save memory of his goodness), think it due To make some brief acknowledgment to you.

Brief but not cold; some thanks that you have come And helped us to secure that saddened home, Where eight young mourners round a mother weep A fond and dear loved father's sleep.

Take it from us--and with this word we end All sad allusion to our parted friend-- That for a better purpose generous hearts Ne'er prompted liberal hands to do their parts.

You knew his power, his satire keen but fair, And the rich fancy, served by skill as rare.

You did not know, except some friendly few, That he was earnest, gentle, patient, true.

A better soldier doth life's battle lack, And he has died with harness on his back.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”RESULT OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM.”

THACKERAY'S MARGINAL SKETCHES, MADE WHEN AT SCHOOL, IN HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS, ETC.

_Back to p. 375._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THACKERAY'S MARGINAL SKETCHES, MADE WHEN AT SCHOOL, INHIS SCHOOL-BOOKS, ETC.

_Back to p. 375._]