One of his characteristics was his great love of children. It was a pleasure to him to get a party of young people together, and go off to the fields to romp and play all sorts of games and antics. His taste in that way is fully shown in the set of some thirty or more drawings he made for us of "Child Life," which we published, through Routledge, as "Home Thoughts." But he made other pictures of the little ones: "Kiss Me," done for Good Words, is an excellent example.
He had special advantages to assist him in his work on our edition of "The Arabian Nights." He was born in India. His father, his brothers, and many relatives were Indian army men, who had fine collections of articles of virtu, curios, costumes, and every sort of thing invaluable for the illustrators purposes, much of which he placed at the disposal of Thomas Dalziel, thus enabling both to work with uniformity in all necessary details.
The Three Blind Men Watched by the Thief.
FROM "DALZIEL'S ARABIAN NIGHTS."
By A. Boyd Houghton, R.W.S.
By permission of Messrs. Ward & Lock.
There is no doubt that these "Arabian Nights" drawings of Houghton's are amongst the best work in black and white of the period; but strange as it may appear, publishers did not take willingly to his art. Alexander Strahan was almost the only one who fully appreciated his great ability. He used his drawings largely in his various magazines and also bought several of his pictures—one, a large oil, "Sheik Hamel," a truly grand picture. We had a water colour of the same subject, which by many was considered the finer work of the two. Both were painted from the original drawing done for Good Words. One of the most beautiful water colours we had from him was "Coach and Horses," a portrait picture of his wife and two children, now in the possession of his youngest daughter, Mrs. Charles Davis, a lady of refined taste, whose greatest pleasure is to acquire works of her much-loved father. The small water colour of "Useless Mouths," exhibited in the R.W.S., was a subject he was very fond of—people being driven out of a beleaguered city. We had two oil pictures (which he painted with slight variations) of the same subject, as well as "The Daughter of Herodias Dances before Herod." Another, which he named "The Sorceress," was a beautiful young girl being tried as a witch before the tribunal of the Inquisition. Both the latter pictures were exceptionally fine.