Jeffrey Prowse, in one of his poems, makes the following touching allusion to the early death of his young friend:
"There is one of our band whom we cherished—
The youngest, the purest, the best—
In the frost of the night-time he perished,
Going quietly home to his rest;
And we thought, as we buried our dear one,
And mournfully turned us to go,
That the summons was still sounding near one—
Listen! On bot,
On bot le rappel là-haut!"
Going Home to Love in a Cottage. By F. A. Fraser. From Fun.
The very spot where the Snorkers held a pic-nic. Oh! didn't the ladies cry out in one voice, "I could live in such a charming place for ever, if only——" At the self-same pic-nic, Tilbury Pawkins plighted his troth to Amelia Softispoon. Now they are married, and Amelia has begun trying to live in the "charming place," and Pawkins is going home to a damp cottage and a rheumatic wife as blithely as a newly-married man should.
Then came W. J. Weigand, followed by A. Boyd Houghton. Notwithstanding the great ability of the latter, his quality of mind hardly fitted him to join in with Tom Hood's idea of the punctuality indispensable for conducting a weekly periodical. Next came Henry Doyle, a brother of the more famous Richard Doyle—an extremely careful and painstaking artist—who subsequently became Keeper of the Dublin National Gallery, with the distinction of C.B. After Doyle came Fred Barnard, an artist of surpassing versatility and humour. Perhaps it is not too much to say that in wit and true comicality he far outstripped all his predecessors on the journal; but some slight difference of opinion with the editor—or was it some interference on the part of Mr. Wylam, the then proprietor—caused him to secede from the position. Then followed Gordon Thomson, an artist upon the merits of whose productions there was a wide difference of opinion; but he did much good work—the series of double-pages in connection with the Franco-Prussian War being exceptionally strong. His large pictures for Christmas and other Holiday Numbers were remarkable for the varied topical events he crowded into them, and those who remember his "Academy Skits" will know what quaint burlesques they were. Here is an appreciation by one of his most distinguished contemporaries:
Sir John Gilbert said: