'LONDON SOCIETY'
1866, p. 35

TOO LATE

J. D. WATSON

'LONDON SOCIETY,' VOL. I. p. 150

ASH WEDNESDAY

In the first volume for 1862 we find a beautiful Lawless, Beauty's Toilet (p. 265), spoilt by its engraving, the texture of the flesh being singularly coarse and ineffectual. Fred Walker, in The Drawing-room, 'Paris' (i. p. 401), is seen in the unusual and not very captivating mood of a 'society' draughtsman. Ash Wednesday (p. 150), by J. D. Watson, is a singularly fine example of an artist whose work, the more you come across it, surprises you by its sustained power. The frontispiece Spring Days and A Romance and A Curacy (p. 386), are his also. Other illustrations by T. Morten, H. Sanderson, C. H. Bennett, Adelaide Claxton, Julian Portch, and F. R. Pickersgill, R.A., call for no special comment. In the second volume there are two drawings by Lawless, First Night at the Seaside (p. 220) and A Box on the Ear (p. 382); several by Du Maurier, one A Kettledrum (p. 203), peculiarly typical of his society manner; others, Refrezzment (p. 110), Snowdon (p. 481), Oh sing again (p. 433), Jewels (p. 105), and a Mirror Scene (p. 107), which reveal the cosmopolitan student of nature outside the artificial, if admirable, restrictions of 'good form.' The Border Witch (p. 181), by J. E. Millais, A.R.A., is one of the very few examples by the great illustrator in this periodical. J. D. Watson, in Moonlight on the Beach (p. 333), Married[2] (p. 449), A Summer Eve (p. 162), On the Coast (p. 321), Holiday Life (p. 339), and How I gained a Wife (p. 551), again surprises you, with regret his admirable work has yet not received fuller appreciation by the public. Walter Crane contributes some society pictures which reveal the admirable decorator in an unusual, and, to be candid, unattractive aspect. Kensington Gardens (p. 172), A London Carnival (p. 79), and Which is Fairest? (p. 242), are interesting as the work of a youth, but betray little evidence of his future power. Robert Barnes, in Dreaming Love and Waiting Duty (p. 564), shows how early in his career he reached the level which he maintained so admirably. A. Boyd Houghton's Finding a Relic (p. 89) is a good if not typical specimen of his work. The designs by E. J. Poynter, Tip Cat (p. 321), I can't thmoke a pipe (p. 318), and Lord Dundreary (pp. 308, 472), are singularly unlike the usual work of the accomplished author of Israel in Egypt. To these one must add the names of C. H. Bennett (Beadles, three), W. M'Connell, C. A. Doyle, George H. Thomas, E. K. Johnson, F. J. Skill, F. Claxton, H. Sanderson, and A. W. Cooper. So that 1862 offers, at least, a goodly list of artists, and quite enough first-rate work to make the volumes worth preserving.

In vol. iii. 1863 there is a drawing, The Confession (p. 37), engraved by Dalziel, that is possibly by Pinwell. Three by T. Morten, After the Opera (p. 39), A Struggle in the Clouds (p. 287), and Ruth Grey's Trial (p. 59), are good, if not the best of this artist's work. Two by George Du Maurier (pp. 209, 216) employ, after the manner of the time, a sort of pictured parable entitled On the Bridge and Under the Bridge. Our Honeymoon, by Marcus Stone, is interesting. Struck Down (p. 106) and The Heiress of Elkington (p. 345), both by J. D. Watson, are as good as his work is usually. A May Morning (p. 428), by George H. Thomas, is also worthy of mention, but the rest, by E. K. Johnson, E. H. Corbould, W. Brunton, W. Cave Thomas, Louis Huard, etc., are not peculiarly attractive.

The concluding volume for 1863 has a very dainty figure, Honey-Dew, by M. J. Lawless (p. 554). The three Du Mauriers are A Little Hop in Harley St. (p. 469), Lords: University Cricket Match (p. 161), and the Worship of Bacchus (p. 192) at first sight so curiously like a Charles Keene that, were it not for the signature, one would distrust the index. Nine drawings by T. Morten to The First Time are good, especially those on p. 180, and A First Attempt, Charles Green (p. 205), is also worth notice. Two drawings by G. J. Pinwell, Wolsey (p. 311) and another (p. 319), are characteristic. For the rest, C. H. Bennett, Louis Huard, Felix Darley, W. M'Connell, W. Brunton, Matt Morgan, Florence Claxton, T. Godwin, Waldo Sargent, George Thomas, and C. A. Doyle, provide entrées and sweets a little flavourless to-day, although palatable enough, no doubt, at the time.