In 1864, M. J. Lawless's Not for You (p. 85); a fine J. D. Watson, The Duet (p. 268); Charley Blake, by G. Du Maurier (p. 385); At Swindon (p. 41), M. E. Edwards, and Little Golden Hair, by R. Barnes, are the only others above the average. Adelaide Claxton, W. M'Connell, H. Sanderson, and J. B. Zwecker provide most of the rest. The second half of the year (vol. vi.) is far better, contains some good work by the 'talented young lady,' M. E. E. (to quote contemporary praise); that her work was talented all students of the 'sixties' will agree. A Holocaust (p. 433), Dangerous (p. 353), Gone (p. 185), Magdalen (p. 553), Milly's Success (p. 269), and Unto this Last (p. 252) are all by Miss Edwards. A fine Millais, Knightly Worth (p. 247), and a good J. D. Watson, Blankton Weir (p. 416), would alone make the volume memorable. C. A. Doyle has some of his best drawings to A Shy Man, and G. H. Thomas and others maintain a good average. Rebecca Solomon has a good full page (p. 541). In the extra Christmas number you will find E. J. Poynter's A Sprig of Holly (p. 28), J. D. Watson's Story of a Christmas Fairy (p. 24), a notable design, besides capital illustrations by Du Maurier, R. Dudley (The Blue Boy), R. Barnes, and Marcus Stone.
1865 is a Du Maurier year. In vol. vii. eleven drawings by this fecund artist on pp. 38, 193, 202, 289, 296, 428, 430, 481, 488, and 697, all excellent examples of his early manner. Arthur Hughes, with The Farewell Valentine (p. 188), makes his first appearance within the pages of London Society. A. W. Cooper, J. Pasquier, T. R. Lamont, and A. Claxton are to the fore, and C. H. Bennett has a series of typical members of various learned societies, which, characteristic as they are, might have their titles transposed without any one being the wiser. In vol. viii. 1865, Paul Gray appears with My Darling (p. 253). T. Morten has three capital drawings: Two Loves and a Life (p. 400), A Romance at Marseilles (p. 549), and Love and Pride (p. 16); and Du Maurier has Codlingham Regatta (p. 284), How not to play Croquet (p. 61), Where shall we go? (p. 17), Old Jockey West (p. 288), The Rev. Mr. Green (p. 122), Furnished Apartments (p. 481), and Ticklish Ground (p. 488). G. J. Pinwell is represented by a solitary example, The Courtship of Giles Languish (p. 384), J. D. Watson by Green Mantle (pp. 385, 388, 389), and M. E. Edwards by Georgie's First Love-letter (p. 152), Faithful and True (p. 263), Firm and Faithful (p. 60). The other contributors are A. W. Bayes (To Gertrude, p. 460), L. C. Henley, T. R. Lamont, J. A. Pasquier, Kate Edwards, W. Brunton, T. S. Seccombe, John Gascoine, etc.
In 1866, vol. ix., George Du Maurier signs the frontispiece, Two to One, and also two illustrations to Much Ado About Nothing (pp. 289, 296), two to Second Thoughts (pp. 385, 391), and two to Queen of Diamonds (pp. 481–488). T. Morten has again three designs: Mrs. Reeve (p. 135), On the Wrekin (p. 1), and The Man with a Dog (p. 239); R. Dudley supplies one, The Tilt-Yard (p. 441), and Kate Edwards one, The June Dream (p. 531). M. Ellen Edwards in three admirable examples, In Peril (p. 450), Mutually Forgiven (p. 228), and The Cruel Letter (p. 364), shows how cleverly she caught the influence in the air. Other artists contribute many drawings of no particular interest.
Vol. x. shows W. Small with two drawings, Agatha (p. 160) and The Reading of Locksley Hall (p. 8). It is curious to see how the sentimentality of the poem has influenced the admirable draughtsman, who is not here at his best. Paul Gray has also two, An English October (p. 289) and To a Flirt (p. 373); G. Du Maurier is represented by one only, Life in Lodgings (p. 516); J. G. Thompson by one also, Caught at Last (p. 80); T. Morten again contributes three: Marley Hall (p. 560), May's Window (p. 432), and The Trevillians' Summer Trip (p. 124); A. Boyd Houghton is represented by Ready for Supper (p. 146), and M. E. Edwards by two drawings to Something to My Advantage (pp. 481–488). The Christmas number contains one Boyd Houghton, The Christmas Tree (p. 80); a J. D. Watson, Given back on Christmas Morn (p. 63); a very good F. W. Lawson, Did I Offend? (p. 32); a delightful Charles Keene, How I lost my Whiskers (p. 27); Sir Guy's Goblet (p. 16), by M. E. Edwards, and one by George Cruikshank, My Christmas Box, looking curiously out of place here.
In the eleventh volume (1867) the four by W. Small are among the most important. They are A Pastoral Episode (p. 406), Quite Alone (p. 277), The Meeting (p. 163), and Try to Keep Firm (p. 361); a J. D. Watson, Changes (p. 373); a Paul Gray, Goldsmith at the Temple Gate (p. 392); a J. G. Thompson, An Expensive Journey (p. 36); M. E. Edwards's Winding of the Skein (p. 177), and L. C. Henley's How I set about Paying my Debts (p. 388), are all that need be mentioned. In the twelfth volume (1867) A. Boyd Houghton signs a couple of drawings to A Spinster's Sweepstake (pp. 376, 383), G. J. Pinwell supplies two to Beautiful Mrs. Johnson (pp. 136–248), F. W. Lawson two to Dedding Revisited (p. 433), Without Reserve (p. 440), and four to Mary Eaglestone's Lover (pp. 97, 103, 207, 362). Charles Green is responsible for The Meeting at the Play (p. 276), and J. G. Thompson for a series, Threading the Mazy at Islington. The Christmas number is honoured by two fine drawings by Charles Keene (p. 18) and a good double page by J. D. Watson, Christmas at an old Manor-House. Sir John Gilbert, a rare contributor to these pages, is represented by The Rowborough Hollies (p. 41), M. E. Edwards by The Christmas Rose (p. 16), and F. W. Lawson by My Turn Next (p. 73).
With its thirteenth volume (1868) London Society still keeps up to the level it established. Among much that was intended for the moment only there is also work of far more sterling value. Charles Keene, in two drawings for Tomkins' Degree Supper (pp. 224, 232), is seen at his best, and how good that is needs no retelling. Sir John Gilbert, among a new generation, keeps his place as a master, and in four drawings (pp. 113, 249, 314, 429) reveals the superb qualities of his work, coupled, it must be said, with certain limitations which are almost inseparable from rapid production. G. Du Maurier is represented by two, Lift her to it (p. 324) and The White Carnation (p. 558). The inscription of Expectation (p. 360), by 'the late M. J. Lawless', marks the final discharge of an illustrator who did much to impart permanent interest to the magazine. It is always a regret to find that Mr. Sandys chose other fields of work, and that death withdrew Lawless so soon; for these two, not displaying equal power, together with Walter Crane maintained the decorative ideal through a period when it was unpopular with the public and apparently found little favour in editors' eyes. M. E. Edwards's My Valentine (p. 114) and Married on her tenth Birthday (p. 206). To this list must be added W. Small, with a delightful out-of-doors study, 'You did not come' (p. 368); G. B. Goddard with some capital 'animal' pictures: Spring of Life (p. 353), Buck Shooting (p. 72), and Dogs of Note (pp. 75, 179); Wilfrid Lawson, A Spring-tide Tale (p. 472); F. Barnard, A Bracing Morning (p. 60); A. W. Cooper, The Old Seat (p. 268); and others by Tom Gray, J. G. Thomson, W. L. Thomas, J. A. Pasquier, W. S. Gilbert, S. E. Illingworth, Rice, W. Brunton, H. French, A. Crowquill, Edwin J. Ellis, Fane Wood, and Isaac L. Brown. Vol. xiv., the second of 1868, contains J. D. Watson's The Oracle (p. 457); W. Small's The Lights on Gwyneth's Head (p. 165); A. Boyd Houghton, The Turn of the Tide (p. 458); John Gilbert's Cousin Geoffrey's Chamber (Frontispiece), and Box and Cox in Bay of Bengal (p. 392); Birket Foster's The Falconer's Lay, probably engraved from a water-colour drawing (p. 529); Wilfrid Lawson's Crush-room (p. 140); For Charity's Sake (p. 112); Behind the Scenes (p. 141), The Gentle Craft (p. 86), and The Golden Boat (p. 579), with many others by the regular contributors. In the Christmas number we find Linley Sambourne, whose work is encountered rarely outside the pages of Punch, with a design for a Christmas Day Costume (p. 17); Charles Keene, with two drawings for Our Christmas Turkey (pp. 44, 46); G. B. Goddard's full-page, Knee-deep (p. 32); J. D. Watson's Aunt Grace's Sweetheart (p. 19) and The Two Voices (p. 86) deserve noting.
In 1869 Wilfrid Lawson illustrates Whyte-Melville's M. or N., and has several other full-page drawings in his best vein (pp. 8, 48, 89, 128, 152, 232, 307, 467, 540); J. Mahoney is first met here with Officers and Gentlemen (p. 284), and J. D. Watson supplies the frontispiece to vol. xv., Bringing Home the Hay, and also that to vol. xvi., Second Blossom. In this latter Wilfrid Lawson has illustrations to M. or N. (pp. 156, 193, 236, 386); T. Morten, a powerful drawing, Winter's Night (p. 550); G. B. Goddard, The Sportman's Resolve (p. 528). The other artists, including some new contributors, are M. A. Boyd, Horace Stanton, E. J. Ellis, T. Sweeting, James Godwin, F. Roberts, A. W. Cooper, L. Huard, and B. Ridley. The Christmas number for 1869 contains a good Charles Keene, The Coat with the Fur Lining (pp. 1, 6); Gilbert's Secret of Calverly Court (p. 4); M. E. Edwards's How the Choirs were Carolling (p. 84); and J. Mahoney's Mr. Daubarn (p. 49), with others of no particular importance.
The numbers for 1870 contain, inter alia, in the first half-year, a good J. D. Watson, Going down the Road (Frontispiece); A Leaf from a Sketch-Book, by Linley Sambourne (printed, like a series this year, on special sheets of thick white paper, as four-page supplements), which contained lighter work by artists of the hour, but none worth special mention.
J. Mahoney's Going to the Drawing-room (p. 321), and Sir Stephen's Question (p. 112), and Spring-time, drawn and engraved by W. L. Thomas (p. 375), are among the most interesting of the ordinary full pages. In the second half of the year, volume 18, there is a full page, Not Mine (p. 501), by Arthur Hughes, which links 1855 to 1870; A. W. Small, After the Season (p. 338); the very unimportant drawing by M. J. Lawless, An Episode of the Italian War (p. 97), has interest as a relic; J. Mahoney contributes two to The Old House by the River (pp. 67, 172), and many others by H. Paterson, Wilfrid Lawson, A. Claxton. This year a Holiday number appeared, with a not very good J. D. Watson, A Landscape Painter (p. 47), and two Francis Walkers, A Summer Holiday and Rosalind and Celia, and other seasonable designs by various hands. The Christmas number has a coloured frontispiece and other designs by H. D. Marks; J. D. Watson illustrates What might have happened (pp. 8, 17, 19); and Charles Keene, Gipsy Moll (pp. 39, 45); Francis Walker has The Star Rider (p. 59) and A Tale (p. 63); F. A. Fraser, typical of the next decade, and one might say, without undue severity, of the decadence also, and F. Gilbert, that facile understudy of Sir John, show examples of work differing as far as it well could; but 1870 is the last stage we need note here in the career of a magazine which did notable service to the cause of illustration, and brought a good many men into notice who have taken prominent part in the history of 'black and white.' Without placing it on a level with Once a Week, it is an interesting collection of representative work, with some really first-rate drawing.
