In 1870 we find another change, this time to a page that may be a quarto technically, but instead of the square proportions we usually connect with that shape, it seems more akin to an octavo. The illustrations are smaller, but far better engraved and better printed. W. Small illustrates Wilkie Collins's cleverly-constructed story, Man and Wife, with thirty-seven pictures. His character-drawing appears at its best in 'Bishopriggs,' the old Scotch waiter, his love of beauty of line in two or three sketches of the athlete, 'Geoffrey Delamayne,' the working villain of the story. The dramatic force of the group on p. 305, the mystery of the scene on p. 529, or the finely-contrasted emotions of Anne Silvester and Sir Patrick on p. 481, could hardly be beaten. The other contributors to this vol. i. of the new series, include R. Barnes, Basil Bradley, H. K. Browne, W. R. Duckman, E. H. Corbould, M. E. Edwards, E. Ellis, S. L. Fildes, F. A. Fraser, E. Hughes, F. W. Lawson, H. Paterson, and others, most of whom it were kindness to ignore. For side by side with Mr. Small's masterly designs appear the weakest and most commonplace full pages. Hardly one, except S. L. Fildes's A Sonnet (p. 9), tempts you to linger a moment. In vol. ii. the serial story, Checkmate, is illustrated by Towneley Green. The drawings throughout are mainly by those who contributed to the first volume. In the third volume, Charles Reade's A Terrible Temptation is illustrated by Edward Hughes; a somewhat powerful composition by J. D. L[inton], p. 377; one by W. Small (p. 9), and others by J. Lawson, F. W. Lawson, M. E. Edwards, are all that can claim to be noted.

BELGRAVIA

This illustrated shilling monthly, the same size and shape as most of its predecessors, was not started until 1866, and its earlier volumes have nothing in them sufficiently important to be noticed. In the seventies better things are to be found.

THE ARGOSY

This monthly periodical, as we know it of late years, suggests a magazine devoted to fiction and light literature, with a frontispiece by some well-known artist, and small engravings in the text mostly from photographs, or belonging to the diagram and the record rather than to fine art. I am not speaking of the present shilling series, but of the long array of volumes from 1868 until a few years ago. Nor does this opinion belittle the admirable illustrations by Walter Crane, M. Ellen Edwards, and other artists who supplied its monthly frontispiece. But the first four half-yearly volumes were planned on quite different lines, and these deserve the attention of all interested in the subject of this book, to a degree hardly below that of the better-known magazines; better known, that is to say, as storehouses of fine illustrations. As these volumes seem to be somewhat scarce, a brief résumé of their contents will not be out of place. In the year 1866 we have William Small at his best in twelve illustrations to Charles Reade's dramatic novel, Griffith Gaunt. Whether because the ink has sunk into the paper and given a rich tone to the prints, or because of their intrinsic merit, it is not quite easy to say, but the fact remains that these drawings have peculiar richness, and deserve to be placed among the best works of a great artist not yet fully recognised. One design by F. Sandys to Christina Rossetti's poem, If, is especially noticeable, the model biting a strand of hair embodies the same idea as that of Proud Maisie, one of the best-known works of this master. A. Boyd Houghton has a typical Eastern figure-subject, The Vision of Sheik Hamil; Edward Hughes one, Hermione; Paul Gray, a singularly good drawing to a poem The Lead-Melting, by Robert Buchanan. Another to a poem by George Macdonald, The Sighing of the Shell, is unsigned, whether by Morten or Paul Gray I cannot say, but it is worthy of either artist; J. Lawson has one to The Earl of Quarterdeck, M. Ellen Edwards one to Cuckoo and one to Cape Ushant, a ballad by William Allingham; a group, with Napoleon as the central figure, is by G. J. Pinwell, and J. Mahoney contributes three: Autumn Tourists, Bell from the North, a girl singing by a Trafalgar Square fountain, and The Love of Years. The next year, 1867, is illustrated more sparsely. Robert Falconer, by George Macdonald, has one unsigned drawing, and nine by William Small; these, with A Knight-Errant by Boyd Houghton, make up the eleven it contains. In the next year Walter Crane illustrates the serial, Anne Hereford, by Mrs. Henry Wood, and also a poem, Margaret, by his sister.

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'THE ARGOSY'
1866, VOL. I. p. 500

THE VISION OF
SHEIK HAMIL

G. J. PINWELL