This was the barest sketch, childish and shaky in execution, which, however, is explained in the legend as being due to the "Special Artist" being in the line of fire. Mr. Layard asserts that when Keene made the drawing he thought the joke "a mighty poor one;" and he might have added, as is made clear in the chapter dealing with "Plagiarism," not even a new one, for Punch himself had used the idea before (p. 166, Vol. XV.), and was then accused of theft by the "Man in the Moon." Mr. Silver proceeds:—
"His next two drawings illustrate an article of mine, and appear on the second page of the next volume. His fourth, a far more finished drawing, like these, saw the light in 1852, and may be found in Vol. XXIII., p. 257. It shows a gentleman engaged in fishing in his kitchen, and is entitled 'The Advantage of an Inundation,' the autumn of that year being very wet. Mark Lemon wrote to me commending it, and asking me to try and draw a little more for him. I showed Charles the letter, and said that now, of course, his name must be divulged, for I clearly was obtaining kudos under false pretences. However, he deferred the disclosure for a while, and it was not until the spring of 1854 that his 'C. K.' first appeared (vide initial 'G,' Vol. XXVI., p. 128)—a modest little monogram, quite unlike his later and so well-known signature. In the interim he marked his drawings with a mask, which was a device of mine for hiding his identity."
For nine years Keene worked steadily on Punch, improving artistically in an amazing manner, and in 1860 he was called to the Table—they served long terms of probation then—and ate his first Dinner on February 20th. It was a notable company that he used to meet, all the chief "rising stars" of Punch being still upon the Staff, save Douglas Jerrold, who had died three years before. There were Mark Lemon, Thackeray (nominally retired), Tom Taylor, Horace Mayhew, Shirley Brooks, Percival Leigh, John Leech, Henry Silver, and John Tenniel; and into this brilliant assemblage, on the evening in question (when, however, Thackeray was absent, and Sir Joseph Paxton was present as a visitor), he was received with a cordial welcome. But neither at that time nor thenceforward did he take a prominent part in the discussions over the cartoon, although on one occasion he did astonish the company with an excellent though belated suggestion. He had, in fact, no originality of a literary or humorous kind. He knew the exact value of a joke when it was made, and could usually display its point to incomparable advantage; but joke-creation was not one of his strong points, even though he was often forced to it by necessity. Occasionally, however, he would miss a point entirely, as in the joke sent him by Mr. Alfred Cooper[55]:—
"Visitor (having shot a hare at the usual seventy yards): 'Long shot that, Johnson.'
"Keeper: 'Yes, sir; Master remarked as it were a wery long shot.'
"Visitor (gratified): 'Ah! Oh, he noticed it, did he?'
"Keeper: 'Yes, sir; Master always take notice. When gen'lemen makes wery long shots, they don't get asked again!'"
"Why," asks Keene, "would 'Master' object to this long shot? Burnand ... is sure to want to know I don't know either! Will you kindly explain, so that I can answer him as if I were an expert." As if even a non-sportsman would fail to see the point!
But at the Table, delightful as Keene personally was—he was lovingly addressed as "Carlo"—he was not a leading conversationalist. He proposed little; yet when his opinion was asked, he gave it, with judgment and taste, tersely expressed. His work, besides, was rarely discussed at the Table, for he usually had to seek his material outside. Moreover, he was, as he expressed it, a "hot Tory," and so strongly antipathetic did he profess himself towards the Liberal tendency of some of the Staff of that day that he would declare with a wink that he positively preferred to stay away; and on the occasion of the accession of Mr. Anstey, wrote this sturdy Conservative "I hope he's a Tory. We want some leaven to the set of sorry Rads that lead poor old Punch astray at present." But few independent readers, and fewer still of Keene's personal friends, will take very seriously his sweeping assertion and political pronunciamentoes—at least, as regards Punch, for whom and for his colleagues he retained to the end feelings of the warmest affection.
When John Leech died in 1864, it was Keene who received the main heritage of his great position as the social satirist of the paper, and with it the heaviest share of work and artistic responsibility. Not only did his work increase in the ordinary numbers, but extra drawings—such as the etched frontispieces to the Pocket-books—fell also to his lot; and a good deal against the grain—for he hated any approach to personality, even though his target was a public man and his shaft was tipped with harmless fun—he executed fourteen cartoons, as is explained elsewhere. In addition to his ordinary "socials" and the formal decorations of each successive volume, Keene re-illustrated "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures" with a marvellous series of drawings, and Mr. Frank C. Burnand's "Tracks for Tourists," which made their first appearance as "How, When, and Where" (1864) and were ultimately republished in "Very Much Abroad." Of his outside work for "Once a Week," published by Messrs. Bradbury and Evans, and other publications, no mention need here be made.