MR. PUNCH'S FANCY BALL. 1847.
Yes, the lion THACKERAY had joined the Table, and thenceforth for many years he illumined my pages with his keen wit and ripe wisdom, his graceful prose, his polished verse, and his characteristic pictures.
"The frontispiece to Volume V. (1843) was by RICHARD DOYLE, a plain foreshadowing of the celebrated design which was ever after to form the familiar Cover of the Punch Number. DOYLE had now joined the Staff, and for many years his fine fancy was allowed full play in my pages.
"At the end of the same Volume, upon page 260 of a supplement, entitled, 'Punch's Triumphal Procession,' appeared TOM HOOD's never-to-be-forgotten 'Song of the Shirt.' It is one of Mr. Punch's pleasantest Reminiscences that this gentle genius, this true poet, contributed this famous masterpiece to his pages.
"The scholarly, accomplished, and warm-hearted TOM TAYLOR was the next to join the Table, and his 'Spanish Ballads' (in 1846), admirably illustrated by DOYLE, made their mark, as did later his 'Unprotected Female.' In Volume XVI. PERCIVAL LEIGH commenced his 'Mr. PIPS, his Diary, or, Manners and Customs of ye Englyshe in 1849,' characteristically illustrated by RICHARD DOYLE at his graphic best. The same year was remarkable for the appearance of LEECH's most delightful character, the simple-minded, sport-loving, philistine paterfamilias, Mr. BRIGGS, first met with in connection with 'The Pleasures of Housekeeping,' though subsequently associated especially with humorous sporting scenes.
"The frontispiece to Volume XIX., for the second half of the year 1850, was by a 'new hand,' none other than JOHN TENNIEL the 'Cartoonist' par excellence, whose work henceforth was to be—as happily it still is—the pride of Mr. Punch and the delight of the British Public. TENNIEL's first Cartoon, 'Lord JACK the Giant-Killer,' graced Mr. Punch's 499th Number, he having taken, at short notice, the place of RICHARD DOYLE, who after many years of excellent work had voluntarily withdrawn from the Table, owing to certain religious scruples, not wholly unconnected with the subject of his successor's first 'Big Cut.'
"Another member of my little army about this time was GEORGE SILVER, and my next recruits were the polished and witty SHIRLEY BROOKS, and, one who was to develop into the greatest master of Black-and-White Art this country has produced, CHARLES KEENE to wit, our dear, picturesque, unsophisticated 'CARLO,' lost to the Table—an irreparable loss!—but a few months ago.