- 
 
 rn! 
 ,UU 
 
 
 ART ''.ARE iR 
 
 BLACKBURN

 
 \ 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT, 
 
 Born 1846; Died 1886.
 
 ANDOLPH 
 
 CALDECOTT: 
 
 JHemotr 
 
 OF HIS EARLY ART CAREER. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY BLACKBURN, 
 
 EDITOR OF "ACADEMY NOTES," ETC.; AUTHOR OF "BRETON FOLK, 
 "ARTISTS AND ARABS," ETC. 
 
 WITH 
 
 ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 1 88, FLEET STREET. 
 1886. 
 
 All rights rcsei-vcd.
 
 RlCIIAKU Cl.AV AND SONS, 
 
 LONDON AND lU'NGAV.
 
 DECORATIVE DESIGN BY R. CALDECOTT. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE object of this memoir is to give some 
 information as to the early work of Randolph 
 Caldecott, an artist who is known to the world 
 chiefly by his Picture Books. 
 
 The extracts from letters have a personal charm 
 apart from any literary merit. The majority of 
 the letters, and the sketches which accompanied 
 them, were sent to the author's family ; others have
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 been kindly lent for this memoir by Mr. William 
 dough, Mr. Locker-Lampson, Mr. Whittenbury, 
 and other friends. Acknowledgments are also 
 due to the publishers who have lent engravings. 
 
 At the desire of Mr. Caldecott's representatives, 
 to whom the author is indebted for extracts 
 from diaries and other material the consideration 
 of his later work is reserved for a future time. 
 
 Although the text of this book is little more 
 than a setting for the illustrations, it is hoped that 
 the material collected may be found interesting. 
 
 H. B. 
 
 103, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, 
 September 1 886.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAP. I. His EARLY ART CAREER i 
 
 II. DRAWING FOR "LONDON SOCIETY" 13 
 
 III. IN LONDON, THE HARZ MOUNTAINS, ETC. . . 29 
 
 IV. DRAWING FOR "THE DAILY GRAPHIC" ... 51 
 
 V. DRAWING FOR "THE PICTORIAL WORLD" . . 67 
 
 VI. AT FARNHAM ROYAL, BUCKS 90 
 
 VII. "OLD CHRISTMAS" 100 
 
 VIII. LETTERS, DIAGRAMS, ETC 117 
 
 IX. ROYAL ACADEMY, " BRACEBRIDGE HALL," ETC. 134 
 
 X. ON THE RIVIERA 148 
 
 XI. "BRETON FOLK," ETC 165 
 
 XII. AT MENTONE, ETC 190 
 
 XIII. CONCLUSION 203 
 
 APPENDIX . . . 211
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The unpubluJud illustrations are marked with an asterisk 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PORTRAIT Frontispiece 
 
 DECORATIVE DESIGN BY R. CALDECOTT vii 
 
 *TAILPIECE , xvi 
 
 *AIR "I KNOW A BANK" i 
 
 *FIRST CLERK SECOND Do 2 
 
 *COOM, THEN 3 
 
 *THREE FRIENDS 4 
 
 'GOING TO THE DOGS 5 
 
 *A SKETCH IN COURT 7 
 
 *FULL CRY 8 
 
 *!N THE HUNTING FIELD 9 
 
 STREET SKETCH POLICEMAN, ETC 10 
 
 SOCIETY IN MANCHESTER n 
 
 *A NEW CONTRIBUTOR (London Society^ 13 
 
 EDUCATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES 14 
 
 YE MONTHE OF APRILE 15 
 
 SKETCH IN HYDE PARK 16 
 
 THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER 17 
 
 *THE TROMBONE 18 
 
 THE Two TROMBONES 19 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY, 4.30 A.M 20 
 
 CLINCHING AN ARGUMENT 21 
 
 SNOWBALLS 22 
 
 HEIGH-HO, THE HOLLY ! 23
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 'PAGE 
 
 GOING TO COVER 25 
 
 HYDE PARK OUT OF THE SEASON 26 
 
 COMING OF AGE OF THE PRIDE OF THE FAMILY 27 
 
 *THE END OF ALL THINGS ' 28 
 
 *SKETCH ON A POST CARD . 29 
 
 FIRST DRAWING IN "PUNCH," 22ND JUNE, 1872 31 
 
 *A COOL SEQUESTERED SPOT 32 
 
 A TOUR IN THE TOY COUNTRY (Harz Mountains) . . 33 
 
 A MOUNTAIN BEER GARDEN 34 
 
 A FRAIJLEIN 35 
 
 A MOUNTAIN PATH 35 
 
 A WARRIOR OF SEDAN IN A BEER GARDEN AT GOSLAR, 1872 . . 36 
 
 THE ARK OF REFUGE 37 
 
 *THE DANCE OF WITCHES 38 
 
 SPECTRES OF THE BROCKEN 39 
 
 A SKETCH AT SUPPER 40 
 
 BACK TO THE VIEW 40 
 
 THE GUIDE AT GOSLAR 41 
 
 PROCESSION OF THE SICK 42 
 
 DRINKING THE WATERS AT GOSLAR 43 
 
 A GENERAL IN THE PRUSSIAN ARMY 44 
 
 *A SCHOOL ON THE MARCH HARZ MOUNTAINS, 1872 45 
 
 SKETCH HARZ MOUNTAINS, 1872 46 
 
 SKETCH HARZ MOUNTAINS, 1872 48 
 
 AT CLAUSTHAL 49 
 
 "SKETCH 50 
 
 SKETCH IN "PUNCH," STH MARCH, 1873 51 
 
 A CHECK 53 
 
 SKETCH (Published in Pall Mall Gazette) 55 
 
 LOOKING OUT FOR THE "GRAPHIC" BALLOON 57 
 
 OFF TO THE EXHIBITION VIENNA, 1873 59 
 
 *A VIENNESE DOG 60 
 
 SKETCH (Published in Pall Mall Gazette') 62 
 
 *ARLY DECORATIVE DESIGN 64
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 *Tins is NOT A FIRST-CLASS Cow 66 
 
 STUDIES FOR A LARGE DECORATIVE DESIGN, 1874 67 
 
 THE POLLING BOOTH (Pictorial World) 70 
 
 *HOME RULE MARCH 1874 71 
 
 ON THE STUMP 72 
 
 THE SCOTCH ELECTIONS GOING TO THE HUSTINGS 73 
 
 PAIRING TIME 74 
 
 COURSING 75 
 
 HER FIRST VALENTINE 76 
 
 A VALENTINE 76 
 
 SOMEBODY'S COMING ! 77 
 
 I WONDER WHO SENT ME THESE FLOWERS 78 
 
 THE YOUNG HAMLET 79 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 1874 ARRIVAL OF NEW MEMBERS . 80 
 
 THE SPEAKER GOING UP TO THE LORDS Si 
 
 AT THE BAR OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS 82 
 
 THE NEW PRIME MINISTER 83 
 
 THE TICHBORNE TRIAL BREAKING-UP DAY 84 
 
 THE MORNING WALK 86 
 
 'DECORATIVE PAINTING FOR A DINING-ROOM 89 
 
 *THE COTTAGE, FARKHAM ROYAL 90 
 
 *SKETCH FROM THE COTTAGE, FARNHAM ROYAL 91 
 
 'BRINGING HOME THE SULTANAS 92 
 
 *THE PADDOCK, FARNHAM ROYAL 93 
 
 'STUDYING FROM NATURE 95 
 
 SKETCH (Published in Pall Mali Gazette} 96 
 
 SKETCH (Published in Pall Mall Gazette) 97 
 
 'DRAWING FROM FAMILIAR OBJECTS 98 
 
 'COULD NOT DRAW A LADY ! 99 
 
 HEADPIECE (Old Christmas) 100 
 
 THE STAGE COACHMAN 103 
 
 IN THE STABLE YARD 104 
 
 THE TROUBADOUR 106 
 
 THE FAIR JULIA 107
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MASTER SIMON AND HIS DOGS 109 
 
 Ox THE ROAD SIDE, BRITTANY in 
 
 *AT GUINGAMP, BRITTANY 113 
 
 *To M. H. CHRISTMAS, 1874 114 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER 116 
 
 *ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 117 
 
 *AT FARNHAM ROYAL 118 
 
 *SUNRISE 119 
 
 *DIAGRAM. STUDY IN LINE 120 
 
 DIAGRAM. STUDY IN LINE 120 
 
 DIAGRAM. DESIGN FOR A PICTURE, 1875 I21 
 
 DIAGRAM. A MAD DOG 122 
 
 DIAGRAM. THE LECTURER 123 
 
 DIAGRAM. CHILD 124 
 
 DIAGRAM. MAD DOG 125 
 
 SKETCH 127 
 
 Snows HIS TERRA COTTAS 129 
 
 THE FIRST YEAR OF ACADEMY NOTES 130 
 
 THREE PELICANS AND TORTOISE 131 
 
 INSPECTING EMBROIDERIES 132 
 
 FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT 132 
 
 *A CHRISTMAS CARD TO K. E. B 133 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS (Manchester Quarterly) 134 
 
 THERE WERE THREE RAVENS SAT ON A TREE 135 
 
 PRIVATE VIEW OF MY FIRST R.A. PICTURE 136 
 
 *A HORSE FAIR IN BRITTANY 137 
 
 CAPTAIN BURTON 139 
 
 PREFACE i Bracebridge Hall 140 
 
 PREFACE 2 Bracebridge Hall 140 
 
 THE CHIVALRY OF THE HALL PREPARED TO TAKE THE FIELD . 141 
 
 THE FAIR JULIA AND HER LOVER 143 
 
 GENERAL HARBOTTLE AT DINNER 144 
 
 AN EXTINGUISHER 145 
 
 Ax WHITCHURCH 146
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 *Ax BUXTON 147 
 
 *A CHRISTMAS CARD 148 
 
 GAMING TABLES AT MONTE CARLO (Graphic} 151 
 
 PRIEST AND PLAYER (Graphic) 153 
 
 THE PRIEST'S SERVANT (North Italian Folk} 155 
 
 THE HUSBANDMAN 157 
 
 GOSSIP 158 
 
 DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE (National Gallery} 160 
 
 SPANIELS, KING CHARLES'S BREED 160 
 
 PORTRAIT OF A LAWYER BY MORONI 161 
 
 * WAITING FOR A BOAT 163 
 
 *TAILPIECE 164 
 
 *CLEOPATRA 165 
 
 THE THREE HUNTSMEN (L' Art} 167 
 
 A BOAR HUNT (Grosvenor Notes} 168 
 
 THE TRAP (Bnton Folk) 170 
 
 SKETCHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 171 
 
 BRETON FARMER AND CATTLE 172 
 
 A WAYSIDE CROSS 173 
 
 AT THE HORSE FAIR, LE FOLGOET 174 
 
 TROTTING OUT HORSES AT CARHAIX 175 
 
 CATTLE FAIR AT CARHAIX 176 
 
 A TYPICAL BRETON 177 
 
 A BRETONNE 178 
 
 *SKETCH 179 
 
 A CAP OF FINISTERRE i8o 
 
 RETURNING FROM LABOUR PONT AVEN, 1878 181 
 
 A BRETON 183 
 
 *A FAMILY HORSE 184 
 
 *SKETCH IN WOBURN PARK 185 
 
 *A CARNATION 186 
 
 *HOTEL GRAY ET D'ALBION, CANNES 189 
 
 *AT MENTONE 190 
 
 *SKETCH 191
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SKETCH 192 
 
 NOT SUCH DISAGREEABLE WEATHER AFTER ALL SOME PEOPLE 
 
 THINK (from Punch) 193 
 
 *A PIG OF BRITTANY 194 
 
 *A BOOKPLATE 195 
 
 *SKETCH 196 
 
 SKETCH 197 
 
 FACSIMILE OF LETTER 199 
 
 SKETCH 200 
 
 SKETCH OF WYBOURNES 201 
 
 *A NEW YEAR'S GREETING 203 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 HEADPIECE. CALDECOTT'S PICTURE BOOKS 212 
 
 ^Esop's FABLES 214 
 
 A SKETCH BOOK 215 
 
 BRETON FOLK . 216
 
 AIR "I KNOW A BANK." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS EARLY ART CAREER. 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT, the son of an accountant 
 in Chester, was born in that city on the 22nd of 
 March, 1846, and educated at the King's School, 
 where he became the head boy. He was not 
 studious in the popular sense of the word, but spent 
 most of his leisure time in wandering in the country 
 round. Thus, his love of sport and fondness for 
 rural pursuits, which never forsook him, were 
 evidenced at an early age. His artistic instincts 
 were also early developed, and many treasured 
 
 B
 
 2 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. i. 
 
 sketches, models of animals, &c., cut out of wood, 
 were produced in Chester by the boy Caldecott. 
 
 Perhaps the best and most characteristic record of 
 his early life is, that he and his brother were " two of 
 the best boys in the school ; " the genius that con- 
 sists in " an infinite faculty for taking pains '' having 
 much to do with his after career of success. 
 
 FIRST CLERK " GOT JONES' LEDGER?" 
 SECOND Do. (NEWLY MARRIED) "YES, LOVE ! ' 
 
 In 1861 Caldecott was sent to a bank at Whit- 
 church in Shropshire, where, for six years, he seems 
 to have had considerable leisure and opportunity 
 for indulging in his favourite pursuits. Here, living 
 at an old farm-house about two miles from the
 
 AT WHITCHURCH. 
 
 town, he used to go 
 fishing and shooting, 
 to the meets of 
 hounds, to markets 
 and cattle fairs, 
 gathering in a store 
 of knowledge useful 
 to him in after years. 
 The practical, if half- 
 unconscious, edu- 
 cation that he 
 thus obtained in his 
 "off-time," as he 
 termed it, whilst clerk at the Whitchurch and 
 Ellesmere Bank, was often referred to afterwards 
 with pleasure. Thus from the earliest time it will 
 be seen that he lived in an atmosphere favourable 
 to his after career. But the bank work was never 
 neglected ; from the day he left his school in Chester 
 in 1 86 1 to become a clerk in Whitchurch, until 
 the spring of 1872 when he left Manchester finally 
 for London, the record of his office work was that 
 he "did it well." 
 
 1! 2
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. i. 
 
 During the Whitchurch days he had, as we have 
 indicated, unusual advantages of leisure, and the 
 opportunity of visiting many an old house and farm, 
 driving sometimes on the business of the bank, in 
 his favourite vehicle, a country gig, and " very 
 
 eagerly," writes one 
 of his fellow clerks 
 and intimate friends, 
 " were those advan- 
 tages enjoyed. We 
 who knew him, can 
 well understand how 
 welcome he must have been in many a cottage, 
 farm, and hall. The handsome lad carried his own 
 recommendation. With light brown hair falling 
 with a ripple over his brow, blue-grey eyes shaded 
 by long lashes, sweet and mobile mouth, tall and 
 well-made, he joined to these physical advantages 
 a gay good humour and a charming disposition. 
 No wonder that he was a general favourite." 
 
 But soon he was transferred to Manchester, where 
 a very different life awaited him a life of more ardu- 
 ous duties in the " Manchester and Salford Bank," 
 
 'THREE FRIENDS."
 
 i86 7 .] 
 
 A T MANCHESTER. 
 
 but with opportunities for knowledge in other direc- 
 tions, of which he was not slow to avail himself. 
 If in his early years his father discouraged his artis- 
 tic leanings, he was now in a city which above all 
 others encouraged the study of art " as far as it was 
 consistent with business." In the Brasenose Club, 
 and at the houses of hospitable and artistic friends 
 in Manchester, Caldecott had exceptional oppor- 
 tunities of seeing good work, and obtaining 
 information on art matters. 
 
 One who knew him well at this time, writing in 
 the Manchester Courier of 
 Feb. 1 6th, 1886, says: 
 
 " Caldecott used to wander 
 about the bustling, murky 
 streets of Manchester, some- 
 times finding himself in 
 queer out-of-the-way quarters 
 often coming across an odd 
 character, curious bits of anti- 
 quity and the like. Whenever 
 the chance came, he made short 
 excursions into the adjacent 
 country, and long walks which 
 were never purposeless. Then
 
 6 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. I. 
 
 he joined an artists' club and made innumerable 
 pen and ink sketches. Whilst in this city so 
 close was his application to the art that he loved 
 that on several occasions he spent the whole night 
 in drawing." 
 
 For five years, from 1867 to 1872, Caldecott 
 worked steadily at the desk in Manchester, studying 
 from nature whenever he had the chance in summer ; 
 and at the school of art in the long evenings, some- 
 times working long and late at some water colour 
 drawing. Caldecott owed much to Manchester, as 
 he often said, and he never forgot or undervalued 
 the good of his early training. The friends he made 
 then he kept always, and they were amongst his 
 dearest and best. 
 
 In Manchester on the 3rd of July, 1868 his 
 first drawings were published in a serio-comic paper 
 called Will d the Wisp ; and in 1869, in another 
 paper called The Sphinx, he had several pages of 
 drawings reproduced. He was painting a little at 
 the same time, making many hunting and other 
 studies ; they were chiefly for friends, but one 
 picture was exhibited at the Manchester Royal 
 Institution in 1869.
 
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 1869.] 
 
 A T MANCHESTER. 
 
 There was no restraining Calclecott now, his 
 artistic bent and his delightful humour were finding 
 expression in sketches in odd hours and minutes, on 
 bits of note paper, on old envelopes, and on the 
 blotting paper before him at his desk, until every- 
 body about him must have been alive to his talent. 
 He might no doubt have eventually attained a good 
 
 "IN THE HUNTING FIELD." 
 
 position in the bank, for, as one of his friends writes 
 of him very truly, 
 
 " Caldecott's ability was general, not special. It 
 found its natural and most agreeable outlet in art and 
 humour, but everybody who knew him, and those 
 who received his letters, saw that there were perhaps
 
 10 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. i. 
 
 a dozen ways in which he would have distinguished 
 himself had he been drawn to them." 
 
 The unpublished sketches dispersed through this 
 chapter indicate but slightly the originality and 
 fecundity of Caldecott's genius at this time. 
 
 There was clearly but one course to pursue to 
 
 ... 
 
 " THIS is NOT A CULPRIT GOING TO GAOL IT is ONLY A GENTLEMAN 
 
 IN LOVE WHO HAPPENS TO BE WALKING BEFORE A POLICEMAN ! " 
 
 give up commercial pursuits and go to London if 
 such sketches as these were to be found scattered 
 amongst bank papers ! 
 
 And so, in May, 1870, Caldecott, as his diary
 
 12 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. i. 
 
 records, went to London for a few days with a 
 letter of introduction to Mr. Thomas Armstrong 
 from Mr. W. Slagg; and in the same year, 1870, 
 some of his drawings were shown to Shirley Brooks, 
 and to Mark Lemon, then editor of Punch. Mr. 
 Clough thus records the event : 
 
 " Bearing an introductory letter he went up to 
 London on a flying visit, carrying with him a 
 sketch on wood and a small book of drawings of 
 
 > 
 
 the ' Fancies of a Wedding.' He was well re- 
 ceived. The sketch was accepted, and with many 
 compliments the book of drawings was detained. 
 ' From that day to this,' said Mr. Caldecott, ' I 
 have not seen either sketch or book.' Some time 
 after, on meeting Mark Lemon, the incident was 
 recalled, when the burly, jovial editor replied, ' My 
 dear fellow, I am vagabondising to-day, not 
 Punching' I don't think Mr. Caldecott rightly 
 appreciated that joke." 
 
 From this date and all through the year 1871, 
 Caldecott was at work in Manchester and sending to 
 London drawings, some of which have hardly been 
 exceeded for humour and expression in a few lines.
 
 "A NEW CONTRIBUTOR." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DRAWING FOR " LONDON SOCIETY." 
 
 IT was in February 1871, in the pages of London 
 Society a magazine which at that time included 
 amongst its contributors J. R. Planche, Shirley 
 Brooks, Francis T. Palgrave, Frederick Locker, 
 G. A. Sala, Edmund Yates, Percy Fitzgerald, F. 
 C. Burnand, Arthur a Beckett, Tom Hood, Mortimer
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. u. 
 
 Collins, Joseph Hatton, &c. ; and amongst its artists 
 Sir John Gilbert, Charles Keene, Linley Sambourne, 
 G. Bowers, Mrs. Allingham, W. Small, F. Barnard, 
 F. W. Lawson, M.E.E., and many other notable 
 names that Caldecott made his first appearance 
 before a London public. 
 
 " EDUCATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES." 
 
 On November 3rd, 1870, his diary says : 
 
 " Some drawings which I left with A. in London 
 have been shown, accompanied by a letter from Du 
 Maurier, to a man on London Society. Must wait 
 a bit and go on working especially studying 
 horses, A. said."
 
 i3;a] DRAWING FOR" LONDON SOCIETY:* 15 
 
 From this parcel of Caldecott's drawings the pre- 
 sent writer, being the "man" referred to, selected 
 a few to be engraved ; the sketch of the Rt. Hon. 
 
 Robert Lowe on horseback in Hyde Park, on page 
 i 7, " Ye monthe of Aprile " and " Education under 
 Difficulties " being amongst the first published. 
 
 It was suggested to him early in 1870 that he 
 should come to London for a short time and make
 
 i6 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. n. 
 
 sketches in Hyde Park, and it touched Caldecott's 
 fancy, (as he often mentioned afterwards,) that he 
 whose experiences were far removed from such 
 
 SKETCH IN HYDE PARK "ROTTEN Row.'' 
 
 scenes should have been chosen as a chronicler of 
 " Society." The sketches were made always from 
 his own point of view, and some were so grotesque, 
 and hit so hard at the aristocracy, that they were
 
 1 870.] DRAWING FOR" LONDON SOCIETY." 17 
 
 found inappropriate to a fashionable magazine ! 
 one especially of Hyde Park in the afternoon, 
 called " Sons of Toil," had to be declined by 
 the Editor with real regret. 
 
 A PASSING GLIMPSE OF A GENTLEMAN WHOM I TOOK TO BE THE 
 CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER." 
 
 The packet of original sketches lies before the 
 writer now ; the pen and ink drawing of " The 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer" is dated June 3rd, 
 
 c
 
 i8 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. n. 
 
 1870. But the best and funniest of these early 
 works could not be published in a magazine. 
 
 For Christmas time, 1871, Caldecott made many 
 sketches. Two were to illustrate a short story called 
 "The Two Trombones," by F. Robson, the actor. It 
 
 " THE TROMBONE." 
 
 was a ridiculous story, bordering on broad farce, de- 
 picting the adventures of Mr. Adolphus Whiffles, a 
 young man from the country, who in order to get be- 
 hind the scenes of a theatre undertakes to act as 
 a substitute for a friend as " one of the trombones," 
 unknown to the leader of the orchestra. His friend
 
 187I-] 
 
 DRAWING FOR "LONDON SOCIETY.'' 
 
 assures him that in a crowded assembly " one trom- 
 bone would probably make as much noise as two," 
 and that, if he took his place in the orchestra, he had 
 only to " pretend to play and all would be right." 
 
 "THE Two TROMBOM :>." 
 
 In the first sketch we see him in his bedroom 
 contemplating the unfamiliar instrument left by his 
 friend ; in the second he is at the theatre at the 
 crisis when the leader of the band calls upon him 
 to " play in " (as it is called) one of the performers 
 on to the stage! Mr. Whiffles's instructions were
 
 20 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. ii. 
 
 to keep his eyes on the other trombone and imi- 
 tate his movements exactly ; but unfortunately the 
 other trombone was a substitute also. The leader 
 looks round, and seeing the two trombones ap- 
 parently perfectly ready to begin, gives the signal, 
 
 and the curtain rises. 
 The ddnoument may be 
 imagined ! Other stories 
 were illustrated by 
 Caldecott, about this 
 period, in London So- 
 ciety ; one of Indian life, 
 another called Crossed 
 in Love, &c. t but the 
 artist wished that some 
 illustrations should not 
 be reprinted. Several 
 drawings from London 
 Society are omitted, from the same cause. 
 
 The freshness of fancy, not to say recklessness 
 of style, in many of the drawings which came by 
 post at this time the abundance of the flow from 
 a stream, the course of which was not yet clearly 
 
 CHRISTMAS DAY, 4.30 A.M. 
 "PLEASE, SIR, GIVE ME A CHRIST- 
 MAS-BOX."
 
 22 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. n. 
 
 marked raised embarrassing thoughts in an editor's 
 mind. " What to do with all the material sent ? " 
 was the question in 1871 a question which 
 Caldecott was soon able to answer for himself. 
 
 In 1871, many favourable notices appeared in the 
 press referring to the humorous illustrations in 
 London Society ; but the sketch of all others 
 
 r - 
 
 " SNOWBALLS." 
 
 which attracted attention to the w r ork of the 
 unknown artist was " A Debating and Mutual 
 Improvement Society" on page 21, a recollection 
 probably of some meeting or actual scene in Man- 
 chester. 1 Here the artist was on his own ground, 
 
 1 The drawing, A Debating Society, was very well engraved on wood by 
 J. D. Cooper, and appeared in London Society in 1871, v. xx. p. 417 ; it is now 
 reproduced on a larger scale by a mechanical process of photo-engraving. 
 Experts in drawing for book illustration may be interested to compare results.
 
 HEIGH-HO, THE HOLLY!" 
 
 That's not Rosalind : oh dear no 
 That damsel under the misletoe, 
 
 Who seems to think life jolly : 
 And as to the gentleman there behind, 
 He wouldn't have pluck to kiss Rosalind, 
 
 Can't you fancy his ' Heigh-ho, the Holly ! ' " 
 
 MORTIMER COLLINS.
 
 24 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. n. 
 
 and the result is one of the most rapid and spon- 
 taneous sketches in pen and ink ever achieved. It 
 had many of the characteristics of his later work, 
 a lively and searching analysis of character, without 
 one touch of grossness or ill-nature fun and satire 
 of the subtlest and the kindliest. Here was the 
 touch of genius unmistakable, an example of 
 expression in line seldom equalled. 
 
 In an altogether different vein, drawing with pen, 
 and a brush for the tint, the new artist tries his 
 hand at illustrating one of Mortimer Collins's 
 madrigals called " Heigh-ho, the Holly ! " 
 
 Amongst the most ambitious and interesting of 
 Caldecott's drawings at this time were his " hunting 
 and shooting friezes," of which several examples will 
 be found in the pages of London Society for 1871 
 and 1872, drawn in outline with a pen; showing, 
 thus early, much decorative feeling and a liking for 
 design in relief which never left him in after years. 
 
 Two of the best that he did were the huntino- 
 
 O 
 
 subjects, entitled "Going to Cover" and "Full 
 Cry." 
 
 " The Coming of Age of the Pride of the Family "
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. ii. 
 
 is another example, in a different style, of Caldecott's 
 drawing in line at this period. It is reproduced 
 opposite, in exact facsimile from the pen and ink 
 drawing in possession of the writer. 
 
 HYDE PARK "Oux OF THE SEASON." 
 
 Trivial as these things may seem now, the arrival 
 in Manchester of the red covers of London Society 
 containing almost every month something new by 
 R. C, were among the events in the life of the 
 young banker's clerk which soon set the tide of his 
 affairs towards London.
 
 28 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. n. 
 
 Referring to drawings made for the magazine after 
 Midsummer 1872, when Mrs. Ross Church succeeded 
 to the editorship, Caldecott writes to a friend : 
 
 " Florence Marryat wants me to illustrate a 
 novelette very humorous, to run through five or 
 six numbers of London Society, beginning in 
 February. Engraved illustrations, no ' process.' I 
 think I shall do them, I want coin ! " 
 
 But he had soon other work in hand as will be 
 seen in the next chapter. 
 
 "THE END OF ALL THINGS."
 
 SKETCH ON A POST CARD. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN LONDON, THE HARZ MOUNTAINS, ETC. 
 
 EARLY in the year 1872 Caldecott left Manchester 
 for London, " bearing with him the well wishes of 
 the Brazenose Club and of an extensive circle of 
 friends." This great change was not decided upon 
 without considerable hesitation ; but, to quote again 
 from a Manchester letter : 
 
 " Caldecott was greatly encouraged to take this 
 step by the sale of some small oil and water colour 
 paintings at modest prices, and by the acceptance 
 of drawings by London periodicals. The clinking 
 of sovereigns and the rustling of bank-notes became
 
 30 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. in. 
 
 sounds of the past the fainter the pleasanter, so at 
 least Caldecott thought at that time, with energy, 
 ardour, and the world before him." 
 
 In February and March, 1872, he was still drawing 
 for the magazines and illustrating short stories. 
 
 In March, 1872, he exhibited hunting sketches 
 in oil at the Royal Institution, Manchester. 
 
 On the 1 6th April he went to the Slade School 
 to attend the Life Class under E. J. Poynter, R.A., 
 until the 2Qth June. 
 
 As this was the turning point in Caldecott's 
 career, it should be recorded that at this time, and 
 ever afterwards, Mr. Armstrong, the present Art 
 Director at the South Kensington Museum, was 
 his best friend and counsellor. 1 He had also the 
 advantage of the friendship of George du Maurier, 
 M. Dalou, the sculptor, Charles Keene, Albert 
 Moore, and others. 
 
 On the 8th June he records, "A. urged me to 
 prepare caricatures of people well known," probably 
 with the view of making drawings for periodicals. 
 
 1 In a private letter to the writer of this memoir, dated and November, 
 1876, Caldecott says : "Pen can never put down how much I owe, in many 
 ways, to T. A."
 
 1872.] 
 
 DRAWING FOR "PUNCH." 
 
 Several drawings of Cajdecott's were under con- 
 sideration by the proprietors of Punch, and on the 
 22nd June, 1872, the first appeared. 
 
 In the same month he exhibited a frame of four 
 small sepia drawings at the Black and White 
 Exhibition, Egyptian Hall, London. 
 
 FIRST DRAWING IN "PUNCH," 22ND JUNE, 1872. 
 
 On the 28th June his diary records, "in the 
 gallery of the House of Commons attending the 
 debate on the Ballot Bill ; " and again on the 
 8th July. On the Qth he is "engaged on chalk 
 caricatures all day."
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 A letter dated 2ist July, 1872, to one of his 
 Manchester friends is worth having for the ludicrous 
 sketch accompanying it. He writes : 
 
 " London is of course the proper place for a 
 young man, for seeing the manners and customs 
 of society, and for getting a living in some of the 
 
 "A COOL SEQUESTERED SPOT." 
 
 less frequented grooves of human labour, but for 
 a residence give me a rural or marine retreat. 
 I sigh for some ' cool sequestered spot, the 
 world forgetting, by the world forgot.' 
 
 About this time it was suggested to him to 
 illustrate a book of summer travel, and on the 
 2Oth August 1872 he enters in his diary : 
 
 " To Rotterdam, Harzburg, &c., to join Mr. and 
 Mrs. B. in the Harz Mountains" 
 
 This w r as the first book that Caldecott illustrated ; l 
 
 1 The Harz Mountains, a Tour in the Toy Country, by Henry Blackburn. 
 London : Samp?on Low and Co., 1872.
 
 1)
 
 34 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. in. 
 
 the title suggested was "A Tour in the Toy 
 Country" and before leaving London he made the 
 drawing on the preceding page. 
 
 Caldecott, being then twenty-six, started on this 
 journey with great readiness. The idea was 
 altogether delightful to him ; and here, as in every 
 country he visited in after years, his playful fancy 
 
 A MOUNTAIN "BEER GARDEN." 
 
 and facility for seizing the grotesque side of things 
 stood him in good stead. 
 
 In a strange land, amidst unfamiliar scenes 
 and faces, he roamed " fancy free " ; in a country 
 so compact in size that the whole could be 
 traversed in a month's walking tour. 
 
 With Baedeker s Guide (English edition) in his 
 pocket, and a dialogue book of sentences in
 
 1872.] 
 
 IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. 
 
 35 
 
 German and English, he used 
 to delight to interrogate the 
 
 wondering natives ; the neces- 
 
 / 
 
 sary questions difficult to find, 
 and " the elaborate and quite 
 unnecessary " (as he expressed 
 it), always turning up. Such 
 little incidents gave opportunity to the observant 
 artist to study the faces of the listeners ; the inter- 
 views conducted slowly and gravely, and ending in 
 a peal of laughter from the natives. 
 
 A " FKAULEIN." 
 
 A MOUNTAIN PATH. 
 
 D 2
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 Life at a German watering-place, as seen on a 
 small scale in summer in the Harz mountains, was 
 Caldecott's first experience of scenes with which his 
 
 A WARRIOR OF SEDAN IN A BEER GARDEN AT GOSLAR, 1872. 
 
 name afterwards became familiar in the pages of the 
 Graphic newspaper. In looking at these early 
 sketches we must bear in mind that they were 
 made at a time when Caldecott, as an "artist," was 
 scarcely two years old ; that although his sense of 
 humour was overflowing, his hand was comparatively 
 untrained ; that with his keen eye for the grotesque 
 he turned his back upon much that was beautiful 
 about him, that his sense of the -fitness of things, 
 of the requirements of composition and the like, 
 were in embryo, so to speak. 
 
 Nevertheless, as indicated in the next few pages,
 
 1 872.] IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. 37 
 
 he has left us work which, if ever a more complete 
 life of Caldecott should be written, would form 
 an important chapter in his art career. 
 
 Although little fitted for a mountaineer, he could 
 not resist excursions to the highest points, and with 
 a will which surmounted all difficulties, reached one 
 evening the summit of the famous " Brocken." 
 What he saw is recorded in the sketch below. 
 
 "THE ARK OF REFUGE." 
 
 There is a legend that when the deluge blotted 
 out man from most parts of the earth, the waters of 
 the northern seas penetrated far into Germany, and 
 that the enormous rock which forms the top of 
 the Brocken formed a shelter and resting-place. 
 
 There was no need of a romantic legend to 
 suororest to the mind, at the first si^ht of the 
 
 oo * o 
 
 primitive hostelry on the top of the Brocken, its
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 similitude to the " ark of refuge." The situation 
 was delightful ; we were in the " toy country " 
 without doubt. There was the identical form of 
 packing-case which the religious world has with one 
 consent provided as a plaything for children ; there 
 were Noah and his family, people walking two and 
 two, and horses sheep, pigs, and goats stowed 
 away at the great side door. 
 
 The resemblance was irresistible, and more at- 
 tractive to Caldecott's mind than any of the legends 
 and mysteries with which German imagination has 
 peopled the district. 
 
 There is " no holding " Caldecott now ; on the 
 
 THE DANCE OF WITCHES.
 
 I8 7 2.] 
 
 IN THE HARZ MOUXTAIXS. 
 
 39 
 
 " Hexen Tanzplatz," the sacred ground of Goethe's 
 poetic fancy, within sound almost of the songs of 
 the spirit world that haunt this lonely summit, he 
 sets to work. 
 
 "SPECTRES OF THE BROCKEN." 
 
 The dance of witches, so weird and terrible, (as 
 lately seen on the Lyceum stage in Henry Irving's 
 production of Faust^) took a different form in the 
 young artist's eyes, whose fancy sketch from the 
 Hexen Tanzplatz is reproduced opposite. He had 
 been properly " posted," as he expressed it, he had
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 read all that should be read about ghosts, witches, and 
 spectres, and the result is before us. The last sketch 
 
 from the dreary sum- 
 mit, showing the 
 
 o 
 
 patient tourists wait- 
 ing to see the view, 
 was all we could get 
 from him of spectres 
 of the Brocken. 
 
 One or two sketches 
 
 A SKETCH AT SUPPER. of the interior of his 
 
 Noah's ark, when some sixty travellers had as- 
 sembled to supper, completed his subjects. 
 
 It may be noted that the feeling for landscape 
 which Caldecott possessed in after years in such a 
 
 / 
 
 BACK TO THE VIEW."
 
 I872-] 
 
 IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. 
 
 decree, if it touched him here, was not re- 
 
 o ' 
 
 corded in pencil. The magnificent scenery eastward 
 
 through the valley of the 
 
 River Bode, the grim iron 
 
 foundries and ochre mines, 
 
 and the wonderful view 
 
 from the heights above 
 
 Blankenberg, familiar to 
 
 all travellers in the Harz, 
 
 was recorded in only two 
 
 sketches; one of a roadside 
 
 inn, where we were invited 
 
 to stay, the other of two 
 
 tourists en route. THE GUIDE AT GOSLAR. 
 
 How, at the little wayside sheds and "drink 
 gardens " scattered on the mountain paths, the tourists 
 sat persistently back to the view which they had 
 toiled miles to see, were depicted by the artist in 
 pencil, and many little incidents on the road were 
 dotted down for future use. 
 
 In the old tenth-century city of Goslar, Caldecott's 
 pencil was never at rest. Taking a guide to save 
 time (whose portrait he gives us, with a note of a
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 curious sixteenth-century street door) he explores 
 from morning to night, choosing as subjects always 
 
 "the life of the place." 
 
 " Drinking the waters 
 
 at Goslar " in 1872 was a 
 crude effort artistically, 
 which may be contrasted 
 with his sketches of the 
 same scenes at Buxton in 
 1876, but the humour is 
 irresistible. An extract 
 from our diaries is neces- 
 sary here to explain the 
 illustration. 
 
 X 
 
 PROCESSION OF THE SICK. 
 
 " The figures are pilgrims, that have come from far 
 and wide to combine the attractions of a summer 
 holiday with the benefits of a wonderful ' cure ' for 
 which the city is celebrated. The promenades and 
 walks on the ramparts lined with trees, are going 
 through the routine of getting up early, taking regu- 
 lar exercise and drinking daily several pints of a 
 dark mixture having the appearance, taste, and effect 
 of taraxacum or senna. The bottles are supplied at 
 the public gardens and cafes situated at convenient 
 distances in the suburbs of Goslar."
 
 44 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 On another day he encounters a school starting 
 for two or three days on the mountains, the band 
 making hideous noises as the procession passes out 
 of Goslar. Everything is characteristic here and full 
 of local colour ; the order of march, the costumes 
 
 and the boots of the 
 boys, and the general 
 gravity of the com- 
 pany are given ex- 
 actly making the 
 usual allowance for 
 exaggeration. In the 
 
 A GENERAL IN THE^RUSSIAN A^Y. background is seen 
 
 one of the iron fac- 
 tories and an indication of a bit of Harz scenery ; 
 the sketch recalling the incident with wonderful 
 vraisemblance. The " School on the March " in 
 its humour and exaggeration may remind the 
 reader of some drawings by Thackeray. 
 
 Here, as in Belgium, the harnessing of dogs to 
 carts, drawing sometimes two people over the rough 
 cobble stones of Goslar, excited Caldecott's pity and 
 anger ; he made several sketches of the animals and
 
 -- 
 s 
 
 _ 
 - 
 
 X 
 
 -jr. 
 
 <
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 one portrait of their master who had just got down 
 
 to enjoy a pipe at the corner of a street. 
 
 Sketches at 
 various table 
 cC hbtes'm hotels, 
 public gardens 
 and the like, 
 were plentiful 
 and perpetual. 
 But the ma- 
 jority were de- 
 stroyed or put 
 away ; out of 
 fifty only one 
 such as " A 
 
 General in the Prussian Army " (see page 44) 
 
 being selected for reproduction. 1 
 
 At Clausthal we joined a party to explore one of 
 
 the iron mines, and Caldecott o-ives a sketch of the 
 
 ' O 
 
 1 This, and other similar sketches, caused amusement in some circles and 
 offence in others, at Berlin, where it was stated erroneously that the artist had 
 caricatured some well-known personages who came annually to Goslar to drink 
 the waters, and an arrangement to publish a translation of the Ilarz Mountains 
 into German fell through in consequence.
 
 1 872.] IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. 47 
 
 preparations. A note from our diary will best 
 explain the situation. 
 
 "In order to descend the mines at Clausthal, 
 visitors have to divest themselves of their ordinary 
 costumes and put on some cast-off suits of ill-fitting 
 garments left at the entrance to the mine for the 
 purpose. As we approach the mouth of the shaft 
 where the miners are waiting with lanterns to com- 
 mence the descent, our party, consisting of four 
 Englishmen a professor of geology, a director of 
 mines, an editor and an artist present the some- 
 what undignified aspect in the sketch. This change 
 of costume is necessary on account of the wet state of 
 the mines, the thick caps being a protection against 
 loose pieces of ore and the wet earth that falls from 
 time to time in the galleries." 
 
 Caldecott gives the generally dismal and dis- 
 reputable appearance of the party with great verve ; 
 his own portrait is presented in a few touches in 
 the background, hurrying into garments much too 
 big for him. 
 
 On one occasion the artist takes a solitary walk 
 between Thale and Clausthal, a pathway lined in
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. in. 
 
 \ 
 
 some parts by rows of 
 trees with forbidden fruit, 
 a novel and tempting ex- 
 perience. There being no 
 mention of this route in 
 the guide books, he writes 
 as he says his " own 
 Baedeker " in the familiar 
 practical manner : 
 
 " I start at 3.40 P.M. from the ' Tenpounds Hotel' 
 at Thale to walk up the valley of the Bode, over a 
 wooden bridge, then through a beer garden, round a 
 rocky corner," &c. " The way next through woods 
 of beech, birch and oak ; a stream can be heard but 
 not seen. Treseburg is reached at 5.40 ; a prettily 
 situated village by the water side ; homely inn, damp 
 beds." 
 
 " Leave Treseburg at 9.40 A.M. over a bridge on 
 the right bank of the Bode. Altenbrack at 10.50, 
 Wendefurth at 1 1.50. Rubeland reached at 2.30 P.M., 
 and so on to Elbingerode, where a halt is made for 
 the night at the ' Blauer Engel,' a tolerable inn. 
 Women of burden and foresters are the only 
 wayfarers met with. 
 
 " The route hence south-west over high open
 
 I8 7 2.] 
 
 IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. 
 
 49 
 
 land with fine views to the iron works of Rothehiitte 
 in an hour. Thence up a hill for half an hour and 
 through dense fir woods, then out on the high road 
 again, resting at the ' Brauner Hirsch ' at Braunlage. 
 From thence over hills commanding a vast extent 
 of country with the familiar form of the Brocken 
 continually in view. The road descends by easy 
 stages through a district full of small reservoirs and 
 leads the traveller in about two hours into the wide, 
 clean, empty streets of Clausthal." 
 
 
 On the i Qth September, 
 1872, Caldecott is at work 
 again in his rooms at 46, 
 Great Russell Street (opposite 
 the British Museum) arranging 
 with the writer for some of his 
 Harz Mountain drawings to 
 accompany an article in the 
 London Graphic newspaper. 
 These appeared in the autumn 
 of 1872. 
 
 On the 1 8th October, the following entry appears 
 in Caldecott's diary : " Called at Graphic office, 
 saw Mr. W. L. Thomas, who took my address." 
 
 E 
 
 AT CLAUSTHAL.
 
 50 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. in. 
 
 This entry is interesting as the beginning of a 
 long connection with the Graphic newspaper which 
 proved mutually advantageous. 
 
 In November, 1872, the present writer went to 
 America, taking a scrap-book of proofs of the best 
 of Caldecott's early drawings, a few of which were 
 published in an article on the Harz Mountains in 
 Harper s Monthly Magazine in the spring of I873. 1 
 His drawings were also shown to the conductors of 
 the Daily Graphic, of New York, which led to an 
 engagement referred to in the next chapter. 
 
 During the latter part of 1872 numerous small 
 illustrations were produced for London Society. 
 
 1 Amongst the young artists in the art department of Harper's Magazine 
 in 1873, was E. A. Abbey, the well-known illustrator of old English subjects; 
 in later years a great friend and ally of Caldecott.
 
 SKETCH IN " PUNCH," STH MARCH, 1873. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DRAWING FOR " THE DAILY GRAPHIC." 
 
 SOME idea of the work on which Caldecott was 
 engaged in 1873 and 1874, may be gathered from 
 extracts from his diary in those years. They 
 are interesting if only to show that at that early 
 period his art studies were varied, and that his 
 experience was not confined to book illustration 
 as has generally been supposed. 
 
 ]: 2
 
 52 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 In January, 1873, he made six illustrations for 
 Frank Mildmay by " Florence Marryatt," and on 
 January 22nd, an " Initial for Punch." 
 
 In February 
 
 '' Began wax-mcdelling for practice, hearing 
 that my hunting frieze (white on brown paper) 
 ha,d been successful in Manchester, and that I 
 should perhaps be asked to model some animals 
 for a chimney-piece." 
 
 24th April. " A. came to see my wax models ; 
 liked them, said I must do something further." 
 
 Several himting subjects were also in progress at 
 this time. Next are two letters to a friend in 
 1\ I an chester. 
 
 "46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C., 
 "A/arc/i 28, 1873. 
 
 " MY DEAR^ , The ancient Romans said, or 
 ought to have said, that ingratitude was the greatest 
 of human crimes. But, my dear fellow, I am not 
 an ingrate. I have not forgotten you unless, as 
 tfhe poet sings, ' if to think of thee by day and 
 dream, of thee by night, be forgetting thee, thou 
 art indeed forgot.' I did receive your last col- 
 lected joke, and a very good joke it was for a 
 Manchester joke. I'm sorry that I have not power 
 to use it, but it will keep, although it will tread 
 on some people's feelings when used. The fact

 
 54 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 is that this same joke nearly brought me to an 
 untimely end. I went out hunting on the day I 
 received it, and at one fence and ditch I had quite 
 enough to do to avoid a rabbit-hole on the taking- 
 off side and some barked boughs of fallen timber 
 on the landing side not to mention some low- 
 hanging oak trees. Well, just when I was in the 
 air I thought of your joke and smiled all down one 
 side ; my hunter by King Tom, out of Blazeaway's 
 dam, by Boanerges took the opportunity of 
 stumbling, and, before an adult with all his teeth 
 could get as far as the third syllable in 'Jack 
 Robinson,' my nose was engaged in cutting a 
 furrow all across a fine grass field, some eight acres 
 and a half in extent, laid down after fine crops of 
 seeds and roots, and well boned last winter. How- 
 ever, in less than half a minute (having retained 
 possession of the reins), I was again chasing the 
 flying hounds. 
 
 "About the middle of February I went down. into 
 the country to make some studies and sketches, 
 and remained more than a month. Had several 
 smart attacks on my heart, a little wounded once, 
 causing that machine to go up and down like a 
 lamb's tail when its owner is partaking of the 
 nourishment provided by a bounteous Nature. 
 Further particulars in our next no more paper 
 now. I hope you and - - are well, and with kind 
 regards, remain yours faithfully, 
 
 "R. C."
 
 1 873.] 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 55 
 
 "46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C., 
 "April 27, 1873. 
 
 " MY DEAR , I was delighted to receive your 
 
 letter quite a long one for you. I hope that you 
 had a fine time of it at the ball. Dancing is not 
 absolutely necessary to a man's welfare temporally 
 or spiritually; so if you be a 'Wobbler,' wobble 
 away and fear not, but see that thou wobblest 
 with all thy might, then shall thy zeal compensate 
 for lack of skill. I've nearly given up gymnastics. 
 I only danced twenty-one times at the last ball. 
 # * *= 
 
 " I now find that during quadrilles my mind 
 wanders away from the subject before it, and I am
 
 56 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 continually reminded that I ought to be idiotically 
 squaring away at some one instead of cogitating 
 with my noble back leaning against the wall. ' Sed 
 tempora new potater,' &c. I hope you are all well, 
 and with kind regards, remain yours faithfully, 
 
 "R. C." 
 
 In May he is " working in clay in low relief." 
 
 6th June. " Began modelling mare and foal 
 in round." 
 
 In the latter part of June, and in July, he is " at 
 Vienna with Mr. Blackburn," engaged on various 
 illustrations for the Daily Graphic. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1873 tnat ^ occurred 
 
 to the proprietors of the Daily Graphic (the 
 
 American illustrated newspaper referred to) that 
 
 the Gulf Stream, and the strong prevailing 
 
 current of wind easterly from the continent of 
 
 America in that latitude, might be turned to 
 
 profitable account for advertising purposes. They 
 
 constructed a large balloon which hung high 
 
 above the houses in Broadway for some weeks, 
 
 and announced that on a certain day the Daily 
 
 Graphic balloon would sail for Europe. The 
 
 start was telegraphed to London and gravely an-
 
 I873-] 
 
 "DAILY GRAPHIC:' 
 
 57 
 
 nounced in the Times and other London papers, 
 and every one was on the qui vive for this new 
 arrival in the air. 
 
 The humour and absurdity of the situation was 
 
 "LOOKING OUT FOR THE 'GRAPHIC' BALLOON." 
 
 seized at once by the comic journals, but probably 
 nothing that appeared at the time was more telling 
 than the drawing made by Caldecott at Farnham
 
 58 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 Royal for the Daily Graphic, and published in New 
 York as a page of that newspaper. 
 
 Other drawings followed, descriptive of various 
 scenes in London and England, such as a special 
 service by Cardinal Manning at the Pro-Cathedral 
 in Kensington ; an address by Bradlaugh at the 
 east end of London ; a London picture exhibition ; 
 hunting in a northern county, &c., and Caldecott, 
 to whom all this was a new experience, was 
 pleased to work for the American newspaper as 
 " London artistic correspondent." 
 
 In this capacity Caldecott went with the writer 
 to Vienna to the International Exhibition of 1873, 
 and there were sent to America various satirical 
 sketches, accompanying letters, notably one of the 
 banquet held on the 4th of July, with portraits 
 of some well-known American citizens. One of 
 the most successful and life-like of the smaller 
 sketches was a Vienna horse-car entitled " Off to 
 the Exhibition," reproduced here. 
 
 The experience gained in various excursions 
 during Caldecott's engagement with the Daily 
 Graphic, was most valuable to him in after years ;
 
 60 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. iv. 
 
 although as we have elsewhere said, illustrated 
 journalism properly so-called, was never sympathetic 
 to him, nor would his health have been equal to the 
 strain of so trying an occupation. As occasional 
 contributor to an illustrated newspaper he was 
 destined to be without a rival, as the columns of the 
 London Graphic for many years have testified. 
 
 The humour and vivacity, the abandon, so to 
 speak, exhibited in some of these early drawings, 
 form a delightful episode in his early art career, 
 
 A VIENNESE DOG. 
 
 and many will wonder, looking at the variety of 
 movement and expression (in the drawing of the 
 overloaded car, for instance), that the artist should 
 have been amongst us so long without more 
 recognition. It is true that his drawings were
 
 I8/3-] LETTERS. 61 
 
 uncertain, and that the results of want of train- 
 ing were sometimes too palpable ; that the accusa- 
 tion made in 1872 that the editor of London Society 
 had chosen " an artist who could not draw a lady," 
 could hardly be gainsaid in 1873. 
 
 The artistic interest in these drawings is great, 
 if only from the fact that they are amongst 
 the few of his works drawn in pen and ink for 
 direct reproduction without the intervention of the 
 wood-engraver. Caldecott was one of the first 
 to try, and to avail himself of, the various 
 methods of reproduction for the newspaper press ; 
 and in the pages of the Daily Graphic, his facile 
 touch and play of line was made to appear 
 with startling emphasis on the printed page. 1 
 
 But after all, the humour and drollery of 
 Caldecott's nature appears with more unrestrained 
 effect in the sketches on his letters to friends, such 
 as are scattered through this volume ; the natural 
 awe of publication in any form having a restraining 
 effect. 
 
 1 The drawings in the Daily Graphic in New York were all reproduced by 
 photo-lithography, and printed at the lithographic press.
 
 62 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. iv. 
 
 In July and August he is working " in the loose 
 box at Farnham Royal," the country cottage sketched 
 on page 90 and referred to in the following and 
 other letters. 
 
 Wvfl 
 
 i" JL^-^yS//^ J 
 L^N / 
 
 "HOGARTH CLUB, 84, CHARLOTTE STREET, FITZROY SQUARE, W. 
 
 " DEAR , The poet sings, ' Oh ! have you 
 
 seen her lately ? ' to which I answer, ' Yes.' But, 
 whether or no, I returned to-day from a fortnight's 
 sojourn in Buckinghamshire, and the first thing I 
 was going to do was to write to you and say that 
 I have no acquaintance with the happy medium 
 who resides in my very old rooms in Great Russell 
 Street. I have left those rooms, and am a wanderer 
 and an Ishmaelite. I dare not take those rooms 
 when she leaves. I called at the house just now 
 and found another note from you. I had a good 
 look at Europe during my Vienna expedition. I
 
 1 873] LETTERS. 63 
 
 was away a month and saw many towns, and con- 
 versed with many peoples and tongues. I could 
 say much, but will defer till we meet over the 
 flowing bowl. Since I came back I have been 
 staying with a friend at Holborn Circus, and also 
 with some friends at Farnham Royal, near Slough, 
 a lovely country place. There I have been working 
 off some sketches of Vienna and England for the 
 use of the neighbouring country of America. But 
 I could not help being interrupted. Fancy a being 
 like this bobbing about ! Howsomedever, I am 
 again in town at Bank Chambers, Holborn Circus, 
 E.C., where I may be consulted daily. Please 
 observe signature on the box, without which none 
 others are genuine, post free for thirteen stamps. 
 So you see that I have had a seven weeks' delightful 
 mixture of toil and pleasure, and ought now to have 
 a bout of toil only. There is a book waiting to be 
 illustrated. 
 
 "R. C." 
 
 In the same month (August 1873), he went with 
 a letter of introduction to Dalou, the French sculptor, 
 then living in Chelsea. Of this interview he writes, 
 " M. Dalou very kind in hints, showing me clay, 
 &c." A friendship followed, cemented in the first
 
 6 4 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP, iv 
 
 instance by a bargain that Caldecott should come 
 and work at the studio and teach the sculptor 
 to talk English, whilst Dalou helped him in his 
 modelling ! Caldecott profited by the arrangement, 
 and often spoke in after years of the value of 
 
 EARLY DECORATIVE DESIGN, THE PROPERTY OF G. AITCHISON, A.R.A. 
 
 Dalou's practical teaching. Many visits were paid 
 to the sculptor's studio in the year 1873. 
 
 In the intervals of work Caldecott also made 
 life studies at the Zoological Gardens in London, 
 and anatomical studies of birds.
 
 1 873-1 LETTERS. 65 
 
 In September he made a drawing of Mark Twain 
 lecturing in London, for the Daily Graphic, and in 
 October records the purchase by Mr. G. Aitchison, 
 the architect, of a cast of his " first bas relief," a 
 hunting subject ; also of " two brown paper pelican 
 drawings," one reproduced on the last page. 
 
 In November he writes the fo 1 lowing to a friend 
 in Manchester : 
 
 "46, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C., 
 "November 16, 1873. 
 
 " DEAR , I have nothing to say to you 
 
 nothing at all. Therefore I write. I don't like 
 writing when I have aught to say, because I never 
 feel quite eloquent enough to put the business in 
 the proper light for all parties. Having a love 
 and yearning for Bowdon and Dunham, and the 
 ' publics ' which there adjacent lie, I think of you on 
 these calm Sunday evenings about the hour when 
 my errant legs used to repose beneath the deal of 
 the sequestered inn at Bollington. How are you ? 
 I was pleased to see that the Athenaiim gave a 
 long space to your book, although I presume you 
 did not care for the way they reviewed it. That 
 is nothing. I have been very busy not coining 
 money, oh no ! but occupied, or I should say have 
 descended into the country, during last month. 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. iv. 
 
 ' Graced with some merit, and with more effrontery ; 
 his country's pride, he went down to the country.' 
 My summer rambles shall be talked of, and the 
 wonderful works in the regions of art shall be 
 described when next I see you. Till then, farewell ! 
 This short letter is like a call. Yours, R. C." 
 
 The last entry of interest in his diary in 1873, * s 
 on December 3rd. 
 
 " To Graphic office, saw Mr. Thomas. Fixed 
 that I should go down to Leicestershire next week 
 for hunting subjects." 
 
 V 
 
 "TillS IS NOT A FlKST-CLASS CoW."
 
 STUDIES FOR A LARGE DECORATIVE DESIGN, 1874. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DRAWING FOR " THE PICTORIAL WORLD," ETC. 
 
 LET us now glance at Caldecott's diary for 1874, 
 which, with his letters to friends and the sketches 
 which so often accompanied them, give an insight 
 into the character of his work at this time. It 
 is altogether an extraordinary record. 
 
 On the I4th of January, 1874, he is "working in 
 the afternoons, sketching swans at Armstrong's." 
 This was part of a large decorative design which 
 
 F 2
 
 68 RANDOLPH CALDECO TT. [CHAP. v. 
 
 he afterwards assisted in painting (see illustration 
 on page 89). 
 
 On the 23rd January, 1874, is an interesting note. 
 
 " J. Cooper, engraver, came and proposed to 
 illustrate, with seventy or eighty sketches, 
 Washington Irving's Sketch Book. Went all 
 through it and left me to consider. I like the 
 idea." 
 
 In February he completed a drawing of the 
 Quorn Hunt for the Graphic newspaper. 
 
 On the 1 2th March, he enters in his diary, 
 " Preparing sketch of choir for \V. Irving's Sketch 
 Book ;" showing that he was already at work on the 
 book which was to make his reputation. 
 
 At the same time he was preparing illustrations 
 and trying new processes of drawing for repro- 
 duction, to aid in founding a new newspaper. 
 
 How far Mr. Caldecott was ready to conquer 
 difficulties in his art, and how heartily he aided 
 his friends in any project with which he was 
 connected, are matters of history closely connected 
 with his engagement on the Pictorial World, 
 which had a bright promise for the future in 1874.
 
 1 874.] THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 69 
 
 Some of the large illustrations were produced by 
 Dawson's "Typographic Etching" process. The 
 drawings were made with a point on plates covered 
 with a thin coating of wax, the artist's needle, 
 as in etching, removing the wax and exposing the 
 surface of the plate wherever a line was required 
 in relief "a fiendish process!" as Caldecott 
 described it, but with which he succeeded in 
 obtaining excellent results better than any artist 
 previously. 
 
 On the 7th of March, 1874, a new illustrated 
 newspaper called the Pictorial World was started 
 in London, of which the present writer was the art 
 editor. 
 
 It was the time of the general election of 187/1, 
 when the defeat of Mr. Gladstone, the question of 
 " Home Rule," and many exciting events were being 
 recorded in the newspapers. Caldecott was asked to 
 make a cartoon of the elections, and at once sat 
 down and made the pencil sketch overleaf. 
 
 For some reason this drawing was not completed ; 
 but instead, a group of various election scenes was 
 drawn by him and appeared in the Pictorial World.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 There were numerous sketches combined on one 
 page, three ot which are reproduced here. The 
 illustrations on pages 70, 72, So, Si, 82, and 84 
 were drawn (generally under great pressure of 
 
 THE POLLING BOOTH. 
 
 time) with an etching needle on Dawson's plates. 
 This was the beginning of what are now familiarly 
 known as " process " drawings in newspapers, but 
 the system of photographic engraving, now largely 
 used, was not then perfected. In 1874 it would
 
 1 874-] 
 
 THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 
 
 have been impossible to reproduce rapidly in a 
 newspaper, either the delicate lines of a pen and 
 
 HOME RULE MARCH 1874. 
 Facsimile of pencil sketch for the Pictorial World. 
 
 ink sketch, or such a pencil drawing as that given 
 above. 
 
 Caldecott rendered valuable assistance at this 
 time, and the early numbers of the paper are
 
 72 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 worth having if only for the reproduction of his 
 work. It is not generally known how many of the 
 large illustrations in the Pictorial World were by 
 
 " ON THE STUMP." 
 
 his hand, or how much he was identified with the 
 publication in the first days of its career. 
 
 Amongst the best illustrations by Caldecott for 
 the newspaper at that period were sketches and
 
 1 874-] 
 
 THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 
 
 73 
 
 studies that he had made for pictures, selected 
 from his studio ; such for instance as " Coursing," 
 "Somebody's Coming," and the " Morning Walk," 
 on pp. 75, 77, and 86. The latter design was 
 
 THE SCOTCH ELECTIONS "GOING TO THE HUSTINGS." 
 
 not drawn specially for the Pictorial World, but 
 Caldecott made a drawing of it for the paper, which 
 appeared in the number for i8th July, 1874. 
 
 From a bundle of sketches (some very pretty) 
 of subjects connected with Saint Valentine, he
 
 74 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 made a page for the same paper. These again, may 
 seem small matters to record, but they are facts 
 in the history of a life teeming with interest, 
 
 e, 
 
 and show that Caldecott's talent as an illustrator 
 was revealed in 1874; that he was "invented," as 
 the saying is, long before the publication of 
 Washington Irving's Sketch Book.
 
 7 6 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 On the 3 ist of October, 1874, 
 Mr. Henry Irving made his 
 first appearance in London 
 as Hamlet, one of those oc- 
 casions on which the theatre 
 was crowded with critics and 
 well-known personages. Caldecott, altogether in- 
 experienced in such work, made several rough 
 sketches, seizing the grotesque side " as far as he 
 dared" as he said. 
 
 The trying nature of that performance, and the 
 flitting about on the staofe of the nervous anxious 
 
 o o 
 
 A VALENTINE.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 figure, with the ever-present white pocket-handker- 
 chief in his belt will be remembered by many. 
 Caldecott made the best sketch that he could 
 
 from the left side of the dress-circle, the only 
 position in the house that could be obtained for him. 
 In company with the writer, Caldecott made 
 various sketches in the House of Commons, the 
 Law Courts, the theatres, and the like. The first 
 three sketches of the House of Commons one 
 showing " The Arrival of the New Members,"
 
 1 874-] 
 
 THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 
 
 79 
 
 another, " The Speaker going up to the Lords," 
 
 and a third, " At the Bar of the House of Lords" 
 
 were amongst the funniest of the series. Others 
 
 followed from week to week, such as " The new 
 
 "THE YOUNG HAMLET." 
 
 Prime Minister," on page 83. On one occasion he 
 went down to Westminster Hall to see the Rt. Hon. 
 Benjamin D' Israeli enter the House of Commons
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 1874 ARRIVAL OF NEW MEMBERS.
 
 1874-] 
 
 THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 
 
 81 
 
 as the new prime minister, and to a large illustra- 
 tion showing the north door of Westminster Hall 
 (the architecture drawn by Mr. Jellicoe), he added the 
 
 "THE SPEAKER GOING UP TO THE LORDS." 
 
 figures, a grotesque group of bystanders, presum- 
 ably Conservatives, welcoming their new representa- 
 tive. (See the Pictorial World, March ;th, 1874.) 
 
 G
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 It was an exciting time politically and socially, 
 and many events of interest had to be recorded. 
 
 "Ax THE BAR OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS." 
 
 Amongst them the conclusion, amidst general re- 
 joicing, of the great Tichborne Trial on March 
 2nd, 1874, a trial which had lasted iSS clays.
 
 1 874-] 
 
 THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 
 
 This was an opportunity for the artist. Caldecott's 
 original sketch of this subject, if it is in existence, 
 should be treasured ; some idea of the humour of it 
 may be gathered from the drawing overleaf which 
 
 THE NEW I'IUME MINISTER." 
 
 was crowded into the corner of the newspaper. He 
 also made a highly grotesque and artistic model 
 in terra-cotta of the Tichborne Trial, now in the 
 possession of Mr. Stanley Baldwin of Manchester. 
 
 c; 2
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. v. 
 
 About this time, Caldecott went to the " farewell 
 benefit " of the late Benjamin Webster and sketched 
 the actor surrounded by members of his company 
 making his final bow to the public. 
 
 THE TICHBORNE TRIAL "BREAKING-UP DAY." 
 
 On the eighteenth birthday, the "coming of age," 
 of the late Prince Imperial of France, Caldecott 
 went to Chislehurst. The drawing of the crowd on 
 the lawn of Camden House in a state of general
 
 1 874-] THE PICTORIAL WORLD. 85 
 
 congratulation, the ceremony of presentation of 
 enormous bouquets of violets and the like ; of 
 Frenchmen and their wives, of diplomatists, and 
 others, will be found in the Pictorial World for 
 March 2ist, i v - . 
 
 Here was a comparatively unknown artist at 
 work, revealing talent which in after years would 
 delight the world. 
 
 But fortunately for his health and peace of mind, 
 and also for his future career, the young artist, who 
 two years before had given up a clerkship in a 
 Manchester bank (a "certainty" of more than 100 
 a year), was advised to refuse an engagement on 
 the Pictorial World of /,io 105. a week, which, 
 had it been carried out, would have done much 
 to raise the fortunes of that newspaper. 
 
 But the rush and hurry of journalistic work was 
 distasteful to him ; he had many commissions at 
 this time, work of a better kind, requiring quiet 
 and study. He was willing, and wishing always, 
 to aid his friends, and so for some time he kept up 
 a connection with the paper and made sketches on 
 special occasions.
 
 THE MORNING WALK
 
 1874.] DECORATIVE PAINTING. 87 
 
 His health was delicate, but he was not suffer- 
 ing as in later years ; his spirits were overflowing, 
 and his kindliness and personal charm had made 
 him friends everywhere. 
 
 On the loth of April he enters in his diary 
 " At Armstrong's all day. Began to paint pigeons 
 on canvas panel. Looking at pigeons in British 
 Museum quadrangle;" and on the nth again, 
 "painting pigeons." 
 
 On the 1 5th of April he is " making a drawing of 
 storks, c.," and on the i/th, 2ist, and 22nd, 
 " painting swans at Armstrong's all day." 
 
 On the 23rd of April he enters : " Bas-relief 
 hunting scene going on," and on 24th, " painting 
 storks and pigeons," and on 28th, "swans." 
 
 The painting of swans, storks, and pigeons, re- 
 ferred to above, was very important work for 
 Caldecott. In conjunction with his friend Mr. 
 Armstrong, he painted the birds in two panels, one 
 of swans (reproduced overleaf), and one of a stork 
 and magpie. These panels were about six feet 
 high, and form part of a series of decorations in
 
 83 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP, v, 
 
 the dining-room of Mr. Henry Renshawe's house 
 at Bank Hall, near Buxton, Derbyshire. 
 
 The series of decorative paintings (by Thomas 
 Armstrong) which included these panels, was ex- 
 hibited at Mr. Deschamps' Gallery in New Bond 
 Street in 1874, and attracted much attention at 
 the time. The birds showed to great advantage, 
 and will remain in the memory of many as amongst 
 the most vigorous and effective of Caldecott's 
 paintings in oils. They showed, thus early, a 
 mastery of bird form and a power in reserve of 
 an unusual kind. 
 
 " I have paid a little attention to decorative art," 
 he writes to a friend at this time ; besides being "at 
 work on the Sketch Book" the results of which will 
 be seen in the next chapter.
 
 DECORATIVE PAINTING I-'OR A DINJNG-KOOM.
 
 "THE COTTAGE," FARNHAM ROYAL. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FARNHAM ROYAL, BUCKS. 
 
 DURING the summers of 1872, 1873, and 1874, 
 Caldecott stayed often at a cottage belonging to the 
 writer, three miles north of Slough, in Buckingham- 
 shire, in the picturesque neighbourhood of Stoke 
 Pooqs and Burnham Beeches. 
 
 o 
 
 A " loose box " adjoining the stable a few yards 
 to the right of the little verandah in the above 
 sketch had been fitted up for him by friendly 
 hands ; and it was here in this temporary studio,
 
 iS74-] 
 
 AT FARNHAM ROYAL. 
 
 91 
 
 ill the quiet of the country, looking out on woods 
 and fields, that he made many of the drawings for 
 Old Christmas. 
 
 Several entries in Caldecott's diary in 1874 
 mention that in June and July he was " working 
 in the 'loose box' at Farnham Royal, on the 
 Sketch Book!' 1 
 
 Those were happy, irresponsible days, before 
 great success had tempered his style, or brought 
 with it many cares. Take the following letter 
 (one of many) written in the full enjoyment of the 
 change from lodgings in London : 
 
 " We are passing a calm and peaceful existence 
 here and were therefore somewhat startled the 
 other day, when Sharp asked for the cart and
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vi. 
 
 donkey to take to the common for the purpose of 
 bringing us a few Sultanas. We stroked our 
 beards, but as Sharp seemed bent upon the affair 
 reluctantly consented." 
 
 [The boy Sharp attended to the wants of Caldecott 
 and his friend L., and wanted to make a pudding. 
 The end of the letter is reproduced in facsimile.] 
 
 ~rifc~ 
 
 v\.
 
 94 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vi. 
 
 The illustration on the last page is a copy of a 
 water-colour sketch made from " the loose box " at 
 Farnham Royal. It depicts the arrival of a pony 
 at the cottage and consequent disgust of the donkey 
 at the intrusion. The old man who combined 
 the various offices of gardener, groom, and parish 
 clerk stood unconsciously as a model for several 
 drawings in Old Christmas. 
 
 From Farnham Royal he writes at another time 
 to a friend : 
 
 " We are fast drifting into a vortex of dissipation 
 eddying round a whirlpool of gaiety ; but I hope 
 that through all, our heads will keep clear enough 
 to guide the helms of our hearts." 
 
 About this time it was suggested to Caldecott to 
 make studies of animals and birds, with a view to 
 an illustrated edition of sEsop's Fables, a work for 
 which his talents seemed eminently fitted. The 
 idea was put aside from press of work, and when 
 finally brought out in 1883 was not the success 
 that had been anticipated. This was principally 
 owing to the plan of the book.
 
 1 374] 
 
 A T FARNHAM RO YAL. 
 
 95 
 
 As Caldecott's jEsop was often talked over with 
 the writer in early days, a few words may be 
 appropriate here. Caldecott yielded to a sugges- 
 tion of Mr. J. D. Cooper, the engraver, to attach 
 to each fable what were to be styled " Modern 
 Instances," consisting of scenes, social or political, 
 as an "application." Humorous as these were, in 
 the artist's best vein of satire, the combination was 
 
 "STUDYING FROM NATURE." t 
 
 felt to be an artistic mistake. That Caldecott was 
 aware of this, almost from the first, is evident from 
 a few words in a letter to an intimate friend where 
 he says :
 
 9 6 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vi. 
 
 " Do not expect much from this book. When 
 I see proofs of it I wonder and regret that I did 
 not approach the subject more seriously." 
 
 Circumstances of health also in later years in- 
 terfered with the completion of what might have 
 been his chef d'ceuvre. 
 
 In the following letter to a friend in Manchester 
 (headed with the above sketch) he refers modestly 
 to his drawings for Old Christmas, on which he was 
 now busily engaged.
 
 i8 7 4.] 
 
 AT FARNHAM ROYAL. 
 
 97 
 
 " MY DEAR , It is so long since I have heard 
 
 from you that I have concluded that you must be 
 
 very flourishing in every way. No news being 
 
 good news, and no news lasting for so long a time, 
 
 you must have a quiver full of good things. How 
 
 is ? The woods of Dunham ? The gaol of 
 
 Knutsford ? the vale of Knutsford, I mean. A 
 
 fortnight ago, when all the 
 
 ability were leaving town, I 
 
 returned from a six weeks' 
 
 pleasant sojourn in Bucks, 
 
 at Farnham Royal. I was 
 
 hard at work all the time, 
 
 for I have been very much 
 
 occupied of late, you will 
 
 be glad to hear, I know. 
 
 In process of time, and 
 
 if successful, I will tell 
 
 you upon what. I wish I 
 
 had had a severe training 
 
 for my present profession. 
 
 Eating my dinners, SO to ART is LONG, LIFE is SHORT. 
 
 speak. I have now got a workshop, and I some- 
 times wish that I was a workman. Art is long : 
 life isn't. Perhaps you are now careering round 
 Schleswig or some other-where for a summer 
 holiday. I shall probably go to France next month 
 for a business and pleasure excursion. Let me 
 hear from you about things in general or in par-
 
 9 8 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vi. 
 
 ticular a line, a word will be welcome. I hope 
 you are all well ; and with kind regards remain 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 <( R. C." 
 
 It is clear from the above letter that Caldecott was 
 conscious of the great change that was coming in his 
 work in 1874. The suggestions of his friends that 
 he should draw continually from familiar objects 
 
 "DRAWING FROM FAMILIAR OBJECTS." 
 
 and the hints he received from time to time that he 
 "could not draw a lady," are ludicrously illustrated 
 in two sketches to a Manchester friend who watched 
 the progress of the artist with lively interest. 
 
 But in spite of his moving laughter, the period 
 referred to in this chapter was the most serious and
 
 S 7 4.] 
 
 ART STUDIES. 
 
 99 
 
 eventful in Caldecott's career ; when a sense of 
 beauty and fitness in design seemed to have 
 been revealed to him, as it were, in a vision, and 
 when his serious studies seemed to be bearing 
 fruit for the first time ; when he felt, as he never 
 felt before, the responsibilities of his art and the 
 
 "COULD NOT DRAW A LADY!" 
 
 want of severe training for his profession. Then 
 but not till then did the lines of Punch " On the 
 late Randolph Caldecott," written in February 1886 
 apply exactly : 
 
 " Sure never pencil steeped in mirth 
 
 So closely kept to grace and beauty." 
 
 II 2
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " OLD CHRISTMAS." 
 
 i 
 
 THE "new departure" which Caldecott made in 
 the summer of 1874 will be seen clearly marked in 
 the next few pages, where, with the permission of 
 the publishers, we have reproduced some character- 
 istic drawings from Old Christmas. 
 
 'There was issued in 1876 by the Messrs. 
 Macmillan " (writes Mr. William Clough, an old 
 and intimate friend of Caldecott) " a book with
 
 1 874-] OLD CHRISTMAS. 101 
 
 illustrations that forcibly drew attention to the 
 advent of a new exponent of the pictorial art. 
 These pictures were of so entirely new a nature, 
 and gave such a meaning and emphasis to the text, 
 as to stir even callous bosoms by the graceful and 
 pure creations of the artist's genius. Washington 
 Irving's Old Christmas was made alive for us by 
 a new interpreter, who brought grace of drawing 
 with a dainty inventive genius to the delineation 
 of English life in the last century." 
 
 It is not generally known that the drawings for 
 Old Christmas, one hundred and twelve in number, 
 were all made in 1874; and there is a marked 
 alteration in style during the progress of this book, 
 such as, for example, between the drawing of 
 "The Village Choir" (commenced in March 1874), 
 and the portrait of " Master Simon," placed opposite 
 to each other on pages 96 and 97 of the first 
 edition of Old Christmas. 
 
 The humour is more robust, but never in after- 
 work was more delightful, than in his rendering of 
 the typical stage coachman. Until these illustra- 
 tions came it had been said that Washington Irving's 
 coachman stood out as a unique and matchless 
 description of a character that has passed away.
 
 102 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 "In the course of a December tour in Yorkshire," 
 writes Washington Irving, " I rode for a long 
 distance on one of the public coaches on the day 
 preceding Christmas." 
 
 Three schoolboys were amongst his fellow- 
 passengers. " They were under the particular 
 guardianship of the coachman to whom, whenever 
 an opportunity presented, they addressed a host of 
 questions, and pronounced him one of the best 
 fellows in the world. Indeed I could not but 
 notice the more than ordinary air of bustle and 
 importance of the coachman, who wore his hat a 
 little on one side and had a large bunch of 
 Christmas green stuck in the button-hole of his coat. 
 
 "Wherever an English stage coachman may be 
 seen he cannot be mistaken for one of any other 
 craft or mystery. He has commonly a broad full 
 face, curiously mottled with red, as if the blood had 
 been forced by hard feeding into every vessel of 
 the skin ; he is swelled into jolly dimensions by 
 frequent potations of malt liquors, and his bulk 
 is still further increased by a multiplicity of coats 
 in which he is buried like a cauliflower, the upper 
 one reaching to his heels. He wears a broad- 
 brimmed low-crowned hat ; a huge roll of coloured 
 handkerchief about his neck, knowingly knotted and 
 tucked in at the bosom, and has in summer-time, a 
 large bouquet of flowers in his button-hole, the 
 present most probably of some enamoured country
 
 i8 7 4] 
 
 OLD CHRISTMAS. 
 
 103 
 
 lass. His waistcoat is commonly of some bright 
 colour, striped ; and his small clothes extend far 
 below the knees to meet a pair of jockey-boots which 
 reach about halfway up his legs. 
 
 THE STAGE COACHMAN. 
 
 " All this costume is maintained with much pre- 
 cision ; he has a pride in having his clothes of 
 excellent materials ; and notwithstanding the seem- 
 ing grossness of his appearance, there is still 
 discernible that neatness and propriety of person 
 which is almost inherent in an Englishman. He
 
 IO4 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 enjoys great consequence and consideration along 
 the road ; has frequent conferences with the village 
 housewives, who look upon him as a man of great 
 
 IN THE STABLE YARD. 
 
 trust and dependence ; and he seems to have a 
 good understanding with every bright-eyed lass. 
 The moment he arrives he throws down the reins 
 with something of an air, and abandons the cattle to
 
 1874.] OLD CHRISTMAS. 105 
 
 the care of the ostler ; his duty being merely to 
 drive from one stage to another. When off the 
 box his hands are thrust in the pockets of his 
 greatcoat, and he rolls about the inn yard with 
 an air of the most absolute lordliness. Here he 
 is generally surrounded by an admiring throng 
 of ostlers, stable-boys, shoe-blacks, and those name- 
 less hangers-on that infest inns and taverns and 
 run errands. Every ragamuffin that has a coat to 
 his back thrusts his hands in his pockets, rolls in 
 his gait, talks slang, and is an embryo ' coachey.' " 
 
 Surely it has seldom happened in the history of 
 illustration that an author should be so very closely 
 followed if not overtaken by his illustrator. No 
 literary touch seemed to be wanting from the author 
 to convey a picture of English life and character 
 passed away ; but Caldecott's coachman helps to 
 elucidate the text ; and whilst it carried to many 
 a reader of Old Christmas in the New World a 
 living portrait of a past age, it revealed also . the 
 presence of a new illustrator. 
 
 Here w r as a reproachful lesson. The art of illus- 
 tration an art untaught in England and uncon- 
 sidered by too many was shown in all its strength 
 and usefulness by a comparatively new hand.
 
 io6 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vn. 
 
 Of the numerous illustrations drawn by Caldecott 
 in 1874 for Old Christmas, we may select as ex- 
 amples the young Oxonian leading out one of his 
 
 maiden aunts at a 
 dance on Christmas 
 v Eve ; and " the fair 
 Julia" in the in- 
 tervals of dancing 
 listening with ap- 
 parent indifference 
 to a song from her 
 admirer ; amusing 
 herself the while by 
 plucking to pieces 
 a choice bouquet of 
 hothouse flowers. 
 
 The style and 
 treatment of the draw- 
 
 THE TROUBADOUR. ing, on the opposite 
 
 page, differs from anything previously done by 
 Caldecott, and would hardly have been recognised 
 as his work ; the handling is less firm, and colour 
 and quality have been more considered in deference
 
 THE FAIR JULIA.
 
 loS RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 to what was considered the public taste in such 
 matters. But in a few pages he emancipates him- 
 self again, and gives us some brilliant character 
 sketches. In the last example from Old Christmas 
 he is in his element. Nothing could be more 
 characteristic, or in touch with the period illustrated, 
 than the picture of Frank Bracebridge, Master 
 Simon, and the author of Old Christmas, walking 
 about the grounds of the family mansion " escorted 
 by a number of gentleman-like dogs, from the 
 frisking spaniel to the steady old staghound. 
 The dogs were all obedient to a dog-whistle which 
 hung to Master Simon's button-hole, and in the 
 midst of the gambols would glance an eye oc- 
 casionally upon a small switch he carried in his 
 hand." 1 Thus the minute observation of the writer 
 is closely followed by the illustrator, who here from 
 his own habit of close observation of the ways 
 of animals, was enabled to give additional com- 
 pleteness to the picture ; and the effect was greatly 
 heightened by a wise determination on the part 
 
 1 It was more than once suggested to Caldecott to paint this scene. It 
 would probably have been attempted had circumstances permitted.
 
 1 874.] 
 
 OLD CHRISTMAS. 
 
 log 
 
 of Mr. Cooper the engraver, that the illustrations 
 should be " so mingled with the text that both 
 united should form one picture." This book was 
 engraved at leisure, and not published until the 
 end of 1875, by Messrs. Macmillan & Co., bearing 
 date 1876. 
 
 It is interesting to note that Old Christmas 
 was offered to, and declined by, one of the 
 leading publishers in London ; principally on the 
 
 MASTER SIMON AND HIS DOGS.
 
 i io RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vii. 
 
 ground that the illustrations were considered " in- 
 artistic, flippant and vulgar, and unworthy of the 
 author of Old Christmas" \ It was not until 1876 
 that the world discovered a new genius. 
 
 During the progress of the drawings for Old 
 Christmas in 1874, 'Caldecott went with the writer 
 to Brittany to make sketches for a new book ; 
 but the publication was postponed until after a 
 more extended tour in 1878. 
 
 These summer wanderings of Caldecott in 
 Brittany were prolific of work ; his pencil and note- 
 book were never at rest, as the pages of Breton 
 Folk testify (see Chapter xi.). The drawings, 
 both in 1874 and in 1878, mark a strong artistic 
 advance upon similar work in the Harz Moun- 
 tains. His feeling for the sentiment and beauty 
 of landscape, especially the open land, generally 
 absent from the sketches in the Harz Mountains, 
 is noticeable here. The statuesque grace of 
 the younger women, the picturesqueness of cos- 
 tume, operations of husbandry, outdoor fites 
 and the like, and the open air effect of nearly 
 every group of figures seen in these summer
 
 1 8 7 4.] 
 
 AY BRITTANY 
 
 ii I 
 
 journeys all came as delightful material for his 
 pencil. 
 
 Caldecott's studies with M. Dalou, the sculptor, 
 
 ON THE ROAD SIDE, BRITTANY. 
 
 in 1874, and the great proficiency he had already 
 obtained in modelling in clay, enabled him to 
 make several successful groups from his Brittany 
 subjects. 
 
 The bright-eyed stolid child in sabots at the 
 roadside (one of the first of the quaint little figures 
 that attracted his attention in Brittany) stands on
 
 ii2 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 the writer's table in concrete presentment in clay ; 
 the model is not much larger than the sketch 
 the front, the profile, and the back view, each 
 forming a separate and faithful study from life. 
 
 The young mother and child in the cathedral 
 at Guingamp (reproduced opposite) was another 
 successful effort in modelling, but Caldecott was not 
 satisfied with it excepting as a rough sketch 
 " a recollection in clay." 
 
 It is interesting here to note the handling of 
 the artist in his favourite material, French clay. 
 The model stands but six inches high, but it was 
 intended to have reproduced it larger. Another 
 sketch in the round was of "a. pig of Brittany," 
 reproduced on page 194. 
 
 "Save up," he writes about this time to a 
 friend in Manchester, "and be an art patron ; you 
 will soon be able to buy some interesting terra 
 cottas by R. C. ! " 
 
 This was a heavy year, for many illustrations 
 were produced not mentioned in these pages ; and 
 in October he was busy on the wax bas-relief of 
 a " Brittany horse fair," afterwards cast in metal
 
 AT GUINGAMP, BRITTANY. 
 Facsimile of Model in Terra Cotta, 1874.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vu. 
 
 and exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1876 (see 
 page 137). 
 
 On the igth of November and following days 
 
 To M. H. CHRISTMAS, 1874. 
 
 Caldecott was " working at Dalou's on a cat crouch- 
 ing for a spring." He had a skeleton of a cat, a 
 dead cat, and a live cat to work from. This model 
 in clay was finished on the 8th December, 1874.
 
 1 874-] CHRISTMAS GREETINGS. 115 
 
 Christmas Eve was spent " in the caverns 
 of the British Museum making a drawing, and 
 measuring skeleton of a white stork." This was 
 a most elaborate and careful record of measure- 
 ments. On the 28th of December he was " engaged 
 on brown paper cartoon of storks at Armstrong's," 
 and on the 3<Dth is the entry, " at British Museum ; 
 had storks out of cases to examine insertion of 
 wing feathers." 
 
 Thus, all through the year 1874 Caldecott, 
 working without much recognition excepting from 
 a few intimates, got through an immense amount 
 of work ; not forgetting his friends the children, 
 to whom he sent many Christmas greetings with 
 letters and coloured sketches. The drawing on the 
 opposite page accompanied a kindly letter to a 
 child of six years. 
 
 " I thank you," he says, " very much for 
 your grand sheet of drawings, which I think are 
 very nice indeed. I hope you will go on trying 
 and learning to draw. There are many beautiful 
 things waiting to be drawn. Animals and flowers 
 oh ! such a many and a few people." 
 
 I 2
 
 n6 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vn. 
 
 The last sketch in 1874 a postscript to a private 
 letter tells its own story.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LETTERS, DIAGRAMS, ETC. 
 
 IN a letter to a friend in Manchester, on the 
 i/th January, 1875, Caldecott writes: 
 
 " I stick pretty close to business, pretty much 
 in that admirable and attentive manner which 
 was the delight, the pride, the exultation of 
 the great chiefs who strode it through the 
 Manchester banking halls. Yes, I have not 
 forsaken those gay -though perhaps, to the heart 
 yearning to be fetterless, irksome scenes 
 without finding that the world ever requires 
 toil from those sons of labour who would be 
 successful.
 
 iiS 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. viii. 
 
 " However, during the last year I managed to 
 do a lot of work away from town, and enjoyed 
 it. Sometimes it was expensive, because when 
 at the cottage in Bucks, we of course mixed 
 with the county families and had to ' keep a 
 carriage ' to return calls, return from dinner, and 
 so forth." 
 
 AT FARNHAM ROYAL RETURNING VISITS. 
 
 Here is " a meditation for the New Year "- 
 "You will excuse me," he says, "talking of 
 myself when I tell you that amongst the resolutions 
 for the New Year was one only to talk of matters 
 about which there was a reasonable probability 
 that I knew something. Now human beings 
 are a mystery to me, and taking them all 
 round I think we may consider them a 
 failure. If I do not understand anything that 
 belongs to myself, how can I understand 
 what belongeth to another ? This, my dear W., 
 with your clear intellect, you will see is sound.
 
 I875-] 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 119 
 
 " I often think of the scenes and faces and 
 jokes of banking days, and have amongst them 
 many pleasant reminis- 
 cences. Perhaps we 
 shall all meet again in 
 that land which lies 
 round the corner ! " 
 
 [Here follows a gro- 
 tesque sketch of a man 
 on a winter's day, with 
 an umbrella, hurrying 
 off to the "Nag and 
 Nosebag."] 
 
 At the beginning of 
 1875, in the intervals of 
 book illustration, Calde- 
 cott was busy " working 
 on a cartoon of storks.'' 
 This was a design for a 
 picture in oils, painted 
 in March and afterwards 
 bought by Mr. F. Pen- 
 nington, late M.P. for Stockport. 
 
 On the ;th of January he enters in his diary, 
 " Painted some storks on the wing for a panel for a 
 
 SUNRISE.
 
 J20 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. viu. 
 
 wardrobe." The rendering of dawn 
 on the upmost clouds, the storks 
 rising from the dark earth to greet 
 the sun, can hardly be indicated 
 without colour, but the design is 
 given accurately. It was a poetic 
 fancy which he had had in his 
 STUDY IN LINE. mind for some time ; one of many 
 half developed designs which, if his health had 
 permitted, the world might have seen more of. 
 
 On the 25th of January he "made a dry point 
 sketch of a Quimperle Brittany woman," and in 
 February he was busy modelling as usual. 
 
 On the 5th of February, " took to Lucchesi 
 (moulder) wax bas-relief of horse fair, and small 
 'sketch' of brewers' waggon." 
 
 The advance of the art of reproducing drawings 
 in facsimile in a cheap form, suit- 
 able for printing at the type press 
 like wood engravings, was attracting 
 much attention in England in 1875, 
 and at the writer's request Caldecott 
 made a series of diagrams sugges- S TUDY IN LINE.
 
 iS 75 .] 
 
 DIAGRAMS. 
 
 121 
 
 DIAGRAM. DESIGN FOR A PICTURE, 1875. 
 
 tive of the power of line and of effects to be 
 obtained by simple methods, to illustrate a paper 
 read before the Society of Arts in London in 
 March, 1875, on "The Art of Illustration." 
 
 With his usual kindness and enthusiasm he put 
 aside his work some modelling in clay which he 
 had been studying under his friend M. Dalou, the 
 
 4 O 
 
 French sculptor and at once began a diagram, 
 about seven feet by five feet, to suggest a picture in
 
 122 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vin. 
 
 DIAGRAM. 
 
 the simplest way. Without much consideration, with- 
 out models, and "in the limited area of his little 
 studio in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, he set 
 to work with a brush on the broad white sheet, 
 and in about an hour produced the drawing in 
 line of " Youth and Age " on the last page. 
 
 The horses were not quite satisfactory to him- 
 self; but the sentiment of the picture, the open
 
 iS 7 5.] 
 
 DIAGRAMS. 
 
 123 
 
 air effect of early spring, the crisp grass, the birds' 
 nests forming in the almost leafless trees, the 
 effect of distance indicated in a few lines and 
 above all, the feeling of sky produced by the un- 
 
 DIAGRAM. "THE LECTURER." 
 
 touched background were skilfully suggested in the 
 large diagram. 
 
 On other occasions, and for the same lecture, he 
 made several other diagrams, including one of the
 
 124 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vin. 
 
 -jfc -Xx 
 
 DIAGRAM. 
 
 pursuit of a dog in a 
 village, another of a 
 
 O ' 
 
 lecturer and various 
 heads in an audience. 
 The reproductions are 
 interesting to examine 
 together as early work 
 in a style in which he 
 afterwards was famous 
 a style, which was not 
 outline in the strict sense 
 of the word, and which 
 
 to a great extent was his own. It had little in 
 common with Flaxman, it was not in the manner 
 of Gillray, Cruikshank, Doyle, or Leech ; nor in 
 the more academic manner of his friend and pre- 
 decessor in children's books Walter Crane. 
 
 To these somewhat tentative drawings he after- 
 wards added to the series a diagram, six feet high, 
 of the famous mad dog from one of his Picture 
 Books, and another of the figure of a child running, 
 reproduced above. 
 
 The discover}' of a process by which a drawing
 
 1 875.] DIAGRAMS. 125 
 
 on paper in line, could be photographed and brought 
 into relief, like a wood-block for printing at the 
 type press, was not perfected in England until 
 1875, an d did not come into general use until 1876 ; 
 had it come a year or two earlier it would have 
 had an important influence upon Caldecott's work. 
 
 *JSF9 
 
 V v. ^v 
 
 ?^ 
 
 V-^ 
 
 DIAGRAM. 
 
 Without going too far into technicalities, it may 
 be interesting to illustrators to mention here that 
 all Caldecott's best drawings in his Picture Books, 
 Jo/271 Gilpin, The Ho^lse that Jack Built, &c. ; in 
 the Graphic newspaper, and in Washington Irving' s
 
 126 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vin. 
 
 Old Christmas, c., were photographed on to 
 wood-blocks and have passed through the hands 
 of the engraver. 
 
 The system of photographic engraving (by which 
 the drawings are reproduced on pp. 1 24 and 125) bids 
 fair to supersede wood-engraving for rapid journ- 
 alistic purposes. It naturally attracted Caldecott 
 in the first instance ; but with increased knowledge 
 and perception of " values," and of the quality 
 to be obtained in a good wood-engraving above 
 any mechanical reproduction in relief, Caldecott 
 was glad to avail himself of the help of the 
 engraver. He drew with greater freedom, as he 
 expressed it, preferring, as so many illustrators do, 
 to put in tints with a brush, to be rendered in 
 line by skilful engravers. But at the same time 
 he delighted in shewing the poiuer of line in 
 drawing, studying " the art of leaving out as a 
 science " ; doing nothing hastily but thinking long 
 and seriously before putting pen to paper, remem- 
 bering, as he always said, " the fewer the lines, the 
 less error committed." 
 
 In the spring of 1875 he sends this lively picture
 
 1 875-] 
 
 TN THE COUNTRY. 
 
 127 
 
 of himself from Dodington, near Whitchurch, in 
 Shropshire, where he had been working, staying 
 with friends, in the full enjoyment of country life. 
 
 Writing on the 2/th of April, 1875, he says : 
 
 " I feel I owe somebody an apology for staying 
 
 in the country so long, but don't quite see to whom 
 
 it is due, so I shall stay two or three days longer, 
 
 and then I shall indeed hang my harp on a willow
 
 128 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 tree. It is difficult to screw up the proper amount 
 of courage for leaving the lambkins, the piglets, the 
 foals, the goslings, the calves, and the puppies. 
 We want rain, and then things will grow with ex- 
 ceeding speed ; as it is, the earth is dry and the buds 
 are slow to display their hidden beauties. A little 
 of 'something to drink' will cheer them, and then, 
 like some human beings, they will look pleasant 
 and cheerful and 'come out.' ' 
 
 Next, from a letter to an intimate friend, dated 
 5th March, 1875, on being asked to become a 
 trustee : 
 
 " The event is of a pleasing nature because 
 it shows that somebody still believes in the 
 continuance of that uprightness of principle, 
 rectitude of conduct, and general respectability 
 of mind and heart which for so many years 
 endeared me to the nobility, clergy, gentry, 
 gasmen, and fowl stealers of W- ." 
 
 Life in the country with Caldecott was " w r orth 
 living," and he chafed much at this period if he had 
 to be with his " nose to the grindstone,' 1 as he ex- 
 pressed it, in Bloomsbury. Whilst in the country
 
 i8 7 5.] 
 
 TERRA COTTA MODELS. 
 
 129 
 
 his letters to town were full of sketches, but in letters 
 from London he hardly ever pictured life out of 
 doors. 
 
 ARTS CLUB 
 
 hANOVER SQUARE 
 
 Vf 
 
 " SHOWS HIS TERRA COTTAS." 
 
 In June 1875, he shows the bas-relief of "A 
 Boar Hunt," and some small groups in terra cotta, 
 to his friends. 1 
 
 Before the favourable verdict of the press was 
 pronounced on Old Christmas, Caldecott was com- 
 missioned to illustrate a second volume ; and, in 
 May 1875, ne was already at work making studies 
 and drawings for Bracebridge Hall, which did not 
 appear until the end of 1876. 
 
 1 The medallion at the head of this letter was designed by Sir Frederick 
 Burton and afterwards redrawn for the Arts Club by E. J. Poynter, R.A. 
 
 K
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. vin. 
 
 About this time the first number of Academy 
 Notes was published, and in a postscript to a letter 
 to the writer (of too private a nature to be printed) 
 Caldecott pictures its "first appearance in a family 
 circle." 
 
 THE FIRST YEAR OF ACADEMY NOTES. 
 
 In June 1875, Caldecott had "three drawings 
 in sepia, badly hung, in the 'black and white' 
 exhibition at the Dudley Gallery." 
 
 On the 4th of August he was " making designs 
 for pelican picture ; " and afterwards studying this 
 subject at the Zoological Gardens. Two pictures 
 of pelicans were eventually painted ; the second,
 
 I875-] 
 
 PAINTINGS. 
 
 in the possession of Mr. W. Phipson Beale, is 
 sketched below. 
 
 
 THREE PELICANS AND TORTOISE (OIL PAINTING). 
 
 Writing on the loth August, 1875, respecting 
 some Cretan embroideries just arrived in England, 
 he sends the sketch overleaf. 
 
 "In accordance with your letter about the em- 
 broideries," he says, " I have placed the address of the 
 importer in the hands of Mr. N., a man well-skilled 
 in detecting that which is frood in a crowd of works 
 
 O 3 
 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. vm. 
 
 of art. He is great in pottery, embroidery and 
 
 INSPECTING EMBROIDERIES. 
 
 decoration ; but he has a mind great in forgetting, 
 and a fine talent for losing addresses." 
 
 In October, whilst at the seaside, he "made six
 
 i8 7 5.] 
 
 PAINTINGS. 
 
 '33 
 
 drawings ; " and, later in the year, was " modelling 
 panels for Lord Monteagle's chimney-piece." 
 
 In November 1875 he received the first copy 
 of Old Christmas from the publishers, and already 
 favourable notices of the illustrations had begun to 
 appear in the newspapers. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS CARD TO K. E. B.
 
 READING "OPINIONS OF THE PRESS" ON "OLD CHRISTMAS." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ROYAL ACADEMY, " BRACEBRIDGE HALL," ETC. 
 
 THE " opinions of the press " on Washington 
 Irving's Old Christmas, which Mr. J. D. Cooper, the 
 wood engraver, is depicted reading to the artist with 
 so much glee, were all that could be desired ; and 
 they fully justified the second venture (Bracebridge 
 Hall], on which Caldecott was already engaged. 
 
 In February he was "painting a frieze for Mr. 
 Pennington's drawing room " at Broome Hall, 
 Holmwood, Sussex ; and, later on, was " carving 
 panels for a chimneypiece."
 
 iS 7 6.] 
 
 OIL PAINTINGS. 
 
 '35 
 
 In this year, 1876, Caldecott exhibited his first 
 painting in the Royal Academy, entitled, " There 
 were Three Ravens sat on a Tree." The humour 
 and vigour of the composition are well indicated in 
 the sketch. It was hung rather out of sight, above 
 (and in somewhat grim proximity with) a picture 
 of "At Death's Door," by Hubert Herkomer. 
 Both artists were then thirty years of age. 
 
 Cat. No 415. 
 
 49 X 32- 
 
 " THERE WERE THREE RAVENS SAT ON A TREE." 
 (Oil Painting) Royal Academy, 1876. 
 
 In the same room (Gallery V.) were collected that 
 year, the works of painters whose names are familiar 
 W. B. Richmond, A. Gow, H. R. Robertson,
 
 '36 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. ix. 
 
 E. H. Fahey, W. W. Ouless, Val C. Prinsep, 
 Henry Moore, and others. 
 
 Besides " The Three Ravens " he exhibited in 
 1876 the metal bas-relief of a " Horse Fair in 
 Brittany, " reproduced opposite. This was a more 
 masterful production than the picture, and attracted 
 
 " PRIVATE VIEW OF MY FIRST R.A. PICTURE," APRIL 1876. 
 
 great attention in the Royal Academy Exhibition. 
 It was mentioned in the Times of that year, and in 
 
 the Saturday Review, June loth, 1876, we read : 
 
 " Of low relief taking the Elgin frieze as the standard one 
 of the purest examples we have seen for many a day is Mr. 
 Caldecott's bas-relief, "A Horse Fair in Brittany." Here a 
 simple and almost rude incident in nature has been brought 
 within the laws and symmetry of art."
 
 .2
 
 138 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 In 1876 Caldecott also produced a relief in metal 
 of " A Boar Hunt," which was exhibited in the 
 Grosvenor Gallery in 1878. 
 
 To the world at large and in the opinion of 
 many critics, there was, in his Academy work of 
 1876, promise of an exceptionally successful career. 
 Decorative design and modelling in relief were 
 Caldecott's especial forte, and it is to be regretted 
 that so few of these works remain to us. " The 
 Horse Fair in Brittany," in the possession of the 
 writer, is one of the few completed works of this 
 character. He was not destined to be a prolific 
 painter, although strongly urged at this time by 
 members of the Royal Academy to devote his 
 energies to painting. Neither his health nor his 
 previous training justified his leaving a branch 
 of art in which he was already becoming famous, 
 that of book illustration. 
 
 In 1876 the system of reproducing sketches in 
 pen and ink by photo-engraving became general 
 in England, and in the pages of Academy Notes of 
 that year there appeared, for the first time, sketches 
 by the painters of their exhibited works.
 
 i8 7 6.] 
 
 ACADEMY NOTES. 
 
 139 
 
 Amongst well-known artists who powerfully 
 aided in founding a system of illustration which 
 was destined to spread over the world were Sir 
 John Gilbert, R.A., H. Stacy Marks, R.A., Marcus 
 Stone, A.R.A., and, the comparatively young, 
 Randolph Caldecott. The three first-named are 
 masters in line each in his own style, and their 
 methods were studied and imitated by many other 
 painters in England to whom line drawing was then 
 a sealed book. Several 
 sketches of pictures 
 in the Academy Notes, 
 1876, were drawn by 
 Caldecott, including 
 the portrait of Captain 
 Burton, painted by 
 Sir Frederick Leigh- 
 ton, P. R. A. 
 
 In June he made a 
 series of illustrations, 
 entitled " Christmas CArTAIN BuRTON ' R ' A " l876 ' 
 Visitors," for the Graphic newspaper ; and about this 
 time the drawings for Bracebridge Hall were finished.
 
 BRACEBRIDGE HALL. 
 
 " THE success of Old Christmas has suggested 
 
 the re-publication of its sequel, Bracebridge Hall, 
 
 illustrated by the same able pencil, but condensed, 
 
 so as to bring it within reasonable size and price." 
 
 FACSIMILE OF FIRST PAGE OF "BRACEBRIDGE HALL.
 
 
 "THE CHIVALRY OF THE HALL PREPARED TO TAKE THE FIELD."
 
 I 4 2 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. ix. 
 
 In Bracebridge Hall we meet the fair Julia again 
 in one of the most graceful illustrations Caldecott 
 ever drew. An extract from the text is necessary to 
 show the subtle touch of the illustrator. 
 
 " I have derived much pleasure," says Washington 
 Irving, " from observing the fair Julia and her lover 
 ... I observed them yesterday in the garden ad- 
 vancing along one of the retired walks. The sun 
 was shining with delicious warmth, making great 
 masses of bright verdure and deep blue shade. 
 The cuckoo, that harbinger of spring, was faintly 
 heard from a distance ; the thrush piped from the 
 hawthorn, and the yellow butterflies sported, and 
 toyed and coquetted in the air. 
 
 " The fair Julia was leaning on her lover's arm, 
 listening to his conversation with her eyes cast 
 down, a soft blush on her cheek and a quiet 
 smile on her lips, while in the hand which hung 
 negligently by her side was a bunch of flowers. 
 In this way they were sauntering slowly along, 
 and when I considered them, and the scenery in 
 which they were moving, I could not but think 
 it a thousand pities that the season should ever 
 change or that young people should ever grow 
 older, or that blossoms should give way to fruit 
 or that lovers should ever get married." The 
 harmony here between author and illustrator needs 
 no comment.
 
 THE FAIR JULIA AND HER LOVER.
 
 i 4 4 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. ix. 
 
 There were 120 drawings made for Braccbridge 
 Hall, remarkable for artistic qualities and fully 
 sustaining the reputation of the artist. 
 
 The originals were drawn about one third larger, 
 in pen and ink, photographed on wood and engraved 
 
 "GENERAL HARBOTTLE AT DINNER." 
 
 in facsimile. The effect of many of the drawings 
 in the first editions was injured by the want of 
 margin on the printed page ; but an edition dc lii.vc 
 is now printed with Old Christinas and Braccbridge 
 Hall in one volume. 
 
 As it is the object of this memoir to record facts 
 and as the originator of good ideas is seldom
 
 i8 7 6.] 
 
 BRACEBRIDGE HALL. 
 
 recognised it should be stated here that it is 
 owing to Mr. Cooper, the engraver, that Washington 
 Irving's books were ever illustrated by Caldecott. 
 The idea, he says in the preface, " has been 
 delayed in execution for many years, mainly from 
 the difficulty of finding an artist capable of identify- 
 ing himself with the author ; " modestly adding 
 " whether this result has now been attained or 
 no, must be left to the verdict of the lovers of the 
 gifted writer in both hemispheres/' 
 
 AN EXTINGUISHER.'
 
 146 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. ix. 
 
 The two next sketches mark with touching em- 
 phasis the serious change in Caldecott's health which 
 took place in the autumn of this year. 
 
 SV\Lo? 
 
 In August he is writing from the country in high 
 spirits as usual, and planning out much work for the 
 future. Bracelridge Hall was finished, and the 
 success of Old Christmas had brought him many 
 commissions. His illustrations on wood had turned 
 out well, being fortunate in his engravers, especially 
 Mr. J. D. Cooper and Mr. Edmund Evans, who 
 always rendered his work with sympathetic care. 
 He may also be said to have been fortunate in 
 his connection with the Graphic newspaper under 
 the direction of Mr. W. L. Thomas, the artist and 
 wood engraver.
 
 1 376.] 
 
 AT BUXTOX. 
 
 But alas ! in the autumn of this year his health 
 failed him, and in October he was advised to go 
 to Buxton in Derbyshire. 
 
 On the 2nd November, 1876, he writes : 
 
 AT BUXTON. 
 
 " I am as above. Walking solemnly in the 
 gardens, or sitting limply in the almost deserted 
 saloon listening to an enfeebled band." 
 
 The result of that visit was a series of delightful 
 sketches, which appeared in the Graphic newspaper, 
 the originals of which are in the possession of 
 Mr. Samuel Pope, Q.C. 
 
 L 2
 
 A CHRISTMAS CARD. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON THE RIVIERA. 
 
 THE journey to the Riviera and North Italy, 
 which Calclecott was compelled to make for his 
 health, before Christmas 1876, was as usual prolific 
 of work. Writing from Monaco in January, 1877, 
 he says : 
 
 " This is a beautiful place, and for the benefit 
 of you stay-at-home bodies I will describe it in 
 my way;" and in four original letters published in 
 the Graphic newspaper in March and April, 1877, 
 there appeared about sixty illustrations containing
 
 1577] DRAWING FOR THE "GRAPHIC? 149 
 
 upwards of three hundred figures, different studies 
 of life and character ; and these drawings do not 
 represent probably, one half of the sketches made. 
 
 No such pictures of Monte Carlo and its neigh- 
 bourhood had been sent home before ; they were 
 the ideal newspaper correspondent's letters the 
 sketches abounding in humour and accurate detail ; 
 the letters accompanying them being written from 
 personal observation. 
 
 It would have been strange indeed if these 
 letters had not attracted general attention and 
 amusement in a newspaper ; but they did more 
 than this, they revealed an amount of artistic 
 insight, and suggested possibilities in Caldecott's 
 future career as an artist which his health never 
 permitted him to put to the test. 
 
 At Monaco and at Monte Carlo, Caldecott found 
 so much that suited his pencil that it is a wonder 
 that he found time for any more serious work. 
 With touches of satire that remind us of Thackeray, 
 and a gaiety all his own, these spontaneous and 
 delightful letters form the best picture of Caldecott 
 that can be given in 1877.
 
 1 50 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 " Round the tables," he writes, " from noon to 
 nearly midnight seven days a week the monde 
 dtigant congregates, from the Yorkshireman to the 
 Japanese." Then follow- sketches of an English- 
 man in Scotch tweed, and a young man from Japan. 
 Next is a general sketch of the crowd at the round 
 table, the artist's own figure, admirably given, 
 standing back to us, hat in hand. It was a marvel- 
 lous gathering presented on the printed page, " all 
 intent on gambling editors of journals, English 
 justices of the peace, venerable matrons and inno- 
 cent girls, beloved sons who are ' travelling,' artistes, 
 chevaliers of the legion of honour, dames who are 
 not of that legion." " Such costumes and toilettes 
 sweep the polished floor, such delicately-gloved 
 fingers clutch the glittering coins when they hap- 
 pen to win, and sometimes when they don't such a 
 clinking of money, as the croupiers mass the 
 rakings." 
 
 From the fashionable crowd and the heated 
 atmosphere of the Casino the artist takes us along 
 the cool shores of the Mediterranean, where, in one 
 of the best sketches in these letters, full of air and
 
 153 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 light, h_e brings two figures into unexpected con- 
 trast. " Walking one afternoon along the Mentone 
 road, we reached a point commanding a fine view of 
 sea, hills, and olive trees. There was a stone seat, 
 and on it an aged round-backed man. On the 
 wall and bench before him were spread out many 
 cards dotted with the results of numerous twirls of 
 the roulette ball. He was studying his chances for 
 the future. As we turned away we met a priest 
 reading in a little book as he passed." 
 
 As the landscapes suffered in reproduction in the 
 newspaper, and were the least successful part in 
 these letters, it may be well to mention that some 
 of Caldecott's landscape studies in oils and water 
 colours, on the shores of the Mediterranean, were 
 the best he ever did, attracting much attention at 
 the sale of his works in 1886. 
 
 That he did not put a high estimate on his 
 powers as a landscape painter at that time may 
 be gathered from a few words in a private letter 
 declining some commissions. 
 
 " The drawings that G. so kindly enquires about 
 are not in my line. I would rather not attempt to
 
 154 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 paint what I imagine he wants proper professional 
 water-colour landscape, painter's work. 
 
 " Please say that my line is to make to smile 
 the lunatic who has shown no sign of mirth for 
 many months (see the Graphic of Saturday last, 6th 
 January, p. 7, right-hand column I tumbled upon 
 it in the reading room of the Casino), and not 
 to portray the beauties of this southern clime 
 not but what I would if I could ! " 
 
 NORTH ITALIAN FOLK. 
 
 It was in the same winter, during his journey in 
 North Italy, that Caldecott made twenty-eight illus- 
 trations for a book on North Italian Folk* Here 
 Caldecott's studies, and his habit of sketching the 
 peasantry wherever he went, served him well. 
 
 Take the picture of the priest and his faithful 
 servant Caterina ; the latter, reproaching her 
 master for bringing home a neighbour, Maddalena, 
 " to eat two lasagne with us ! " Caterina is "a gaunt 
 threadbare-looking woman of some five-and-thirty 
 
 1 North Italian Folk, by Mrs. Comyns Carr. London : Chatto and Windus, 
 1878.
 
 I877-] 
 
 NORTH ITALIAN FOLK. 
 
 IS? 
 
 years, and the prevosto is gaunt too, and sallow ; 
 the t\vo match well together. Caterina's hair is 
 smooth though scant, and her faded print dress is 
 
 
 L 
 
 THE PRIEST'S SERVANT ADMINISTERS A REPROOF. 
 
 neat, but the bright yellow kerchief round her 
 shoulders is soiled, and the cunning plaits of her 
 grey hair are not as well ordered as the women's 
 are wont to be on mass days. 
 
 " Presently Caterina bustles into the darkened 
 parlour, where sits the prcvosto lazily smoking his
 
 156 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 pipe and reading the country newspaper. He has 
 put aside even the least of his clerical garments 
 now, and lounges at ease in an old coat and slippers, 
 his tonsured head covered by a battered straw hat. 
 
 " ' Listen to me,' breaks forth the faithful woman, 
 and she is not careful to modulate her voice even 
 to a semblance of secrecy, ' you don't bring another 
 mouth for me to feed here when it is baking day 
 again. Per Bacco, no indeed ! . . It sha'n't happen 
 again, do you hear ? And I have the holy wafers to 
 bake besides. For shame of you ! Come now to 
 your dinner in the kitchen ! ' And Caterina, the better 
 for this free expression, hastens to dish up the 
 minestra. 
 
 " ' Poor old priest ! What a shrew he has got in 
 in his house,' says some pitying reader. Yet he 
 would not part with her for worlds ! She is his solace 
 and his right hand, and loves him none the less 
 because of her sharp tongue and uncurbed speech. 
 In many a lone and cheerless home of Italian priest 
 can I call to mind such a woman as this such a 
 fond and faithful drudge, with harsh ways and a 
 soft heart." 
 
 Another picture in North Italian Folk seems to 
 give the character of the peasantry and the scenery 
 exactly. " The sun glitters on the pale sea that is
 
 ITALIAN FOLK. 
 
 '57 
 
 down and away a mile or more beyond the sloping 
 fields and gardens, and the dipping valley. Giovanni 
 
 THE HUSBANDMAN. 
 
 pauses to rest his burthen upon the wall just where 
 the way turns to the right again, leaving the moun- 
 tains and chestnut-clad hills behind it."

 
 iS77-] NORTH ITALIAN FOLK. 159 
 
 Here in the sketch we are made to feel the sun- 
 light and the glare from the sea on the southern 
 slope ; every detail of the pathway, to the stones 
 in the old wall, being accurately given. 
 
 Never, perhaps, in any book since Washington 
 Irving's Old Christmas and Bracebridge Hall 
 was the illustrator more in touch with the author 
 than in North Italian Folk ; but for some reason 
 probably because Caldecott's work and style had 
 become identified with English people and their 
 ways, both abroad and at home the illustrations 
 made little impression. The completeness of the 
 pictures, and the local colour infused into them by 
 the author, left little to be done ; moreover, Cal- 
 decott was not on his own ground, and to draw 
 buildings and landscape in black and white, with 
 the finish, and what is technically called the "colour," 
 considered necessary for a book of this kind, was 
 always irksome to him. 
 
 Less characteristic, but charming as a drawing, 
 is the group of country girls under the cherry trees, 
 reproduced on the opposite page. It is a picture 
 worth having for its own sake, whether it aid the
 
 i6o 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. x. 
 
 text or not, and one with 
 which we may fitly leave 
 this volume. 
 
 Early in the year 1877 
 Caldecott made several 
 drawings for an illustrated 
 catalogue of the National 
 Gallery. Amongst the 
 best in the English sec- 
 " DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE." tion were the two sketches 
 from Sir Edwin Landseer's pictures, reproduced 
 here. The grave portrait of an old bloodhound in 
 " Dignity and Impudence," and the animation and 
 movement in the diminutive poodle by his side, 
 
 
 "SPANIELS, KING CHARLES'S BREED." SIR E. I.ANDSEER, R. A.
 
 i8 7 7.] 
 
 NATIONAL GALLERY. 
 
 161 
 
 are indicated in a few expressive lines. The 
 bright eyes of the two little spaniels of King 
 
 PORTRAIT OF A LAWYER BY MORONI. 
 
 Charles's breed glitter under his hand in the 
 original pen and ink sketch. 
 
 For the foreign section of the book on the 
 
 M
 
 1 62 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 National Gallery he made many sketches, notably 
 one of the " Portrait of a Lawyer " by Moroni. 
 Here the touch and method of line are different ; 
 quality was more considered, and an attempt 
 made to give something of the effect of the picture. 
 
 But neither he, nor those with whom he worked 
 in those days, had mastered the best methods of 
 drawing for mechanical reproduction, as they are 
 understood now ; fascinating as it seemed to 
 him, and to many other illustrators also, to learn 
 that the time had come when, by mechanical 
 or more properly chemical engraving, the touch 
 of the pen could be printed on the page. 
 
 It may be said generally in 1877, that Caldecott 
 disliked drawing for " process," and that after years 
 of experience, and having achieved most successful 
 results by photographic engraving, he remained 
 faithful to the wood engraver. The delicate little 
 drawings in brown ink, which were dispersed in 
 hundreds under the auctioneer's hammer in June, 
 1886, had nearly all been photographed on to wood 
 blocks. 
 
 In June, 1877, Caldecott staying at Shalclon,
 
 i8 7 7.] 
 
 AT SHALDON, SOUTH DEVON. 
 
 163 
 
 Teignmouth, South Devon, for the benefit of his 
 health, chafing under enforced idleness and 
 "debarred by the doctors from all sport," as he 
 says writes a letter with the following little sketch 
 of " Waiting for a Boat." 
 
 "WAITING FOR A BOAT." 
 
 "The weather has been unwell for many of 
 the days, and has much interfered with the 
 intellectual occupation of enticing ' dabs ' on to 
 hooks let down into the sea by pieces of string 
 and concealed by shreds of mussels. 
 
 " On only one occasion have I been engaged 
 in this exciting pursuit all chases and pursuits 
 are more or less exciting but this one on that 
 account can hardly be considered ' detrimental ' to 
 
 M 2
 
 164 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. x. 
 
 my health. There were three of us in the boat 
 when I engaged in the sport. We had a large can 
 of fine mussels. We threw out the lines and hauled 
 them in every now and then, for three good hours, 
 being about a mile out to sea. Two whole dabs 
 were the result. I was quite calm as w r e rowed 
 home. 
 
 "I do not boast of this exploit, although the 
 larger dab was at least seven inches long by four 
 and a half wide, and fully f- of an inch thick. Still 
 I glow a little as I recount his measurements." 
 
 Many illustrations were made in the autumn of 
 1877 for the Graphic and other publications which 
 need not be detailed. A painting of one of his 
 favourite hunting scenes was also in progress, in 
 spite of dark days and delicate health.
 
 "CLEOPATRA." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " BRETON FOLK," ETC. 
 
 FOR Mr. Frederick Locker-Lampson, the poet, 
 Caldecott made in the years 1877-8, twelve drawings 
 to illustrate Bramble Rise, A Winter Phantasy, My 
 Neighbour Rose, and other verses. These illustra- 
 tions, most delicately drawn in pen and ink, have not 
 yet been published. One was used in 1881 in a 
 privately printed edition of the London Lyrics, and 
 three in 1883, in a little volume of the Lyrics
 
 1 66 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 printed by the " Book Fellows Club " in New 
 York. Caldecott afterwards made four illustrations 
 for Mrs. Locker- Lampson's child's book, What the 
 Blackbird Said, and two years afterwards, in 1882, 
 an illustration to her Greystoke Hall. These two 
 books are published by Messrs. Routledge. 
 
 In 1878 he exhibited his picture of "The 
 Three Huntsmen " riding home in evening light. 
 It was hung rather high in Gallery VII. at the 
 Royal Academy Exhibition, and technically could 
 hardly be pronounced a success ; but it was a distinct 
 advance on previous exhibited work, and drew 
 the serious attention of critics to Caldecott as a 
 painter. The sketch appeared in an article on 
 the Academy in L'Art, vol. xx. p. 211. Of 
 this oil painting, Mr. Mundella, the late President 
 of the Board of Trade writes : 
 
 "The picture was bought by me of poor Caldecott in 1878. 
 
 1 think it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in that year, but I 
 bought it from his easel. It is an oil painting, 3 ft. 6 in. by 
 
 2 ft. 9 in., and the subject is the ' Three Huntsmen.' I remember 
 his bringing the song to my house after the purchase, and reading 
 the song with great enjoyment, pointing out to us how he had 
 illustrated the verse, ' We hunted and we holloed till the setting 
 of the sun.' My little granddaughter (Millais' ' Dorothy Thorpe ') 
 was his model for several of his Christmas books. She is the
 
 O ~ 
 "" P^
 
 1 63 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 little girl in Sing a Song of Sixpence and several others, and 
 possesses copies sent by him with little sketches and dedications. 
 He is indeed a national loss." 
 
 In the Grosvenor Gallery of the same year 
 Caldecott exhibited a small metal bas-relief of "A 
 Boar Hunt," of which he made the following sketch 
 in Grosvenor Notes. 
 
 No. 232. 8 in. x 18 .n. 
 
 "A BOAR HUNT" (BAS-RELIEF). Grosvenor Gallery, 1878. 
 
 Special interest attaches to this design, also to 
 " The Horse Fair in Brittany," reproduced on 
 page 137, for the insight it gives of Caldecott's 
 varied artistic powers, which, by force of circum- 
 stances, were always held in reserve. If, as a writer 
 remarks, " The treatment of reliefs is a test of the 
 state of a school of sculpture," these examples may
 
 1878.] IN BRITTANY. 169 
 
 help to " place " Caldecott amongst contemporary 
 artists. 
 
 Early in 1878, Mr. Edmund Evans, the wood 
 engraver, came to him with a proposal that he 
 should illustrate some books for children to be 
 printed in colours. The plan was soon decided 
 upon, and the first of the Picture Books was begun. 
 In the summer of the same year, Caldecott went 
 with the writer for a second time to Brittany. 
 
 It was at first intended to take a gig and 
 drive through and through, the country, giving an 
 account of adventures from day to day, and 
 Caldecott (who was more at home perhaps, in a 
 gig than in any other position of life) favoured the 
 idea ; but time and other circumstances prevented. 
 
 The next proposal was to give a general 
 description of the country and its people, its 
 churches and ruined castles, as they exist to-day. 
 But Caldecott did not take to this idea ; he never 
 in his lifetime drew buildings with the same 
 facility as figures, and, at that time, to attempt to 
 make drawings of chateaux, cathedrals and the 
 like, would have been unsuccessful. So the book,
 
 170 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECO TT. 
 
 [CHAP. XL 
 
 Brittany Picturesque, which had already been 
 partly written, was laid aside to give space for 
 sketches of Breton Folkl 
 
 " THE TRAP." 
 
 "We obtained a trap in a few days"- not the 
 gig, independent of a driver, which Caldecott always 
 sighed for. His delight and high spirits on the 
 first journey, in 1874, are seen in the sketch where 
 he is waving farewell to some astonished peasantry. 
 To be " on the road " was always a pleasure to 
 Caldecott, from the " old Whitchurch days," which 
 
 1 Brdon Folk, by Henry Blackburn, with 170 illustrations by R. Caldecott. 
 London : Sampson Low and Co., 1880.
 
 i8 7 3.] 
 
 IN BRITTANY. 
 
 171 
 
 he often described to his friends driving home in 
 the dark at reckless speed after a late supper, in a 
 dog-cart full of rather uproarious company down 
 to 1885 at Frensham, when as host, he would drive 
 his friends in the lanes of Surrey. 
 
 At least 200 sketches must have been made in 
 
 SKETCHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 these journeys ; besides jottings of heads, figures 
 
 and the like, and several drawings in water colours. 
 
 The summer fetes and " pardons," all through the
 
 172 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 country, furnished capital material for his pencil, the 
 women's caps of different districts were each recorded, 
 and here and there a solemn suggestive landscape 
 noted for a picture which was never to be completed. 
 
 BRETON FARMER AND CATTLE. 
 
 The circumstances under which some of the 
 sketches were made is indicated on page 171. 
 
 One of the first drawings made in Brittany, both 
 in colour and black and white (a scene of which 
 Caldecott was always desirous of making a finished 
 picture), was the buckwheat harvest, with the 
 women at work in the fields. Many similar scenes 
 were put down in note-books, many were the studies
 
 IX BRITTANY. 
 
 173 
 
 of clouds careering over the wind-blown land, 
 
 o 
 
 which were never engraved or published. 
 
 Two of the principal events in these journeys 
 were visits to a horse fair at Le Folgoet, and to a 
 
 A WAYSIDE CROSS. 
 
 cattle fair at Carhaix, where Caldecott made the 
 following sketches : 
 
 " Le Folgoet is in the north of Finisterre, in the 
 north-west corner of Brittany. The country is for
 
 174 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 the most part flat and dreary in aspect ; a few fields 
 of buckwheat, corn, and rye are passed on the road, 
 protected by banked-up hedges, and skirted by 
 pollard trees. 
 
 Ax THE HORSE FAIR, LE FOLGOET. 
 
 " On the road as we approach the fair, a mile and 
 a half from the town, is a characteristic figure, a 
 barefooted gamin with red cap and grey jersey 
 trotting out an old chestnut mare." As he stops
 
 i8 7 8.J 
 
 IN BRITTANY. 
 
 175 
 
 and turns to look back, he is thus rapidly recorded 
 in a sketch. 
 
 Apart from the artistic material so abundant 
 everywhere, Caldecott's love for animals and know- 
 ledge of them, his interest in everything connected 
 
 TROTTING OUT HORSES AT CARHAIX. 
 
 with farming, markets, country life and surroundings, 
 roused him to exertions at Carhaix which none but the 
 most hardy " special artist " would have attempted. 
 
 It was an exciting time for Caldecott, both on the 
 road and at the fair ; materials for his pencil were 
 everywhere, and for three days there was little rest.
 
 1878.] 
 
 LV BRITTAXY. 
 
 177 
 
 Carhaix being in the centre of Brittany, far 
 remote from railways, had special attractions in 
 the variety of character and costume. Here, weak 
 in health as Caldecott then was, he stood and 
 worked all day, being especially interested in the 
 trotting out and sale of horses. Turning to our 
 diary : 
 
 " The horse 
 fair was held in 
 a large square 
 or place. Under 
 the trees was a 
 crowd of men 
 and women in 
 the dust and 
 heat ; horses, 
 cattle, pigs and 
 dogs, in con- 
 fused move- 
 ment ; with 
 much drinking 
 and shouting- 
 
 o 
 
 at the booths 
 which lined one 
 side of the en- 
 closure." A TYPICAL BRETON.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 A BRETONNE. 
 
 It was in this year (1878) 
 that he made some extra- 
 ordinarily rapid sketches in 
 colour with the brush direct, 
 without a touch of the pencil 
 or anything to guide him on 
 the paper. Few sketches of 
 this kind exist, excepting rough notes in books not 
 intended for publication. In the evening the figures 
 in the streets and at the inns had to be noted 
 down. 
 
 The next day, which Caldecott called "a rest," 
 was devoted to visiting two farms in the neigh- 
 bourhood, seeing as much as possible of the in- 
 teriors of the old houses near Carhaix, with their 
 carved bedsteads, cabinets and clocks, old brass- 
 work and embroideries. It was a rather anxious 
 time for his travelling companion, for there was no 
 restraining Caldecott with such material before him, 
 and he was overworked. 
 
 It was in this district that he made one of 
 his most successful sketches ; a typical Breton 
 (p. 1/7), in ancient costume with long hair and
 
 1878] 
 
 BRITTANY. 
 
 179 
 
 knee breeches ; a figure rarely met with in these 
 days. 
 
 In the south-west corner of Brittany, a few miles 
 south of Ouimperle, at a point where the river 
 spreads out into a narrow estuary four miles 
 from the sea, is the primitive little village called 
 appropriately Pont Aven. 
 
 Caldecott was much amused, and scandalised at 
 the aspect of the village on our arrival one after- 
 noon ; a scene which he thus records on a letter, 
 and afterwards drew for Breton Folk. 
 
 /r?r 
 
 Writing from Pont Aven and recounting " the 
 places which we have visited, done, sketched, 
 interviewed and memorandumed " he adds : 
 
 x 2
 
 i So 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 " On this journey I 
 have seen more pleas- 
 ing types of Bretons 
 (and Bretonnes, espe- 
 cially) than in my 
 former rambles in the 
 Cotes du Nord ; but 
 there is generally some- 
 thing wrong about each 
 hotel. This particular 
 inn is comfortable. 
 A CAP OF FINISTERRE. Seven Americans, two 
 
 or three of them ladies, and about four French 
 people dined with us, mostly of the artist persuasion. 
 "The village and the river sides, the meadows 
 and the valleys reek with artists. A large gang 
 pensions at another inn here. 
 
 " On approaching Pont Aven the traveller notices 
 a curious noise rising from the ground and from 
 the woods around him. It is the flicking of the 
 paint brushes on the canvasses of the hardworking 
 painters who come into view seated in leafy nooks 
 and shady corners. These artists go not far from 
 the town where is cider, billiards and tobacco.''
 
 t $&$m & -^^=^= 
 
 S ^T 
 
 TFl'l 1 IHi*l !! ' ifffy/ 1 (Vvta. i
 
 1 82 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 One of the best of Caldecott's sketches here 
 was " Returning from Labour," a quiet spot on the 
 banks of the Aven where he made several studies. 
 
 " Here we feel inclined for the first time to stay 
 and sketch, wandering along the coast to the fishing 
 villages, and visiting farms and homesteads." 
 
 From another inn, in an " out of the way " part 
 of Finisterre, he writes : 
 
 "The Hotel du Midi where we put up is con- 
 ducted in a simple manner ; ladies would not like 
 its arrangements. Several inhabitants, and a visitor 
 or two, dine at the table d'hote, but all are unable 
 to carve a duck excepting the English visitor, who 
 is accordingly put down as a cook." 
 
 Many works, such as the frieze of a horse fair 
 (p. 137), models in terra cotta and paintings, were 
 the outcome of the Brittany journeys in 1874 
 and 1878; but Caldecott did not give himself a 
 chance to do what he wished in France ; other 
 work crowded upon him in 1878, and before he 
 had time to finish the sketches for Breton Folk, 
 he had to return to London to complete drawings 
 for his Picture Books, and other work in hand for 
 the Graphic newspaper.
 
 i8 7 8.] 
 
 IN BRITTANY. 
 
 183 
 
 In a letter from London, received at the Abbey 
 of St. Jacut in Brittany on the 2Qth August, 1878, 
 he says : 
 
 A BRETON. 
 
 " I have not been able to settle \vell down 
 to work yet. Sitting about on hotel benches for 
 a month with Mr. Blackburn is unhinging. * * * 
 " I fancied somehow that, after the wild career of 
 dissipation in other parts of Brittany, he might 
 find the calm of a cloister insufficiently exciting, 
 and consequently might drag you round to more 
 lively places. I am glad that I am wrong."
 
 1 8 4 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xi. 
 
 The drawings of the " Family Horse," (of 
 "Cleopatra" on page 165,) the sketch in Woburn 
 Park, and several others, were made when on a visit 
 in the neighbourhood in October 1878. A letter 
 referring to his visit to Woburn says : " On the 
 last evening of Mr. Caldecott's visit here, he was 
 sitting at the dining-room table with the two little 
 
 "A FAMILY HORSE." 
 
 boys on his knees, and the rest of the family 
 standing round him. We asked him to draw us 
 each something, and he made us choose our own 
 subjects. The sketch of himself riding in the 
 park is one of them ; it amused him very much 
 to see the deer standing gazing at us." 
 
 At another time there comes a coloured birthday
 
 J 
 
 V
 
 1 86 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 card to a child in London who was fond of flowers ; 
 a dark red carnation the size of life, presented by 
 
 A CARNATION. 
 
 a Lilliputian figure in old-fashioned green coat, with 
 white frill and periwig. 
 
 Side by side with Caldecott's missives to little 
 children might be printed many a kindly letter to a
 
 1 878.] AT CANNES. 187 
 
 young author who had sent him manuscripts to 
 read. These letters had to be read and answered 
 always in the evenings. A long letter of this 
 kind was written to a lady at Didsbury, near 
 Manchester, in 1878, from which the following 
 extracts are taken ' : 
 
 "DEAR Miss M., Your packet reached me safely, and as I call 
 to mind very readily my feelings in times gone by, after I had 
 posted a piece of literary or artistic composition to some friend 
 acquainted with the dread editor of some magazine, or even to the 
 dread editor himself, I think it only your due that I should write 
 to you without delay about the sketches of country life which you 
 have kindly allowed me to read, and my opinion of which you 
 flatter me by desiring to know. You asked me for my candid 
 opinion ; in these cases I always try to be candid. ... I think 
 that your papers are, as they stand, hardly interesting enough for 
 the mass of readers, though to me they draw out pictures which 
 please, and also revive old associations. . . . 
 Their fault, however, if I may speak of faults, is not so much in 
 subject as in style. You have chosen simple subjects, in which is 
 no harm of course ; but simple subjects in all kinds of art require 
 a masterly hand to delineate them. The slightest awkwardness of 
 execution is noticed, and mars the simplicity of the whole. When 
 a thrilling story is told, or a very interesting and novel operation 
 described, faults of style are overlooked during the excitement of 
 hearing or reading. Is it not so ? ... " R. C." 
 
 In another letter some remarks on the misuse of 
 
 1 This letter was printed in the Manchester City News, 20 February, 1886.
 
 1 88 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. XT. 
 
 old English words (a subject on which he says, " I 
 am very ignorant ") are worth recording. 
 
 "As regards the misuse of certain words, I 
 consult the authorities when a doubt crosses my 
 mind, and I find with sorrow, in which I am joined 
 by other anxious spirits, that the English language 
 is being ruined, chiefly by journalists, English and 
 American. Words of good old nervous meaning, 
 because common, are discarded for words of less 
 force but finer sound, borrowed from other tongues. 
 The use of these new words is often a difficulty to 
 all but classical scholars, for the pronunciation, the 
 accent, the quantities, are varied even amongst 
 equally educated people. 
 
 " On the introduction of a new word there is 
 always a halo of pedantry about it. Some admire 
 the halo and adopt the word. The journalists 
 cuddle it. The readers ask what it means, think it 
 sounds rather fine perhaps genteel throw over 
 the humble friend who has done them and their 
 conservative forefathers such good service. 
 
 " The poor ill-used old fellow of a word then only 
 finds friends amongst the lowly and the loyal ; and 
 if in course of time the usurping word, as he rolls 
 by in his carriage and footmen, hears the former 
 wearer of his honours come out from the passing 
 pedestrians, he curls his proud lip, pulls up his 
 haughty collar, distends his Grecian nose, and
 
 1878.] AT CANNES. 189 
 
 wonders where vulgar people will go to albeit 
 this vulgar word is better born, and has a higher 
 instep than the carriage word." 
 
 In the late Autumn of 1878 Caldecott is again in 
 the south of France, sending home letters one with 
 a portrait of himself (back view), seated next to a 
 young lady, " whose father is rather deaf." 
 
 " I have come here," he says, " in order that 
 rheumatism may forget me and not recognise me 
 on return to Albion's shores. * * * 
 
 " I open my bag and take out your letter 
 of 2Oth November, 1877, which has been ready 
 at hand for reply ever since I received it 
 with a welcome. Letters ought always to be 
 replied to within the twelve months."
 
 AT MENTONE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AT MENTONE, ETC. 
 
 FROM the Riviera in 1879 came the following 
 pictures in letters to friends. 
 
 " This hotel is indeed a calm spot, but the food 
 is good, and I have a pleasant little room or two, 
 where I can work comfortably. I know the inhabi- 
 tant of one villa here, an American ; and I think 
 there are two people whom I know in an hotel, so 
 when I feel very lonely I shall hunt them up. 
 There is much snow on the rocky hills near the
 
 iS 79 .] 
 
 A T MENTONE. 
 
 191 
 
 town, and the weather is rather cold, but the aspect 
 of everything around (nearly) is very fine and 
 worth coming to see." 
 
 In another letter he sends the following sketch of 
 himself at table in the vast salle a manger of the 
 hotel. 1 
 
 " DEAR 
 
 " SPLENDIDE HOTEL, MENTON, 
 " \\th January, 1879. 
 
 -, The above view will give you a 
 
 more correct idea of the splendour of this hotel than 
 a page of writing, I think, could possibly do. It 
 represents our table d'hote last night. I fled yester- 
 day from Cannes, which although called a very 
 
 1 The portrait of Caldecott at the beginning of this volume, is from a 
 photograph taken at Cannes in January, 1879.
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xn. 
 
 quiet place by most visitors I found to be too lively 
 for one who has much work to do and a desire 
 
 to do it." 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Much drawing was accomplished in the spring of 
 this year, both abroad, and on return to London. 
 The success of his first Picture Books (on which he 
 writes, " I get a small, small royalty ") was beyond all 
 expectation, and the Elegy of a Mad Dog was now 
 in progress. 
 
 Writing on the 2oth June, in the wet summer of 
 1879, from 5, Langham Chambers, Portland Place (a 
 studio that he had taken temporarily from an artist 
 friend, Mr. W. J. Hennessy), he heads the letter
 

 
 194 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. XL 
 
 with the sketch on page 192, which is interesting as 
 the first idea for the drawing which appeared in 
 Punch on the 2nd August, 1879, reproduced on the 
 preceding page by permission of the proprietors. 
 
 A PIG OF BRITTANY (TERRA-COTTA). 
 The Property of Mr. Armstrong. 
 
 The illustration on the opposite page is an 
 example of Caldecott in a style which will be new 
 to most readers. The book plate was drawn for 
 an old and intimate friend in Manchester, and it
 
 i8So.] 
 
 A BOOK PLATE. 
 
 195 
 
 is curious to note how closely the style of the 
 family crest is followed in its various details. If 
 
 it \vere not for certain satirical touches this 
 ingenious design might easily pass for the work of 
 
 o 2
 
 196 
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 [CHAP. xn. 
 
 other hands ; the touch and treatment have little 
 in common with Caldecott as he is known ; but 
 
 the artistic completeness of the little book plate 
 is another evidence of his power as a designer. 
 
 In September Caldecott modelled some birds, 
 forming part of the capitals of pillars for Sir Frederick 
 Leighton's ' Arab Hall ' in his house at Kensington. 
 They were done for the architect, Mr. G. Aitchison, 
 A.R.A. Besides these he was at work on other 
 modelling ; one subject (the outcome of his Brittany 
 travels) is given on page 194.
 
 1 8 7 9-] 
 
 A T KEMSING. 
 
 197 
 
 In 1879 he took a small house, with an old- 
 fashioned garden, at Kemsing, near Sevenoaks. 
 This was his first country home, " an out-of-the- 
 way place," as he expressed it, " but exactly 
 right for me." Here, surrounded by his four-footed 
 friends, he could indulge his liking and love 
 for the country. 
 
 SEVFN0AKS 
 
 13 OCT./ 
 
 
 Writing to a young friend on the 1 3th October, 
 he sends the following :
 
 198 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xi. 
 
 " I am just now obliged to decline invitations 
 to go and be merry with friends at a distance, 
 because I am now living in this quiet, out-of- 
 the-way village in order to make some studies 
 of animals to wit, horses, dogs, and other 
 human beings which I wish to use for the 
 works that I shall . be busy with during the 
 
 coming winter. 
 
 " I have a mare dark chestnut who goes very 
 well in harness, and is very pleasant to ride ; 
 and a little puppy a comical young dachshund. 
 My man calls the mare ' Peri,' so I call the 
 puppy Lalla Rookh." 
 
 In a letter to his friend Mr. Locker- Lampson, 
 written about this time, in 1880, he expresses 
 surprise at not hearing from America respecting 
 certain drawings by Miss Kate Greenaway and 
 himself, which had been sent across the Atlantic to 
 be engraved on wood. " I wonder why ? " he says 
 [The rest is reproduced opposite]. 
 
 Caldecott was soon found out in his country home, 
 his wide reputation as an illustrator bringing him 
 ever-increasing work, some " not very profitable."
 
 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. 
 
 ["CHAP. xn. 
 
 At this time he was taxing his energies to the 
 utmost, working a long morning always indoors, and 
 afterwards making studies in the garden or in 
 the country, the evening occupied by reading and 
 correspondence. 
 
 But he found time always and until the end to 
 remember and to write to his old and dear friends. 
 One more extract (the last in this book) from a 
 letter from Venice, to an invalid friend in 
 Manchester in 1880: 
 
 " I am sorry to hear that you are so lame," he 
 says. " I wish you had been with us in Venice 
 the going to and fro in gondolas would have suited
 
 i88o.j 
 
 A T KEMS1NG. 
 
 201 
 
 you well. Easy, smooth, and soul-subduing es- 
 pecially by moonlight and when the ear is filled with 
 the rich notes of a very uncommon gondolier's voice 
 and the twanging of a sentimental traveller's lute. 
 "On the 1 8th of March we were married at a 
 small church in Kent my best man drove me in 
 a dog-cart. I sold him my mare on the way, and 
 she came to sad grief with him ! " 
 
 SKETCH OF " WYBOURNES," KEMSING, NEAR SEVENOAKS. 
 
 The letters after this date refer to a period in 
 Caldecott's art which must be considered at a future 
 time. Only two remembrances of his later years 
 shall be recorded now ; one of him at Kemsing,
 
 202 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xn. 
 
 seated in his old-fashioned garden on a fine 
 summer's afternoon (after hard work from nine 
 till two) surrounded by his friends and four-footed 
 playmates^ a garden where the birds, and even 
 the flowers, lived unrestrained. 
 
 " Where woodbines wander, and the wallflower pushes 
 
 Its way alone ; 
 And where, in wafts of fragrance, sweetbriar-bushes 
 
 Make themselves known. 
 With banks of violets for southern breezes 
 
 To seek and find, 
 And trellis' d jessamine that trembles in 
 
 The summer wind. 
 Where clove-carnations overgrow the places 
 
 Where they were set, 
 And, mist-like, in the intervening spaces 
 
 Creeps mignonette." 
 
 The other and a later remembrance of Caldecott 
 is at a gathering of friends in Victoria Street, 
 Westminster, in January, 1885, when to a good 
 old English tune the "lasses and lads," out of 
 his Picture Book, danced before him, and the 
 fiddler, in the costume of the time, "played it 
 wrong."
 
 A NEW YEAR'S GREETING TO A FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IT will be seen in the preceding pages that it 
 was the privilege of the writer to know Caldecott 
 intimately before he had made a name, when his 
 heart and hands were free, so to speak ; when he 
 was untrammelled by much sense of responsibility, 
 or by the necessity of keeping up a reputation, 
 and when every day, almost, recorded some new 
 experiment or achievement in his art. Let it 
 be stated here that not at that time, nor ever
 
 204 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. 
 
 afterwards in the writer's hearing, was a word said 
 against Caldecott. With a somewhat wide and 
 exceptional experience of the personality of artists, 
 it can be said with truth that Caldecott was " a 
 man of whom all spoke well." His presence then, 
 as in later years, seemed to dispel all jealousies, 
 if they ever existed, and to scatter evil spirits if 
 they ever approached him. No wonder for was 
 he not the very embodiment of sweetness, simple- 
 mindedness, generosity, and honour ? 
 
 From the sketch on page i of this book, made 
 in the smoke of Manchester, to the "New Year's 
 Greeting" on p. 203, the same happy, joyous 
 spirit is evident ; and so, to those who knew him, 
 he remained to the end. 
 
 As this memoir has to do with Caldecott's earlier 
 career, and particularly with his work in black 
 and white, the artistic value of his illustrations in 
 colour, especially in his Picture Books, can only 
 be hinted at here. 
 
 Caldecott s Picture Books are known all over the 
 world ; they have been widely discussed and 
 criticised, and they form undoubtedly the best
 
 XIIL] CONCLUSION. 
 
 monument to his memory. But it may be found 
 that some of the best work he ever did (the 
 work least open to criticism) was in 1874 and 
 1875, before these books were begun ; and that the 
 material here collected will aid in forming a better 
 estimate of Caldecott as an artist. 
 
 In March, 1883, there appeared a little oblong 
 Sketch Book with canvas cover, full of original and 
 delightful illustrations, many in colour, engraved and 
 printed by Edmund Evans. This book is not 
 very widely known, but there are drawings in it of 
 great personal interest, now that the artist's hand 
 is still. The Sketch Book suggests many thoughts 
 and calls up many associations to those who knew 
 him. 
 
 In 1883 he illustrated SEsop's Fables with "Mo- 
 dern Instances" (referred to on page 94). 
 
 The kind of work that Caldecott liked best, 
 and of which he would have been an artistic and 
 delightful exponent had circumstances permitted, is 
 indicated in the design at the head of the preface 
 to this volume ; it was drawn on brown paper, 
 probably for a wood carving in relief, for the central
 
 2o5 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. 
 
 panel of a mantelpiece. This sketch is selected 
 from several designs of a similar kind. 
 
 In purely journalistic work, for which his powers 
 seemed eminently fitted, he was never at home, his 
 heart was not in it. Neither on Punch nor on the 
 Graphic newspaper, would he have engaged to work 
 regularly. He would do anything on an emergency 
 to aid a friend or a foe, if he had known one but 
 neither health nor inclination led him in that 
 direction. And yet Caldecott, of all contemporary 
 artists, owed his wide popularity to the wood 
 engraver, to the maker of colour blocks, and to the 
 
 o 
 
 printing press. No artist before him had such 
 chances of dispersing facsimiles of daintily coloured 
 illustrations over the world. All this must be con- 
 sidered when his place in the century of artists is 
 written. 
 
 Mr. Clough touches a true note in the following 
 (from the Manchester Q2iarterly] : 
 
 "If the art, tender and true as it is, be not of the highest, yet 
 the artist is expressed in his work as perhaps few others have 
 been. Nothing to be regretted all of the clearest an open-air, 
 pure life a clean soul. Wholesome as the England he loved so 
 well. Manly, tolerant, and patient under suffering. None of the
 
 xiii.] CO NCL US I OX. 207 
 
 friends he made did he let go. No envy, malice, or uncharitable- 
 ness spoiled him ; no social flattery or fashionable success, made 
 him forget those he had known in the early years." 
 
 Speaking generally of his friend Caldecott, whom 
 he had known intimately in later years, Mr. Locker- 
 Lampson (to whom we are indebted for the letters 
 and sketches on pages 191, 192, and 199), writes: 
 
 " It seems to me that Caldecott's art was of a quality that 
 appears about once in a century. It had delightful characteristics 
 most happily blended. He had a delicate fancy, and his humour 
 was as racy as it was refined. He had a keen sense of beauty, 
 and, to sum up all, he had charm. His old-world youths and 
 maidens are perfect. The men are so simple and so manly, the 
 maidens are so modest and so trustful : The latter remind one of 
 the country girl in that quaint old ballad, 
 
 " ' He stopt and gave my cheek a pat, 
 
 He told a tender tale, 
 Then stole a kiss, but what of that ? 
 'Twas Willie of the Dale ! ' 
 
 " Poor Caldecott ! His friends were much attached to him 
 He had feelings, and ideas, and manners, which made him 
 welcome in any society ; but alas, all was trammelled, not obscured, 
 by deplorably bad health." 
 
 These two criticisms both comma- from friends 
 
 O 
 
 of the artist, but from different points of view are 
 worth setting side by side in a memoir. 
 
 A correspondent, writing from Manchester, sends 
 the following interesting letter respecting places
 
 208 RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. 
 
 sketched by Caldecott in Cheshire and Shropshire 
 and afterwards used in the illustrations in his books. 
 
 " During occasional rambles in this and the neighbouring 
 county of Chester, more especially in the neighbourhood of 
 Whitchurch, I have been interested in the identification of some 
 few of the original scenes pictured by Mr. Caldecott in his several 
 published drawings. Thus.: 
 
 " Malpas Church, which occupies the summit 01 a gentle hill 
 some six miles from Whitchurch, occurs frequently as in a full 
 page drawing in the Graphic newspaper for Christmas, 1883 ; in 
 Babes in the Wood, p. 19; in Baby Bunting, p. 20; and in 
 The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate, p. 5. 
 
 " The main street of Whitchurch is fairly pictured in the Great 
 Panjandrum, p. 6, whilst the old porch of the Blue Bell portrayed 
 on p. 28 of Old Christmas is identical with that of the Bell Inn 
 at Lushingham, situated some two miles from Whitchurch on the 
 way to Malpas. 
 
 "Besides these I recognise in the 'Old Stone-house, Ling- 
 borough Hall,' in Lob Lie-by-the- Fire, p. 5, an accurate line-for- 
 line sketch of Barton Hall, an ancient moated mansion which 
 until quite recently stood within the parish of Eccles, four miles 
 from Manchester. 
 
 " Lastly, a comparison of the illustration on p. 95 of Old 
 Christinas, with one in last year's volume of the English Illus- 
 trated Magazine, p. 466, shows that the picturesque nooks of 
 Sussex, equally with those of Kent and Chester, yielded their quota 
 to the busy pencil we know so well." 
 
 About the year 1879 Caldecott became acquainted 
 with Mrs. Ewing, which led to his making many 
 illustrations for her, such as the design for the 
 cover of Annt Judys Magazine, and notably -the
 
 XIIL] CONCLUSION. 209 
 
 illustrations to that " book of books " for boys, 
 " Jackanapes" a&d. to "Daddy Darwin s Dovecot" 
 and others. 
 
 Miss Gatty, in her memoir of Mrs. Ewing, says : 
 
 "My sister was in London in June, 1879, and then made the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Caldecott, for whose illustrations she had 
 unbounded admiration. This introduction led us to ask him 
 (when Jackanapes was still simmering in Julie's brain) if he would 
 supply a coloured illustration for it. But as the tale was only 
 written a very short time before it appeared, and as the illustration 
 was wanted early and colours take long to print, Julie could not 
 send the story to be read, but asked Caldecott to draw her a 
 picture to fit one of the scenes in it. The one she suggested was 
 a fair-haired boy on a red-haired pony, thinking of one of her own 
 nephews, a skilful seven -year-old rider who was accustomed to 
 follow the hounds." 
 
 Looking back, but a few months only, at the 
 passing away of two such lives the author of 
 "-Jackanapes" and the illustrator of the " Pic hire 
 Books" (of whom it was well said lately, "they 
 have gone to Heaven together ") the loss seems 
 incalculable. 
 
 In the history of the century, the best and purest 
 books and the brightest pages ever placed before 
 children will be recorded between 1878 and 1885 ; 
 and no words would seem more in touch with the
 
 2io RANDOLPH CALDECOTT. [CHAP. xm. 
 
 lives and aims of these lamented artists than a 
 concluding sentence in Jackanapes, that their 
 works are "a heritage of heroic example and 
 noble obligation." 
 
 The grace and beauty, and wealth of imagination 
 in Caldecott's work, conspicuous to the end, 
 form a monument which few men in the history 
 of illustrative art have raised for themselves. 
 
 Here may end fittingly the memoir of his 
 earlier work. At a future time more may be 
 written, and many delightful reminiscences re- 
 corded, of the years from the time of his marriage 
 on the 1 8th March, 1880, to his lamented death at 
 St. Augustine, in Florida, on the i2th February, 
 1886; when in the sympathetic lines which 
 appeared in Pimck on the 2/th February, 1886: 
 
 " All that flow of fun, and all 
 
 That fount of charm found in his fancy, 
 Are stopped ! Yet will he hold us thrall 
 
 By his fine art's sweet necromancy, 
 Children and seniors many a year ; 
 
 For long 'twill be ere a new-comer, 
 Fireside or nursery holdeth dear 
 
 As him whose life ceased in its summer."
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 / 
 
 "TRY CALDECOTT'S PICTURE BOOKS." 
 
 THE following is a list of Caldecott's Picture 
 Books with the dates of publication. Besides the 
 ordinary shilling books, several collected volumes 
 of his Pictures and Songs, also Pictures collected 
 from the Graphic newspaper, have been issued 
 by the same publishers.
 
 APPENDIX. 213 
 
 Caldecott's Picture Books, 
 
 THE HOUSE THAT JACK^ 
 BUILT ......... [.,878 
 
 JOHN GILPIN ...... J 
 
 ELEGY ON A MAD DOG . . > 
 THE BABES IN THE WOOD . \ l 79 
 THREE JOVIAL HUNTSMEN \ 
 SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE/ I 
 THE QUEEN OF HEARTS . > 
 THE FARMER'S BOY . . . J l 
 THE MILKMAID ..... "\ 
 
 HEY-DIDDLE-DIDDLE, THE I 8f? 
 CAT AND THE FIDDLE; and f 
 BABY BUNTING ...... ) 
 
 THE FOX JUMPS OVER 
 PARSON'S GATE 
 
 A FROG HE WOULD A- J 
 WOOING Go ....... J 
 
 COME, LASSES AND LADS . N 
 
 RIDE A COCK HORSE TO I 
 BANBURY CROSS; and A FARMER /-i884 
 WENT TROTTING UPON HIS I 
 GREY MARE ....... / 
 
 MRS. MARY BLAIZE . . . . 'j 
 THE GREAT PANJANDRUM [ 1885 
 HIMSELF ... ...... J 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK.
 
 214 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Some of 
 
 ^Esop's Fables. 
 
 With "Modern Instances." 
 Shown in designs by R. CALDECOTT. 
 
 pFC4i-isf'*-,,'/fsf l f r /'i / ,'. 
 
 x, I 
 
 LONDON : 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1883. 
 
 Price Seven Shillings and Sixpence
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A Sketch-Book, 
 
 by R. CALDECOTT. 
 
 Reproduced by EDMUND EVANS the Engraver and Printer. 
 
 LONDON : 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 1883. 
 
 Price Three Shillings and Sixpence.
 
 2l6 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Breton Folk. 
 
 With One Hundred and Seventy Illustrations 
 by R. CALDECOTT. 
 
 LONDON : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 1 88, FLEET STREET. 
 l88o. 
 
 I 
 
 Price Ten Shillings and Sixpence.
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 CIRC. AFTER CZP 2 197C 
 
 Series 9482