in the London correspondence of the provincial papers
coupling his name with _Saturday_ articles. On the other hand, I
distinctly recall having to wait one day in his chambers while Jimmy was
shaving, and noticing accidentally a long, bulky envelope on his table,
with the _Saturday Review's_ mystic crest on it. It was addressed
to Jimmy, and contained, I concluded, a bundle of proofs. That was
so long ago as 1885. If further evidence is required, there is the
undoubted fact, to which several of us could take oath, that, at Oxford,
Jimmy was notorious for his sarcastic pen--nearly being sent down,
indeed, for the same. Again, there was the certainty that for years
Jimmy had been engaged upon literary work of some kind. We had been
with him buying the largest-sized scribbling paper in the market; we
had heard him muttering to himself as if in pain: and we had seen him
correcting proof-sheets. When we caught him at them he always thrust the
proofs into a drawer which he locked by putting his leg on it--for the
ordinary lock was broken--and remaining in that position till we had
retired. Though he rather shunned the subject as a rule, he admitted
to us that the work was journalism and not a sarcastic history of the
nineteenth century, on which we felt he would come out strong. Lastly,
Jimmy had lost the brightness of his youth, and was become silent and
moody, which is well known to be the result of writing satire.

[Illustration]

Were it not so notorious that the thousands who write regularly for the
_Saturday_ have reasons of their own for keeping it dark and merely
admitting the impeachment with a nod or smile, we might have marvelled
at Jimmy's reticence. There were, however, moments when he thawed so
far as practically to allow, and every one knows what that means, that
the _Saturday_ was his chief source of income. "Only," he would
add, "should you be acquainted with the editor, don't mention my
contributions to him." From this we saw that Jimmy and the editor had an
understanding on the subject, though we were never agreed which of them
it was who had sworn the other to secrecy. We were proud of Jimmy's
connection with the press, and every week we discussed his latest
article. Jimmy never told us, except in a roundabout way, which were his
articles; but we knew his style, and it was quite exhilarating to pick
out his contributions week by week. We were never baffled, for "Jimmy's
touches" were unmistakable; and "H