e brought to the notice of the
Rev Thomas Harris Barham, which led to his engagement on the pages of
"Bentley's Miscellany," from which moment his artistic position was
secured. His first illustration was _The Black Mousquetaire_. Barham in
describing the scene, regretted, oddly enough, that he had neither the
pencil of Fuseli or Sir Joshua Reynolds at command, or had himself taken
lessons in drawing:--

"Had I done so, instead
Of the lines you have read,
I'd have given you a sketch should have filled you with dread!
Francois Xavier Auguste squatting up in his bed,
His hands widely spread,
His complexion like lead,
Ev'ry hair that he had standing up on his head,
As when, Agnes des Moulins first catching his view,
Now right and now left, rapid glances he threw,
Then shriek'd with a wild and unearthly halloo,
_Mon Dieu! v'la deux!!_
By the Pope there are two!!!"

Leech continued on the pictorial staff of "Bentley's Miscellany" ten
years; his etchings therein commence with vol. viii. (1840) and
(practically) end with vol. xxv. (1849).[132] Altogether he contributed
to this sterling periodical some one hundred and forty etchings,
illustrating (amongst numerous scattered papers) "The Ingoldsby
Legends" (with Cruikshank); Henry Cockton's "Stanley Thorn"; Charles
Whitehead's "Richard Savage"; Albert Smith's "Adventures of Mr.
Ledbury," "Fortunes of the Scattergood Family," and "The Marchioness of
Brinvilliers"; W. H. Maxwell's "Brian O'Linn," etc., etc.

From the time that he joined the _Punch_ staff, in 1841, the life of
John Leech was one of well-earned prosperity and happiness. His income
at first gradually and then rapidly increased, and he moved from the
attic which he occupied in the vicinity of Tottenham Court Road, into a
house of his own at Notting Hill. Shortly after this he married. Miss
Ann Eaton was one of those English beauties that Leech delighted to
draw; and it is related of him that he first met her walking in London,
and, following her home, noted the house in which she lived, ascertained
her name, procured an introduction, and straightway married her. The
issue of this marriage was two children--a boy and a girl. The
former--John George Warrington Leech, the miniature counterpart of his
father in appearance and dress, and inheriting in a marvellous degree
his talent for drawing--was unfortunately drowned at South Adelaide in
1876.

Leech's