s friend Mr. Millais. The first results can
scarcely be said to be satisfactory; a kind of transparent colour was
used, which allowed the coarse lines of the enlargement to be distinctly
visible, and the finished production presented very much the appearance
of an indifferent lithograph slightly tinted. In a short time, however,
he conquered the difficulty; and, instead of allowing the thick, fatty
lines of printer's ink to remain on the canvas, he removed
them--particularly as regards the outlines of the face and figure--by
means of turpentine. These outlines he re-drew with his own hand in a
fine and delicate manner, and added a daintiness of finish, particularly
in flesh colour, which greatly enhanced the value and beauty of the
work. He nevertheless experienced some difficulty in reproducing in
these enlargements the delicacy of touch and exactness which
characterized the original drawings, and would labour all day at a
detail--such as a hand in a certain position--before attaining a result
which entirely satisfied himself. The catalogue of this exhibition may
be cited in evidence of Leech's characteristic modesty. "These
sketches," it said, "have no claim to be regarded or tested as finished
pictures. It is impossible for any one to know the fact better than I
do. They have no pretensions to a higher name than that I have given
them--'Sketches in Oil.'"

Popular and eminently successful as this exhibition proved to be, it was
undeniably rendered more popular and successful by his staunch friend
Thackeray's article in the _Times_ of 21st June, 1862:--"He is a natural
truth-teller," said the humourist, "as Hogarth was before him, and
indulges in as many flights of fancy. He speaks his mind out quite
honestly, like a thorough Briton.... He holds Frenchmen in light esteem.
A bloated 'Mossoo' walking in Leicester Square, with a huge cigar and a
little hat, with 'billard' and 'estaminet' written on his flaccid face,
is a favourite study with him; the unshaven jowl, the waist tied with a
string, the boots which pad the Quadrant pavement, this dingy and
disreputable being exercises a fascination over Mr. Punch's favourite
artist. We trace, too, in his work a prejudice against the Hebrew
nation, against the natives of an island much celebrated for its verdure
and its wrongs; these are lamentable prejudices indeed, but what man is
without his own?" Thackeray's kindly article delighted Leech; he said
"it was like putting L1,0