estow. They were possessed in an
eminent degree by Gillray, by Cruikshank, by John Leech, but were wholly
wanting to Kenny Meadows. He could draw on occasion a queer face--for
that matter his faces, intentionally or otherwise, were generally
queer--and an eccentric figure, and so can many persons who have a
natural taste for drawing, and have learnt to handle the pencil; but the
caricaturist, like the poet, _nasciiur non fit_, and a hundred or even a
thousand queer faces or eccentric figures, without the gift of invention
or originality, will not of themselves constitute the designer a comic
artist. The truth is that with Kenny Meadows mannerism takes the place
of genius. You will recognise his hand anywhere without the familiar
"K.M." appended to it, for all his faces are chubby (not to say puffy),
and their arms and legs look for all the world as if the hand that
designed them had been guided by a ruler. The delusion which led him to
imagine that his "genius" would enable him to soar superior to nature is
no doubt responsible in some degree for this latter eccentricity, for
the artist who would be bold enough to despise the laws "which regulate
the exercise of the pictorial art," would be prepared to view Hogarth's
line of beauty with like indifference and contempt.

Kenny Meadows was one of the early illustrators of _Punch_, and
contributed moreover to the first volume some of the best of the
cartoons. Good specimens of his work will be found in _Young Loves to
Sell_, and _The Speculative Mama_ (_sic_), second vol.; in the third
volume he illustrated "Punch's Letters to His Son," and the first of the
almanacks contains six of his designs. In the fourth volume we find six
of his cartoons, among them _The Milk of Poor Law Kindness_, and _The
First Tooth_ (the Queen and infant Prince of Wales); the doctor's legs
and shoes are thoroughly characteristic of his style, and look for all
the world as if they had been drawn by a ruler. The cartoon, _Punch
Turned Out of France_ in this volume is, if we mistake not, the work of
Kenny Meadows. _The Christian Bayadere Worshipping the Idol Siva_, has
reference to the tolerance which "John Company" wisely conceded to
Hindoo religious ceremony, so long as its traditions were found
consistent with the ordinary dictates of humanity. "The Story of a
Feather" in this volume has five illustrations, two of which are very
clever. Among the other cartoons we find _The Modern Macheath_ (the
C