ning of Mr. Tenniel is seconded
by his strong dramatic power, and above all by his unquestionable
_genius_. It would be a poor compliment to him to deny that he had his
failings--which indeed of the admirable satirists who preceded him had
not? His failings, when they do occur, are perhaps more noticeable on
account of his style and the mode in which he frequently drapes his
figures. We have heard it objected to him, for instance, that the beauty
of his female figures is occasionally marred by the somewhat
disproportionate size of their feet, and this charge seems to us
sustainable. Mr. Tenniel displays rare excellence in the drawing of
animals--an excellence peculiarly noteworthy in such cartoons as _The
British Lion Smells a Rat_, and _The British Lion's Vengeance on the
Bengal Tiger_.

Embracing a period of only fourteen years, from 1851 to 1864, during
which time he worked side by side with his friend and colleague, John
Leech, on the pages of _Punch_, our notice of the cartoons of John
Tenniel must necessarily be short. During the last three years of his
life, when, as we have seen, the strength of the artist who had been on
the pictorial staff from the commencement had been gradually failing,
the execution of the weekly cartoons had fallen almost entirely upon Mr.
Tenniel. As fellow-labourers, constantly associated on the same
periodical, we are enabled to compare their individual merits. The
conclusion we have arrived at is as follows: That as a political
_satirist_, Tenniel is the best of the two; while as a delineator of
English habits, manners, eccentricities, and peculiarities, Leech finds
no equal. After 1864, when the artistic friendship and partnership (so
to speak) of these gifted men was dissolved by the untimely death of
John Leech, it would be beyond the declared scope and purpose of this
work to follow Mr. Tenniel further. Unlike the caricaturists who
preceded him, many of whom relied on humour, more or less forced, for
the success of their productions, the cartoons of John Tenniel are
oftentimes distinguished by a gravity and sternness of purpose which,
combined with their artistic excellence, appeals forcibly to the
imagination. Unfortunately, as in the case of those of John Leech, these
truly admirable examples of nineteenth century satire, apart from the
_Punch_ volumes themselves--owing to the material on which they are
impressed and the process to which the original drawings are
subjected--are