ression of the "Lion Comique," as seen by Frank Reynolds,
elicited no similar response from the gentlemen of the boards, for
indisputably the picture was a portrait, and a perfect one, of each
individually and of all combined. On second thoughts, however, and
upon consideration of the drawing in question (which many readers
will remember), it is, perhaps, not so very surprising that no
claim to identity with it was forthcoming!

Other drawings in the same series, depicting other examples of
the strange freaks of humanity by whom the British public delights
to be entertained, afford good examples of the innate humour of
Frank Reynolds' art. There is often little that is actually comic
in the situations depicted, yet each is instinct with humour. It
is the triumph of Reynolds' comic art that he can snare, on the
wing as it were, humour that is too elusive and nimble for one
of slower perception and heavier hand.

[Illustration: VIVE L'ARMEE
_From "Paris and Some Parisians"_]

"Art and the Man" was a series of drawings in the vein of farce
rather than of comedy. The intention was to depict various types
of artists rather as fancy might paint them than as they really
are. The "Marine Artist," for example, with his canvas slung from
davits and the entire furniture of his studio of extremely nautical
design, was a purely fanciful conception. The "Pot-Boiler," spending
his days in painting one solitary subject over and over again _ad
infinitum_, comes nearer to life, though his portrait again is
an exaggerated fancy rather than a study from life. One feels,
nevertheless, that if there be indeed such an individual as the
pot-boiler in existence, this, and no other, must be his outward
guise.

The drawings entitled "Dinners with Shakespeare," to which allusion
has already been made, gave scope for a very varied range of character
studies. Meal-time is a happy moment at which to catch human nature
unawares, and the artist made the most of his opportunities. They
add to the debt which the historians of contemporary manners will
owe to Reynolds in the future, for as a sidelight on social habits
of the present day these pictures of the dinner-table will be
instructive. The very triteness of their theme gives them their
interest.

[Illustration: "GAZED ON HAROLD"
_From "Paris and Some Parisians"_]

[Illustration: FROM A PARIS SKETCH-BOOK]

Of late years Reynolds' pen-and-ink drawings have been a familiar
feature of the pa