"Studies in Darwinesque Development" for Vizetelly's "Illustrated
Times," and his second series, somewhat less satisfactory, of "Shadow
and Substance," obtained for him great popularity. But when he came on
_Punch_, introduced to Mark Lemon by Hain Friswell, he was within two
years of his death. His debut was on February 11th, 1865, with a sketch
of "Our Play Box," in which "Mr. Punch's delight at finding his Dear Old
Puppets where he left them in July" shows that the artist had already
begun those illustrations to the "Essence of Parliament" which form the
backbone of his _Punch_ work. Occasional pictures there are,
unconventional in shape, grotesque, ingenious, graceful in fancy, that
delight us while, as a rule, they successfully conceal any lack of early
artistic education; but the Parliamentary drawings are those by which
Bennett will be best remembered. Between the date of his first sketch,
when he was forthwith summoned to the Table without serving any
probationary period, to that last sketch in the spring of 1867, showing
Lord John Russell as a cock crowing upon the 1832 Easter egg (p. 116,
Vol. LII.), he had made over 230 drawings for the paper, besides his
contributions to the Pocket-books of 1866 and 1867. He had already
established himself, despite repeated absences through ill-health, one
of the greatest favourites in _Punch's_ company; and the comic letter
addressed to him by his colleagues during one of his illnesses is
printed in the chapter on the "_Punch_ Dinner." Indeed, he had not time
to cut his cipher on the Table; the H is begun and abandoned. "As for
dear Bennett," Mr. Frederic Shields tells me, "every link that attached
me to him has so long since been severed, that to attempt to find the
lost end of the thread is hopeless. Nothing remains but the sweet odour
of his memory--like a faded rose-leaf turned up in a long-closed
drawer." But Mr. Sala declares that he had been, "socially, the most
miserable of mankind. He was sober, industrious, and upright, and
scarcely a Bohemian; but throughout his short life he was 'Murad the
Unlucky.' At one time he occupied shabby chambers in the now defunct
Lyon's Inn, Strand; and it was the poor fellow's fate to have a child
born--a child that died--the sack from his employers, and the brokers
in, _all in the same day_." Still, Bennett, who was one of the original
founders of the Savage Club, was cheerful enough, and of a singularly
lovable disposition--as may al