or the "Will-o'-the-Wisp" and "The Sphinx." But his
_Punch_ work was merely occasional; his more serious labours were for
the "Graphic," "The Pictorial World," and most notably, on Mr. Edmund
Evans's suggestion, for the immortal children's books which the engraver
might print in colours. He was only forty years old when he died, and
_Punch_, in the course of a long obituary poem, bore witness to his
singular charm, though he made no reference to the work contributed to
his own pages:--

"Sure never pencil steeped in mirth
So closely kept to grace and beauty.
The honest charms of mother Earth,
Of manly love, and simple duty,
Blend in his work with boyish health,
With amorous maiden's meek cajolery,
Child-witchery, and a wondrous wealth
Of dainty whim and daring drollery."

Perhaps the best military contributor of jokes that _Punch_ has had is
Major-General H. G. Robley. Keene, as I have already stated, re-drew or
touched up the earlier of his sketches, which dealt for the most part
with military life on foreign service. Twenty-seven contributions, many
of them unsigned and of varying degrees of importance, came from young
Captain Robley, as he was then, of the 91st (Argyle and Sutherland)
Highlanders. To Keene he was, as the artist confessed, "a very obliging
correspondent," who sketched well and sent him many suggestions. "You
see, a mess-table makes a very 'preserve' for _Punch_ subjects. I don't
follow his drawings very much, but they are very useful in military
subjects." Captain Robley contributed during the years 1873-8. Mr. W. J.
Hennessy, who has since established his position as a delicate and
accomplished draughtsman, made a couple of drawings of social subjects
in 1873, and two more in 1875, but they were by no means of the
excellence to which the artist afterwards attained.

No fresh contributor appears in 1874, the couple of sketches signed "C.
B." having been sent in twelve months before, and that of F. Woods
having been practically redrawn, although his initials were allowed to
stand; but 1875 witnessed the work of five new hands in the paper. The
first was Robert Bruce Wallace, whose style was modelled on that of C.
H. Bennett, and greatly inspired besides by Mr. Sambourne. The bulk of
his work was done from 1875 to 1878 inclusive, but in the latter year he
fell away, and his contributions became very rare. He died in 1893, and
one of his drawings made a posthumous appearance