e _Punch_ pages. So it was a compromise; not a
consistent study of an individual Cad, but of the various
characteristics of Caddishness. It has been said that an ordinary cad
could not have done or said or known all that my 'Arry did. Quite true,
quite well known to me while writing; and indeed I forestalled the
objection in the preface of the book.... As to 'Arry's origin, and the
way in which I studied him, I have mingled much with working men,
shop-lads, and would-be smart and 'snide' clerks--who plume themselves
on their mastery of slang and their general 'cuteness' and 'leariness.' I
have watched, listened, and studied for years 'from the life,' and I
fancy I've a good memory for slang phrases of all sorts; and my 'Arry
'slang,' as I have said, is very varied, and not scientific, though most
of it I have _heard_ from the lips of street-boy, Bank-holiday youth,
coster, cheap clerk, counter-jumper, bar-lounger, cheap excursionist,
smoking-concert devotee, tenth-rate suburban singer, music hall 'pro' or
his admirer," etc. etc.

[47] Connection with _Punch_ has run strangely in families--as the
reader may see by reference to the "Family Trees" on the next page.

CHAPTER XVII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1880-94.

"Robert"--Mr. Deputy Bedford--Mr. Ashby-Sterry--Reginald Shirley
Brooks--Mr. George Augustus Sala--Mr. Clement Scott--The "Times"
Approves--Mr. H. W. Lucy--"Toby, M.P."--Martin Tapper and Edmund
Yates--Mr. George Grossmith--Mr. Weedon Grossmith--Mr. Andrew
Lang's "Confessions of a Duffer"--Miss May Kendall--Miss
Burnand--Lady Humorists--Mr. Brandon Thomas and Mr. Gladstone--Mr.
Warham St. Leger--Mr. Anstey--"Modern Music-hall Songs"--"Voces
Populi"--Mr. R. C. Lehmann--Mr. Barry Pain--Mr. H. P. Stephens--Mr.
Charles Geake--Mr. Gerald Campbell--R. F. Murray--Mr. George
Davis--Mr. Arthur A. Sykes--Rev. Anthony C. Deane--Mr. Owen
Seaman--Lady Campbell--Mr. James Payn--Mr. H. D. Traill--Mr. A.
Armitage--Mr. Hosack--Arthur Sketchley--Henry J. Byron--_Punch's_
Literature Considered.

[Illustration: JOHN T. BEDFORD.
(_From a Photograph by E. J. Stoneham._)]

"Robert, the City waiter" made his low-comedy bow in 1880. "Robert's"
literary father is Mr. Deputy John T. Bedford, whose opportunities for
studying the ways of the City waiter have necessarily been many and
excellent. The result of his keen observation was introduced to _Punch_
through chan