ce. "My introduction to _Punch_," Mr. Bedford informs me,
"arose from the quite accidental circumstance that Mr. Burnand and
myself were introduced at the same time, by Mr. F. Gordon, on the
directorship of the 'Grand Hotel' at Charing Cross; and very shortly
afterwards ... on the appointment of Mr. Burnand as Mr. Tom Taylor's
successor, I ventured to congratulate him, when he said to me, 'If any
fun is to be found in the City, I shall expect you to bring it to me.' I
replied that I had sometimes thought that there was some to be got out
of a City waiter, as waiters were not quite so deaf as was generally
considered. I tried my hand, and my first attempt was very kindly
received; it was printed on p. 64, Vol. LXXIX. (August 14th, 1880),
under the title of 'Notes from the Diary of a City Waiter.' ... There is
no truth in the statement that Robert was based upon a certain waiter.
He is certainly imaginary"--a statement which disposes of the assertion
that the famous old "Cock Tavern" is famous nowadays for the original of
"Robert" in the person of its head-waiter. Since 1880 Mr. Deputy Bedford
is to be credited with more than two hundred contributions, of which,
however, only a proportion belong to the "Robert" series. "You will find
some of them," writes Mr. Bedford, "signed J. Litgue, a _nom de plume_
that puzzled Mr. Burnand himself, until I revealed the secret that it
was French for 'Bed-ford'; and he, with his excellent knowledge of
French, was thoroughly sold." "Robert" has been republished in book
form, and has attained an extraordinary circulation, though some of Mr.
Bedford's critics have declared that the chief attraction has been the
admirable illustrations by Charles Keene with which the little book is
embellished. For severe critics there are; one of whom, in order to
prove that "Robert" was not a humorous creation at all, took the curious
course of translating one of his articles into good, well-spelt English,
and then triumphantly asking--"Where is the humour now?"

[Illustration: J. ASHBY-STERRY
(_From a Photograph by Samuel A. Walker._)]

A complete contrast to Mr. Bedford became a contributor to _Punch_ a
fortnight after him--Mr. J. Ashby-Sterry. Twenty-nine years had passed
since his boyish drawings had been accepted; and during the interval he
had relinquished the pencil for the pen, had become a well-known
journalist, and the author of sundry volumes of light literature. He was
one of the first to be