, a dialogue
entitled "Among the Amateurs," which has since been reprinted in "The
Billsbury Election."

Mr. Lehmann lost no time in devising series of articles, which all
_Punch_ readers will remember. Such were "Modern Types" and "Mr. Punch's
Prize Novels" (one of the most successful, including parodies of a score
of the leading authors of the day), "In the Know," "The Adventures of
Picklock Holes," "Letters to Abstractions," "Lord Ormont's Mate and
Matey's Aminta," "Manners and Customs," and "Studies in the New
Poetry." Within four months of his first contribution Mr. Lehmann was
promoted to the Table--an unprecedentedly rapid promotion--and he has
ever since been one of the most diligent of contributors. Literary merit
apart, Mr. Lehmann's "Conversational Hints for Young Shooters" has
probably been received with greater favour throughout the country, on
account of its subject and its felicitous treatment, than any of the
young author's works. Country readers are essentially sportsmen--in
conversation, if not in fact; and nothing in humorous writing delights
them more than a clever burlesque on their favourite topic. You may hear
the book praised where one of the writer's more ambitious efforts may
pass unnoticed; and one of its passages is quoted with unction in many a
shooting party. "Johnson, who was placed forward, again stood under a
canopy of pheasants, and shot with brilliant success into the gaps....
The only theory which is accepted as explaining the catastrophe is one
that imputes a malignant cunning to the birds."

The year that saw Mr. Lehmann's appointment witnessed also the calling
of his kinsman, Mr. Barry Pain, one of the chief contributors to "The
Granta." His story of "The Hundred Gates," printed in "Cornhill," struck
Mr. Burnand as a work of promise; indeed, Mr. Burnand is reported to
have found it so funny that he thought he must have written it himself.
The annexing of the writer was at once effected. One of his earliest
contributions to _Punch_ was the amusing parody of Tennyson's
"Throstle," just before Christmas, 1889; and a collection of comic
Cambridge definitions in imitation of Euclid followed. Then came a set
of short stories called "Storicules," and a series of articles
constituting a mock guide to conduct for young ladies. Since 1892 Mr.
Pain's work has fallen away, probably only for a time; for _Punch_ has
proved well-nigh irresistible to every genuine humorist who is anxious
to brin