weekly pang. My work would be difficult to
photograph on to the wood, as it is all done in pencil; the only
pen-and-ink work I have done, so far, being for the Almanac and
Pocket-book.[53]

[Illustration: ROUGH PENCIL SKETCH FOR "ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE," FOR
"PUNCH'S POCKET-BOOK."]

[Illustration: "WILL IT BURST?"

_Captain of Gun:_ "Ram 'em all down, my lads! She'll stand it safe
enough!!!"

(_From Sir John Tenniel's Rough Sketch for the Cartoon in "Punch," 14th
Feb., 1870--p. 67, Vol. LXXVIII._)]

"As I never have a model, I never draw from life, always when I want a
portrait, a uniform, and so on, from a photograph, though not in quite
the same spirit as Sambourne does. I get a photograph only of the man
whom I want to draw, and seek to get his character. Then, if the
photograph is in profile, I have to 'judge' the full face, and _vice
versa_; but if I only succeed in getting the character, I seldom go far
wrong--a due appreciation is an almost infallible guide. I had the
opportunity of studying Mr. Gladstone's face carefully when he did me
the honour of inviting me to dinner at Downing Street, and I have met
him since; but I fancy, after my 'Mrs. Gummidge' cartoon and 'Janus,' I
don't deserve to be honoured again! His face has much more character and
is much stronger than Mr. Bright's. Mr. Bright had fine eyes and a
grand, powerful mouth, as well as an earnest expression; but a weak
nose--artistically speaking, no nose at all--still, a very intellectual
face indeed."

Thus it was not only Nature, but the Pope, who marked out Tenniel for
the position of _Punch's_ Cartoonist--the greatest "Cartoonist" the
world has produced. Had the Pope not "aggressed" by appointing
archbishops and bishops to English Sees, and so raised the scare of
which Lord John Russell and Mr. Punch really seem to have been the
leaders, Doyle would not have resigned, and no opening would have been
made for Tenniel. Sir John, indeed, was by no means enamoured of the
prospect of being a _Punch_ artist when Mark Lemon made his overtures to
him. He was rather indignant than otherwise, as his line was high art
and his severe drawing above "fooling." "Do they suppose," he asked a
friend, "that there is anything funny about _me_?" He meant, of course,
in his art, for privately he was well recognised as a humorist; and
little did he know, in the moment of hesitation before he accepted the
offer, that he was struggling against a kindly destiny.

J