New-York tribune., 1901-12-21
HARRY FURNISS.
THE CARICATURIsT AND HIS RECoLLEC-
TIONS.

light upon the personal characteristics OF men
who have looued large upon the stage OF Eng
lish public life in the last quarter Of century,
ard for this reason alone the volumes would be
welcome but they also a treasure house OF
good stories. all told tersely and in animated
fashion AS the caricaturist was born in Ire
land and spent the early years of his life there.
IL is worth while to record his idea Of Irish VIII
ITO me-" he says, ''so-called Irish Wit Is a
curious combination not wholly dependent on
humor and frequently unconscious There is a
story that when Mr. Beerbohm Tree arrived In
Dublin he was received by a crowd OF his ad-
rnirers, and jumping on TO a car, SAID 10 ms
jarvey: Splendid reception that. driver Inc
jarvey thought a moment and replied: Maybe
We think SO; but begorrah, it amt patch Oh
the smallpox scare Was that meant?
The caricaturist confesses that "caricature,
pIre and simple is not the art either care Tor
or succeed in practising well as L do my less
known more serious and more hnlshed WORK
L am a funny man, caricaturist by 1orce OF
circumstances; an artist, a satirist, ana car
toonist by nature and training 1t IS the oIu
story of the comedian who wants to play Halil-
let Most of Mr. Furniss's earlier work was
In the field which he prefers. He did much IL
Illustrating and a good deal of special work
for such papers as The Graphic and The IL
Illustrated London News before his Connection
with Punch" Book illustrating, too, came IN
his way. In the course of this latter work ne
met Lewis Carroll, whose "Sylvie and Bruno he
illustrated, and who, he declares, was the IloS'
exacting of all authors Carroll ne says
was wit gentleman. bore and an eso'le'
and like Hans Andersen, spoilt child ne
informed nv wife that she was the most prlNL-
legged woman in the world for she knew the man
who knew his Lewis Carrols) ldeas-tha'
ought TO content her" Carroll had curious
everybody and tried 20 make Mr.. Furnlss sign
an agreement not to show il to any one d
proposition which the artist promptly dechneo-
F,,t his egot1srn carried am still further. He
was determined no one should read ms Mo. put
he and 1: in the dead OF nlght ne cur 1; tlso
MS into horizontal strips Of four or hNe Iiiles,
then placed the whole in a sack anu S e.lo9N 80 -
up: taking out. piece by piece, ne pasted the
strips down they happened to come
The result. as the reader may imagine. was
something amazing Carroll relied upon MT
Furnfsss untangling this hodge-podge by means
Of sort of cipher. but again the artist was oo-
durate and the author became more sensible.
For a long time Mr.. Furniss would not show
Carroll his work. for the reason that he did not
DO it The authors eccentrfcities, such as cor
responding for months about. the head OF the
heroine Of -'Sylvie and Bruno" were too much
for him. Finally, when Carroll insisted, MT
Furniss led him to his studio door, stopped and
addressed him as follows:
IF I, in showing you my work, discover in
your face the slightest sign that you are not
absolutely satisfied with any particle OF lnls
work in progress the whole Of 1t goes into the
fire 1t is a risk Will you accept it, or will
you wait till 1 have the drawings quite finished
and send them to OXford?"
Ill ap-appreciate your feelings-I-I-
should feel the same myself I off to Ok
fordp' And he went.
Everybody knows M Furniss's caricatures
l,ai,-
combination of grotesqueness and accuracy.
The artist admits that it took much painstak-
ing study TO achieve his results:
1 have frequently sat for many hours watch
ing every gesture, every change of expression
I have watched the color leave his cheeks and
the hair his head; have marked time contract
his mouth, and have noted the development Of
each additional wrinkle; I have unused under
the shade of his collars. and wondered at the
cut Of his clothes, sketched his three hats and
his historical umbrella. More than that: dur
ing great speech have seen the flower in his
buttonhole fade under his flow of eloquence,
seen the bow Of his tie travel round to the back
Of his neck
Mr. Furniss met Mr.. Gladstone at dinner one
evening, and before dinner was served the
statesman was on the point of taking copy Of
Punch from the table. Mr. Furniss handed
1t to him. but slipped the supplement deftly
under the table for it contained a caricature
Of Professor Herkomer's Academy portrait OBJ
jecting 10 being placed next to that of a model
who was sitting for the altogether" The con-
fessions tell many interesting things about Par
nell the man OF mystery; Lord Randolph
Churchill, Disraeli John Bright Sir George
Campbell, Du Maurier and others of the remark
able men Mr. FUrniss has known. An anec-
dote Of Churchill is well worth reproduction.
After he mad severed his political relations with
Lord Salisbury, delegation Of intimate friends
approached the latter with view of reinstating
his former lieutenant in his good graces Lord
Salisbury through their wiles, and inquired:
Have any Of you ever had carbuncle on the
back Of your neck?''
No was the reply
Well, have" retorted his lordship. and 1
do not want another
OF Du MauTier Mr.. Furniss has several enter
tanning "reminiscences. Here is one of them:
Du Maurier rarely forgave a satirical thrust
at his expense His dislike for Mr. Whistler on
this account is well known to all the early read
Of ''Trilby," and he often related with un-
concealed glee a remark he once made to Whist
Ter. II appears they had not met for long
period, during which Du Maurier. with his sa-
tirical pictures on the aesthetic craze published
in Punch and Whistler, with his "sympho-
nies'' and -'harmonies'' on canvas exhibited in
the Law Courts. had both increased their repu-
tation.
--HuIlo. Kiki!" cried Whistler I'm told your
work in Punch is the making of some men.
You have actually invented Tomkins. Why he
never would have existed but for you! Ra! ha!
How earth did you do it?
Look here, Jimmy, If you don't look out by
Jove, I'll invent youi'
How Kik-Du Maurier-carried out his threat
in "TriIby,' and what resulted from it, all the
world knows.
There would be decidedly fewer books in the
market if all authors had TO go through the
troubles which came TO G. A Grundy, who
wrote The Great Persian War and Its Prelinl-