CHAPTER V: OTHER ILLUSTRATED PERIODICALS OF THE SIXTIES. 'CHURCHMAN'S

FAMILY MAGAZINE,' 'SUNDAY MAGAZINE,' ETC.

In devoting another chapter to periodicals one must insist upon their relative importance; for the time and money expended on them in a single year would balance possibly the cost of all the books mentioned in this volume. In a naïve yet admirable article in the Christmas _Bookseller_, 1862, written from a commercial standpoint, the author says, speaking of some pictures in _Good Words_: 'Some of these, we are informed, cost as much as £50 a block, a sum which appears marvellous when we look at the low price of the magazine'; he instances also the celebrated 'J. B.'[3], 'whose delineations of animals are equal to Landseer. The magazines to be noticed are those only which contain original designs; others, _The National Magazine_, the _Fine Arts Quarterly_, and the like, which relied upon the reproductions of paintings, are not even mentioned.

THE CHURCHMAN'S FAMILY MAGAZINE

Any periodical containing the work of Millais and Sandys is, obviously, in the front rank, but _The Churchman's Family Magazine_, which started in January 1863, did not long maintain its high level; yet the first half a dozen volumes have enough good work to entitle them to more than passing mention. This, like _London Society_, was published by Mr. James Hogg, and must not be confounded with another of the same price, with similar title, _The Churchman's Shilling Magazine_, to which reference is made elsewhere. In the familiar octavo of its class, it is well printed and well illustrated. The first volume contains two full pages by Millais, _Let that be please_ (p. 15) and _You will forgive me_ (p. 221); three illustrations by E. J. Poynter to _The Painter's Glory_ (pp. 124, 131, 136); three by T. Morten (pp. 137, 432, and 531); five by J. D. Watson, _Only Grandmamma_ (p. 89), _Christian Martyr_ (p. 104), _Sunday Evening_ (p. 191), _The Hermit_ (p. 260), and _Mary Magdalene_ (p. 346); three by Charles Green to _How Susy Tried_ (pp. 57, 64, 71), and one each to _Henry II._ (p. 385), and _An Incident in Canterbury Cathedral_ (p. 482), a drawing strangely resembling a 'John Gilbert.' H. S. Marks is represented by _Home Longing_ (p. 113) and _Age and Youth_ (p. 337); H. H. Armstead by _Fourth Sunday in Lent_ (p. 245) and _Angel Teachers_ (p. 539); J. C. Horsley by _Anne Boleyn_ (p. 136); F. R. Pickersgill by _The Still Small Voice_ (p. 586); G. H. Thomas by _Catechising in Church_ (p. 225), and R. Barnes by _Music for the Cottage_ (p. 289) and _The Strange Gentleman_ (p. 293). Besides these the volume contains others by Rebecca (sister to Simeon) Solomon (p. 571), L. Huard, D. H. Friston, H. C. Selous, T. Macquoid, W. M'Connell, T. Sulman, E. K. Johnson (_Spenser_, p. 576), and J. B. Zwecker--a very fairly representative group of the average illustrator of the period. The second half of 1863 (vol. ii.) enshrines the fine Frederick Sandys, _The Waiting Time_, an incident of the Lancashire cotton famine (p. 91). Another of M. J. Lawless's most charming designs, _One Dead_ (p. 275), (reprinted under the title of _The Silent Chamber_), will be found here. M. E. Edwards contributes two, _Ianthe's Grave_ (p. 128) and _Child, I said_ (p. 405); G. J. Pinwell is represented once with _By the Sea_ (p. 257); and T. Morten with _The Bell-ringers' Christmas Story_ (p. 513). The other artists include H. C. Selous, C. W. Cope, F. R. Pickersgill, E. Armitage, A. W. Cooper, E. H. Wehnert, E. H. Corbould, Marshall Claxton, P. W. Justyne, P. Skelton, Paulo Priolo, D. H. Friston, H. Sanderson, Creswick, and T. B. Dalziel. In vol. iii. (1864) M. J. Lawless has _Harold Massey's Confession_ (p. 65); C. Green, _Thinking and Wishing_ (p. 223); G. J. Pinwell, _March Winds_ (p. 232); M. E. Edwards, _At the Casement_ (p. 354); and T. Morten, _The Twilight Hour_ (p. 553). Among other contributors are Florence Caxton, L. Huard, H. M. Vining, W. M'Connell, Rebecca Solomon, H. Fitzcook, John Absolon, Percy Justyne, F. W. Keyl, W. J. Allen.

In vol. iv. are J. D. Watson's _Crusaders in Sight of Jerusalem_ (p. 557), T. B. Dalziel's _In the Autumn Twilight_ (p. 441), and A. W. Cooper's _Lesson of the Watermill_ (p. 339); Florence Caxton illustrates the serial. And in vol. v. M. E. Edwards's _Deare Childe_ (p. 114), and _The Emblem of Life_ (p. 64), and A. Boyd Houghton's _A Word in Season_ (p. 409), are best worth noting. Vol. vi. has a good study of a monk, _Desert Meditations_ (p. 493), and a _Gretchen's Lament_ (p. 82), by M. E. Edwards. From vol. vii. onwards portraits, chiefly of ecclesiastical dignitaries, take the place of pictures.

THE SHILLING MAGAZINE

This somewhat scarce publication is often referred to as one of the important periodicals of the sixties, but on looking through it, it seems to have established its claim on somewhat slender foundation. True, it contains one of Sandys' most memorable designs--here reproduced in photogravure from an early impression of the block, a peculiarly fine drawing--to Christina Rossetti's poem, _Amor Mundi_. It was reproduced from a photograph of the drawing on wood in the first edition of Mr. Pennell's admirable _Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen_, and in the second edition are reproductions by process, not only of Mr. Sandys' original drawing as preserved in a Hollyer photograph, but of preliminary studies for the figures.

The rest of the illustrations of the magazine, which only lived for a few months, are comparatively few and not above the average in merit. The numbers, May 1865 to May 1866, contain eight drawings by J. D. Watson, illustrating Mrs. Riddell's _Phemie Keller_. Thirteen by Paul Gray illustrate _The White Flower of Ravensworth_, by Miss M. Betham-Edwards. Others noteworthy are: _Gythia_, by T. R. Lamont; _Dahut_, and _An Incident_ of 1809, by J. Lawson; _Mistrust_ and _Love's Pilgrimage_, by Edward Hughes; a fine composition, _Lost on the Fells_, by W. Small, and a few minor drawings mostly in the text. It was published by T. Bosworth, 215 Regent Street. This is a brief record of a fairly praiseworthy venture, but there is really no more to be said about it.

THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE,

Another sixpenny illustrated monthly more definitely religious in its aim than _Good Words_, of which it was an offspring, was started in 1865. The illustrations from the first were hardly less interesting than those in the other publications under the direction of Mr. Alexander Strahan. Indeed, it would be unjust not to express very clearly and unmistakably the debt which all lovers of black-and-white art owe to the publisher of these magazines. The conditions of oil-painting demand merely a public ready to buy: whether the artist negotiates directly with the purchaser, or employs an agent, is a matter of convenience. But black-and-white illustration requires a well-circulated, well-printed, well-conducted periodical: not as a middleman whose services can be dispensed with, but as a vital factor in the enterprise. Therefore drawings intended for publication imply a publisher, and one who is not merely a man with pronounced artistic taste, but also a good administrator and a capable man of business. These triple qualifications are found but rarely together, and when they do unite, the influence of such a personality is of the utmost importance. Mr. Strahan, who appears to have combined in no small degree the qualities which go to make a successful publisher, set on foot two popular magazines, which, in spite of their having long passed their first quarter of a century, are still holding their own. A third, full of promise, _Good Words for the Young_, was cut off in its prime, or rather died of a lingering disease, caused by that terrible microbe _the foreign cliché_. Others, _The Day of Rest_ and _Saturday Journal_, also affected by the same ailment, succumbed after more or less effort; but the magazines that relied on the best contemporary illustrators still flourish. The moral, obvious as it is, deserves to be insisted upon. To-day the photograph from life is as popular with many editors as the _cliché_ from German and French originals was in the seventies; but a public which tired of foreign electros may soon grow weary of the inevitable photograph, and so the warning is worth setting down.

Like its companion, _Good Words_, it has known fat years and lean years; volumes that were full of admirable drawings, and volumes that barely maintained a respectable average. From the very first volume of the _Sunday Magazine_ we find among others R. Barnes, A. Boyd Houghton, M. E. Edwards, Paul Gray, J. Lawson, F. W. Lawson, J. W. North, G. J. Pinwell, and Marcus Stone well represented. The standard of excellence implied by these names was preserved for a considerable time. To this Pinwell contributes two drawings, _The House of God_ (p. 144) and _Only a Lost Child_ (p. 592), a typical character-study of town life. Paul Gray has a full page, _The Maiden Martyr_ (p. 272), engraved by Swain; either the drawing is below his level, or it has suffered badly at the hands of the engraver. _The Orphan Girl_ (p. 296), _Clara Linzell's Commentary_ (p. 401), and _Dorcas_ (p. 617), by the same artist, are all interesting, but do not represent him at his best. The single contribution by A. Boyd Houghton, _Friar Ives_ (p. 384), is not particularly good. In _Winter_, by J. W. North (p. 328), we have a most excellent drawing of a snow-clad farm with a thrashing machine at work in the distance, and two children in the foreground. The delicacy and breadth of the work, and its true tonality deserve appreciation; it was engraved by Swain. _Drowned_ (p. 585), by Marcus Stone, is not very typical. _The Watch at the Sepulchre_ (p. 940), by J. Lawson, is a spirited group of Roman soldiers. _Caught in a Thunderstorm_, by R. P. Leitch, engraved by W. J. Linton, is interesting to disciples of 'the white line.' Edward Whymper supplies the frontispiece, _The Righi_. M. E. Edwards, in the drawings to _Grandfather's Sunday_ (pp. 481, 489), appears to be under the influence of G. H. Thomas. Robert Barnes has twenty illustrations to _Kate the Grandmother_, and one each to _Light in Darkness_ (p. 25) and _Our Children_. A series of fourteen to _Joshua Taylor's Passion_, engraved by Dalziel, are unsigned; the style leads one to credit them to F. A. Fraser, who in later volumes occupied a prominent position. F. W. Lawson, in _A Romance of Truth_ (pp. 641, 649) and _The Vine and its Branches_ (p. 904), has not yet found his individual manner. The rest of the pictures by T. Dalziel, F. J. Slinger, R. T. Pritchett, F. Eltze, W. M'Connell, etc., call for no special comment.

In 1866 J. Mahoney's _Summer_, the frontispiece to the volume, is a notable example of a clever artist, whose work has hardly yet attracted the attention it deserves; _Marie_ (p. 753), a study of an old woman knitting, is no less good. Birket Foster's _Autumn_ (p. 1) is also a very typical example. Paul Gray's _Among the Flowers_ (p. 624), a group of children from the slums in a country lane, is fairly good. W. Small, in _Hebe Dunbar_ 'from a photograph' (p. 441), supplies an object-lesson of translation rather than imitation, which deserves to be studied to-day. In it, a really great draughtsman has given you a personal rendering of facts, like those he would have set down had he worked from life, and thereby imparted individual interest to a copy of a photograph. This one block, if photographers would but study it, should convince them that a good drawing is in every way preferable to a 'half-tone' block from a photograph of the subject; it might also teach a useful lesson to certain draughtsmen, who employ photographs so clumsily that the result is good neither as photography nor as drawing, but partakes of the faults of both. Three designs to the _Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood_, by Dr. George Mac Donald, (pp. 641, 713, 785), the first quite in the mood of the hour, a capital piece of work, and _A Sunday Afternoon in a London Court_, complete Mr. Small's share in this volume. Robert Barnes supplies the other eight drawings to Dr. Mac Donald's story, and another, _The Pitman and his Wife_ (p. 17), an excellent specimen of his 'British Workman' manner. F. J. Shields, a very infrequent contributor to these magazines, has a biblical group, '_Even as thou wilt_' (p. 33). Edward Hughes (who must not be confounded with Arthur Hughes, nor with the present member of the Old Water-Colour Society, E. R. Hughes) is responsible for _Under a Cottage Roof_ (p. 192), _The Bitter and Sweet_ (p. 249), _The First Tooth_ (p. 337), and _The Poor Seamstress_ (p. 409); although a somewhat fecund illustrator not devoid of style and invention, his work fails to interest one much to-day. J. Gordon Thomson, so many years the cartoonist of _Fun_, is represented by _On the Rock_ (p. 544). F. W. Lawson's _Hope_ (p. 120) and A. W. Bayes's _Saul and David_ (p. 703), with a drawing of wild animals drinking, by Wolf, complete the list of original work, the rest being engraved from photographs.

In 1867 A. Boyd Houghton is well to the fore with twelve illustrations to the serial story by Sarah Tytler, _The Huguenot Family in the English Village_, besides full-page drawings, some in his best manner, to _A Proverb Illustrated_ (p. 33), _Heroes_ (p. 129), _Luther the Singer_ (p. 256), _The Martyr_ (p. 348), _The Last of the Family_ (p. 393), and _A Lesson to a King_ (p. 817). W. Small is only represented twice, with _Wind me a Summer Crown_ (p. 65) and _Philip's Mission_ (p. 752). J. W. North has three admirable drawings, _Foundered at Sea_ (p. 280), _Peace_ (p. 560), _Anita's Prayer_ (p. 609), the first and last of these, both studies of shipwrecks, deserve to be remembered for the truth of movement of the drawing of the waves, and one doubts if any sea-pieces up to the date of their appearance had approached them for fact and beauty combined. Both are engraved by Dalziels in an admirably intelligent fashion. F. W. Lawson's _The Chained Book_ (p. 104) and _The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes_ (p. 496), and _In the Times of the Lollards_ (p. 529), all deal with acrimonious memories of the past. After the scenes of cruelty, persecution, and martyrdom which unfortunately are too often the chief dishes in the _menu_ of a religious periodical, it is a relief to turn to the _Cottar's Farewell_ (p. 417), by J. D. Watson, or to the 'Norths' before quoted. This most straightforward and accomplished study of a dying peasant and his family shows the dignified and simple treatment which the artist at his happiest moments employed with complete mastery.

In 1868 A. Boyd Houghton is again the most frequent contributor of full-page designs; a bare list must suffice. _Sunday at Hippo_ (p. 57), _Three Feasts of Israel_ (p. 67), _Paul's Judge_ (p. 88), _Sunday Songs, Sweden_ (p. 112), _The Charcoal Burners_ (p. 118), a drawing which looks like an intentional 'exercise in the manner of Gustave Doré,' who, despite his enormous popularity in England, seems to have had singularly little influence on English artists, so that this stands out as a unique exception. Houghton has also _The Feast of the Passover_ (p. 185), _The Poor Man's Shuttle_ (p. 273), _Feast of Pentecost_ (p. 296), _Samuel the Ruler_ (p. 357), _George Herbert's Last Sunday_ (p. 424), _Baden-Baden_ (p. 520), _The Good Samaritan_ (p. 552), _Church of the Basilicas_ (p. 561), _Joseph's Coat_ (p. 616), _St. Paul Preaching_ (p. 681), and _The Parable of the Sower_ (p. 777). G. J. Pinwell is seen in three examples, _A Westphalian Parsonage_ (p. 192), _Madame de Krudener_ (pp. 704, 785); S. L. Fildes is here for the first time with _The Farmer's Daughter_ (p. 656); J. Pettie has a small drawing, _My Sister_ (p. 176); J. Wolf, a clever 'lamb' study (p. 529); and W. Small a most typical, almost mannered, _Sunday Morning_ (p. 182). J. Mahoney supplies twenty-eight illustrations to _The Occupations of a Retired Life_, by Edward Garrett, besides separate plates, _Sunday Songs from Denmark_ (p. 16), _Love Days_ (p. 137), and _Just Suppose_ (p. 649). J. Gordon Thomson contributes eighteen drawings for Dr. George Macdonald's _The Seaboard Parish_, and others of no particular interest are attributed to Shield, F. A. Fraser, C. Morgan, Miles, Lamont, and Pasquier. Here, as in many other volumes, are vignettes and tail-pieces by T. Dalziel, some of them most admirably drawn and all charmingly expressed in the engraving.

In 1869 A. Boyd Houghton still maintains his position. This year his drawings are _Wisdom of Solomon_ (p. 16), _The Jews in the Ghetto_ (p. 44), _Martha and Mary_ (p. 65), _Rehoboam_ (p. 85), _Jewish Patriotism_ (p. 125), _Sunday in the Bush_ (p. 161), _Miss Bertha_ (pp. 384, 513), _Babylonian Captivity_ (p. 633), _John Baptist_ (p. 641), and _Samson_ (p. 760). G. J. Pinwell illustrates Edward Garrett's _The Crust and the Cake_ with thirty-four cuts. In one of these (p. 529), as in two other designs by the same artist, you find that in drawing the lines of a harpsichord, or grand piano, he has forgotten that the reversal required by engraving would represent the instrument with its curve on the bass, instead of the treble side--a sheer impossibility, which any pianist cannot help noticing at a glance. His one other contribution this year is _The Gang Children_ (p. 25). Represented by a solitary example in each case are J. M'Whirter, _Sunday Songs_ (p. 12); J. Pettie, _Philip Clayton's First-born_ (p. 69); Edward Hughes, _Mother Mahoney_ (p. 196); Towneley Green, _Village Doctor's Wife_ (p. 505); Robert Barnes, _A Missionary in the East_ (p. 57); and Arthur Hughes, _Blessings in Disguise_ (p. 156). J. Mahoney has _The Centurion's Faith_ (p. 60), _Building of the Minster_ (p. 352), _Hoppety Bob_ (p. 417), _Roger Rolf_ (p. 608), and _Christmas Eighteenth Century_ (p. 252). Francis Walker, with his _Sunday Songs_ (p. 93), _Bird Fair, Shoreditch_ (p. 409), _Feast of Tabernacles_ (p. 600), _Widow Mullins_ (p. 673), and _A Little Heroine_ (p. 736); H. French, with '_It is more blessed_' (p. 229), and _A Narrative Sermon_ (p. 632); and F. A. Fraser with _Jesuit Missions_ (p. 101), _Wesley_ (p. 152), _The Year_ (p. 217), _A Queer Charity_ (p. 576), and _A Schwingfest_ (p. 665); the three latter belong by rights to the men of the seventies rather than to the group with which this volume is concerned.

In 1870 A. Boyd Houghton, one of the heroes of the sixties, reappears with five contributions, one, quite out of his ordinary manner, being a design for a group of statues, _St. Paul's Companions_ (p. 33); the others are _My Mother's Knee_ (p. 16), _Sunday at Aix-les-bains_ (p. 88), Achsah's _Wedding Gifts_ (p. 104), and _Sister Edith's Probation_ (p. 600). J. Mahoney signs but two: _A Sun-dial in a Churchyard_ (p. 704) and _Passover Observances_ (p. 736). F. A. Fraser and Towneley Green supply the illustrations to the serials. W. J. Wiegand contributes decorative head-pieces, and Hubert Herkomer has two drawings, _Diana's Portrait_ and _Diana Coverdale's Diary_.

In 1871 Houghton has but two: _A Woman that was a Sinner_ (p. 104) and _The Withered Flower_ (p. 512). Arthur Hughes, in three delightful designs, _My Heart_ (p. 10), _The First Sunrise_ (p. 302), and _Tares and Wheat_ (p. 353); J. Mahoney with _Diet of Augsburg_ (p. 417) and _Our Milkmen_ (p. 217); and W. Small with _The Sea-Side Well_ (p. 249), _One of Many_ (p. 446), and fourteen illustrations to _The Story of the Mine_, are about the only remnants of the old army. John Leighton, a frequent contributor of decorative borders and head-pieces, has a typical full-page, _A Parable_ (p. 408). The 'seventies' are represented by R. Macbeth's _Tom Joiner's Good Angel_ (p. 313); and C. Green (who, like Small, belongs to both periods) with his designs to _The Great Journey_ (p. 119) and _Mills of Clough_ (pp. 560, 728).

CASSELL'S MAGAZINE,

A popular monthly periodical that is still in full vigour under a slightly altered title, started in the decade immediately before the date that this book attempts to cover. As _Cassell's Family Paper_, a large folio weekly, beyond the fact that the ubiquitous Sir John Gilbert did innumerable good things for its pages, one is not greatly interested in it. But in 1865 it was changed to a quarto shape, and although L. Huard supplied the front page pictures to vol. i., and so the artistic position of the paper was not improved, yet soon after the change we find a great illustrator contributing the weekly drawing for its chief serial. For despite the indifferent engraving accorded to many of the blocks and the absence of any signature, the autograph of William Small is legible in every line of the illustrations to _Bound to the Wheel_ which started with vol. ii. in August 26, 1866, and has sixteen half-page illustrations. This was followed by _The Secret Sign_, with the same artist for a few chapters. Then another hand appears, and soon after the monogram F. G. shows that the second Gilbert (a brother, I believe, of the more famous artist) has replaced W. Small. To one drawing of another serial, _The Lion in the Path_, the signature of T. Morten is appended.

In April 1867 its title is changed to _Cassell's Family Magazine_, and it is printed on toned paper. The serial, _Anne Judge, Spinster_, by F. W. Robinson, has thirty illustrations by Charles Green. No doubt the originals were worthy of that admirable draughtsman; indeed, despite their very ordinary engraving, enough remains to show the handling of a most capable artist. The succeeding serial, _Poor Humanity_, is illustrated by B. Bradley. J. D. Watson contributes occasional drawings--_Ethel_, on p. 22, being the first. M. Ellen Edwards also appears, with F. W. Lawson, F. A. Fraser, Henley, C. J. Staniland, R. T. Pritchett, M. W. Ridley, J. Mahoney, and G. H. Thomas. It is noteworthy of the importance attached to the illustrator at this date, that the names of those artists who have contributed to the magazine are printed in bold type upon the title-page to each volume. These, as later, bear no date, so that only in volumes bound with the wrappers in British Museum fashion can you ascertain the year of their publication. In vol. iii. (May 1868 onwards) you discover on p. 9 a drawing, _Cleve Cliff_, by G. J. Pinwell. Its serial, _A Fight for Life_, is illustrated by G. H. Thomas, whose pictures are not signed, nor have I found that the authorship is attributed to the artists within the magazine itself. But in the 'In Memoriam' volume, published soon after his death, several are reprinted and duly credited to him. They were all engraved by W. Thomas. The first appearance of S. L. Fildes, _Woodland Voices_, is on p. 137 of this volume. T. Blake Wirgman has also a notable composition, _A Sculptor's Love_, and in this and in