His Views and Principles
haps, pretentious, though some of them seem to me to shew very high power; but how delicate is the chord struck. A little girl with golden hair holds up a piece of meat, at which a fox-terrier is jumping; meanwhile pussy, who is perched on the child's shoulder, slyly extends a paw in the direction of the dainty morsel. One wonders what will be the end of the story: will the fox-terrier secure the meat by some extraordinary exertion, or will the artful cat succeed in her design, and devour the toothsome prize before Jack's very eyes? Again, there is the humorous catastrophe which befalls the fishmonger's lad, too intent on the (certainly very fascinating) pages of Tit-Bits, so that this time pussy, who has had her eye on his tray, succeeds in carrying out her felonious schemes. Nay, the catalogue of such excellent works is practically endless, and the fame and fortune which the admirable artists have achieved is due, let me remind you again, to the appeal which their works make to the great mass of the British Nation, which is, as I have
105
