223
NOTES AND QUERIES, [ii s. vn. MAR. 22, 1913.
" Eventually John Cassell enticed Smith away,
but kept the affair a profound secret. Smith, who
always wrote his weekly instalment of ' copy ' at
The 'London Journal office, chanced to be in the
middle of a story.* In this dilemma he decided
upon bringing the tale to a sudden close, and to
accomplish this artistically he took the principal
characters to America, and blew them all up on
board a Mississippi steamboat. He then handed
his ' oopy ' to the boy in waiting, proud of having
solved a troublesome difficulty."
The interesting memoir of Sir John Gilbert in the ' Dictionary of National Bio- graphy ' (Supplement, vol. ii. p. 276) implies that he had the wood engraver at his house. It says :
" Gilbert would first sketch the whole subject very slightly in ink, and then complete the draw- ing in sections, unscrewing each portion of the composite block of boxwood as it was finished, and passing it on to the engraver, while he continued his work on the next piece of wood, with a perfect recollection of its relation to the whole design."f
" A complete set of these woodcuts [from The London Journal], very superior as works of art to the fiction which gave rise to them, was preserved by Gilbert himself, and presented to the Guildhall Library. The British Museum also possesses proofs of the woodcuts to four novels published in The London Journal from 1852 to 1854."
The Guildhall Library has now only two folio volumes of prints cut out from the Journal, and, unfortunately, they are not proofs, and are far from being complete.
So far as I can make out, Smith's stories began with * Stanfield Hall ' in the number dated 19 May, 1849.
The first number of The London Journal which appeared on 1 March, 1845 has an illustration, nicely done, signed " G. Stiff del. et sculp." He was, I presume, the starter of The London Journal, but Mr. Boase in ' Modern English Biography ' says he bought it in 1844. The first long story seems to be 'The Mysteries of the Inquisi- tion,' by G. W. M. Reynolds, of whom there is a notice in an article entitled ' Biographical Sketches of Living Authors ' 29 Nov., 1845.
I thought at first that Gilbert got a good hint of the sort of thing wanted from the clever French illustrations to ' Martin the Foundling,' by Eugene Sue, reprinted in The London Journal in 1847, but when I come to Gilbert's first illustrations I find this is not so. In fact, I doubt if Gilbert ever saw the French illustrations.
- It is remarkable that both author and artist
worked in the same offhand way. Smith's facility of composition was equal to Gilbert's.
t This refers to large woodcuts, such as the whole- or even double-page illustrations of The Illustrated London News.
Up to 5 Aug., 1848, the editor had bee
chiefly satisfied with translations from tl
French. In this number began 'Gidec
Giles,' by Thomas Miller, with an excellei
illustration of three men in the taprooi
of an inn, which struck me as worthy <
Gilbert and his engraver. This novel he
been previously published separately in 184
The next illustration is somewhat stiffe
but is juvenile Gilbertian, and it reveals
Christian name I had wanted that of Walti
Gorway, the engraver. The third is al*
Gilbertian, but not so well engraved, b
Greenway D. Wright.
The next volume (vii.) has. several goo portraits, notably Mr. and Mrs. Charl< Kean and Mrs. Keeley, none of which, pr< bably, has ever been reproduced. Thei are also capital views of English churche and I noticed particularly a long accoun with illustration, of St. George's Roma Catholic Cathedral, Lambeth Road, in whic everybody receives honourable mention 02 cept the architect, who is not even namec On p. 369 is a drawing of the chance taken expressly for The London Journal.
On p. 105 (vol. vii.) we come to an illui tration that looks like Gilbert's, but diffei from his usual work on account of its bein engraved by another hand ; in the next TV are undoubtedly with Gilbert again. ' Gideo Giles ' came to an end on 30 Dec., 184: I am convinced that all the illustrations 1 it are Gilbert's, and I should also think 1: settled the titles descriptive of the scene.
I do not find Gilbert again until 3 Marcl 1849 (vol. viii. p. 401), when there is splendid illustration by him to Thorn* Miller's ' Godfrey Malvern.' The cut occi pies half a page, double the size of previoi ones. This size was continued, and the ci put on the front page. As was usual, it W not signed by Gilbert ; nor, as was unusua by the engraver.
With the issue dated 19 May, 184 (No. 221, vol. ix. p. 161), begins ' Stanfiel Hall,' by J. F. Smith, author of ' TJr. Jesuit,'* &c., with a fine series of Gilbert
- I have often wondered where Smith's ' Jesuii
appeared, for there are several publications entitle
- The Jesuit,' but only one three - volume nove
which Halkett and Laing wrongly ascribe to <k ( Spindler," probably following (or were theyfollowe by?) the National Library Catalogue. The enti in the latter has been corrected, at my suggestioi to J. F. Smith. Karl Spindler wrote a ' Jesuit,' bi very little examination sufficed to convince me ths Spindler's was quite a different work.
Lately, on reading parts of " The Jesuit [ novel], in three volumes, London, Sauriders < Otley, 1832," I have no doubt that it is Smith'i These volumes are inscribed: to Lieut. - Co
