Pellegrini the caricaturist, the celebrated "Ape" of _Vanity Fair_, was
a member of the "Grill-room," as is his equally well-known successor,
Sir Leslie Ward, the "Spy" of that now defunct paper, who has drawn
almost every notability in the kingdom. Sir Leslie is, I am glad to
say, still with us. Leslie Ward has the speciality of extraordinary
accidents, accidents which could befall no human being but himself. For
instance, in pre-taxi days Ward was driving in a hansom, and the cabman
taking a wrong turn, Ward pushed up the little door in the roof to stop
him. The man bent his head down to catch his fare's directions, and
Leslie Ward inadvertently pushed three fingers right into the cabman's
mouth. The driver, hotly resenting this unwarranted liberty, bit Leslie
Ward's fingers so severely that he was unable to hold either pencil or
brush for a fortnight. This is only one example of the extraordinary
mishaps in which this gifted artist specialises.
In the recently published _Life of Herbert Beerbohm Tree_, the
collaborators do not allude to that curious vein of impish humour
which at times possessed him, turning him into a sort of big
rollicking schoolboy. There was one episode which I can give with
Tree's actual words, for I wrote them down at the time, as a supreme
example of the art of "leg-pulling.
Pages:
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339