Chapter XVI: Conclusion

It will be seen in the preceding pages that it was the privilege of the writer to know Caldecott intimately before he had made a name, when his heart and hands were free, so to speak; when he was untrammelled by much sense of responsibility, or by the necessity of keeping up a reputation, and when every day, almost, recorded some new experiment or achievement in his art. Let it be stated here that not at that time, nor ever afterwards in the writer's hearing, was a word said against Caldecott. With a somewhat wide and exceptional experience of the personality of artists, it can be said with truth that Caldecott was "a man of whom all spoke well." His presence then, as in later years, seemed to dispel all jealousies, if they ever existed, and to scatter evil spirits if they ever approached him. No wonder--for was he not the very embodiment of sweetness, simple-mindedness, generosity, and honour?

From the sketch on page 1 of this book, made in the smoke of Manchester, to the "New Year's Greeting" on p. 203, the same happy, joyous spirit is evident; and so, to those who knew him, he remained to the end.

As this memoir has to do with Caldecott's earlier career, and particularly with his work in black and white, the artistic value of his illustrations in colour, especially in his _Picture Books_, can only be hinted at here.

_Caldecott's Picture Books_ are known all over the world; they have been widely discussed and criticised, and they form undoubtedly the best monument to his memory. But it may be found that some of the best work he ever did (the work least open to criticism) was in 1874 and 1875, before these books were begun; and that the material here collected will aid in forming a better estimate of Caldecott as an artist.

In March, 1883 there appeared a little oblong _Sketch Book_ with canvas cover, full of original and delightful illustrations, many in colour, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans. This book is not very widely known, but there are drawings in it of great personal interest, now that the artist's hand is still. The _Sketch Book_ suggests many thoughts and calls up many associations to those who knew him.

In 1883 he illustrated _Æsop's Fables_ with "Modern Instances" (referred to on page 94).

The kind of work that Caldecott liked best, and of which he would have been an artistic and delightful exponent had circumstances permitted, is indicated in the design at the head of the preface to this volume; it was drawn on brown paper, probably for a wood carving in relief, for the central panel of a mantelpiece. This sketch is selected from several designs of a similar kind.

In purely journalistic work, for which his powers seemed eminently fitted, he was never at home, his heart was not in it. Neither on _Punch_ nor on the _Graphic_ newspaper, would he have engaged to work regularly. He would do anything on an emergency to aid a friend--or a foe, if he had known one--but neither health nor inclination led him in that direction. And yet Caldecott, of all contemporary artists, owed his wide popularity to the wood engraver, to the maker of colour blocks, and to the printing press. No artist before him had such chances of dispersing facsimiles of daintily coloured illustrations over the world. All this must be considered when his place in the century of artists is written.

Mr. Clough touches a true note in the following (from the _Manchester Quarterly_):--

"If the art, tender and true as it is, be not of the
highest, yet the artist is expressed in his work as perhaps
few others have been. Nothing to be regretted--all of the
clearest--an open-air, pure life--a clean soul. Wholesome as
the England he loved so well. Manly, tolerant, and patient
under suffering. None of the friends he made did he let go.
No envy, malice, or uncharitableness spoiled him; no social
flattery or fashionable success, made him forget those he
had known in the early years."

Speaking generally of his friend Caldecott, whom he had known intimately in later years, Mr. Locker-Lampson (to whom we are indebted for the letters and sketches on pages 191, 192, and 199), writes:--

"It seems to me that Caldecott's art was of a quality that
appears about once in a century. It had delightful
characteristics most happily blended. He had a delicate
fancy, and his humour was as racy as it was refined. He had
a keen sense of beauty, and, to sum up all, he had _charm_.
His old-world youths and maidens are perfect. The men are so
simple and so manly, the maidens are so modest and so
trustful: The latter remind one of the country girl in that
quaint old ballad,

"'He stopt and gave my cheek a pat,
He told a tender tale,
Then stole a kiss, but what of that?
'Twas Willie of the Dale!'

"Poor Caldecott! His friends were much attached to him. He
had feelings, and ideas, and manners, which made him welcome
in any society; but alas, all was trammelled, not obscured,
by deplorably bad health."

These two criticisms--both coming from friends of the artist, but from different points of view--are worth setting side by side in a memoir.

A correspondent, writing from Manchester, sends the following interesting letter respecting places sketched by Caldecott in Cheshire and Shropshire and afterwards used in the illustrations in his books.

"During occasional rambles in this and the neighbouring
county of Chester, more especially in the neighbourhood of
Whitchurch, I have been interested in the identification of
some few of the original scenes pictured by Mr. Caldecott in
his several published drawings. Thus:--

"Malpas Church, which occupies the summit of a gentle hill
some six miles from Whitchurch, occurs frequently--as in a
full page drawing in the _Graphic_ newspaper for Christmas,
1883; in _Babes in the Wood_, p. 19; in _Baby Bunting_, p.
20; and in _The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate_, p. 5.

"The main street of Whitchurch is fairly pictured in the
_Great Panjandrum_, p. 6, whilst the old porch of the Blue
Bell portrayed on p. 28 of _Old Christmas_ is identical with
that of the Bell Inn at Lushingham, situated some two miles
from Whitchurch on the way to Malpas.

"Besides these I recognise in the 'Old Stone-house,
Lingborough Hall,' in _Lob Lie-by-the-Fire_, p. 5, an
accurate line-for-line sketch of Barton Hall, an ancient
moated mansion which until quite recently stood within the
parish of Eccles, four miles from Manchester.

"Lastly, a comparison of the illustration on p. 95 of _Old
Christmas_, with one in last year's volume of the _English
Illustrated Magazine_, p. 466, shows that the picturesque
nooks of Sussex, equally with those of Kent and Chester,
yielded their quota to the busy pencil we know so well."

About the year 1879 Caldecott became acquainted with Mrs. Ewing, which led to his making many illustrations for her, such as the design for the cover of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, and notably the illustrations to that "book of books" for boys, "_Jackanapes_," and to "_Daddy Darwin's Dovecot_," and others.

Miss Gatty, in her memoir of Mrs. Ewing, says:--

"My sister was in London in June, 1879, and then made the
acquaintance of Mr. Caldecott, for whose illustrations she
had unbounded admiration. This introduction led us to ask
him (when _Jackanapes_ was still simmering in Julie's brain)
if he would supply a coloured illustration for it. But as
the tale was only written a very short time before it
appeared, and as the illustration was wanted early and
colours take long to print, Julie could not send the story
to be read, but asked Caldecott to draw her a picture to fit
one of the scenes in it. The one she suggested was a
fair-haired boy on a red-haired pony, thinking of one of her
own nephews, a skilful seven-year-old rider who was
accustomed to follow the hounds."

Looking back, but a few months only, at the passing away of two such lives--the author of "_Jackanapes_" and the illustrator of the "_Picture Books_" (of whom it was well said lately, "they have gone to Heaven together")--the loss seems incalculable.

In the history of the century, the best and purest books and the brightest pages ever placed before children will be recorded between 1878 and 1885; and no words would seem more in touch with the lives and aims of these lamented artists than a concluding sentence in _Jackanapes_, that--their works are "a heritage of heroic example and noble obligation."

The grace and beauty, and wealth of imagination in Caldecott's work,--conspicuous to the end,--form a monument which few men in the history of illustrative art have raised for themselves.

* * * * *

Here may end fittingly the memoir of his earlier work. At a future time more may be written, and many delightful reminiscences recorded, of the years from the time of his marriage on the 18th March, 1880, to his lamented death at St. Augustine, in Florida, on the 12th February, 1886; when--in the sympathetic lines which appeared in _Punch_ on the 27th February, 1886:--

"All that flow of fun, and all
That fount of charm found in his fancy,
Are stopped! Yet will he hold us thrall
By his fine art's sweet necromancy,
Children and seniors many a year;
For long 'twill be ere a new-comer,
Fireside or nursery holdeth dear
As him whose life ceased in its summer."