CHARLES KEENE.
[TO THE EDITOR of THE "SPECTATOR."1
SIR,—Having read with much interest your note and article on Charles Keene, I should like to supplement the instance you adduce of his drawing a pretty woman, by referring readers to " Legends of Number Nip," by Mark Lemon (Mac- millan, 1864)—a copy of which Keene did not possess until I gave him one last year—p. 46. To those who have said that he never drew a ,gentlernan, let me answer by saying that he- often drew himself ! Sec a reproduction in the Daily Graphic,. January 7th. Could anybody possibly take Keene, from his appearance and manner, to be aught but a gentleman, and. a most distinguished one ? Keene, too, was of a good old stock. I well remember his showing me an Eton list for 1808 or 1809, which contained his father's name. The illustrations. to " Number Nip " will be further proof of his ability to draw gentlemen. Another interesting volume illustrated by Keene is "Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures " (Bradbury and Evans,. 1866). The mute scene, towards the end of the book, is in- imitable. Charles Keene talked but little of his own work ;. but I remember his showing me, with something like pride,. " The Jest-Book," by Mark Lemon (" Golden Treasury Series "), for which he drew the vignette; even then he only spoke of C. H. Jeens's exquisite rendering of his drawing. The grouping and characterisation in the vignette are truly remarkable,—I. am, Sir, &c.,
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