BENNETT'S PROVERBS wsrra PICTURES.* Mn. BENNETT is one of those
men who seem to consider them- selves, or to be considered by the employers of their time and talents, bound to be funny. The task, after a little while, is rather a thankless one, and spoils a man for better things. He has also got more harm than good out of an early success. His little book of grotesque " shadows " was so lucky a hit that it ap- pears have trammelled him ever since by compelling him to pro- duce, as fast as practicable, things merely to be grinned. at, instead of miltivating the considerable gift which he posses by quiet and progressive study; a study which is no less necessary for an artist who aims at amusing—provided always he would amuse by art, as well as oddity—than for one of more directly solid purpose. The brochure- before us embodies another of Mr. Bennett's sprightly notions. He takes a batch of familiar proverbs and expresses them pictorially: and, as proverbs continually convey- a lesson or a sentiment in a con- crete image, the notion might very fairly be carried out by simply presenting that image, as it stands, to the bodily eye, as well as the mental. But this is not enough for Mr. Ben- nett: he will be funnier than fun and more fanciful than fancy. Instead of really illustrating the proverb, and through that the wisdom which it enshrines, he prefers to pun upon it whenever he can. The result is somewhat je- june; forced in many instances, obvious and common in others. His puns are not only gratuitous, but mostly bad into the bar- gain. For instance we open at random on page 38, containing four subjects. "Creep before you go " is a bumpkin startled by a snake, and then running away from it: "Follow your Nose' is a Tyrolese cutting off a soldier's nose on the edge of a preci- pice: Silence gives Consent" is a thief at his vocation in the silence of night: "A Stitch in Time saves Nine" is Old Father Time with a stitch in his side through running hard after nine little atoraies with scissors in their hands, whom he cannot catch. All this is not wit, but simple nonsense. The reader will easily perceive that the real meaning of each of these proverbs admits of direct illustration, and will probably agree with us that such an illustration would be more amusing and ingenious, as well as more reasonable. The designs, as such, are about as clever as pre- vious ones by Mr. Bennett, but by no means so clever as he could by this time have produced, had he been working on a sounder principle meanwhile. The artist may perhaps reply that his only object has been to raise a laugh. We believe it, and do not quar- rel with his object; nor are we pulling a long face over what is merely intended to excite the risible muscles. Let Mr. Bennett be as risible as he likes and can : but laughter is of two kinds— one having some heartiness and meaning in it, the other compar- able to nothing better than "the crackling of thorns under a pot."
• Proverbs with Pictures: by Charles H. Bennett. Published by Chapman and
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