,,four ,,hundred ,,humorous ,,illustrations ,by ,john ,leech ,with ,portrait and ,biographical ,sketch4 #ahfh ,,biographical ,,sketch4 ,john ,leech was born in ,london1 on the #bith ,august1 #ahag4 ,his father1 ,john ,leech1 was an ,irishman1 a man of fine culture1 and a good ,shakespearean scholar4 ,he was the landlord of the ,london ,coffee ,house on ,ludgate ,hill1 one of the most important of the city hotels at that time4 ,for a while the father was successful in his vocation1 but ultimately1 through financial embarrassment1 was obliged to give up the hotel4 ,the father was a man of real ability1 possessing considerable skill with the pencil1 and from him1 no doubt1 the son inherited his special talent4 ,and1 again1 on the mother's side there was relationship with the great scholar ,richard ,bentley1 so that on both sides of the house young ,leech had considerable advantages so far as mental heredity was concerned4 ,at a very early age the mother observed the extraordinary aptitude for drawing that her boy possessed1 and did all in her power to encourage it4 ,when young ,leech was only three years old1 he was found by the family friend1 the great artist1 ,flaxman1 seated on his mother's knee1 drawing with much gravity4 ,the sculptor pronounced his sketch to be remarkable1 and gave the following advice3--,do not let him be cramped with lessons in drawing1 but let his genius follow its own bent4 ,he will astonish the world4 ,a few years after this1 some more of the youthful artist's drawings were shown to the celebrated sculptor1 and1 after examination1 he said--,the boy must be an artist2 he will be nothing else or less4 ,at seven1 the boy was sent to ,charterhouse4 ,this early departure from home was1 of course1 a sore trial to the fond mother1 who was bound up in her child1 but1 knowing that it was for her son's future welfare1 she threw no obstacles in the way of his departure from home4 ,she was1 however1 resolved that somehow she would see her child frequently4 ,with this object she hired a room in one of the houses commanding a view of the playground1 and there frequently she sat behind a blind1 happy in getting an occasional glimpse of her boy--sometimes at play1 and sometimes strolling about in the grounds with his school mates4 ,during his stay of nine years at ,charterhouse1 the boy did not distinguish himself in classical studies4 ,indeed1 all that can be said1 is that he acquired a thoroughly sound ,english education4 ,he was1 however1 liked by everyone at school for his good temper and winning ways4 ,among his fellow pupils was the famous ,william ,makepeace ,thackeray1 with whom he formed a warm friendship that lasted throughout life4 ,at sixteen years of age1 young ,leech left ,charterhouse1 and1 notwithstanding ,flaxman's advice that the boy should follow the profession of an artist1 his father put him to the medical profession at ,st4 ,bartholomew's1 under ,mr ,stanley1 the surgeon of the ,hospital4 ,after a time he was placed under ,mr ,whittle1 an eccentric practitioner at ,hoxton1 and subsequently under ,dr ,john ,cockle1 afterwards physician to the ,royal ,free ,hospital4 ,throughout his various situations1 young ,leech become famous among his fellow students and friends for his extremely clever--and1 at the same time1 always good-natured--caricatures4 ,he was for ever drawing scenes1 characters1 and incidents in daily life4 ,about this time1 young ,leech's liking for horses probably received its first development1 through his friendship with ,mr ,charles ,adams4 ,mr ,adams was the owner of two horses which it was his delight to drive tandem fashion1 and in his excursions ,leech was his constant companion4 ,to this circumstance we are1 no doubt1 partially indebted for many of the clever bits of driving and country road life depicted by the pencil of the artist4 ,at this early period of his career1 ,leech made numerous life friendships with men who afterwards became distinguished4 ,notable among these men were ,albert ,smith and ,percival ,leigh4 ,at eighteen years of age1 ,leech published his first work1 entitled ,etchings and ,sketchings by ,a4 ,pen1 ,esq4 ,it was a small work of four quarto sheets4 ,as he got more and more engrossed in artistic work1 the young student seems to have gradually given up his medical studies1 and to have resolved to live by his pencil4 ,in course of time he turned his attention to lithography1 and1 having drawn pictures upon lithographic stones1 he has been known to spend many a weary day in carrying such heavy stones from publisher to publisher in search of a buyer4 ,but as his fame increased1 the difficulty of getting remunerative employment rapidly diminished4 ,a good deal of ,leech's early work1 among other things1 was in connection with ,bell's ,life in ,london1 the best-known sporting paper of the time4 ,here he was associated with ,cruikshank1 ,madons1 ,phiz1 and ,seymour4 ,it was when at work for ,bell's ,life that he first imbibed a taste for field sports1 which developed into a strong feature in his pictorial career4 ,he joined the hounds in ,herefordshire1 where ,millais became his fellow pupil in acquiring the arts of the chase4 ,among the schemes of drollery that our artist participated in about this time was the ,comic ,latin ,grammar1 ,leigh contributing the text1 and ,leech the illustrations4 ,this was followed by the ,comic ,english ,grammar1 and likewise by the ,children of the ,mobility1 a parody on a well-known work devoted to the serious glorification of our juvenile aristocracy4 ,but in ,august of #ahda ,leech began the great work of his life--a work1 indeed1 which he never quitted but with life--namely1 his connection with ,punch4 ,the first number of ,punch was issued on the #agth ,july1 #ahda1 and ,leech's first contribution to it appeared on the #gth ,august1 in the fourth number4 ,for about twenty years1 it may be said1 he was its leading spirit1 and1 by his contributions to its pages1 got in all about #dj1jjj4 ,political caricatures he produced by the score1 and held up to ridicule many of the absurd customs of the pretensious and exclusive sections of ,society4 ,like ,thackeray and ,dickens1 ,leech detested snobbery in all walks of life1 and depicted it unsparingly in a way that it never had been dealt with before4 ,week after week there flowed from his pencil an endless stream of scenes of high life and low life1 of indoor life and street life1 now of ,england1 and then of foreign lands1 and of all times1 seasons1 and occasions1 as also numerous scenes of deer-stalking and fishing1 and of horses and hounds1 in all cases depicting whatever he undertook with extraordinary accuracy combined with infinite humour4 ,also1 when social or national wrong called for grave censure1 ,leech knew how to administer it1 not only without giving unnecessary offence1 but in the way best calculated to bring about reform and redress4 ,in all circumstances he was essentially a humorist1 and he found his most genial vocation in depicting life and character in the social circles he frequented4 ,as a keen observer of the everyday life around him1 he delighted to depict the corporation magnate1 the artist1 the medical student1 the spendthrift1 the policeman1 the cab driver1 the coster1 the carman1 and hundreds of other such phases of everyday life and character1 seeing humour and drollery where others failed to observe anything but the commonest aspects of everyday monotony4 ,of course it should not be forgotten that1 if ,leech did great things for ,punch1 his connection with that journal gave him great opportunities1 and brought him into the very forefront of ,british artists4 ,he was considered the most successful humorist of the day1 and his pencil was in constant request4 ,in the course of years he became the illustrator of about eighty volumes4 ,when it is realised that the sketches in ,punch and the illustrations in these eighty volumes combined amount to some thousands in number1 the mind is much impressed with the great amount of industry and application that ,leech displayed throughout life4 ,even a tour to the ,highlands1 or to ,ireland1 or an outing to any portion of the country1 was at all times turned to practical account for work later on4 ,this incessant brain-work produced an extreme nervous sensitiveness4 ,in this state he was much affected by noise and was literally driven from his house in ,brunswick ,square by street music4 ,he removed to ,kensington1 where he hoped to obtain a release from this annoyance by adopting a device of double windows4 ,but he had no peace4 ,he often introduced in the pages of ,punch the barrel-organ nuisance4 ,the public1 however1 at that time had no idea what these sketches from real life cost the artist4 ,in #ahfd1 ,leech was ordered to take a holiday on the ,continent4 ,upon his return to his ,london home in the autumn of the same year1 although better in health1 he was still strangely susceptible to noise4 ,he spoke with more than his usual earnestness about the sufferings which the street organs gave him1 and about the smallness of the sympathy which he received from people who had no weakness in the same direction4 ,this extraordinary sensitiveness to noise was only a secondary phase or symptom of the real ailment4 ,the real malady from which he suffered was breast-pang1 or spasms of the heart1 a form of angina pectoris4 ,although it was necessary to warn ,leech against all excitement1 riding1 quick walking1 or overwork1 it was not supposed that he was in immediate danger1 and1 if he could only find rest and quiet1 great hopes were entertained of his recovery4 ,however1 the sad end came when quite unexpected4 ,in the morning of the #bith of ,october1 #ahfd1 he spoke hopefully of the future to his wife4 ,in a few hours afterwards he whispered into the same living ear--,i am going1 and fell into his father's arms in a faint4 ,three hours afterwards he expired4 ,the news of his death went over the country with a dismal shock2 for in what house was ,john ,leech not an inmate in one form or another8 ,leech was tall1 with an elegant figure1 over six feet in height1 graceful and gentlemanly in manner1 with a fine head and a handsome face4 ,in action he was nimble1 vigorous1 and yet gentle1 capable of the heartiest mirth1 and yet generally quiet4 ,he was singularly modest1 both as a man and an artist4 ,the perpetual going to nature kept him humble as well as made him rich4 ,his consideration1 too1 for others was apparent at all times1 and the gentleness of his nature was remarkable4 ,when it is considered that all these beautiful traits of character were accompanied by such extraordinary talent and wisdom1 one is profoundly impressed with the greatness of the man4 ,no wonder so many mourned when such a great1 gentle1 and graceful spirit passed away4 ,it was a national loss1 and as such was realised throughout the homes of the ,united ,kingdom4 #jag ,illustration3 #jag #jah 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