ed by the
editor, or publisher, of the book as a specimen page.

First, as to the art of it. Nothing in its own way could be more
fascinating in humour, vivacity, and character than this grotesque duel
with long ladles at the entrance to an old Spanish posada. The sparkle
and vivacity of the scene are inimitable; the bounding figure haunts the
memory with its diaphanous grace, touched in by a master of expression
in line. In short, we are in the presence of genius.

[Illustration: No. XXXIV.

Example of DANIEL VIERGE'S illustrations to _Pablo de Segovia_, the
Spanish Sharper, by Francisco de Quevedo-Villegas, first published in
Paris, in 1882; afterwards translated into English (with an Essay on
Quevedo, by H. E. Watts, and comments on Vierge's work by Joseph
Pennell), and published by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, in 1892.

Vierge was born in 1851, and educated in Madrid, where he spent the
early years of his life. Since 1869 he has lived in Paris, and
produced numerous illustrations for _Le Monde Illustre_ and _La Vie
Moderne_, and other works. His fame was made in 1882 by Quevedo's
_Pablo de Segovia_, the illustrations to which he was unable to
complete owing to illness and paralysis. About twenty of these
illustrations were drawn with the left hand, owing to paralysis of the
right side. His career, full of romantic interest, suggests the future
illustrator of _Don Quixote_.

These drawings were made upon white paper--Bristol board or drawing
paper--with a pen and Indian ink; but Vierge now uses a glass pen,
like an old stylus. The drawings were then given to Gillot, the
photo-engraver of Paris, who, by means of photography and _handwork_,
produced metal blocks to be printed with the type.]

But the whole effect is obviously untrue to nature, and the tricks--of
black spots, of exaggerated shadows on the ground, of scratchings (and
of carelessness, which might be excused in a hasty sketch for _La Vie
Moderne_)--are only too apparent.

In nearly every illustration in the _Pablo de Segovia_ (of which there
are upwards of one hundred), the artist has relied for brilliancy and
effect on patches of black (sometimes ludicrously exaggerated) and other
mannerisms, which we accept from a genius, but which the student had
better not attempt to imitate. To quote a criticism from the
_Spectator_, "There is almost no light and shade in Vierge. There is an
ingenious effect of dazzle, but there