spectable if dull achievements of
his followers. In the better class of books were excellent designs by
artists of some repute fairly well engraved. Colouring by hand, in a
primitive fashion, was applied to these prints and to impressions from
copperplates. A certain prettiness was the highest aim of most of the
latter, and very few were designed only to amuse a child. It seems as if
all concerned were bent on unbending themselves, careful to offer grains
of truth to young minds with an occasional terrible falsity of their
attitude; indeed, its satire and profound analysis make it superfluous
to reopen the subject. As one might expect, the literature, "genteel"
and dull, naturally desired pictures in the same key. The art of even
the better class of children's books was satisfied if it succeeded in
being "genteel," or, as Miss Limpenny would say, "cumeelfo." Its ideal
reached no higher, and sometimes stopped very far below that modest
standard. This is the best (with the few exceptions already noted) one
can say of pre-Victorian illustration for children.

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION FROM "ELLIOTT'S NURSERY RHYMES" BY H. STACY
MARKS, R.A. (NOVELLO. 1870)]

If there is one opinion deeply rooted in the minds of the comparatively
few Britons who care for art, it is a distrust of "The Cole Gang of
South Kensington;" and yet if there be one fact which confronts any
student of the present revival of the applied arts, it is that sooner or
later you come to its first experiments inspired or actually undertaken
by Sir Henry Cole. Under the pseudonym of "Felix Summerley" we find that
the originator of a hundred revivals of the applied arts, projected and
issued a series of children's books which even to-day are decidedly
worth praise. It is the fashion to trace everything to Mr. William
Morris, but in illustrations for children as in a hundred others "Felix
Summerley" was setting the ball rolling when Morris and the members of
the famous firm were schoolboys.

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION FROM "THE WATER BABIES" BY SIR R. NOEL PATON
(MACMILLAN AND CO. 1863)]

To quote from his own words: "During this period (_i.e._, about 1844),
my young children becoming numerous, their wants induced me to publish a
rather long series of books, which constituted 'Summerley's Home
Treasury,' and I had the great pleasure of obtaining the welcome
assistance of some of the first artists of the time in illustrating
them--Mulready, R.A., Cope, R.A.