difficult
for the uninitiated to appreciate and understand.

[Illustration: THE MYSTERIOUS ROSE GARDEN]

The astonishing fertility of his invention, and the amount of work he
managed to produce, were inconceivable; yet there is never any sign of
hurry: there is no scamping in his deft and tidy drawing. The neatness
of his most elaborate designs would suggest many sketches worked over
and discarded before deciding on the final form and composition. Strange
to say, this was not his method. He sketched everything in pencil, at
first covering the paper with apparent scrawls, constantly rubbed out
and blocked in again, until the whole surface became raddled from
pencil, indiarubber, and knife; over this incoherent surface he worked
in Chinese ink with a gold pen, often ignoring the pencil lines,
afterwards carefully removed. So every drawing was invented, built up,
and completed on the same sheet of paper. And the same process was
repeated even when he produced replicas. At first he was indifferent to
process reproduction, but, owing to Mr Pennell's influence, he later on
always worked with that end in view; thereby losing, some will think,
his independence. But he had nothing to complain of--Mr Pennell's
contention about process was never so well proved as in Beardsley's
case. His experiments in colour were not always successful, two of
his most delightful designs he ruined by tinting. In the posters and
Studio lithograph, however, the crude colour is highly effective, and
"_Mademoiselle de Maupin_" shewed he might have mastered water-colour
had he chosen to do so. There are at present in the market many coloured
forgeries of his work: these have been contrived by tracing or copying
the reproductions; the colour is often used to conceal the paucity of
the drawing and hesitancy of line; they are nearly always versions of
well-known designs, and profess to be replicas. When there _is_ any
doubt the history and provenance of the work should be carefully
studied. It is not difficult to trace the pedigree of any _genuine_
example.

[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE
_From "A Nocturne of Chopin"_]

A good deal has been made out of Beardsley's love of dark rooms and lamp
light, but this has been grossly exaggerated. He had no great faith in
north lights and studio paraphernalia, so necessary for those who use
mediums other than his own. He would sometimes draw on a perfectly flat
table, facing the light, which would fall directly