" he says, lightly paraphrasing Alfred de Musset, "il
faut etre joli garcon!"

And so he blooms into an aesthete of his own order. To have seen him, O
my wise Atlas, was my privilege and my misery; for he stood under one
of my own "harmonies"--already with difficulty gasping its gentle
breath--himself an amazing "arrangement" in strong mustard-and-cress,
with bird's-eye belcher of Reckitt's blue; and then and
there destroyed absolutely, unintentionally, and once for all, my
year's work!

Atlas, shall these things be?

[Illustration]

_Encouragement_

_TO OSCAR ON HIS "TOUR."_

[Sidenote: _The World_, Feb. 15, 1882.]

Oscar--We, of Tite Street and Beaufort Gardens, joy in your triumphs
and delight in your success; but we are of opinion that, with the
exception of your epigrams, you talk like "S---- C---- in the
provinces"; and that, with the exception of your knee-breeches, you
dress like 'Arry Quilter.

Chelsea.

[Illustration]

_A Remonstrance_

Atlas, how could you!

[Sidenote: _The World_, Feb. 22, 1882.]

I know you carry the _World_ on your back, and am not surprised that
my note to Oscar, on its way, should have fallen from your shoulders
into your dainty fingers; but why present it in the state of puzzle?

Besides, your caution is one-sided and unfair; for if you print S----
C----, why not A---- Q----? Why not X Y Z at once?

And how unlike me! Instead of the frank recklessness which has
unfortunately become a characteristic, I am, for the first time,
disguised in careful timidity, and discharge my insinuating initials
from the ambush of innuendo.

My dear Atlas, if I may not always call a spade a spade, may I not
call a Slade Professor, Sidney Colvin?

[Illustration]

_Propositions_

[Sidenote: With compliments to the Committee of the
"Hoboken" Etching Club upon the occasion of receiving an
invitation to compete in an etching tourney whose first
condition was that the plate should be at least two feet
by three.

[Illustration]]

I. That in Art, it is criminal to go beyond the means used in its
exercise.

II. That the space to be covered should always be in proper relation
to the means used for covering it.

III. That in etching, the means used, or instrument employed, being
the finest possible point, the s