Stamps enclosed L0 0 10
========

And these ten penny stamps, together with the letter, are to this day
treasured by the artist's son.

It was not surprising that Bennett was missed; his animal spirits and
his bright good-humour counted for a good deal at the Table; and when he
died, his colleagues organised elaborate theatricals and collected a
large sum for those whom he loved and left behind in the pinch of
poverty.

If for some time before his death Charles Keene deserted the
dinner-table, it was owing, as he has himself confessed, in no slight
measure to political motives which developed about the time of the
Russo-Turkish War. Keene was what Tories call a patriot and Liberals a
"Jingo;" and in his quiet way he felt so deeply that he thought it best
to stay away--not that he loved _Punch_ less, but he loved his
convictions more. "I am sorry to say," he wrote, with doubtful accuracy,
"_Punch_ is 'Musco' to a man except C. K., so he keeps away from that
Liberal lot at the present conjunction." There certainly was, however,
another reason, quite independent of politics, which kept Keene from the
Table during the latter years of Mr. W. H. Bradbury's life. He was not,
as his biographer, Mr. Layard, has pointed out, of much use in
suggestion at the business function of the Dinner, and he looked less to
his colleagues than to his friends outside for the jokes to which he
drew his pictures; so that his presence was not a necessity.
Nevertheless, he would attend, now and again, until age began to tell
upon him; and his companions love to think of him, clutching his
short-stemmed pipe to his mouth, puffing gravely, saying little,
thinking much, quick at appreciating a joke, slow at making one, with an
eye full of humour, and its lid and corresponding corner of his mouth
quickly responsive to any quip or crank that might let fly. Eclectic in
his humour as in his art, disposed to condemn any cartoon suggestion not
thoroughly thought out as "damn bad," he was in the weekly assembly at
the Table like the 'cello in the orchestra--not much heard, yet when
there indispensable to the general effect and the general completeness,
even though he only went "for company."

I have lingered, perhaps unduly, over the social side of the _Punch_
Dinner, for the company is of the best, and the subject an entertaining
and a pleasant one. But serious business has to be discussed and
transacted--an