t is a curious fact that after 70,000 or 80,000 had been
printed these blocks were nearly always found as good as new so far as
the wood was concerned; only towards the end of the edition the blocks
would sometimes get so filled up that some of the fine work was entirely
lost, and the electros then taken suffered in consequence. An
examination of this substance would show that it consisted of lime and
pulp from the paper itself, compressed in a solid body so hard that it
almost defied the graver to remove it.

Those early days were halcyon times for _Punch_ engravers. Mark Lemon
would come down two or three times a week to edit and make up the paper,
and would talk leisurely with Mr. Swain of such matters as concerned the
engraver. No block was hurried. If it could not be ready for one week,
it was held over for the next--a saving grace which the engraver has now
and again acknowledged by drawing an initial or other simple design on
the wood half an hour before going to press, when the Editor hurriedly
required such a decoration--possibly to supply an artist's omission.
Such sketches were "The Cabman's Ticket" in February, 1854, put upon the
wood from a scribble by Gilbert a Beckett--his sole artistic
contribution to _Punch_; "Broom _v._ Brush" in May, 1859; and "The
Turkish Bath" in 1880. And, above all, "process" had not yet held out
its alluring promise of nearly equal results, to the inexpert eye, at a
quarter of the cost of wood-engraving.

In another way did Mr. Swain place his mark on the pages of _Punch_--by
the introduction of many a young artist to the Editor. It was he who
thus introduced Mr. T. Harrington Wilson to Mark Lemon, Mr. Ralston to
Shirley Brooks, R. B. Wallace (whose acquaintance he had made through
Mr. Frederick Shields) and Mr. Wheeler to Tom Taylor, and others, too,
to the various rulers of _Punch_. In some cases the artists themselves
approached the engraver; in others, it was the Editor who would ask him
to recommend some clever designer who could best execute this or that
little drawing which he wanted done. Further service rendered by him was
the share he took in educating several of _Punch's_ more imposing
personages for the work they had to do--such as Doyle, McDonnell, and
others.

It has often been quoted of Leech that after he had shown a drawing on
the wood to any friend who might happen to be with him, he would add
with a sigh--"But wait till next week and see how the engraver will