It was about this New Year of 1894 that the extraordinary German, Reichardt, who had made a huge success of his humorous and artistic weekly, _Pick-Me-Up_, in rivalry with Punch, planned the issue of a monthly magazine which had as its secret aim, if successful, that it should become a weekly illustrated paper to “smash the _Graphic_ and _Illustrated London News_.” Struck by some article attacking the art critics written by me, he called me to the writing of the weekly review of Art Matters in this paper which was to be called _St. Paul’s_. Although at this time Beardsley was almost unknown to the general public, I suggested that the young artist should be given an opening for decorative work; and he was at once commissioned to make some drawings, to illustrate the Signs of the Zodiac--(remember, _St. Paul’s_ was to begin as a monthly!)--and to illustrate the subjects to which each page was to be devoted such as Music, Art, Books, Fashions, The Drama, and the rest of it. He drew the “_Man that holds the Water_ _Pot_” and the “_Music_,” but the paper did not appear in January--indeed not until March. Beardsley then became bored, and fobbed off the paper with a couple of drawings that were probably meant for Dent’s _Bon Mots_--however they may have been intended for _The Fashions_ and _The Drama_ pages of _St. Paul’s_. He made in all four which were to be used as headings and tail pieces. They did not greatly encourage Reichardt, who shrugged his shoulders and said that I “might have the lot.” They have never reached me! They have this value, however, that they reveal Beardsley’s craftsmanship at the New Year of 1894--they show him ridding himself of the “hairy line,” with a marked increase of power over line--they end his _Salome_ Japanesque phase. It is somewhat curious that, whilst _The Man that holds the Water Pot_ is always printed awry in the collections of Beardsley’s works, the fourth drawing he made for _St. Paul’s_ seems to have been missed by all iconographists, and I now probably possess the only known print of it! Before we leave _St. Paul’s_, it is interesting to note that at this time the line and decorative power of Beardsley’s work were rivalled by the beauty, quality, richness, and decorative rhythm of the ornamental headings which Edgar Wilson was designing for _St. Paul’s_ and other papers. [Illustration: MESSALINA]