Somewhere about the same period I did Whistler, who was an excellent subject, but his unlimited peculiarities lay more in his gesture and speech and habits. I never went to a social function at which he was present without hearing his caustic, nasal little laugh, "Ha-ha-ho-ho-he-he" raised at the wrong moment. For instance, when a song was being sung in a drawing-room, or when a speech was being made at a public dinner. At the same time there was something quite irresistible about the fascination of the man. He lived in a house in Tite Street on the Chelsea Embankment where there was a charming garden, and every one who had the opportunity breakfasted with him when invited, although the menu usually consisted of a sardine and a cup of coffee. His wife, who was the widow of Godwin, the architect, was a charming woman, and he simply adored her; in fact he so much felt her death that he was never the same high-spirited man after. [Illustration: handwritten note] _À propos_ of public dinners, I am reminded of Walter Crane, whose name I always shall hold in grateful memory, because he saved me from that most detestable task, at least to me, a public speech. We were invited as representatives of art to the Company of Patten Makers, the Lord Mayor being present, and I was suddenly told in the middle of a pheasant course, that I should be expected to speak, a piece of information that agitated me considerably, but was much relieved when Crane, who sat next to me, took the burden off my shoulders, and saved the situation very cleverly indeed. F. Carruthers Gould, with his bushy eyebrows, I frequently came in contact with in the precincts of the House of Commons where we were both engrossed in making mental notes of our subjects. I have a great admiration for his work in which he has expressed the views of his party with admirable spirit in some of the finest cartoons of the age. Many people are unaware he was originally a member of the Stock Exchange, but he was not born for that business, although in it he saw ample opportunity for caricature. It was there that he made a startling cartoon in which he represented the Members of the Stock Exchange as the animals coming out of the Ark two by two, in a truly humorous manner, and this made his reputation. I have always admired the way in which he introduced birds into his caricatures, and on one occasion remarked to him how beautifully, and with what thorough knowledge, he drew them; and he then informed me that he was the nephew of the great ornithologist, Gould, and had been brought up among birds from his earliest youth. His political cartoons are most humorously conceived and carried out, although we know which side he favours in politics.