For leave to reproduce the first—one of the rare cartoons (in this case a double-page one) drawn by Keene for _Punch_—I am indebted to {128} the generosity of Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, to whom the original drawing now belongs. For years it has hung amongst other well-nigh priceless treasures in the dining hall in Bouverie Street, Whitefriars, and, until reproduced by me in the _Pall Mall Magazine_ in 1899, was only known to the privileged few whose good fortune it has been to penetrate into that Temple of the Comic Muse. It is therefore with the greater satisfaction that it is here reproduced for the delight of that surely increasing public which recognises in Charles Keene the greatest master of pen-and-ink drawing that England has produced. But this is not the place to linger over the qualities of artists. At the same time we cannot but congratulate ourselves that, by good fortune, our chosen subject brings us into contact not only with work to which adventitious interest attaches, but also with artistic work evidencing a technical mastery hard indeed to surpass. [Illustration: The Cancelled Cartoon. (_By Charles Keene_)] The only public mention before the year 1899 made of this splendid pen-and-ink drawing is to be found on page 60 of Mr. Spielmann’s monumental work, _The History of Punch_. There, in his most {129} interesting description of _The “Punch” Dining Hall_, it is described as “a masterly drawing, 2 feet long, by Keene, bought by the late Mr. Bradbury at a sale—the (unused) cartoon of Disraeli leading the principal financiers of the day in hats and frock-coats across the Red Sea. (‘Come along, it’s getting shallower!’)” Now, since this was written, further inquiries have been made upon the subject, and two theories present themselves for consideration. The first of them in its general outline supports Mr. Spielmann’s account, and maintains that the picture was bought direct from Keene himself by the late Mr. Agnew (not Mr. Bradbury), as a _solatium_ on account of its not being used, and that the reason for suppressing it was the anti-Jewish feeling by which it was inspired.