A specimen of his humour is indicated in the words accompanying one of his rare pen and ink drawings, which appeared in _Cocorico_. A _chic_ little lady is seated in a shop, while a female attendant unrolls pile after pile of material in the hope of supplying her wants. The lady says: “Why certainly, show me some more: I’m not a bit tired.” A beautiful little drawing, of two dainty Parisiennes gossiping on a pier, discloses the method he has employed to produce a telling piece of work. The outline has been rapidly sketched in with a few bold, subtly curving lines from a pen, while modelling and colour have been given to the whole with deft crayon touches. We feel the joy the artist must have evinced in regulating the pressure he put on the crayon, so as to give each line its exact breadth, and depth of tone. The pleasure he takes in manipulating his medium is always manifest in his work. The complete modelling of a dainty neck and shoulders, or of a shapely ankle, is frequently accomplished by the merest touch of the chalk--but a touch in exactly the right place, and of exactly the right size. Wély has contributed to the pages of the _Frou Frou_; and very frequently to _La Vie en Rose_. His small illustrations to “Aristophane à Paris,” and to “La Maîtresse du Prince Jean,” which first appeared in the latter journal, are full of ability, humour and vivacity. A drawing entitled _Quelques Predictions pour 1902_, shows us a delightful little coquette in _déshabillé_, who is consulting the cards with an old woman fortune-teller, the while a tiny kitten plays with a ball of worsted. They are so life-like and so subtly depicted that we almost expect to see them move on the paper. _Passe temps du jeune Age_, is one of the most astoundingly able and beautiful studies of the nude that one can recall by any artist, and also appears in _La Vie en Rose_. The type of man usually introduced into our artist’s drawings is not conspicuous for its beauty; it generally depicts a bit of a scamp, a _bon viveur_, who is used artistically as a foil to some fresh and dainty young person of the opposite sex. Several pages in colour, which appeared in the _Vie en Rose_, evinced a charmingly refined sense in that direction; while some illustrated covers for _Le Rabelais_, each most successfully dealing with an entirely different and difficult colour problem were among the most striking examples of that branch of art yet produced. [Illustration: _By J. Wély_ ] [Illustration: _By Malteste_ PSYCHOLOGUE] IX LOUIS MALTESTE Among the workers on the French illustrated papers none produces a steadier flow of thoroughly conscientious, sound work than Louis Malteste. His are no chance effects, no _tours de force_ of mere eccentricity or charlatanism, but are the outcome of knowledge, hard work and assurance.