Passing along a half-century we come to John Leech, and thenceforward to a succession of great masters of pictorial fun--Wilhelm Büsch, Charles Keene, Du Maurier, Sambourne, Oberlander, Caran d'Ache, Phil May, Frederick Opper, Zimmerman, and Raven-Hill. To these names many--fully as distinguished--might be added, such as Forain, Gibson, and Graetz, but for pure fun those we have mentioned may be called the masters. Amongst their numerous productions ought to be found some sketch which deserves to be called the very funniest picture or set of pictures delineating a single humorous idea. Each artist has his own followers. We have seen Phil May singling out a drawing by Gillray as appealing to his sense of humour. The draughtsmen of to-day in this line of work in England doubtless count no cleverer men than Raven-Hill, Tom Browne, John Hassall, Leslie Willson, William Parkinson, Louis Wain, and Charles Harrison. Wilhelm Büsch was for years the chief comic draughtsman of the celebrated _Fliegende Blätter_--the German _Punch_. Not all his best work, however, was done for this paper, as Büsch illustrated and occasionally wrote numerous humorous brochures, which enjoyed a wide sale, and in his own opinion--according to one of his intimate friends whom we have consulted--he never achieved anything funnier than the pictures which accompanied a little book called "The Fools' Paradise," and the funniest drawings in that book are those which appear on this page. [Illustration: "A PIANOFORTE PERFORMANCE."--BY WILHELM BÜSCH. SELECTED BY MR. LINLEY SAMBOURNE.] But now let us hear what Mr. Linley Sambourne has to say about the work of this artist:-- "To attempt to even indicate the birthplace of the world's masterpiece of pictorial humour is beyond the capacity of a single individual. So very few can see humour with the same eyes or appreciation. What you seek has probably perished in past ages, together with its contemporaneous companions in a higher branch. To me, personally, some of the designs of the late Wilhelm Büsch, of Munich, seem to have more humour, if by that is meant fun, than anything I can remember having seen." [Illustration: UNDER HER BREATH.--MRS. CONLAN: "Whisht, Pat!" Pat: "Whisht, Dalia!" Mrs. Conlan: "Aise yure face. It's an upright we're havin' took." FROM THE NEW YORK "JUDGE." SELECTED BY MR. RAVEN-HILL.] Mr. Sambourne's clever colleague, Mr. Leonard Raven-Hill, finds "the very funniest picture" amongst the work of the American artist, Zimmerman. "For absolute comic humour," he writes, "no one has equalled Zimmerman, of the New York _Judge_, in my opinion. Charles Keene is, of course, miles ahead of any other man in quiet humour; but I can't think of any particular examples." Of Zimmerman's drawings Mr. Raven-Hill selects three, of which we herewith present what strikes us as the most comical. [Illustration: WIFE (to lion-tamer, who has been out late): "You coward!" FROM "PHIL MAY'S ANNUAL."