138 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



fowls, a game-cock, etc., and the verse from " In 

 Memoriam," quoted by him in his " Reminis- 

 cences " presented to the members in 1900, with 

 the comment: "May I express the hope that 

 these lines . . . may be remembered on some 

 future anniversary : — 



" ' We keep the day. With festal cheer, 

 With books and music, surely we 

 Will drink to him whate'er he be, 

 And sing the songs he loved to hear.' : 



The quotation was a pretty and truly tj^pical 

 touch ; and it is a sad reflection to recall that 

 both the genial chairman and the gifted artist 

 predeceased the guest of the evening. Another 

 pictorial compliment, kept as a souvenir by the 

 old man, was the postcard drawn in colours by 

 Charles Collette, and sent by him to the chair- 

 man. It bore a caricature of himself weeping 

 copiously because he could not come to the 

 dinner. The deservedly popular actor wrote: 

 " I am very sorry I cannot possibly get to the 

 club to-night : see, I have wept a bucketful of 

 tears and to overflowing. Please make my 

 excuses to dear old ' Teg.' " The guest of the 

 evening left before the close of the entertainment. 

 I believe we all stood up as the frail-looking 

 figure slowly passed from the chairman's table 

 to the door, and many of us wondered if we 

 should ever see him in similar circumstances 

 again : we never did. His portrait, painted for 



