320 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE 1 " 



Randolph Churchill, Lord Abergavenny, etc., etc., and I 

 then went to our office, where to my surprise and delight 

 I found Phil May, who had come over on a flying visit. 



That was splendid, for I soon got him an invitation to the 

 ball, which he treated with the freedom born of irresponsi- 

 bility. The whole ground floor and the whole basement 

 of the Metropole were taken for that ball, and the whole 

 of the champagne in the hotel was consumed. 



Phil May did a splendid double-page drawing of the 

 affair. This is now in the possession of Sir Harry North 

 and must be worth a very large sum, but Colonel North 

 on first sight of the paper tore it up in wrath and kicked 

 out the old canvasser who had come to ask him how 

 many copies he wanted. What specially annoyed him 

 was the sketch of himself, as Henry VIII., saying : " Cost 

 me 8000 and I can't get a drink." 



It is a fact that the Colonel could not get a glass of 

 champagne at the conclusion of the proceedings ; but 

 after thinking about what Phil May had done he saw the 

 humour of it, and, as I told him when I met him, the 

 " can't get a drink " sketch only illustrated his un- 

 bounded hospitality. " If," said I, "we had represented 

 any of your guests as unable to get a drink, that would 

 have been a very different matter." He saw the point, 

 and he had already secured 1000 copies of the paper for 

 the benefit of his friends. In the centre of that drawing 

 is Colonel North with Lady Randolph Churchill, and on 

 their right appear Lord Randolph and Mrs North. The 

 whole thing is a glorious piece of black and white art, and 

 any attempted description would be futile. It shows so 

 clearly the truth of Whistler's dictum : " Black and 

 White Art is Phil May." 



Phil May returned to Rome, where he remained some 

 months and sent us priceless gems of his work from time 

 to time. Then he went to Paris and had a studio there, 

 where his series of " Life in Paris " was quite inimitable. 

 Still, I had a very strong idea that as I had understood him 

 from the first, so did I still understand him, better even 



