ctAn Jlpology to JUr. Surtees 



very last page. It also contains an interesting essay or two 

 on farming in the forties and fifties, exemplified by the 

 tenants on the estate that Sir Moses Mainchance had pur- 

 chased. Mr. Leech's picture of Sir Moses interviewing 

 Mrs. TurnbuU in the hall at Pangburn Park on the rent day 

 is one of the finest caricatures that even he ever drew ; and 

 indeed the great artist's illustrations throughout the book 

 are some of the finest examples of his craftsmanship, acknow- 

 ledged more than once by the author in the pages of * Ask 

 Mamma. ^ 



Mr. Surtees has outlived many of his contemporaries, 

 and is still full of running. ^Handley Cross ' may be said to 

 have attained to the dignity of a classic. It is possible that 

 Mr. Pickwick may have more acquaintances than Mr. 

 Jorrocks. But Mr. Jorrocks is one of the master portraits 

 in the Victorian gallery. If he is not, who is } When one 

 looks to-day at the bewildering mass of modern works in 

 a railway station bookstall, one often wonders who reads 

 them all, and if any of the characters portrayed in their 

 pages will live in the mind's eye of our children in the same 

 way that, say, Becky Sharp, Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Jorrocks, 

 Mrs. Proudie, Sir Willoughby Patterne, or Hetty Sorrel live 

 in our own. These names are taken almost at random ; 

 with many others they are lifelong friends and companions 

 to those of us who have cultivated them. There are many 

 modern authors who are entitled to profound gratitude 

 for diverting the mind in the midst of the devastating worry 

 of modern life. But do they appeal to us by their art of 



35 



