"_This is a sweet place, ain't it? a lovely spot? and I wonder if they'd give two poor, foot-sore travellers, like me and you, a drop of fresh water out of such a pretty, genteel crib? We'd take it wery kind on 'em, wouldn't us? wery kind, upon my word, us would._"
_By permission of Messrs. Chapman & Hall._]
"_They looked like Time and his wife. There was but the one rake between them, and they both had hold of it in a pastorally-looking manner; and there was hay on the old woman's black bonnet, as if the old man had been playful._"
_By permission of Messrs. Chapman & Hall._]
When G. J. Pinwell first called on us he brought a small water colour drawing with him. The subject was a lady of the "Old Ballad" style, with a decided sense of beauty in it, and in colour looked as if he had been studying the work of Holman Hunt. We recognised at once his cleverness, and that study and practice only were required to develop his great ability.
We first gave him some work on _Fun_, as is shown by this letter from him:
"DEAR SIR,--I now send you a _Fun_ drawing, which I hope you will like. I think it will print well.
"Believe me, "Yours truly, "G. J. PINWELL."
We also gave him, and obtained for him, work of the most varied kind, such as sets of illustrations for boys' books. He soon became a regular contributor to _Good Words_, and in its pages over one hundred of his drawings appeared. From several of them he painted water colour drawings, perhaps the most important being a highly finished work: "Landlord and Tenant," which shows his appreciation of character in the landlord, and of deep pathos in the fine group of the poor woman and her children. This picture was painted expressly for us and was never exhibited.
_Reduced from an Engraving made for the "Graphic" by the Brothers Dalziel._
He made a few drawings for "Dalziel's Arabian Nights," but did not go far, as we had placed entirely in his hands our edition of "Goldsmith's Works," for which he made a wonderful set of drawings considering the short time allowed for their production. He, however, lost nothing in force of design or in excellence, the manipulation only being a little less painstaking but more suitable for rendering in the reproductions.