Sir John turned his head, with an amused look about the eyes, saying, "Well, to tell you the truth, I cannot remember the time when I did so."
The writer of a highly appreciative article in the _Magazine of Art_, says, "Though Sir John Gilbert painted art in every branch, it is only in one, and that not in the public estimation the one by which he defies the rivalry of all comers, that he showed himself head and shoulders above the draughtsmen of his time.... Distinguished as he was as a painter, it is in virtue of his achievements in black and white that he takes his place among the few masters, not of his age and country only, but of all time, who through the medium of the hand and printing press have ranged themselves among the highest.... He may be voted old-fashioned for the moment, but real art rises superior to mode or vogue in taste: it has time upon its side.
[Illustration: LEAR FANTASTICALLY DRESSED WITH FLOWERS.
_By permission of Messrs. George Routledge & Sons._]
"Added to innumerable illustrations made for the _London Journal_, it is estimated that Sir John Gilbert made at least 30,000 drawings for the _Illustrated London News_.[7] He sent 50 pictures to the Royal Academy, 20 to the British Artists, 40 to the Royal Water Colour Society, 40 to the British Institute, and produced about 270 works which have never been exhibited. Added to this stupendous list of works he contributed 110 drawings to the Illustrated Edition of 'Longfellow's Poems,' 50 to Dr. Charles Mackay's 'Salamandrine,' 832 to Staunton's 'Shakespeare,' several to 'Lays of the Holy Land,' 'The Book of Job,' and 'Wordsworth's Poems,' as well as a liberal contribution to the long series of books known as 'Dalziel's Fine Art Books.'"
In referring to Gilbert's book illustrations a recent writer says, "There is no sign of haste, though many are sketchy; still, there is nothing which suggests that greater excellence would have attended greater elaboration."
[2] It is stated that Sir Walter Scott was so delightfully charmed with Mackay's acting in this character that he declared "until he saw him act he had no idea of the extraordinary character he had drawn."
[4] The following lines, which were largely quoted by the American Press, were written on the occasion of Canon Prothero unveiling a bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in Westminster Abbey, March 1st, 1884: