THE LOTOS CLUB OF NEW YORK GAVE A DINNER TO ABBEY, JANUARY 18, 1892, AND THE ABOVE IS THE MENU CARD. TO THE LEFT, SIR GALAHAD FROM "THE HOLY GRAIL" IS FROM THE BOSTON LIBRARY DECORATION. IT WAS PRINTED ON THIN JAPAN PAPER AND MOUNTED ON THE CARD. THE ILLUMINATION TO THE RIGHT WAS IN BLACK WITH "ABBEY RED," THAT TONE HAVING BEEN A FAVORITE HUE WITH HIM. THE BANQUET WAS ATTENDED BY A MOST DISTINGUISHED COMPANY

Courtesy Harper and Brothers

ABBEY WAS INVARIABLY GRACEFUL IN DEPICTING YOUNG WOMANHOOD.

MISS HARDCASTLE AND MISS NEVILLE IN "SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER"

and these were of great service when as on rare occasions Abbey's own fertile brain was a little befogged. It was, however, all wonderful training, making him very self-reliant and inventive. The first of his pen drawings really to create a sensation were those for the Herrick poems. There was a charm about them of what the French call facteur, that none of his of his countrymen had ever equalled, a technique inspired perhaps by a study of the Spaniard Fortuny, yet retaining the personality of the younger man to an eminent degree. Daintiness there was and taste, and the compositions were full of a quaint old-time charm and flavour, for he had caught the spirit of his Herrick as he was later to translaté so ably Oliver Goldsmith in his She Stoops to Conquer.

Writing of Mr. Abbey's work in this. direction, Mr. Isham in his admirable History of American Painting says: "Abbey renders perfectly the conscious affectation of Herrick and the real tenderness and feeling that shine through his conceits. He disentangles the mingled inspiration that makes of 'Sally in our Alley' at once a lyrical and a humorous poem. Abbey's knowledge of his old world detail was so complete, so as

Courtesy of the Macmillan Company

A SELF PORTRAIT MADE ON HIS HOLLAND TRIP
WITH THE LATE GEO. H. BOUGHTON.
FROM "RAMBLES IN HOLLAND"

similated, that he was not curious to display it. He hid it behind his figures, he sketched it in the slightest and most fugitive lines; but it was impeccable, without a false or disquieting note. Everywhere his line is sympathetic, sensitive, never degenerating into mere caligraphic facility. This unflagging interest is amazing, not an end of ribbon, not a shoelace, not even the leg of a stool but is understood and rendered with enthusiasm." His Shakespeare illustrations that followed were admirable, but they lacked in a measure the unconsciousness of the Herrick and the Goldsmith. They were a great undertaking, but there were times when one felt the artist had forced himself to a task. His Shakespeare themes painted later, in large oil compositions, were in the main much more convincing than the illustrations. It was only natural that Abbey should appeal strongly to British art taste, which has

demanded the literary quality, coupled with academic correctness of design, and to a certain extent conventional drawing, and he was just daring enough to excite the attention of the public there, though not radical enough in his methods to call forth any disapproba

tion. So it was, when he was sent by his publishers to England in 1878, he found a fallow field, and three years later he wisely determined to settle in that country, certain of recognition and material appreciation. For the first few years of his residence in England his production was almost entirely confined, so far as his painting was concerned, to the medium of water colours, in which field he disclosed astonishing facility, and the British public has ever been keen on water colours. Almost immediately he was elected to membership in the Royal Institute of Water Colours in London, and he was a looked-for exhibitor to its shows, as he had been to the exhibitions of the American Society in New York. In 1890 he sent to the Royal Academy his first oil picture. It was called "A May Day Morning," and it was an immediate success. Six years later he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy. To arrive at this distinction in England is to be artistically placed for life, as far as the general public is concerned. New

Courtesy of the Macmillan Company

ABBEY EXPRESSED WITH A FEW LINES SO MUCH CHARACTER. FROM "RAMBLES IN HOLLAND"

Courtesy of the Macmillan Company ABBEY WAS QUICK TO CATCH A BIT OF HUMOROUS CHARACTER. FROM "RAMBLES IN HOLLAND"

schools may be founded, newer fashions in art may appear, but the Royal Academician, being a peculiarly British institution, goes on forever, always with a clientele, for has not the foremost official art institution of the land set on the man the seal of its approval? Immediately conservative men and women believe it is the correct thing to possess a painting. by this man-and a painting they pos

sess.

So Abbey was completely free from any of the exasperating financial struggles that so frequently embitter and impede the path of the artist. There was a ready market for all he did and at good prices, and in addition, back in America stood his publishers, ready to pay him handsomely for his Shakespearean illustrations, which he sent on regularly. He could afford to surround himself with comfort, with those accessories of the studio dear to the artistic eye and heart, to assist, to inspire, to soothe. In a word, he was splendidly situated. All houses were open to him; he enjoyed the best people of the land, and his fellowartists continually sang his praises and helped him in every way. Two years