The music ceases. And the light behind
the ivory goes out again as Georgette bows her thanks for our
enthusiasm.
[Illustration: LE 'IGH KICK.
At the Moulin Rouge.
_From "Paris and Some Parisians"_]
It is trite to remark that comedy is akin to tragedy, and it is in
the natural order of things that an artist of so keen a perception
of the comedy of life should be able to strike with such truth and
precision the note of pathos or of tragedy.
[Illustration: A SPEECH AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT.
_From "Paris and Some Parisians"_]
The "Lapin Agile," a strange little _cafe_ in that "other Montmartre"
which the tourist knoweth not, yielded abundance of material to
Frank Reynolds' pencil. Needless to say, the curious may search all
Paris and find no such sign as that of "The Sprightly Rabbit," but
it is not impossible that some may recognise, under his disguise,
"Felix," the ruffianly but accomplished host, who was the model
for the sketch upon page 43, one of the happiest examples in the
present volume of the artist's skill in portraiture, as well as of
his rare technique in pen-and-ink. Equally happy is the sketch which
depicts "'Chacun' with his 'Chacune'" at the Moulin de la Galette
(page 13), in which the pose of the figures and the expression upon
their faces exhibit, if one may put it so, the very perfection of
naturalness. For a study of expression, again, it would be difficult,
or indeed impossible, to better the further of the two figures
in the drawing of "Le 'Igh Kick," made one night at the Moulin
Rouge.
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