A little before this, Mr. Gibson Bowles, then editor of _Vanity Fair_, had become dissatisfied with the artists who were working for him in the absence of Pellegrini, and, owing to a disagreement, was looking for a new cartoonist. Millais, remembering my ambitions in that direction (for when I saw the first numbers of _Vanity Fair_ I was greatly taken with Pellegrini's caricatures, and, having a book of drawings of a similar character, had thought that if only I could get one drawing in _Vanity Fair_ I should die happy), called to see my book of caricatures. This book contained drawings made at various times, from my early youth up to that period; and when Millais saw the sketch of "Old Bones," he was very taken with it.
"I like so much this one of Professor Owen," he said. "It's just the sort of thing that Bowles would delight in. Re-draw it the same size as the cartoons in _Vanity Fair_ and I'll take it to him."
I called with the cartoon, which was accepted--but was unsigned. I had invented a rather amusing signature in the form of a fool's bauble, but this did not meet with Mr. Bowles' approval. After a little discussion he handed me a Johnson's dictionary, in order that I might search there for some appropriate pseudonym. The dictionary fell open in my hand in a most portentous manner at the "S's," and my eye fell with the same promptitude on the word SPY.
"How's that?" I said. "The verb to spy, to observe secretly, or to discover at a distance or in concealment."
"Just the thing," said Bowles. And so we settled it, and since then, like the Soap man (this is not an advertisement), I have used no other (with one exception, of which I will tell later).
Becoming a permanent member of the staff of _Vanity Fair_ and my dream more than realized, I turned my attention to caricature whole-heartedly and with infinite pleasure.
On the publication of my first drawing, Pellegrini called upon Gibson Bowles (rather suddenly, considering his previous indifference and silence), to tell him in flattering terms what he thought of the caricature, and to inquire into the identity of the artist. _I_ in my turn received the following letter from Mr. Arthur Lewis.
Thorpe Lodge, March, 1873. MY DEAR LESLIE WARD,
