3-052-796 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"When he died, some men at his club put down the paper which announced his decease with a yawn...", 1880. Illustration to a short story. 'Mr. Richard Wyse was a man of good family and fortune and he lived entirely for himself - a mode of dealing with the world and its belongings which seemed to him best calculated to make the most of his advantages...He was not handicapped by a title, so that the beautiful ethics of hereditary legislation had no claim on his attention, and the newspapers were not concerned with either his merits or defects...Not that Mr. Wyse was a bad man. He was neither good nor bad. He was Nothing; Nothing personified. He had neither wife, children, nor friends. He had only acquaintances and amusements. When he died, some men at his club put down the paper which announced his decease with a yawn, and said, "No news to-day. Wyse is dead at last, I see." Then one or two others standing round began to yawn in sympathy, and lazily said, "Ha!" The pastrycook story was told again; a few desultory questions were asked about his money, his will, and his heir, after which he was forgotten as though he had never been, leaving no void in any human heart, no record of his thoughts or deeds, save that he was, and is not'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.