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+ <title>Punch, February 14, 1891.</title>
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13252 ***</div>
+
+ <h1>PUNCH,<br />
+ OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.</h1>
+
+ <h2>Vol. 100.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>February 14, 1891.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"
+ id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>
+
+ <h2>MODERN TYPES.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By Mr. Punch's Own Type Writer.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <h3>No. XXIII.&mdash;THE TOLERATED HUSBAND.</h3>
+
+ <p>It is customary for the self-righteous moralists who puff
+ themselves into a state of Jingo complacency over the failings
+ of foreign nations, to declare with considerable unction that
+ the domestic hearth, which every Frenchman habitually tramples
+ upon, is maintained in unviolated purity in every British
+ household. The rude shocks which Mr. Justice BUTT occasionally
+ administers to the national conscience are readily forgotten,
+ and the chorus of patriotic adulation is stimulated by the
+ visits which the British censor finds it necessary to pay (in
+ mufti) to the courts of wickedness in continental capitals. It
+ may be that among our unimaginative race the lack of virtue is
+ not presented in the gaudy trappings that delight our
+ neighbours. Our wickedness is coarser and less attractive. It
+ gutters like a cheap candle when contrasted with the steady
+ brilliancy of the Parisian article. Public opinion, too, holds
+ amongst us a more formidable lash, and wields it with a sterner
+ and more frequent severity. But it is impossible to deny that
+ our society, however strict its professed code may be, can and
+ does produce examples of those lapses from propriety which the
+ superficial public deems to be typically and exclusively
+ continental. Not only are they produced, but their production
+ and their continuance are tolerated by a certain class,
+ possibly limited, but certainly influential.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:25%;">
+ <a href="images/73.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/73.png"
+ alt="The Tolerated Husband." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Amongst these examples, both of lapse and of toleration, the
+ Tolerated Husband holds a foremost place. Certain conditions
+ are necessary for his proper production. He must be not only
+ easy-going, but unprincipled,&mdash;unprincipled, that is,
+ rather in the sense of having no particular principles of any
+ kind than in that of possessing and practising notoriously bad
+ ones. He must have a fine contempt for steady respectability,
+ and an irresistible inclination to that glittering style of
+ untrammelled life which is believed by those who live it to be
+ the true Bohemianism. He should be weak in character, he may be
+ pleasant in manner and appearance, and he must be both poor and
+ extravagant. If to these qualities be added, first a wife,
+ young, good-looking, and in most respects similar to her
+ husband, though of a stronger will, and secondly a friend,
+ rich, determined, strictly unprincipled, and thoroughly
+ unscrupulous, the conditions which produce the Tolerated
+ Husband may be said to be complete.</p>
+
+ <p>The Tolerated Husband may have been at one time an officer
+ in a good regiment. Having married, he finds that his pay,
+ combined with a moderate private income, and a generous
+ allowance of indebtedness, due to the gratification of
+ expensive tastes, is insufficient to maintain him in that
+ position of comfort to which he conceives himself to be
+ entitled. He therefore abandons the career of arms, and becomes
+ one of those who attempt spasmodically to redeem commercial
+ professions from the taint of mere commercialism by becoming
+ commercial themselves. It is certain that the gilded society
+ which turns up a moderately aristocratic nose at trade and
+ tradesmen, looks with complete indulgence upon an ex-officer
+ who dabbles in wine, or associates himself with a new scheme
+ for the easy manufacture of working-men's boots. An agency to a
+ Fire and Life Assurance Society is, of course, above reproach,
+ and the Stock Exchange, an institution which, in the
+ imagination of reckless fools, provides as large a cover as
+ charity, is positively enviable&mdash;a reputation which it
+ owes to the fancied ease with which half-a-crown is converted
+ into one hundred thousand pounds by the mere stroke of an
+ office pen.</p>
+
+ <p>The Tolerated Husband tries all these methods, one after
+ another, with a painful monotony of failure in each. Yet,
+ somehow or other, he still keeps up appearances, and manages to
+ live in a certain style not far removed from luxury. He
+ entertains his friends at elaborate dinners, both at home and
+ at expensive restaurants; he is a frequent visitor at theatres,
+ where he often pays for the stalls of many others as well as
+ for his own. He takes a small house in the country, and fills
+ it with guests, to whom he offers admirable wines, and
+ excellent cigars. His wife is always beautifully dressed, and
+ glitters with an array of jewels which make her the envy of
+ many a steady leader of fashion. The world begins to ask,
+ vaguely at first, but with a constantly increasing persistence,
+ how the thing is done. Respectability and malice combine to
+ whisper a truthful answer. Starting from the axiom that the
+ precarious income which is produced by a want of success in
+ many branches of business cannot support luxury or purchase
+ diamonds, they arrive, <i>per saltum</i>, at the conclusion
+ that there must be some third party to provide the wife and the
+ husband with means for their existence. His name is soon fixed
+ upon, and his motives readily inferred. It can be none other
+ than the husband's rich bachelor friend, the same who
+ accompanies the pair on all their expeditions, who is a
+ constant guest at their house, and is known to be both lavish
+ and determined in the prosecution of any object on which he has
+ set his heart. His heart, in this instance, is set upon his
+ friend's wife, and the obstacles in his way do not seem to be
+ very formidable. The case, indeed, is soon too manifest for any
+ one but a born idiot to feign ignorance of it. The husband is
+ not a born idiot&mdash;he either sees it plainly, or (it may
+ be, after a struggle) he looks another way, and resigns himself
+ to the inevitable. For inevitable it is, if he is to continue
+ in that life of indolence and extravagant comfort which habit
+ has made a necessity for him. So he submits to the constant
+ companionship of a third party, and, in order to be truly
+ tolerated in his own household, becomes tolerant in a manner
+ that is almost sublime. He allows his friend to help him with
+ large subventions of money; he lets him cover his wife with
+ costly jewels. He is content to be supplanted without fuss,
+ provided the supplanter never decreases the stream of his
+ benevolence; and the supplanter, having more wealth than he
+ knows what to do with, is quite content to secure his object on
+ such extremely easy terms. And thus the Tolerated Husband is
+ created.</p>
+
+ <p>It is curious to notice how cheerfully, to all outward
+ appearance, he accepts what other men would consider a
+ disaster. Before the world he carries his head high with an
+ assumption of genial frankness and easy good temper. "Come and
+ dine with us to-morrow, my boy," he will say to an old
+ acquaintance, "there'll only be yourself and a couple of others
+ besides ourselves. We'll go to the play afterwards." And the
+ acquaintance will most certainly discover, if he accepts the
+ invitation, that the "ourselves" included not only husband and
+ wife, but friend as well. He will also notice that the last is
+ even more at home in the house, and speaks in a tone of greater
+ authority than the apparent host. Everything is referred to him
+ for decision, and the master of the house treats him with a
+ deferential humility which goes far to contradict the cynical
+ observation that there is no gratitude on earth. The Tolerated
+ Husband, indeed, never tires of dispensing hospitality at the
+ cost of his friend, and though the whole world knows the case,
+ there will never be a lack of guests to accept what is
+ offered.</p>
+
+ <p>At last, however, in spite of his toleration, he becomes an
+ encumbrance in his own house, and, like most encumbrances, he
+ has to be paid off, the friend providing the requisite annual
+ income. One after another he puts off the last remaining rags
+ of his pretended self-respect. He haunts his Clubs less and
+ less frequently, and seems to wither under the open dislike of
+ those who are repelled by the mean and sordid details of his
+ despicable story. And thus he drags on his life, a degraded and
+ comparatively impoverished outcast, untidy, haggard and
+ shunned, having forfeited by the restriction of his spending
+ powers even the good-natured contempt of those who were not too
+ proud to be at one time mistaken for his friends.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>LABOURS FOR LENT.</h2>
+
+ <p><i>Emperor of Germany</i>.&mdash;To conciliate the great men
+ who have had to prefix "Ex" to their official titles since he
+ ascended the Throne.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Emperor of Russia</i>.&mdash;To find a resting-place safe
+ from the Nihilists.</p>
+
+ <p><i>King of Italy</i>.&mdash;To do without CRISPI, and the
+ Triple Alliance.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Emperor of Austria</i>.&mdash;To master the subject
+ of Home Rule as applied to Austria, Hungary, and the Bulgarian
+ Nationalities.</p>
+
+ <p><i>King of Portugal</i>.&mdash;To settle the Map of Africa
+ with Lord SALISBURY.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The President of the French Republic</i>.&mdash;To adapt
+ <i>Thermidor</i> for the German stage.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The President of the American Republic</i>.&mdash;To
+ bless the McKinley Tariff.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Marquis of Salisbury</i>.&mdash;To consider with his
+ son and heir the Roman Catholic Disabilities Removal Bill.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. W.H. Smith</i>.&mdash;To renew his stock of Copy-book
+ proverbs.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. Gladstone</i>.&mdash;To compile and annotate a new
+ volume of <i>Gleanings</i>, containing the <i>Quarterly</i>
+ Article on "Vaticanism," and the speech in support of the
+ Ripon-plus-Russell Relief Bill.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. Goschen</i>.&mdash;To divide the coming Surplus to
+ everyone's satisfaction.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. Balfour</i>.&mdash;To learn to love both wings of the
+ Irish Party.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. Justin McCarthy</i>.&mdash;To discover his exact
+ position.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mr. S.B. Bancroft</i>.&mdash;To regard with satisfaction
+ his gift to General Dealer BOOTH.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"
+ id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/74.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/74.png"
+ alt="JUNIUS JUDEX." /></a>
+
+ <h3>JUNIUS JUDEX.</h3><i>A Pindaric Fragment</i>. (<i>A
+ long way after Gray</i>.)
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Awake, O Themis-twangled lyre, awake,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And give to pæans all thy sounding
+ strings!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Here is a triumph joyfuller than
+ Spring's.</p>
+
+ <p>JEUNE smacks of Summer rather, and must take</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">The cake!</p>
+
+ <p>As frescoed heroes cloud-borne progress make,</p>
+
+ <p>So&mdash;happy apotheosis!&mdash;advances</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">Stately Sir FRANCIS!</p>
+
+ <p>See how late-knighted Justice moves along,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">High, majestic, smooth and strong,</p>
+
+ <p>Through Cupid's maze and Neptune's mighty main</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">(O Wimpole Street, uplift the
+ strain!)</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Toward that proudly portal'd door.</p>
+
+ <p>Silk gowns and snowy wigs raise the applausive
+ roar!</p>
+
+ <p>O Sovereign of the Social Soul,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Lady of bland and comfort&mdash;breathing
+ airs,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Enchanting hostess! Business cares</p>
+
+ <p>And Party passion own thy soft control,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In thy saloons the Lord of War</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Muffles the wheels of his wild car,</p>
+
+ <p>And drops his thirsty lance at thy command.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Smoothed by a snowy hand,</p>
+
+ <p>Aquila's self, the fierce and feathered king,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">With sleek-pruned plumes, and
+ close-furled wing</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Will calmly cackle, and put by</p>
+
+ <p>The terrors of his beak, the lightnings of his
+ eye.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Thine the voice, the dance obey;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Tempered to thy pleasant sway,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Blue and Buff, Orange and Green,</p>
+
+ <p>In polychromatic harmony are seen,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">As on a bright Jeune day.</p>
+
+ <p>And now JEUNE triumphs in no minor measure.</p>
+
+ <p>Judicial Pomp and Social Pleasure</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Now indeed make marvellous meeting.</p>
+
+ <p>See with suasion firmly sweet</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">That brisk trio, gaily greeting</p>
+
+ <p>To that portal guide his feet.</p>
+
+ <p>Neptune's hoarse hails his friend's approach
+ declare,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Probate, the winged sprite, about must
+ play;</p>
+
+ <p>With wanton wings that winnow the soft air</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In gliding state Lord Cupid leads the
+ way</p>
+
+ <p>To where grave Law must mark, assay, reprove</p>
+
+ <p>Wanderings of young Desire, and lures of fickle
+ Love!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>TOMMY ATKINS'S HARD LOT.</h3>
+
+ <p>"TOMMY ATKINS," writing modestly enough to the <i>Daily
+ Chronicle</i> of the 6th February, complains that the coal
+ supplied by the Authorities for barrack-rooms, is so limited in
+ quantity that "during the winter this, as a rule, only lasts
+ about two days" in the week, and TOMMY and his comrades have to
+ "club-up" to supply the deficiency out of their own
+ microscopical pay. "In fact" (says T.A.) "I have been in
+ barrack-rooms where the men have had no fires after the first
+ two days of the week." <i>If</i> this be so, <i>Mr. Punch</i>
+ agrees with TOMMY in saying, "Surely this ought not to be!"
+ TOMMY ATKINS may reasonably be expected to "stand fire" at any
+ season, but not the absence of it in such wintry weather as we
+ have had recently!</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>If this is poor TOMMY ATKINS's lot,</p>
+
+ <p>As TOMMY might say, It is all Tommy-rot!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>COLUMBIA ON HER SPARROW.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>With Apologies to William Cartwright.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>["The Americans have had enough of the Sparrow
+ (<i>Passer domesticus</i>), and the mildest epithet
+ reserved for him seems to be that of
+ 'pest.'"&mdash;<i>Daily Chronicle</i>.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Tell me not of joy,&mdash;a hum!</p>
+
+ <p>Now the British Sparrow's come.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Sent first was he</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Across the sea,</p>
+
+ <p>Advisers kind did flatter me,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When he winged way o'er Yankee soil,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">My caterpillar swarms he'd spoil;</p>
+
+ <p>And oh, how pleasant that would be!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>He would catch a grub, and then</p>
+
+ <p><i>It</i> would never feed again.</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">My fields he'd skip,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">And peck, and nip,</p>
+
+ <p>And on the caterpillars feed;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And nought should crawl, or hop, or
+ run</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When he his hearty meal had done.</p>
+
+ <p>Alas! it was a sell, indeed!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>O'er my fields he makes his flight,</p>
+
+ <p>In numbers almost infinite;</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">A plague, alas!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">That doth surpass</p>
+
+ <p>The swarming caterpillar crew.</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">What I did I much regret;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>Passer</i> is multiplying yet;</p>
+
+ <p>Check him I can't. What shall I do?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The British Sparrow won't depart,</p>
+
+ <p>His feathered legions break my heart.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Would <i>he</i> away</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">I would not, nay!</p>
+
+ <p>About mere caterpillars fuss.</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Patience with grubs and moths were
+ mine,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Would <i>he</i> but pass across the
+ brine.</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i> call <i>Passer Domestic Cuss</i>!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>"HERE WE HARE AGAIN!"&mdash;There are two Johnnies on the
+ stage. JOHNNY Senior being J.L. TOOLE (now on his way home from
+ New Zealand), and JOHNNY Junior, JOHN HARE, both immensely
+ popular as comedians, and both in high favour with our most
+ illustrious and judicious Patron of the Drama, H.R.H. the
+ Prince of WALES. It is gratifying to learn that, after the
+ performance of <i>A Pair of Spectacles</i> at Sandringham, the
+ Prince presented the Junior of these two Johnnies with a silver
+ cigar-box. In the right-hand corner of the lid is engraved a
+ hare looking through a pair of spectacles, and inside is a
+ dedication to JOHN HARE from ALBERT EDWARD. "Pretty compliment
+ this," as Sir WILL SOMERS, the Court Jester, might have
+ said,&mdash;"to JOHNNY HARE from the Hare Apparent."</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"
+ id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span>
+
+ <h2>THEIR "IBSEN-DIXIT."</h2>
+
+ <p>A new set of Faddists has been gradually growing up, not in
+ our midst, but in the parts about Literature and the Drama. The
+ object of their cult is, one HENRIK IBSEN, a Norwegian
+ Dramatist, (perhaps it would be more correct to say, <i>the</i>
+ Norwegian Dramatist,) of whose plays a pretty sprinkling of
+ scribes, amateur and professional, but all of the very highest
+ culture, profess themselves the uncompromisingly enthusiastic
+ admirers. You may not know the Ibsenites or any of their works,
+ but in their company at least,&mdash;that is, supposing
+ yourself so highly privileged as to be admitted within the
+ innermost circle of the Inner Ibsen
+ Brotherhood,&mdash;<i>not</i> to know IBSEN would be proof
+ positive of your being in the outer darkness of ignorance, and
+ in need, however unworthy, of the grace of Ibsenitish
+ enlightenment. Recruits are wanted in the Ibsenite ranks, so as
+ to strengthen numerically the one party against the other; for
+ the Ibsenitish sect has so for progressed as to be at
+ loggerheads amongst themselves; not indeed on any really
+ essential question, such as would be, for example, any doubt as
+ to the position of IBSEN as a Dramatist, or as to the order of
+ merit and precedence to be assigned to his works. No, on such
+ matters they are apparently at one; but in other matters they
+ are at one another. Thus the unity appears to be only
+ superficial, a decent plaster hiding the rift occasioned by one
+ of their number having literally translated into English
+ IBSEN's latest Norwegian drama, of which translation the verbal
+ correctness is impugned by another learned Ibsenite.</p>
+
+ <p>Not being "a hardy Norseman," and having neither a reading
+ nor speaking acquaintance with the Norse language, I am unable
+ to decide abstruse points on which such learned doctors
+ disagree; but not being altogether without some practical
+ experience of English and French drama, I venture to call in
+ question not only the dramatic ability of the dramatist
+ himself, but also, after perhaps allowing him some merit as a
+ type-writer or character-sketcher, to assert that the style and
+ matter of most of his work is always tiresome, frequently
+ childish, and the subject often morbid and unhealthy; and,
+ further, that his method is tedious to the last degree of
+ boredom; for, as a writer, if I may judge him fairly by his
+ translators, he is didactic and prosy, and never more tedious
+ than when his dialogue is intended to be at its very crispest.
+ As a playwright his construction is faulty. Here and there he
+ gives expression to pretty ideas, reminding me (still judging
+ by the translation) of TOM ROBERTSON, not when the latter was
+ in his happiest vein, but when laboriously striving to make his
+ puppets talk in a sweetly ingenuous manner.</p>
+
+ <p>I have never seen any play of IBSEN's on the stage, but I
+ have read several of them&mdash;indeed, as I believe, all that
+ have hitherto been translated and published in this country. I
+ was prepared to be charmed, expecting much. I was soon
+ disillusioned, and great was my disappointment. Then I re-read
+ them, to judge of them not merely as dramas for the closet, but
+ as dramas for the stage, written to be acted, not to be read;
+ or, at all events, as far as the general public were concerned,
+ to be acted first, and to be read afterwards. As acting dramas,
+ it is difficult to conceive anything less practically dramatic.
+ I do not know what the pecuniary result of his theatrical
+ productions may be in his own country&mdash;where, I believe,
+ he doesn't reside&mdash;but, out of his own country (say, here
+ in London), I should say that a one-night's performance, with a
+ house half full, would exhaust IBSEN's English public, and
+ quite exhaust the patience of those who know not IBSEN.</p>
+
+ <p>Years ago we had the Chatterton-Boucicault dictum that
+ "SHAKSPEARE spelt failure." Now, for SHAKSPEARE read "IBSEN,"
+ and insert the words "swift and utter" before "failure," and
+ you have my opinion as to how the formula would stand with
+ regard to IBSEN. I should be sorry to see any professional
+ Manager making himself pecuniarily responsible for the success
+ of such an undertaking, a word which, in its funereal sense, is
+ of ill omen to the attempt. Let the Ibsenites club together,
+ lease a theatre, and see how the public likes their show.
+ There's nothing doing at the Royalty just now; let them pay
+ rent in advance, and become Miss KATE SANTLEY's tenants; then,
+ if the IBSEN-worshippers, with their Arch-priest, or
+ ARCHER-priest, at their head, come to a temporary understanding
+ with the Gosse-Ibsenites, they could craftily contrive to be
+ invited as guests to a dinner at the Playwreckers' Club. The
+ <i>dilettanti</i> members of this association the United
+ Ibsenites could flatter by deferring to the opinions of their
+ hosts, while inculcating their own, thus securing the goodwill
+ and patronage of the Playwreckers, a plan nowadays adopted with
+ considerable success by some of our wiliest dramatists, eager
+ to secure a free course and be glorified; and so, by making
+ each one of these mighty amateurs feel that the success of
+ IBSEN in this country depended on him personally, that is, on
+ his verdict or "<i>Ibsen dixit</i>," a run of, say, perhaps
+ three nights might possibly be secured, when they could play to
+ fairly-filled houses. One "nicht wi' IBSEN," one night only,
+ would, I venture to say, be quite enough for most of us. "Oh,
+ that mine enemy would write a book!" "Oh, that my enemy would
+ bring out an Ibsenite play," and try to run it! Perhaps he
+ will. In which case I will either alter my opinion or give him
+ a dose of ANTI-FAD.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/75.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/75.png"
+ alt="MR. GLADSTONE'S NEW HOUSE." /></a>
+
+ <h3>MR. GLADSTONE'S NEW HOUSE.</h3>"The house which Mr.
+ GLADSTONE has just taken in Park Lane is, it is reported,
+ the selection of Mrs. GLADSTONE, who recommends it with a
+ view to her husband's opportunities for
+ exercise."&mdash;<i>Daily Paper</i>.
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"
+ id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span>
+
+ <h2>SULLIVANHOE!</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:40%;">
+ <a href="images/76-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/76-1.png"
+ alt="All Dicky with Ivanhoe." /></a>All Dicky with
+ Ivanhoe; or, The Long and Short of it.
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>BRAVISSIMO</i>, Sir ARTHUR SULLIVAN of Ivanhoe, or to
+ compress it telegraphically by wire, "<i>Bravissimo
+ Sullivanhoe!</i>" Loud cries of "ARTHUR! ARTHUR!" and as ARTHUR
+ and Composer he bows a solo gracefully in front of the Curtain.
+ Then Mr. JULIAN STURGIS is handed out to him, when "SULLIVAN"
+ and "JULIAN"&mdash;latter name phonetically suggestive of
+ ancient musical associations, though who nowadays remembers
+ "Mons. JULLIEN"?&mdash;the composer and librettist, bow a duet
+ together. "Music" and "Words" disappear behind gorgeous new
+ draperies. "All's swell that ends swell," and nothing could be
+ sweller than the audience on the first night. But to our tale.
+ As to the dramatic construction of this Opera, had I not been
+ informed by the kindly playbill that I was seeing
+ <i>Ivanhoe</i>, I should never have found it out from the first
+ scene, nor should I have been quite clear about it until the
+ situation where that slyboots <i>Rebecca</i> artfully threatens
+ to chuck herself off from the topmost turret rather than throw
+ herself away on the bad Templar <i>Sir Brian de
+ Bois-Guilbert-sans-Sullivan</i>. The Opera might be fairly
+ described as "Scenes from <i>Ivanhoe</i>," musically
+ illustrated. There is, however, a continuity in the music which
+ is lacking in the plot.</p>
+
+ <p>The scenic effects are throughout admirable, and the method,
+ adopted at the end of each <i>tableau</i>, of leaving the
+ audience still more in the dark than they were before as to
+ what is going on on the stage, is an excellent notion, well
+ calculated to intensify the mystery in which the entire plot is
+ enveloped.</p>
+
+ <p>The change of scene&mdash;of course highly recommended by
+ the leech in attendance on the suffering
+ <i>Ivanhoe</i>&mdash;from the little second-floor-back in the
+ top storey of the castle tower, where the stout <i>Knight of
+ Ivanhoe</i> is in durance, is managed with the least possible
+ inconvenience to the invalid, who, whether suffering from gout
+ or pains in his side,&mdash;and, judging by his action, he
+ seemed to feel it, whatever it was, all over him,&mdash;found
+ himself <i>and</i> his second-hand lodging-house sofa (quite
+ good enough for a prisoner) suddenly deposited at the
+ comparatively safe distance of some three hundred yards or so
+ from the burning Castle of Torquilstone, in which identical
+ building he himself, not a minute before, had been immured. So
+ marvellous a flight of fancy is only to be found in an Arabian,
+ not a Christian, Night's Entertainment.</p>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/76-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/76-2.png"
+ alt="The game of 'Becky my Neighbour.' The Stout Knight lays low." />
+ </a>The game of "Becky my Neighbour." The Stout Knight lays
+ low.
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The Tournament Scene is a very effective "set," but
+ practically an elaborate "sell," as all the fighting on
+ horseback is done "without." Presently, after a fierce clashing
+ of property-swords, sounding suspiciously like fire-irons,
+ <i>Ivanhoe</i> and <i>Sir Brian</i> come in, afoot, to fight
+ out "round the sixth, and last." There is refreshing novelty in
+ Mr. COPLAND's impersonation of <i>Isaac of York</i>, who might
+ be taken for <i>Shylock's</i> younger brother who has been
+ experimenting on his beard with some curious kind of hair-dye.
+ This comic little <i>Isaac</i> will no doubt grow older during
+ the run of the piece, but on the first night he neither looked
+ nor behaved like <i>Rebecca's</i> aged and venerable sire, nor
+ did Miss MACINTYRE&mdash;who, by the way, is charming as
+ <i>Rebecca</i>, and who is so nimble in skipping about the
+ stage when avoiding the melodramatic <i>Sir Brian de
+ Bois-Guilbert-sans-Sullivan</i>, and so generally active and
+ artful as to be quite a <i>Becky Sharp</i>,&mdash;nor, I say,
+ did Miss MACINTYRE seem to treat her precocious parent
+ (<i>Isaac</i> must have married very young, seeing that
+ <i>Becky</i> is full twenty-one, and <i>Isaac</i> apparently
+ very little more than twenty-eight, or, say, thirty) with any
+ great tenderness and affection; but these feelings no doubt
+ will be intensified, as she becomes more and more accustomed to
+ her jewvenile father during the run of the Opera, and he may
+ say to her, as the Bottle Imp did to his victim, "Ha! Ha! You
+ must <i>learn</i> to love me!"</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:30%;">
+ <a href="images/76-3.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/76-3.png"
+ alt="'A1' Saxon Friar." /></a>"A1" Saxon Friar.
+ </div>
+
+ <p>I have not time to enumerate all the charming effects of the
+ Opera, but I must not forget the magic property-harp, with,
+ apparently, limp whip-cord strings, "the harp that once," or
+ several times, was played by those accomplished musicians,
+ <i>King Richard</i>, and <i>Friar Tuck</i>, the latter of whom
+ has by far the most taking song in the Opera, and which would
+ have received a treble [or a baritone] encore, had
+ <i>Barkis</i>&mdash;meaning Sir ARTHUR&mdash;"been willin'."
+ The contest between <i>Richard</i> and the <i>Friar</i> is
+ decidedly "Dicky." Nor must I forget the magnificent property
+ supper in the first scene, at so much a head, where not a ham
+ or a chicken is touched; nor must "the waits" between some of
+ the sets be forgotten,&mdash;"waits" being so suggestive of
+ music at the merriest time of the year. Nor, above all, must I
+ omit to mention the principal character, <i>Ivanhoe</i>
+ himself, played by Mr. BEN DAVIES, who would be quite an ideal
+ <i>Ivanhoe</i> if he were not such a very real
+ <i>Ivanhoe</i>&mdash;only, of course, we must not forget that
+ he "doubles" the part. There is no thinness about "<i>Ben
+ Mio</i>," whether considered as a man, or as a good all-round
+ tenor. I did not envy <i>Ivanhoe's</i> marvellous power of
+ sleep while Miss MACINTYRE was singing her best, her sweetest,
+ and her loudest. For my part I prefer to believe that the
+ crafty Saxon was "only purtendin'," and was no more asleep than
+ <i>Josh Sedley</i> on the eve of Waterloo, or the Fat Boy when
+ he surprised <i>Mr. Tupman</i> and <i>Aunt Rachel</i> in the
+ arbour, or when he pinched <i>Mr. Pickwick's</i> leg in order
+ to attract his attention. But, after all, <i>Ivanhoe</i> and
+ <i>Rowena</i>, as THACKERAY remarked, are a poor namby-pamby
+ pair, and the real heroine is <i>Rebecca</i>. The Opera ends
+ with a "Rebecca Riot." Every one wishes success to the new
+ venture.</p>
+
+ <p>As to the Music,&mdash;well, I am not a musician, and in any
+ new Opera when there is no one tuneful phrase as in <i>Aïda</i>
+ or <i>Tannhäuser</i>, which, at the very first hearing, anyone
+ with half an ear can straightway catch, and reproduce next day
+ till everyone about him cries, "Oh don't!" and when, as in this
+ instance, the conducting-composer, Wagnerianly, will not permit
+ <i>encores</i>&mdash;where am I? Nowhere. I return home in
+ common time, but tuneless. On the other hand, besides being
+ certain that <i>Friar Tuck's</i> jovial song will "catch on," I
+ must record the complete satisfaction with which I heard the
+ substantial whack on the drum so descriptive of <i>Sir Brian de
+ Bois-Guilbert-sans-Sullivan's</i> heavy fall "at the ropes."
+ This last effect, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"
+ id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> being as novel as it is
+ effective, attracted the attention of the wily and observant
+ DRURIOLANUS, who mentally booked the effect as something
+ startlingly new and original for his next Pantomime. The
+ combat between the Saxon Slogger, very much out of training,
+ and the Norman Nobbler, rather over-trained as the result
+ proved, is decidedly exciting, and the Nobbler would be
+ backed at long odds. Altogether, the whole show was
+ thoroughly appreciated by WAMBA JUNIOR.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>SPECIMENS FROM MR. PUNCH'S SCAMP-ALBUM.</h2>
+
+ <h3>No. I.&mdash;THE CLASSICAL SCHOLAR IN REDUCED
+ CIRCUMSTANCES.</h3>
+
+ <p>You are, let us say, a young professional man in chambers or
+ offices, incompetently guarded by an idiot boy whom you dare
+ not trust with the responsibility of denying you to strangers.
+ You hear a knock at your outer door, followed by conversation
+ in the clerk's room, after which your salaried idiot announces,
+ "A Gentleman to see you." Enter a dingy and dismal little man
+ in threadbare black, who advances with an air of mysterious
+ importance. "I think," he begins, "I 'ave the pleasure of
+ speaking to Mr.&mdash;&mdash;" (<i>whatever your name is</i>.)
+ "I take the liberty of calling, Mr.&mdash;&mdash;, to consult
+ you on a matter of the utmost importance, and I shall feel
+ personally obliged if you will take precautions for our
+ conversation not being over'eard."</p>
+
+ <p>He looks grubby for a client&mdash;but appearances are
+ deceptive, and you offer him a seat, assuring him that he may
+ speak with perfect security&mdash;whereupon he proceeds in a
+ lowered voice.</p>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:18%;">
+ <a href="images/77-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/77-1.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>"The story I am about to reveal," he says, smoothing a slimy
+ tall hat, "is of a nature so revolting, so 'orrible in its
+ details, that I can 'ardly bring myself to speak it to any
+ 'uming ear!" (<i>Here you will probably prepare to take
+ notes.</i>) "You see before you one who is of 'igh birth but
+ low circumstances!" (<i>At this, you give him up as a possible
+ client, but a mixture of diffidence and curiosity compels you
+ to listen.</i>) "Yes, Sir, I was '<i>fruges consumeary
+ nati</i>.' I 'ave received a neducation more befitting a dook
+ than my present condition. Nursed in the lap of haffluence, I
+ was trained to fill the lofty position which was to have been
+ my lot. But '<i>necessitas</i>,' Sir, as you are aware,
+ '<i>necessitas non abat lejim</i>,' and such I found it. While
+ still receiving a classical education at Cambridge
+ College&mdash;(praps you are yourself an alumbus of <i>Halma
+ Mater</i>? No? I apologise, Sir, I'm sure)&mdash;but while
+ preparing to take my honorary degree, my Father suddenly
+ enounced, the horful news that he was a bankrup'. Strip of all
+ we possessed, we were turned out of our sumchuous 'ome upon the
+ cold world, my Father's grey 'airs were brought down sorrowing
+ to sangwidge boards, though he is still sangwin of paying off
+ his creditors in time out of what he can put by from his scanty
+ hearnings. My poor dear Mother&mdash;a lady born and
+ bred&mdash;sank by slow degrees to a cawfy-stall, which is now
+ morgidged to the 'ilt, and my eldest Sister, a lovely and
+ accomplished gairl, was artlessly thrown over by a nobleman, to
+ 'oom she was engaged to be married, before our reverses
+ overtook us. His name the delikit hinstinks of a gentleman will
+ forbid you to inquire, as likewise me to mention&mdash;enough
+ to 'int that he occupies a prominent position amongst the
+ hupper circles of Society, and is frequently to be met with in
+ the papers. His faithlessness preyed on my Sister's mind to
+ that degree, that she is now in the Asylum, a nopeless maniac!
+ My honely Brother was withdrawn from 'Arrow, and now 'as the
+ yumiliation of selling penny toys on the kerbstone to his
+ former playfellers. '<i>Tantee nannymice salestibus hiræ</i>,'
+ indeed, Sir!</p>
+
+ <p>"But you ask what befell myself." (<i>You have not&mdash;for
+ the simple reason that, even if you desired information, he has
+ given you no chance, as yet, of putting in a word.</i>) "Ah,
+ Sir, there you 'ave me on a tender point. '<i>Hakew
+ tetigisti</i>,' if I may venture once more upon a scholarly
+ illusion. But I 'ave resolved to conceal nothing&mdash;and you
+ shall 'ear. For a time I obtained employment as Seckertary and
+ Imanuensis to a young baranit, 'oo had been the bosom friend of
+ my College days. He would, I know, have used his influence with
+ Government to obtain me a lucritive post; but, alas, 'ere he
+ could do so, unaired sheets, coupled with deliket 'elth, took
+ him off premature, and I was once more thrown on my own
+ resources.</p>
+
+ <p>"In conclusion, Sir, you 'ave doubtless done me the
+ hinjustice to expect, from all I 'ave said, that my hobjick in
+ obtaining this interview was to ask you for pecuniary
+ assistance?" (<i>Here you reflect with remorse that a suspicion
+ to this effect has certainly crossed your mind</i>). "Nothing
+ of the sort or kind, I do assure you. A little 'uming sympathy,
+ the relief of pouring out my sorrers upon a feeling art, a few
+ kind encouraging words, is all I arsk, and that, Sir, the first
+ sight of your kind friendly face told me I should not lack.
+ Pore as I am, I still 'ave my pride, the pride of a English
+ gentleman, and if you was to orfer me a sovereign as you sit
+ there, I should fling it in the fire&mdash;ah, I
+ <i>should</i>&mdash;'urt and indignant at the hinsult!"
+ (<i>Here you will probably assure him that you have no
+ intention of outraging his feelings in any such manner.</i>)
+ "No, and <i>why</i>, Sir? Because you 'ave a gentlemanly 'art,
+ and if you were to make sech a orfer, you would do it in a
+ kindly Christian spirit which would rob it of all offence.
+ There's not many as I would bring myself to accept a paltry
+ sovereign from, but I dunno&mdash;I might from one like
+ yourself&mdash;I <i>might Ord hignara mali, miseris succurreary
+ disco</i>, as the old philosopher says. You 'ave that kind of
+ <i>way</i> with you." (<i>You mildly intimate that he is
+ mistaken here, and take the opportunity of touching the
+ bell</i>). "No, Sir, don't be untrue to your better himpulses.
+ <i>'Ave</i> a feelin 'art, Sir! Don't send me away, after
+ allowing me to waste my time 'ere&mdash;which is of value <i>to
+ me</i>, let me tell yer, whatever <i>yours</i> is!&mdash;like
+ this!... Well, well, there's 'ard people in this world? I'm
+ <i>going</i>, Sir ... I 'ave sufficient dignity to take a 'int
+ ... You 'aven't got even a trifle to spare an old University
+ Scholar in redooced circumstances then?... Ah, it's easy to see
+ you ain't been at a University yourself&mdash;you ain't got the
+ <i>hair</i> of it! Farewell, Sir, and may your lot in life be
+ 'appier than&mdash;All right, don't <i>hexcite</i> yourself.
+ I've bin mistook in yer, that's all. I thought you was as
+ soft-edded a young mug as you look. Open that door, will yer; I
+ want to get out of this 'ole!"</p>
+
+ <p>Here he leaves you with every indication of disgust and
+ disappointment, and you will probably hear him indulging in
+ unclassical vituperation on the landing.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:35%;">
+ <a href="images/77-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/77-2.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The Baron is delighted with MONTAGU WILLIAMS's third volume
+ of <i>Reminiscences</i>, published by MACMILLAN &amp; Co. His
+ cheery after-dinner conversational style of telling capital
+ stories is excellent. He is not writing a book, he is talking
+ to us; he is telling us a series of good things, and, quoth the
+ Baron, let me advise you to light your cigar and sit down in
+ your armchair before the fire, as not only do you not wish to
+ interrupt him, even with a query, but you feel inclined to say,
+ as the children do when, seated round you in the wintry
+ twilight, they have been listening to a story which has deeply
+ interested them&mdash;"Go on, please, tell us another!" The
+ following interpolated "aside," most characteristic of MONTAGU
+ WILLIAMS's life-like conversational manner of telling a story,
+ occurs at page 8, where giving an account of a robbery, of
+ which he himself was the victim, and telling how a thief asked
+ to be shown up to his, the narrator's room, he says, "The
+ porter, like a fool, gave his consent." The interpolated
+ "<i>like a fool</i>," carries the jury, tells the whole story,
+ and wins admiration for the sufferer, who is the real hero of
+ the tale. But beyond the book's merit as an interesting and
+ amusing companion, it contains some valuable practical
+ suggestions for relieving the ordinary distress in the poorest
+ districts which ought to receive attention in the highest
+ quarters.</p>
+
+ <p>To some readers interested in theatrical life, <i>Polly
+ Mountemple</i> must prove an interesting work of fiction, if a
+ story can be so styled which, as its author assures his readers
+ with his latest breath, I should say in his last paragraph (p.
+ 291), "Is a true tale." It is the story of a "ballet lady" who
+ rises in "the profession" to the dignity of a speaking part,
+ and is on the point of being raised still higher in the social
+ scale, and becoming the wife of a real live young nobleman,
+ when she sensibly accepts a considerable sum of money, consents
+ to forego her action for breach of promise, and finally marries
+ a highly respectable acrobat, and becomes the landlady of the
+ "Man of Kent." The earlier portion is entertaining, especially
+ to those who are not altogether ignorant of some of the
+ personages, sketches of whom are drawn by the author, Mr.
+ CHARLES HOLLIS, with, it is not improbable, considerable
+ fidelity. They are rough sketches, not by any means highly
+ finished, but then such was the character of the original
+ models. Before, however, it can be accepted by the general
+ public as giving an unexaggerated picture of a certain sort of
+ stage-life, it ought to have the <i>imprimatur</i> or the
+ <i>nihil obstat</i> of some generally acknowledged head of the
+ profession; for "the profession" is Hydra-like in this
+ respect&mdash;a republican creation, with many heads.</p>
+
+ <p class="author">THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"
+ id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/78.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/78.png"
+ alt="ENCOURAGEMENT." /></a>
+
+ <h3>ENCOURAGEMENT.</h3><i>Professional Golfer</i> (<i>in
+ answer to anxious question</i>). "WEEL, NO, SIR, AT YOUR
+ TIME O' LIFE, YE CAN NEVER HOPE TO BECOME A <i>PLAYER</i>;
+ BUT IF YE PRACTISE HARD FOR THREE YEARS, YE MAY BE ABLE TO
+ TELL GOOD PLAY FROM BAD WHEN YE SEE IT!"
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE "PAPER-CHASE."</h2>
+
+ <p><i>The Hare (with many financial friends)
+ loquitur</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Here goes! 'Tis a rather new line&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But that is no very great matter.</p>
+
+ <p>If they've faith in a lead, 'tis in mine,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">So a tentative trail let me scatter,</p>
+
+ <p>The old track of country this time I'll forsake;</p>
+
+ <p>I trust they'll not think I have made a mistake?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>That old line of country they know,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Across it for years they've been
+ rangers,</p>
+
+ <p>All right, when the going is slow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When 'tis fast, are they fly to its
+ dangers?</p>
+
+ <p>For Hares to raise scares 'midst the Hounds were
+ improper,</p>
+
+ <p>But how if the pack come a general cropper?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Remarkably near it last time,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Though some of 'em didn't suspect it;</p>
+
+ <p>But <i>I</i> spy the peril! 'Twere crime</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">If I did not help them to detect it.</p>
+
+ <p>If they don't like my trail they must give me the
+ sack;</p>
+
+ <p>I'd rather be bullied than break up the pack.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>They fancy I'll keep the old course,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">There or thereabout. But I've a
+ notion!</p>
+
+ <p>They'll grumble perhaps, with some force,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But they're not going to flurry G.
+ GOSCHEN.</p>
+
+ <p>Of this havresack there have been some smart
+ carriers&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>I'll make 'em sit up, though, the L.S.D.
+ Harriers!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I love 'em, each supple-shanked lad,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">'Most as much as&mdash;Statistics. To
+ trudge it</p>
+
+ <p>For <i>them</i> makes my bosom as glad</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">As&mdash;Big Surplus, and Popular
+ Budget;</p>
+
+ <p>And so I should like to secure them a run,</p>
+
+ <p>Combining snug safety with plenty of fun.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I don't wont to lessen their speed,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I don't want to hamper their daring;</p>
+
+ <p>But rashness won't always succeed&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Just ask that smart runner, young
+ B-R-NG!</p>
+
+ <p>And that's why I'm trying to strike a new line</p>
+
+ <p>For our Paper-Chase&mdash;catting the "Paper" up
+ fine.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I scatter it wide. Will it float?</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of course for awhile there's no
+ knowing;</p>
+
+ <p>But I shall be able to note,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By the sequel, <i>which way the wind's
+ blowing</i>.</p>
+
+ <p>There! Look like white-birds, or banknotes, in full
+ flight.</p>
+
+ <p>Now, lads, double up! There's not one yet in
+ sight!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Of course I'm ahead of my field,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">As a Hare worth his salt ever should
+ be.</p>
+
+ <p>My Hounds, though, are mostly spring-heeled.</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Eh? Funk it? I don't think that could
+ be!</p>
+
+ <p>The L.S.D. Harriers' lick others hollow</p>
+
+ <p>For pluck and for pace. There's the
+ trail,&mdash;<i>will they follow</i>?</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>"SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST."&mdash;You need not go to Holland
+ to see the Hague. You may find it&mdash;him we mean&mdash;at
+ DOWDESWELL's Gallery. Here you can revel in a good fit of the
+ Hague without shivering. Indeed, Mr. ANDERSON HAGUE, judging
+ from his pictures of North Cambria, seems to be very fit, and
+ therefore, he may be called an HAGUE-fit.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>A CAN(NES)DID CONFESSION.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By a Suffering Angelina.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>You write to me, sweetest, with envy</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of "zephyrs" and "summerlike stars;"</p>
+
+ <p>You say women, horses, and men vie</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">In chorus of croups and catarrhs;</p>
+
+ <p>You picture me safe from the snarling</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of Winter's tyrannical sway.</p>
+
+ <p>This isn't, believe me, my darling,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The Mediterranean way.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>You rave of the "shimmering light on</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">An ocean pellucidly fair."</p>
+
+ <p>You get it, my darling, at Brighton,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And coals that can warm you are
+ <i>there</i>:</p>
+
+ <p>Of "boughs with hot oranges breaking"&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Cold comfort, while fortunes we pay</p>
+
+ <p>For faggots that mock us in making</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Their Mediterranean way!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>You dream of me rapt by a casement</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Mimosa caresses and rose;</p>
+
+ <p><i>This</i> window was surely the place meant</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">For mistral to buffet my nose.</p>
+
+ <p>Of tennis and dances and drums in</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">"That Eden for Eves"&mdash;did you
+ say?</p>
+
+ <p>Apt phrase! Nothing masculine comes in</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Our Mediterranean way.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And "Esterel's amethyst ranges</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of gossamer shapes"&mdash;and the
+ rest.</p>
+
+ <p>Good gracious, how scenery changes!</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">They too have a cold on their chest.</p>
+
+ <p>At "delicate lungs," dear, and so on</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">No more for this climate I'll play,</p>
+
+ <p>But homeward in ecstasy go on</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">My Mediterranean way.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"
+ id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/79.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/79.png"
+ alt="THE 'PAPER-CHASE.'" /></a>
+
+ <h3>THE "PAPER-CHASE."</h3>RIGHT HON. GEO. J. G-SCH-N
+ (<i>the Hare</i>). "WONDER WHETHER THEY'LL FOLLOW?"
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"
+ id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:60%;">
+ <a href="images/81.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/81.png"
+ alt="THE OYSTERS AT WHITSTABLE FROZEN IN THEIR BEDS!" />
+ </a>
+
+ <h3>THE OYSTERS AT WHITSTABLE FROZEN IN THEIR
+ BEDS!</h3>(<i>See Daily Papers</i>.)
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE OLD WOMAN AND HER WATER SUPPLY.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>An Old Nursery Rhyme with a new burden.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>There was an old Woman, as I've heard say,</p>
+
+ <p>The frost froze her water-pipes fast one day;</p>
+
+ <p>The frost froze her water-pipes fast at first,</p>
+
+ <p>Till a thaw came at last, and the water-pipes
+ burst.</p>
+
+ <p>By came the Company, greedy of gain,</p>
+
+ <p>And it cut her water all off at the main,</p>
+
+ <p>It cut her water off sharp, if you please,</p>
+
+ <p>Though it wasn't <i>her</i> fault that the pipes
+ began to freeze.</p>
+
+ <p>It wasn't <i>her</i> fault that the water-pipes
+ burst.</p>
+
+ <p>So she had no water for cleansing or thirst,</p>
+
+ <p>She had no water, and she began to cry,</p>
+
+ <p>"Oh, what a cruel buzzum has a Water Company</p>
+
+ <p>But I'll repair the pipes, since so it must be,</p>
+
+ <p>And the plumber, I'm aware, will make pickings out
+ of me.</p>
+
+ <p>If there's a frost I've no water for my pail,</p>
+
+ <p>And if there's a thaw then the rate-collectors
+ rail."</p>
+
+ <p>On Law the old Woman is entirely in the dark;</p>
+
+ <p>There seems no one to save her from the fresh-water
+ shark;</p>
+
+ <p>The shark does what he likes, and she can only
+ cry,</p>
+
+ <p>"Who'll help a poor old Woman 'gainst the Water
+ Company?"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>MOI-MEM.</h3>
+
+ <p>"<i>Moi-Même</i>," in the course of his pleasant
+ <i>Worldly</i> wanderings among things in general, observes,
+ <i>à propos</i> of the younger COQUELIN's suggestion about
+ lectures by professors of the Dramatic Art to youthful
+ students, "One can scarcely fancy a more humorous sight than
+ Mr. TOOLE giving a professional lecture to dramatic aspirants,
+ telling them when to wink, when to wheeze, when to ''scuse his
+ glove,'" &amp;c. Now it so happens that when this same idea was
+ first started&mdash;or perhaps revived&mdash;some eleven years
+ ago, Professor TOOLE's Lecture to Students of the Dramatic Art
+ was given in <i>Mr. Punch's</i> pages. The lecture, one of a
+ series supposed to be given by various actors, will be found in
+ Vol. LXXVIII., page 93. It appeared on the 28th of February,
+ 1880.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>Note by a Nomad.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>SMITH, of Coalville, imagines that Civilised Man</p>
+
+ <p>Falls too much to the rear if he lives in a Van;</p>
+
+ <p>But Caravan-dwellers, with force and urbanity,</p>
+
+ <p>Declare that SMITH's views of Van life are pure
+ vanity!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE HIGHEST EDUCATION;</h2>
+
+ <h3><i>Or, what is looming a-head.</i></h3>
+
+ <p>A Deputation on behalf of the Exasperated Ratepayers'
+ Association waited yesterday afternoon on the Chairman of the
+ London School Board at their new and commodious palatial
+ premises erected on the vast central site recently cleared,
+ regardless of expense, for that purpose in Piccadilly, and
+ presented a further protest against the ever-increasing
+ expenditure indulged in by that body. The Chairman, smilingly
+ intimating that he would hear what the Deputation had to say,
+ though he added, amidst the ill-suppressed merriment of his
+ <i>confrères</i>, he supposed it was the old sing-song protest,
+ possibly on this occasion because they had recently directed
+ that the boys attending the schools of the Board should come in
+ "Eton" suits, the cost of which naturally fell upon the rates,
+ or some captious objection of that kind, which it really was a
+ waste of breath to discuss. However, whatever it was, he added,
+ he was willing to hear it.</p>
+
+ <p>The Spokesman of the Deputation, a Duke in reduced
+ circumstances, who ascribed his ruin to the heavy rates he had
+ been called upon to pay through the extravagance of the Board,
+ and who declined to give his name, said that though they had
+ not thought the Eton suits a necessity, still it was not
+ against them that they had to protest. It was the addition of
+ Astronomy involving the erection (with fitting first-class
+ instruments) of 341 observatories in the London district alone,
+ Chinese, taught by 500 native Professors imported from Pekin
+ for the purpose, horse-riding, yachting, and the church organ
+ (these last two being compulsory), together with the use of the
+ tricycle, type-writer, and phonograph, all of which instruments
+ were provided for every single pupil at the expense of the
+ ratepayers, to the curriculum of all those pupils who were
+ fitted for the third standard. The speaker said he knew that it
+ had long been settled that the finest and most comprehensive
+ education that our advanced civilisation could supply should be
+ provided for the submerged half of the population, and they
+ could not grumble at these things, but what they did not
+ consider necessary was, that a salary should be forthcoming for
+ each pupil-teacher sufficient to enable him or her to drive
+ down to the schools in their own carriage and pair. (<i>Much
+ laughter.</i>) He did not think it a laughing matter. He would
+ strongly suggest a diminution of at least £1000 a-year in the
+ salaries of these overpaid officials.</p>
+
+ <p>The Chairman here asked the speaker if he had considered
+ that "descending" from a carriage was necessarily connected
+ with the teaching of Deportment, on which the Board set great
+ value? Was he not aware that some great man had said, wishing
+ to give Deportment its proper weight as an educational factor,
+ that the Battle of Waterloo (at least he thought he was quoting
+ correctly) was won at Almacks? (<i>Renewed laughter.</i>)
+ Anyhow, he did not consider that £2,500 a-year, and a house in
+ Mayfair, was at all an excessive remuneration for a
+ School-Board teacher, as measured by the Board's standard. He
+ thought, if that was all the Deputation had to urge, that they
+ might have saved themselves the trouble their protest had cost
+ them.</p>
+
+ <p>The Spokesman having for a few moments consulted with his
+ colleagues, hereupon turned to the Chairman, and delivering
+ with fearful emphasis the customary curse on the School Board,
+ its Chairman, and all its belongings, at the same time thanking
+ the Chairman for his courteous reception of the Deputation,
+ silently and sulkily withdrew.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>DRURIOLANUS AND DANCING.&mdash;The Fancy Dress
+ Ball&mdash;not a "Ball Marsky"&mdash;at Covent Garden, last
+ Tuesday week, was a great success, on which DRURIOLANUS
+ FORTUNATUS is hereby congratulated. There is to be a similar
+ festivity, to celebrate <i>Mi-Carême</i>. Quite appropriate
+ this date, when the season is half Lent, and the costumes
+ almost all borrowed.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"
+ id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/82.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/82.png"
+ alt="AN APPEAL CASE, HOUSE OF LORDS." /></a>
+
+ <h3>AN APPEAL CASE, HOUSE OF LORDS.</h3>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"
+ id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span>
+
+ <h2>TO MR. RUDYARD KIPLING.</h2>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>["Every minute of my time during 1891 is already
+ mortgaged. In 1892 you may count upon me."&mdash;Mr.
+ KIPLING <i>to Magazine Editor, who wished to secure him as
+ a Contributor</i>.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Oh, happy man! for whom this world of ours</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Is but a ceaseless round of milk and
+ honey,</p>
+
+ <p>Who use your wondrous word-compelling powers</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">For us in telling tales (and making
+ money),</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>How you must laugh to rake the dollars in,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The publishers&mdash;how badly you must
+ bleed them;</p>
+
+ <p>Your tales <i>are</i> good, but yet, ere you
+ begin</p>
+
+ <p>On more, just think of us who've got to read
+ them.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>It frightens us to hear your Ninety-One</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Is mortgaged&mdash;for the prospect's
+ <i>not</i> inviting,</p>
+
+ <p>To think of all that may and will be done,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">If, through the present year you ne'er
+ cease writing!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>With bated breath we ask, and humble mien&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">We realise how far we come behind
+ you&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>That you will leave <i>one</i> remnant Magazine</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">In which we may be sure we shall not find
+ you.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Then will your RUDYARD name with joy be hailed,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And yours will be a never-fading
+ glory,</p>
+
+ <p>If, when you're asked to write a <i>Light that
+ Failed</i>,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">You merely tell us, "That's another
+ story."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>AN UPPER NOTE.</h2>
+
+ <p>Sir,&mdash;I mustn't interfere with the diary of TOBY, M.P.
+ But, as he is not reported as being in the Upper House on this
+ particular occasion, I cannot help drawing general attention to
+ the dispatch of business among the Lords on Thursday last. I
+ quote from the Parliamentary Report in the <i>Daily
+ Telegraph</i>, which informed us that</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>"The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at a
+ quarter-past four o'clock."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>Then in came "A New Spiritual Peer." Awful! It sounds like
+ an apparition in a blood-curdling ghost-story. Where was LIKA
+ JOKO with his pencil? Well, "the new Spiritual Peer took his
+ oath and his seat"&mdash;why wasn't he called upon for his
+ toast and sentiment?&mdash;and then&mdash;what happened? Did
+ their Lordships stay to have a friendly chat with the
+ new-comer? No, not a bit of it; for the report says,</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>"Their Lordships rose at twenty-five minutes to five
+ o'clock."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>So that, in effect, as soon as the new boy came in, and
+ seated himself, all the old boys went out. There's manners for
+ you! And this in the Upper House, too!! Yours truly, THE
+ MARQUIZ.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:60%;">
+ <a href="images/83-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/83-1.png"
+ alt="UNREGENERATE." /></a>
+
+ <h3>UNREGENERATE.</h3>
+
+ <p>"ONLY THINK HOW DELIGHTFUL, BOBBIE! THEY'VE DISCOVERED,
+ IN MANUSCRIPT, AN ENTIRELY NEW WORK BY ARISTOTLE, AND
+ THEY'RE GOING TO PUBLISH IT!"</p>
+
+ <p>"REALLY, MAMMIE? THEN ALL I CAN SAY IS, I'M PRECIOUS
+ GLAD I'VE LEFT SCHOOL FOR GOOD!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.</h2>
+
+ <h4>EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.</h4>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:20%;">
+ <a href="images/83-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/83-2.png"
+ alt="The Rollit Albert that gathered Three Bills into the Statute Book." />
+ </a>The Rollit Albert that gathered Three Bills into the
+ Statute Book.
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>House of Commons, Monday Night, Feb.</i> 2.&mdash;"I do
+ not," said OLD MORALITY, a cloud of disappointment settling on
+ his massive brow, "know any case where, comparatively late in
+ life, after a blameless career, depravity has so suddenly
+ broken out in a man as it has with SYDNEY GEDGE. It is true,
+ that upon occasion GEDGE has not given entire satisfaction to
+ our friends opposite. They hold the opinion that his incursions
+ in debate have been inopportune, and, in short, unnecessary;
+ but that is their affair. We have had no ground for complaint.
+ GEDGE has always voted straight, has appropriately filled up a
+ dull half-hour when we had to keep a Debate going, and at all
+ times he has invested our side of the House with a certain
+ <i>je ne sais quoi</i> of dignity, combined with profound
+ wisdom. And now to go and break out in this unexpected manner!
+ It is incomprehensible,&mdash;would be, if I had not seen him
+ with my own organs of vision, incredible. We must make GEDGE a
+ Peer, or a County Court Judge."</p>
+
+ <p>OLD MORALITY's discomposure not unwarranted. GEDGE certainly
+ made our flesh creep to-night. Of all things in the world, it
+ came about on the Tithes Bill. In Committee all night; Sir JOHN
+ SWINBURNE spoken several times; HARCOURT, leading Opposition,
+ made several efforts to inspire proceedings with a little life,
+ but not to be done. Bill rapidly slipping through; Amendments
+ to Clauses all disposed of; a few new ones on paper. Of course
+ not slightest chance of being added to Bill. One by one moved;
+ Minister objected; Clause negatived; and there an end of it.
+ Twelve o'clock close at hand; on stroke of Midnight, Debate
+ must be adjourned; still plenty of time to get the Bill through
+ Committee. Everything out of the way except new Clause in name
+ of SYDNEY GEDGE. But GEDGE loyal Ministerialist; not likely
+ <i>he</i> would interfere with arrangements, and endanger
+ progress of Bill. HICKS-BEACH, in charge of measure, kept his
+ eye on the clock; three minutes to Twelve; running it pretty
+ close, but just time to get Bill through. GEDGE on his feet;
+ quite unnecessary; needn't stand up to say he would not move
+ his Clause; if he had simply lifted his hat when Chairman
+ called his name it would be understood that he had sacrificed
+ his Clause. Dangerous this, dallying on stroke of Midnight.</p>
+
+ <p>To his horror, HICKS-BEACH heard GEDGE beginning to describe
+ purport of his new Clause. Was going to move it then? Yes.
+ After moment's horrified pause, Ministerialists broke into
+ angry cries of, "Divide!" Opposition convulsed with laughter;
+ HICKS-BEACH pale and stern, and stony silent; SYDNEY GEDGE
+ flushed, conversational, dogged. Even if Tithes Bill were lost
+ he would explain the bearing of his new Clause. Scene
+ increasing in hilarity; lasted three minutes: then Midnight
+ sounded, and SYDNEY sat down, surprised to find he had talked
+ out the Tithes Bill.</p>
+
+ <p>"You might have knocked me down with a feather," said ALBERT
+ ROLLIT, who, before opening his lips, had observed the
+ precaution of propping himself up against the wall. "GEDGE, of
+ all men, to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"
+ id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> spoil the Ministerial plan,
+ and imperil their arrangements for the week! It's all
+ COURTNEY's fault. Since GEDGE tasted COURTNEY's blood, on
+ the night he interrupted his speech by chatting in the Chair
+ with HERBERT GARDNER, GEDGE has never been the same man.
+ There's no knowing to what lengths he may not go."</p>
+
+ <p><i>Business done</i>.&mdash;SYDNEY GEDGE broken out again
+ worse than ever.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Tuesday</i>.&mdash;MARJORIBANKS rather depressed as he
+ rose to move his Resolution for appointment of Royal Commission
+ on New Magazine Rifle. Had hoped to appear under very different
+ circumstances. Meant quite to put in the shade LYON PLAYFAIR's
+ historic lecture on Margarine, when he had the tables covered
+ with pots of that substance, with penny loaves and small knives
+ for Members to sample withal. For weeks MARJORIBANKS been
+ preparing for occasion. Had possessed himself of quite an
+ armoury of rifles: intended to bring them into the House and
+ illustrate his lecture with practical experiments. The climax
+ was to be the shooting-off scene. BOBBY SPENCER and ANSTRUTHER
+ on in this. BOBBY standing at the Bar with an apple held on
+ palm of extended right hand; MARJORIBANKS, using Martini-Henry
+ Rifle, was to clear the apple off, leaving BOBBY's hair
+ unsinged, and not a wrinkle added to his collar. ANSTRUTHER was
+ next to stand in the same place, braving the fire of the
+ Magazine Rifle. But he didn't have an apple, as it was arranged
+ that the new arm should jam.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:18%;">
+ <a href="images/84-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/84-1.png"
+ alt="Standing Fire." /></a>Standing Fire.
+ </div>
+
+ <p>"Suppose it doesn't?" ANSTRUTHER inquired, when MARJORIBANKS
+ first unfolded his scheme.</p>
+
+ <p>"Oh, that'll be all right," said MARJORIBANKS, cheerily.</p>
+
+ <p>Long practice on the Terrace made the arrangements perfect,
+ when they were suddenly upset by interference from unexpected
+ quarter. The SPEAKER, wondering what all this rifle-popping
+ was, came to hear of the project; at once said it wouldn't do;
+ no arms of any kind admitted in House of Commons, except the
+ sword worn by SERGEANT-AT-ARMS, and once a year the lethal
+ weapons carried by the Naval or Military gentlemen who move and
+ second Address. BOBBY SPENCER rather glad, I fancy; ANSTRUTHER
+ not inconsolable. But MARJORIBANKS distinctly depressed.</p>
+
+ <p>"Not often I occupy time of House," he said. "We Whips make
+ Houses, and you empty them. DUFF&mdash;and he's not a Whip
+ now&mdash;made all the running with his orations on the herring
+ brand. Thought I would make a hit this time."</p>
+
+ <p>"I was a little afraid of it too," said ANSTRUTHER.</p>
+
+ <p>"Oh, you were all right," said MARJORIBANKS; "the New
+ Magazine Rifle will not fire unless, after first shot, you
+ clean it out with an oily rag, and I was going to take precious
+ good care to forget the rag. You've no public spirit,
+ ANSTRUTHER, since you left us to help WOLMER to whip up
+ Dissentients."</p>
+
+ <p>No appeal from SPEAKER's ruling. MARJORIBANKS had to make
+ the best of botched business. Brought to the table a spring
+ snap-extractor, a bolt-head screw, and some other odds and
+ ends; poor substitute for what he had intended. Still made out
+ admirable case, Government mustering majority of only 34
+ against Motion.</p>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:25%;">
+ <a href="images/84-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/84-2.png"
+ alt="Grandolph's Latest Achievement." />
+ </a>Grandolph's Latest Achievement.
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Just before Midnight, Tithes Bill reached; GEDGE's Amendment
+ still blocked the way; Chairman called aloud, "Mr. GEDGE!" no
+ answer; place empty. Whilst Members whispering inquiry, Bill
+ passed through Committee, and Ministers triumphed. That's all
+ very well, but where's GEDGE? CORB, who is developing quite
+ unsuspected gifts in the Amateur-detective line, intends to
+ take this matter up when he has settled the affair of the
+ Coroner at the BEDFORD inquest.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Business done</i>.&mdash;Tithe Bill through Committee.
+ Mysterious disappearance of SYDNEY GEDGE.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Thursday Night</i>.&mdash;GRAHDOLPH back again, bringing
+ his sheaves&mdash;I mean his beard&mdash;with him. Hardly knew
+ him at first. No such beard been seen in House since MACFARLANE
+ left us. Not quite the same colour; but GRANDOLPH could give a
+ handful to MACFARLANE, and win.</p>
+
+ <p>"Yes," he said, when I complimented him on so magnificent a
+ result achieved in comparatively short time, "when I do a
+ thing, I like to do it well. Little awkward at first, you know,
+ specially on a windy day; tendency to get between your knees,
+ or wrap itself round your neck. But we're growing used to each
+ other, and shall get on nicely by-and-by."</p>
+
+ <p>More of Tithes Bill. Drearier than ever, now GEDGE's place
+ is empty. <i>Business done</i>.&mdash;Report Stage of Tithes
+ Bill.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Friday</i>.&mdash;Conversation as to course of public
+ business. OLD MORALITY regrets Tithes Bill not through
+ Reporting stage yet. Down on the paper for to-night, but didn't
+ think there would be much chance of reaching it. So put it down
+ for Monday. If not got through then, must be taken on Thursday,
+ and JOHN MORLEY's Resolution on Crimes Act shunted along
+ indefinitely. Much regretted this; duty to Queen and Country,
+ &amp;c.; but no one had yet discovered the secret of inclosing
+ a quart of fluid matter in a glass receptacle not exceeding the
+ capacity of one pint.</p>
+
+ <p>Members thus informed that Tithes Bill was taken off
+ <i>agenda</i> for to-night, went off; House emptied; and when,
+ at quarter-past Seven, CONYBEARE rose to discuss Mining
+ Royalties, was Counted Out.</p>
+
+ <p>"Why, bless me!" cried OLD MORALITY, aghast at the news,
+ "here's a sitting practically wasted, and we might have used it
+ for the Tithes Bill." <i>Business done</i>.&mdash;Motion to
+ abolish Livery Franchise negatived by 148 votes against
+ 120.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>ST. VALENTINE'S EVE.</h2>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>SCENE&mdash;<i>The outside of a small fancy-stationer's
+ in a back-street. The windows are plastered with
+ highly-coloured caricatures, designed to convey the
+ anonymous amenities prescribed by poetic tradition at this
+ Season of the Year. A small crowd is inspecting these works
+ of Art and Literature with hearty approval.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>First Artisan</i>. See this 'ere, BILL? (<i>He spells out
+ with a slow relish.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"With yer crawlin,' lick-spittle carneyin' ways,</p>
+
+ <p>Yo think very likely bein' a nippercrit'll pay!</p>
+
+ <p>Still some day it's certain you'll be found out at
+ lorst</p>
+
+ <p>As a cringin', sloimy, snoike in the grorss!"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Why, it might ha' been wrote a-purpose for that there little
+ cantin' beggar up at our shop&mdash;blowed if it mightn't!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Second Artisan</i>. Young MEALY, yer mean? But that's
+ cawmplimentry&mdash;for <i>him</i>&mdash;that is!</p>
+
+ <p><i>First A.</i> But yer see the ideer of it. They've drawed
+ im a snoike, all 'cept 'is 'ed, d'ye see? That's why they've
+ wrote "Snoike in the Grorss," underneath. Hor-hor! they must be
+ smart chaps to think o' sech things as that 'ere, eh? [<i>They
+ move on.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>First Servant Girl</i> (<i>reading</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Two squintin' boss-heyes, and 'air all
+ foiry-red.</p>
+
+ <p>You surely can't ever expect to be wed?</p>
+
+ <p>Yer nose shows plain you've took to gin.</p>
+
+ <p><i>You</i>'re a nice party for a wedding-ring!"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>I've 'arf a mind to go in and git one o' them to send
+ Missis.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Second S.G.</i> (<i>in service elsewhere</i>). Oh, I
+ <i>would</i>! Go in, SALLY, quick. I can lend yer a ap'ny
+ towards it.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Sally</i> (<i>meditatively</i>). <i>I</i>'d do
+ it&mdash;on'y she'd guess 'ood sent it her!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Second S.G.</i> <i>Let</i> 'er. You can stick 'er out it
+ wasn't <i>you</i>.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Sally</i>. I could, O' course&mdash;but it wouldn't be no
+ use, she'd tell the 'andwriting on the hongvelope!
+ (<i>Gloomily.</i>)</p>
+
+ <p><i>Second S.G.</i> Oh, if that's all, <i>I'll</i> direct it
+ for yer. Come on, SALLY; it will be sech a lark, and then you
+ can tell me all about what she said arterwards! [<i>They enter
+ the shop.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>First Young Person in hat and feathers</i>
+ (<i>reading</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"The female 'art you think you'll mash,</p>
+
+ <p>By sporting stick-up collars and a la-di-da
+ moustache.</p>
+
+ <p>But I tell you straight it'll be a long time</p>
+
+ <p>Before I take you to be <i>my</i> Valentine!"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>I do wonder what CHORLEY 'AWKINS would say if I sent him one
+ of them.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Second Y.P.</i> But I thought you told me CHORLEY 'AWKINS
+ never took no notice of you?</p>
+
+ <p><i>First Y.P.</i> No more he does&mdash;but p'raps this 'ud
+ <i>make</i> him!</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Young Woman</i> (<i>who has fallen out with her
+ fiancé</i>). They ain't <i>arf</i> Valentines this year, I wish
+ I could come across one with 'orns and a tail!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Elder Sister</i> (<i>to small Brother&mdash;in a moral
+ tone</i>). <i>Now</i>, JIMMY, you see what comes o'
+ Book-learnin'. If you 'adn't gone to the Board School so
+ regular, you wouldn't ha' been able to read all the potry on
+ the Valentines like you can now, <i>would</i> yer now?</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>NOTICE.&mdash;Rejected Communications or Contributions,
+ whether MS., Printed Matter, Drawings, or Pictures of any
+ description, will in no case be returned, not even when
+ accompanied by a Stamped and Addressed Envelope, Cover, or
+ Wrapper. To this rule there will be no exception.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13252 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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