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diff --git a/13327-0.txt b/13327-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8b7655 --- /dev/null +++ b/13327-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,761 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13327 *** + +PUNCH, + +OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. + +VOL. 101. + + + +July 18, 1891. + + + + +MR. PUNCH'S JUBILEE NUMBER. + +[Illustration] + +"My Reminiscences!" said _Mr. Punch_, replying to a question put by +his Interviewer, ANNO DOMINI EIGHTEEN-NINETY-ONE; "They are already +before the World, in exactly One Hundred Volumes! My first 'Number' +bore date 'for the week ending July 17th, 1841. My memory is indeed +stored with recollections, pleasant, picturesque, pathetic, of the +teeming past, memories of my joyous 'Table,' of my well-beloved 'Young +Men,' of Great Names, of Genial Comrades, of Bright Wits, of Warm +Hearts, of Famous Artists, of Clever Writers, who--in the words of the +greatest of them all-- + + 'Perched round the stem + Of the jolly old tree.' + +"How well the words of the wise wit written in 1847 express our +thoughts to-day, Mr. ANNO DOMINI:-- + + 'Here let us sport + Boys, as we sit, + Laughter and wit + Flashing so free. + Life is but short-- + When we are gone, + Let them sing on + Round the old tree. + + Evenings we knew + Happy as this; + Faces we miss + Pleasant to see. + Kind hearts and true, + Gentle and just, + Peace to their dust! + We sing round the tree.' + +It is one of my proudest memories to recollect that THACKERAY's +'Mahogany Tree,' was my Table." + +"To have been Amphitryon to _such_ guests must have been the most +pleasant privilege of hospitality," said ANNO DOMINI. + +"Very true," responded _Mr. Punch_, "And of all my +Deputy-Amphitryons--if I may use the term--who more fully, fitly, +justly, and genially filled the post than the earliest of them all, +the kindly and judicious MARK LEMON? Had not he and clever HENRY +MAYHEW, and Mr. Printer LAST, and EBENEZER LANDELLS, my earliest +engraver, foregathered first with me in furtherance of the 'new +work of wit and whim,' embellished with cuts and caricatures, to +be called:-- + +_PUNCH; OR, THE LONDON CHARIVARI_? + +"LEMON, and LAST, and MAYHEW, were they here to-day, would probably +agree to divide between them the early honours, as they shared the +early responsibility. But doubtless MARK LEMON was the literary shaper +of the 'Guffawgraph,' as he jocularly called it in his 'Prospectus,' +and, from the first, its guiding spirit. Happily so, for his was a +spirit fitted to rule, both by power, and tact, and taste. With 'Uncle +MARK' in the chair, I knew there would be neither austere autocracy, +nor _fainéant_ laxity, neither weakness of stroke nor foulness +of blow, neither Rosa-Matilda-ish, mawkishness, nor Rabelaisian +coarseness. + +"How well I remember my first group of 'Young Men,'" pursued _Mr. +Punch_, musingly. "There was swift and scathing DOUGLAS JERROLD, with +his tossed and tangled mane of grey hair. GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT, +too, the whimsically witty, the drolly satirical, the comically +caustic. HENRY MAYHEW, of course, and, a little later, his brother +HORACE, the simple, lovable 'PONNY.' HENNING, NEWMAN and BRINE, were +my earliest Artists. HENNING drew the first Cartoon, whilst NEWMAN and +BRINE, and, later, HINE, between them, were responsible for most of +the smaller cuts, head-and-tail-pieces, pictorial puns, and sketchy +silhouettes, wherewith _Punch's_ early pages abounded. + +"In the fourth Number of _Punch_, published on August 7th, 1841, first +appeared the soon-to-be-famous signature of 'JOHN LEECH.'" + +"Ah! JOHN LEECH," cried the attentive ANNO DOMINI. "A name to conjure +with! How did that 'Star swim into your ken'?" + +"There was a certain clever, scholarly, and genial gentleman," +responded _Mr. Punch_, "who had lately published, under the pseudonym +of 'PAUL PRENDERGAST,' an extremely funny _Comic Latin Grammar_. 'PAUL +PRENDERGAST' was, in reality, Mr. PERCIVAL LEIGH, originally a medical +gentleman, the well-beloved 'Professor' of later _Punch_ days. The +_Comic Latin Grammar_ had been admirably illustrated by a personal +friend, and fellow-student, of LEIGH's named LEECH. The services of +_both_ of the contributors to the _Comic Latin Grammar_ were soon +enlisted in my interests. + +"Another of LEECH's medical student friends was ALBERT SMITH, and he +before long was penning his 'Physiology of London Evening Parties' +(illustrated by PHIZ--HALBOT KNIGHT BROWNE--NEWMAN, and others) for my +pages. KENNY MEADOWS, WATTS PHILLIPS, ALFRED 'CROW-QUILL' (FORRESTER), +JOHN GILBERT, and others, drew also for the young Journal, the +printing of which had been taken over by the Whitefriars firm of +BRADBURY AND EVANS, with whom as proprietors and fast friends, _Punch_ +has ever since been happily associated. + +"As early as my Fourth Volume," pursued _Mr. Punch_, "it became +obvious that, in the person of 'Our Fat Contributor,' a certain +'MICHAEL ANGELO TITMARSH' was writing and drawing for _Punch_. + +(_Continued on Page_ 4.) + + * * * * * + +FAC-SIMILE OF FIRST PAGE OF "PUNCH." + +PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. + +_FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 17, 1841._ + + * * * * * + +THE MORAL OF PUNCH. + + * * * * * + +As we hope, gentle public, to pass many happy hours in your society, +we think it right that you should know something of our character and +intentions. Our title, at a first glance, may have misled you into +a belief that we have no other intention than the amusement of a +thoughtless crowd, and the collection of pence. We have a higher +object. Few of the admirers of our prototype, merry Master PUNCH, have +looked upon his vagaries but as the practical outpourings of a rude +and boisterous mirth. We have considered him as a teacher of no mean +pretensions, and have, therefore, adopted him as the sponsor for our +weekly sheet of pleasant instruction. When we have seen him parading +in the glories of his motley, flourishing his baton (like our friend +Jullien at Drury-lane) in time with his own unrivalled discord, by +which he seeks to win the attention and admiration of the crowd, +what visions of graver puppetry have passed before our eyes! Golden +circlets, with their adornments of coloured and lustrous gems, have +bound the brow of infamy as well as that of honour--a mockery to both; +as though virtue required a reward beyond the fulfilment of its own +high purposes, or that infamy could be cheated into the forgetfulness +of its vileness by the weight around its temples! Gilded coaches have +glided before us, in which sat men who thought the buzz and shouts +of crowds a guerdon for the toils, the anxieties, and, too often, the +peculations of a life. Our ears have rung with the noisy frothiness of +those who have bought their fellow-men as beasts in the market-place, +and found their reward in the sycophancy of a degraded constituency, +or the patronage of a venal ministry--no matter of what creed, for +party _must_ destroy patriotism. + +The noble in his robes and coronet--the beadle in his gaudy livery +of scarlet, and purple, and gold--the dignitary in the fulness of his +pomp--the demagogue in the triumph of his hollowness--these and other +visual and oral cheats by which mankind are cajoled, have passed in +review before us, conjured up by the magic wand of PUNCH. + +How we envy his philosophy, when SHALLA-BA-LA, that demon with the +bell, besets him at every turn, almost teasing the sap out of him! The +moment that his tormentor quits the scene, PUNCH seems to forget the +existence of his annoyance, and, carolling the mellifluous numbers of +_Jim Crow_, or some other strain of equal beauty, makes the most of +the present, regardless of the past or future; and when SHALLA-BA-LA +renews his persecutions, PUNCH boldly faces his enemy, and ultimately +becomes the victor. All have a SHALLA-BA-LA in some shape or other; +but few, how few, the philosophy of PUNCH! + +We are afraid our prototype is no favourite with the ladies. PUNCH +is (and we reluctantly admit the fact) a Malthusian in principle, and +somewhat of a domestic tyrant; for his conduct is at times harsh and +ungentlemanly to Mrs. P. + + "Eve of a land that still is Paradise, + Italian beauty!" + +But as we never look for perfection in human nature, it is too much +to expect it in wood. We wish it to be understood that we repudiate +such principles and conduct. We have a Judy of our own, and a little +Punchininny that commits innumerable improprieties; but we fearlessly +aver that we never threw him out of window, nor belaboured the lady +with a stick--even of the size allowed by law. + +There is one portion of the drama we wish was omitted, for it always +saddens us--we allude to the prison scene. PUNCH, it is true, sings in +durance, but we hear the ring of the bars mingling with the song. We +are advocates for the _correction_ of offenders; but how many generous +and kindly beings are there pining within the walls of a prison, whose +only crimes are poverty and misfortune! They, too, sing and laugh, and +appear jocund, but the _heart_ can ever hear the ring of the bars. + +We never looked upon a lark in a cage, and heard him trilling out +his music as he sprang upwards to the roof of his prison, but we felt +sickened with the sight and sound, as contrasting, in our thought, +the free minstrel of the morning, bounding as it were into the +blue caverns of the heavens, with the bird to whom the world was +circumscribed. May the time soon arrive, when every prison shall be +a palace of the mind--when we shall seek to instruct and cease to +punish. PUNCH has already advocated education by example. Look at his +dog Toby! The instinct of the brute has almost germinated into reason. +Man _has_ reason, why not give him intelligence? + +We now come to the last great lesson of our motley teacher--the +gallows! that accursed tree which has its _root_ in injuries. +How clearly PUNCH exposes the fallacy of that dreadful law which +authorises the destruction of life! PUNCH sometimes destroys the +hangman: and why not? Where is the divine injunction against the +shedder of man's blood to rest? None _can_ answer! To us there is but +ONE disposer of life. At other times PUNCH hangs the devil: this is as +it should be. Destroy the principle of evil by increasing the means +of cultivating the good, and the gallows will then become as much a +wonder as it is now a jest. + +We shall always play PUNCH, for we consider it best to be merry and +wise-- + + "And laugh at all things, for we wish to know, + What, after all, are all things but a show!"--_Byron_. + +As on the stage of PUNCH's theatre, many characters appear to fill +up the interstices of the more important story, so our pages will be +interspersed with trifles that have no other object than the moment's +approbation--an end which will never be sought for at the expense of +others, beyond the evanescent smile of a harmless satire. + + * * * * * + +COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. + +There is a report of the stoppage of one of the most respectable +_hard-bake_ houses in the metropolis. The firm had been speculating +considerably in "Prince Albert's Rock," and this is said to have +been the rock they have ultimately split upon. The boys will be the +greatest sufferers. One of them had stripped his jacket of all its +buttons as a deposit on some _tom-trot_, which the house had promised +to supply on the following day; and we regret to say, there are +whispers of other transactions of a similar character. + +Money has been abundant all day, and we saw a half-crown piece and +some halfpence lying absolutely idle in the hands of an individual, +who, if he had only chosen to walk with it into the market, might +have produced a very alarming effect on some minor description of +securities. Cherries were taken very freely at twopence a pound, and +Spanish (liquorice) at a shade lower than yesterday. There has been a +most disgusting glut of tallow all the week, which has had an alarming +effect on dips, and thrown a still further gloom upon rushlights. + +The late discussions on the timber duties have brought the match +market into a very unsettled state, and Congreve lights seem destined +to undergo a still further depression. This state of things was +rendered worse towards the close of the day, by a large holder of the +last-named article unexpectedly throwing an immense quantity into the +market, which went off rapidly. + + * * * * * + +SOMETHING WARLIKE. + +Many of our readers must be aware, that in pantomimic pieces, the +usual mode of making the audience acquainted with anything that cannot +be clearly explained by dumb-show, is to exhibit a linen scroll, +on which is painted, in large letters, the sentence necessary to be +known. It so happened that a number of these scrolls had been thrown +aside after one of the grand spectacles at Astley's Amphitheatre, and +remained amongst other lumber in the property-room, until the late +destructive fire which occurred there. On that night, the wife of one +of the stage-assistants--a woman of portly dimensions--was aroused +from her bed by the alarm of fire, and in her confusion, being unable +to find her proper habiliments, laid hold of one of these scrolls, and +wrapping it around her, hastily rushed into the street, and presented +to the astonished spectators an extensive back view, with the words, +"BOMBARD THE CITADEL," inscribed in legible characters upon her +singular drapery. + +HUME'S TERMINOLOGY. + +Hume is so annoyed at his late defeat at Leeds, that he vows he will +never make use of the word Tory again as long as he lives. Indeed, +he proposes to expunge the term from the English language, and to +substitute that which is applied to his own party. In writing to a +friend, that "after the inflammatory character of the oratory of the +Carlton Club, it is quite supererogatory for me to state (it being +notorious) that all conciliatory measures will be rendered nugatory," +he thus expressed himself:--"After the inflamma_whig_ character +of the ora_whig_ of the nominees of the Carlton Club, it is quite +supereroga_whig_ for me to state (it being no_whig_ous) that all +concilia_whig_ measures will be rendered nuga_whig_." + +NATIVE SWALLOWS. + +A correspondent to one of the daily papers has remarked, that there +is an almost total absence of swallows this summer in England. Had the +writer been present at some of the election dinners lately, he must +have confessed that a greater number of _active swallows_ has rarely +been observed congregated in any one year. + +LORD MELBOURNE TO "PUNCH." + +My Dear PUNCH,--Seeing in the "Court Circular" of the _Morning Herald_ +an account of a General Goblet as one of the guests of her Majesty, +I beg to state, that till I saw that announcement, I was not aware of +any other _general gobble it_ than myself at the Palace. + +Yours, truly, MELBOURNE. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Horace Mayhew. Richd. Doyle. John Leech. Mark Lemon. +W.M. Thackeray. + +Percival Leigh. Gilbert A. à Beckett. Tom Taylor. Douglas Jerrold. + +Prince de Joinville. Geo. Hudson. Shaw Lefevre. Prince Albert. B. +Disraeli. Col. Sibthorp. Sir Fredk. Trench. Emperor of Russia. + +Sir R. Peel. Sir J. Graham. D. O'Connell. Jenny Lind. Lord John +Russell. Louis Philippe. The British Lion. Mehemet Ali. Duke of +Richmond. + +Richd. Cobden. Lord George Bentinck. Gen. Tom Thumb. THE QUEEN. MR. +PUNCH. Lord Brougham. Duke of Wellington. + +MR. PUNCH'S FANCY BALL. 1847.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +Yes, the lion THACKERAY had joined the Table, and thenceforth for many +years he illumined my pages with his keen wit and ripe wisdom, his +graceful prose, his polished verse, and his characteristic pictures. + +"The frontispiece to Volume V. (1843) was by RICHARD DOYLE, a plain +foreshadowing of the celebrated design which was ever after to form +the familiar Cover of the _Punch_ Number. DOYLE had now joined the +Staff, and for many years his fine fancy was allowed full play in my +pages. + +"At the end of the same Volume, upon page 260 of a supplement, +entitled, '_Punch's_ Triumphal Procession,' appeared TOM HOOD's +never-to-be-forgotten 'Song of the Shirt.' It is one of _Mr. Punch's_ +pleasantest Reminiscences that this gentle genius, this true poet, +contributed this famous masterpiece to his pages. + +"The scholarly, accomplished, and warm-hearted TOM TAYLOR was the +next to join the Table, and his 'Spanish Ballads' (in 1846), admirably +illustrated by DOYLE, made their mark, as did later his 'Unprotected +Female.' In Volume XVI. PERCIVAL LEIGH commenced his 'Mr. PIPS, +his Diary, or, Manners and Customs of ye Englyshe in 1849,' +characteristically illustrated by RICHARD DOYLE at his graphic best. +The same year was remarkable for the appearance of LEECH's most +delightful character, the simple-minded, sport-loving, philistine +paterfamilias, Mr. BRIGGS, first met with in connection with 'The +Pleasures of Housekeeping,' though subsequently associated especially +with humorous sporting scenes. + +"The frontispiece to Volume XIX., for the second half of the year +1850, was by a 'new hand,' none other than JOHN TENNIEL _the_ +'Cartoonist' _par excellence_, whose work henceforth was to be--as +happily it still is--the pride of _Mr. Punch_ and the delight of the +British Public. TENNIEL's first Cartoon, 'Lord JACK the Giant-Killer,' +graced _Mr. Punch's_ 499th Number, he having taken, at short notice, +the place of RICHARD DOYLE, who after many years of excellent work +had voluntarily withdrawn from the Table, owing to certain religious +scruples, not wholly unconnected with the subject of his successor's +first 'Big Cut.' + +"Another member of my little army about this time was GEORGE SILVER, +and my next recruits were the polished and witty SHIRLEY BROOKS, and, +one who was to develop into the greatest master of Black-and-White +Art this country has produced, CHARLES KEENE to wit, our dear, +picturesque, unsophisticated 'CARLO,' lost to the Table--an +irreparable loss!--but a few months ago. + +"At the opening of Volume XXVII. for the second half of the year +1854, you will observe, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, a Picture by JOHN TENNIEL +(reproduced above), in which the then existing Staff of _Punch_ are +humorously sketched. They are engaged in somewhat varied sports and +pastimes. _Mr. Punch_ is keeping wicket in a game in which THACKERAY +wields the bat, and PERCIVAL LEIGH is bowling; MARK LEMON, and GILBERT +À BECKETT are playing at battledore and shuttlecock, and DOUGLAS +JERROLD is having a solitary game of skittles, the 'pins' being the +CZAR of RUSSIA, &c. SHIRLEY BROOKS, MAYHEW, and TOM TAYLOR are playing +at Leapfrog, TOM TAYLOR 'overing' MAYHEW, whilst SHIRLEY BROOKS is +following up. In the background JOHN TENNIEL is sketching the Good +Knight _Punchius_ upon a wall, whilst in the immediate foreground JOHN +LEECH, upon a hobby-horse, is leaping over an easel. These were the +chief of my 'Young Men' at this time. In front of the tent are two +gentlemen, one in a black, the other in a white, hat. The first is +WILLIAM BRADBURY, the second is 'Pater' EVANS, our 'proprietors and +friends' of that day. + +"In 1856 an obituary notice showed that the Table had experienced +one of its earliest losses, that of GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT. And on +June 8th, in the following year, the boding black border appeared 'In +Memoriam' of DOUGLAS JERROLD. Ah, me, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, the jingling +of the cap-and-bells, howsoever merrily it may sound, is perforce +interrupted now and again by the chiming of a bell of deeper note and +sadder tone. + +"Volume XXXIX. for 1860 saw the artistic advent of the Society +Satirist of the Victorian Era, GEORGE DU MAURIER; and in Volume XLIV. +for the year 1863, the presence of another 'New Boy' at my Table, was +evidenced by the appearance of the burlesque London-Journalish Novel, +'Mokeanna,' in which FRANCIS COWLEY BURNAND parodied the 'Penny +Dreadful.' + +"The very first page of my Volume for 1864, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, recorded +a great, a grievous, an irreparable loss to me and to the world. +WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, the greatest of my contributors, had gone +for ever from my Table. And a little later--only a little later--in my +Number for November 12th, 1864, appeared an obituary notice--alas the +day!--of the great, the genial, the loved, the lamented JOHN LEECH. + +"In the Volumes for this year, 1865, appear for the first time the +fanciful, ingenious, elaborately symbolical designs of CHARLES H. +BENNETT, who unhappily did not long enrich my pages with his facile +execution and singular subtlety of fancy. He died on the 2nd April. +His place at my Table was soon after taken by LINLEY SAMBOURNE. + +"On the 23rd May, 1870, he who had sat at the head of my Table ever +since its first establishment, 'who wrote the first article in this +Journal, who from its establishment had been its conductor,' left +empty the chief seat at my board. + + "'If this Journal has had the good fortune to be credited with + habitual advocacy of truth and justice, if it has been praised + for abstention from the less worthy kind of satire, if it + has been trusted by those who keep guard over the purity of + womanhood and of youth, we, the best witnesses, turn for + a moment from our sorrow to bear the fullest and the most + willing testimony that the high and noble spirit of MARK + LEMON ever prompted generous championship, ever made unworthy + onslaught or irreverent jest impossible to the pens of those + who were honoured in being coadjutors with him.' + +"This, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, was the high and merited tribute which the +spokesman of his surviving colleagues paid to the beloved memory of +MARK LEMON. + +"SHIRLEY BROOKS succeeded him in the editorial chair, which he filled +fittingly and faithfully for--alas!--only four years. In 1874 I lost +my second Editor. TOM TAYLOR was his successor, taking up with the +Editorship, the extraction of that weekly 'Essence of Parliament,' so +long and so delightfully distilled by the deceased Chief. + +"Meanwhile, on April 30th, 1872, HORACE MAYHEW, had departed from our +midst. A little later the Table received a further accession in the +person of ARTHUR WILLIAM À BECKETT, ('Mr. BRIEFLESS Junior,') son of +that GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKETT who was one of my earliest 'Stars.' His +brother, a second GILBERT À BECKETT, took his seat at the Table a +few years later. In Volume LXVIII. for 1875, E.J. MILLIKEN made his +first appearance as a _Punch_ Writer. The Author of the 'ARRY papers, +'CHILDE CHAPPIE's Pilgrimage,' &c., joined my Table two years later. + +"On the 12th July, 1880, another great loss befel me. TOM TAYLOR, my +third Editor, left that honourable post vacant, after occupying it +with credit and distinction for six years. Mr. F.C. BURNAND, author of +'Happy Thoughts,' &c., reigns in his stead. R.F. SKETCHLEY, who had a +seat at my Board for several years, resigned it a little later. + +"The same year, 1880, saw the introduction of a new Artist, in the +person of HARRY FURNISS; and the next introduced HENRY W. LUCY, the +'TOBY' of _Mr. Punch's_ remodelled Essence of Parliament. + +"In 1887, the appearance of '_Mr. Punch's_ Manual for Young Reciters,' +gave evidence of the fact that the Author of _Vice Versâ_, Mr. F. +ANSTEY, had joined my Table. He, with R.C. LEHMANN, Author of 'Modern +Types,' &c., and E.G. REED, the Artist, are the very latest additions +thereto. That Table has, within the last two years, sustained yet +two other losses: PERCIVAL LEIGH, last survivor of the 'Old Guard,' +dying on 24th October, 1889, whilst, early in the present year, +the inimitable CHARLES KEENE, universally acknowledged to be the +greatest master of 'Black-and-White' technique who ever put pencil +to wood-block, was taken away from me. + +"Merely to mention _all_ the bright pens and pencils which have +occasionally contributed to my pages, would occupy much space. Amongst +Writers may be named MAGUIN HANNAY, STIRLING COYNE, COVENTRY PATMORE, +MORTIMER COLLINS, GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA, ANDREW LANG, JAMES PAYN, and +Lord TENNYSON; amongst Artists, HOWARD (whose signature, a trident, +was at one time familiar to _Punch_ readers), Miss BOWERS, RALSTON, +BRYAN, BARNARD, W.S. GILBERT (who illustrated several of his own +articles), CORBOULD, CALDECOTT, RIVIÈRE, H.S. MARKS, FRED WALKER, +SIR JOHN MILLAIS, and Sir FREDERICK LEIGHTON. + +"The present Staff, Mr. ANNO DOMINI, you may see assembled 'round +the old Tree' in the accompanying Cartoon. Around on the walls are +the counterfeit presentments of their illustrious and honoured +predecessors. My guests, you perceive, are drinking a toast. That +toast is, '_Mr. Punch_, his health and Jubilee!'" + +"In which I am delighted to join!" responded ANNO DOMINI. "_Mr. +Punch_, you must be as proud of your 'Mahogany Tree,' and its many +memories, as King ARTHUR of his Table Round." + + "'For dear to ARTHUR was that hall of ours, + As having there so oft with all his Knights + Feasted,'" + +quoted the Sage, musing deeply of many things. Many of _my_ Knights +have 'gone before,' but they have not + + "'Left me gazing at a barren board.' + +"Their monograms are carven on this Table, their memories abide +with us as we drink to _Punch's_ Jubilee, and will abide when, as I +hope, yet another fifty years hence, our successors drink with equal +heartiness to _Punch's_ Centenary!" + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: J. Tenniel. H. Silver. C. Keene. T. Taylor. F.C. +Burnand. R.F. Sketchley. H. Mayhew. M. Lemon. Shirley Brooks. Du +Maurier. P. Leigh.] + + * * * * * + +PAST AND PRESENT. + +[Illustration: IN THE SIXTIES.] + +[Illustration: IN THE SEVENTIES.] + +[Illustration: IN THE EIGHTIES.] + +[Illustration: IN THE NINETIES.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: MR. PUNCH'S JUBILEE PAGEANT. + +AS REFLECTED IN HIS OWN MAGIC MIRROR.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "THE MAHOGANY TREE.".] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: JUBILEE SHADOWS; OR, THE WHIRLIGIGS OF TIME.] + + * * * * * + +ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. + +EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P. + +[Illustration: "Dizzy," 1847.] + +_House of Commons, July 14th, 1891._--Things going on here much as +usual. Rapidly winding up Session amid familiar surroundings. OLD +MORALITY in seat of Leader of the House; Mr. G. opposite; SPEAKER in +Chair; Sergeant-at-Arms on guard by the door; and WINDBAG SEXTON on +his feet. + +Brings back to my mind the first time I saw House. Wasn't in the House +then; a mere puppy, which, indeed, some say I remain to this day. The +date was August the 19th, 1841, and from seat where Strangers were +admitted in the old House (the temporary building occupied whilst +BARRY was erecting this lofty pile) I looked on at the opening of the +first Session of the Fourteenth Parliament of the then United Kingdom +of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to meet at Westminster in the +fifth year of the Reign of HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA. + +[Illustration: "The Sphinx is Silent," 1876.] + +Remember it as if it were yesterday. It was MELBOURNE's Ministry; but +he of course sat in another place. On the Treasury Bench, distinctly +visible under his hat, was JOHNNY RUSSELL, Colonial Secretary and +Leader of the House of Commons. At a safe distance from him sat PAM, +then in the prime of life, and at the time holding the post of Foreign +Minister, in which he was able to make a remarkably large number of +people uncomfortable. There was Sir GEORGE GREY, Chancellor of the +Duchy, whilst a sturdily built gentleman, then known as the Right Hon. +THOMAS BABBINGTON MACAULAY, was Secretary for War; HENRY LABOUCHERE +(not the SAGE OF QUEEN ANNE'S GATE) was President of the Board of +Trade, and Master of the Mint; whilst FRANCIS BARING was Chancellor +of the Exchequer, all untroubled by the necessity of constructing a +Budget since he knew he would never be called on to bring one in. + +On the Front Bench opposite was Sir ROBERT PEEL with JAMES GRAHAM at +his right elbow. In modest retirement at the end of the Bench sat a +young man, of full height, and good figure, with a mass of black hair +crowning a large, well-shaped head. Remember noticing how carefully +the hair was parted down the middle, in a fashion then unusual with +men. His face was pleasant to look upon, even mild in its expression; +but from time to time, more particularly when he spoke, there +flashed from beneath his dark and bushy eyebrows a pair of eyes that +shone like stars. This was the Mr. G. of those days, whose highest +Ministerial office, as yet, had been the Under-Secretaryship for the +Colonies, held for a few months six years earlier. + +[Illustration: "W.E.G.," 1860.] + +Big House on this first night, as Houses were counted then, when the +number of Members was considerably less. First business was to choose +SPEAKER. SHAW-LEFEVRE (not the Member for Bradford, but a forbear) +had been SPEAKER in last Parliament; re-elected now, PEEL, who, by +the lifting of a finger, could have put his own nominee in the Chair, +graciously consenting. + +[Illustration: "The Colossus of Words," 1879.] + +Of all who filled the House on that night, only two have seats in +the present Parliament--Mr. G., and the humble person who, by favour +of the Electors of Barkshire, is permitted to pen these lines. +(CHRISTOPHER TALBOT, then represented Glamorganshire, but he just +failed to live into this Jubilee time.) Yet, when I look round on the +Benches now, I see a score of men who bear the names, and are, in many +cases, descendants, of Members who sat in the Parliament that will +ever have a place in history, if only because it was born in the same +year, almost in the same month, as _Mr. Punch_. There was a THOMAS +DYKE ACLAND, representing Devonshire; there were two HENEAGES, one +representing Devizes, and the other, EDWARD, sitting for Grimsby, +as EDWARD HENEAGE sits to-day for the same borough. There was a +BORTHWICK, Member for Evesham. There was a PHILIP STANHOPE, Member for +Hertford. STANSFELD sat for Huddersfield, and MARJORIBANKS for Hythe, +a LAWSON for Knaresborough, a BECKETT for Leeds, a CHILDERS for +Malton, a MANNERS for Newark-upon-Trent, having a certain WILLIAM +EWART GLADSTONE for colleague. He was the Lord JOHN, well known to +students of poetry, who now wears a Ducal coronet. + +Of course there was a SMITH, VERNON by Christian name, Member for +Northampton; a HOULDSWOTH representing Nottinghamshire, a MACLEAN +for Oxford, a HARCOURT for Oxfordshire--nay, in this happy Parliament +there were two HARCOURTS, GRANVILLE HARCOURT VERNON sitting for East +Retford. A VIVIAN sat for Penrhyn--HUSSEY VIVIAN's father, JOHN +HENEY, sat in the same Parliament for Swansea. Lord EBRINGTON sat for +Plymouth, and CHARLES RUSSELL for Reading. ORMSBY GORE represented +North Shropshire, long a possession of his family. The Markiss +o' GRANBY sat for Stamford, with a CLARK for colleague. FREDERICK +VILLIERS (not our present Father) kept the name green at Sudbury, and +there was a WYNDHAM for Sussex. The HENRY LABOUCHERE of those less +lively days sat for Taunton, and Sir ROBERT PEEL, our SPEAKER's +father, for Tamworth. There was a HAYTER, GOOD-ENOUGH: for Wells, one +LOWTHER represented Westmoreland, and another York. A WALTER LONG sat +for North Wilts, STUART WORTLEY sat for the West Riding, and JAMES +DUFF for Banffshire. We had a BALFOUR for Haddington, and Lord DALMENY +of that day, happier than the present head of the family, sat in the +Commons for Inverkeithing, a place long since swept off the electoral +board. These surnames, with one or two others I can't recall--yes, +there was a DALRYMPLE for Wigtonshire--are familiar on the Roll of +Parliament to-day. + +Amongst the prominent Members of this Parliament I remember ROEBUCK +sitting; for Bath; and PAKINGTON--then plain JOHN all unconscious +of the coming marvel of a Ten Minutes' Reform Bill--for Droitwich. +STRATFORD CANNING had a seat for King's Lynn, and MONCKTON' MILNES +was Member for Pomfret. JOHN BRIGHT was not in the House, but RICHARD +COBDEN sat for Stockport, and there was an acidulous person, then +known as RALPH BERNAL, who sat for Wycombe. We knew BERNAL OSBORNE +in many later Parliaments. + +Curious to think how Ireland at this epoch belonged to the classes! +DANIEL O'CONNELL was just in his prime, and, in addition to himself +returned three of his name. SMITH O'BRIEN was yet far off the cabbage +garden, and HENRY GRATTAN sat for Meath. There is a living image of +him now among the busts in the corridor leading out of the Octagon +Hall; a fiery dramatic speaker in the House, who, as someone said of +him at the time, used in his passion to throw up his arms, bend over +till he touched the floor with his finger-nails, and thank Heaven +he had no gestures. The O'CONNOR DON whom Members younger than I +remember as he sat above the Gangway in the Parliament of 1874, then +represented Roscommon. But for the most part the Irish Members of +those days were Earls, Viscounts, Knights, Baronets, Honourables and +Right Honourables. + +There were, on the Motion for the Address, big debates in both Houses +on this particular night, when I first saw the SPEAKER in wig and +gown. The fate of the Ministry could scarcely be said to hang in +the balance; they knew they were doomed. In the Lords the shrift was +short. Not too late for dinner, their Lordships divided: "Contents +96, Not Contents 168," majority against Government 72. I well remember +COVENTRY's speech; worth reciting as a model for these later days. +He followed LANSDOWNE, and House wanted to hear NORTHAMPTON. When +COVENTRY presented himself, fearful row kicked up. He stood there till +silence partially restored, then he said in deep voice, as who should +say "My name is--Norval,"-- + +[Illustration: "AU REVOIR!"] + +"I am Lord COVENTRY. A few words from me. I think the country is in a +safe state, and I hope to find it placed in the hands of the Duke of +WELLINGTON. My Lords, I hope I have not detained you." + +Then he sat down. + +In the Commons, debate lasted four days; majority against Government +91. + +The LABBY of 1841 spoke at length, and was followed by Mr. D'ISRAELI +(he spelt it with an apostrophe in those days): a good Disraelian ring +about the last sentence of his speech. + +"The House," he said, "ought now to act as it had been acted upon in +times when Parliament was unreformed, when DANBY found himself in a +dungeon, and STRAFFORD on a scaffold. Now the Whigs hold office by +abusing the confidence of the Sovereign, and defying the authority +of Parliament." + +After him came the still budding BERNAL OSBORNE, CHARLES NAPIER, +ROEBUCK, JOHNNIE RUSSELL, fighting to the last with his back to the +wall; COBDEN, HENRY GRATTAN, PAM, MILNER GIBSON, O'CONNELL, PEEL, and +Colonel SIBTHORP. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: MR. PUNCH KEEPS HIS EYE ON CRICKET. + +THEN (1841) and NOW (1891).] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: PUNCH PRESENTING YE TENTH VOLUME TO YE QUEENE. (1846.)] + + * * * * * + +FROM W.M. THACKERAY TO MR. PUNCH. (FEBRUARY, 1849.) + +MR. PUNCH,--"When the future inquirer shall take up your volumes, +or a bundle of French plays, and contrast the performance of your +booth with that of the Parisian theatre, he won't fail to remark how +different they are, and what different objects we admire or satirise. +As for your morality. Sir, it does not become me to compliment you on +it before your venerable face; but permit me to say, that there never +was before published in this world so many volumes that contained so +much cause for laughing, and so little for blushing; so many jokes, +and so little harm. Why, Sir, say even that your modesty, which +astonishes me more and more every time I regard you, is calculated, +and not a virtue naturally inherent in you, that very fact would argue +for the high sense of the public morality among us. We will laugh in +the company of our wives and children; we will tolerate no indecorum: +we like that our matrons and girls should be pure." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "ON WE GOES AGAIN!"] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, Volume 101, Jubilee Issue, July +18, 1891, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13327 *** |