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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14514 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 14514-h.htm or 14514-h.zip:
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h/14514-h.htm)
+ or
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOL. 102
+
+April 23, 1892
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOWN THOUGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY.
+
+(_WITH THE USUAL APOLOGIES._)
+
+ Oh, to be in London now that April's there,
+ And whoever walks in London sees, some morning, in the Square,
+ That the upper thousands have come to Town,
+ To the plane-trees droll in their new bark gown,
+ While the sparrows chirp, and the cats miaow
+ In London--now!
+ And after April, when May follows
+ And the black-coats come and go like swallows!
+ Mark, where yon fairy blossom in the Row
+ Leans to the rails, and canters on in clover,
+ Blushing and drooping, with her head bent low!
+ That's the wise child: she makes him ask twice over,
+ Lest he should think she views with too much rapture
+ Her first fine wealthy capture!
+ But,--though her path looks smooth, and though, alack,
+ All will he gay, till Time has painted black
+ The _Marigold_, her Mother's chosen flower,--
+ Far brighter is my _Heartsease_, Love's own dower.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A WANT.--"There is only one thing," a visitor writes to us, "that I
+missed at Venice, S.W. I've never been to the real place, which is
+the Bride, or Pride, of the Sea, I forget which, but, as I was saying,
+there's only one thing I miss, and that is the heather. Who has not
+heard of 'the moor of Venice'? And I daresay good shooting there too,
+with black game and such like. I only saw pigeons flying, who some
+one informed me are the pigeons of SAM MARK. Next time I go, I shall
+inquire at the Restaurant for fresh Pigeon Pie. However, if Mr.
+KIRALFY will take a hint, he will, in August provide a moor. It will
+add to the gaiety of the show. 'The moor the merrier,' eh?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NEO-DRAMATIC NURSERY RHYME.
+
+ MRS. GRUNDY, good woman, scarce knew what to think
+ About the relation 'twixt Drama and Drink.
+ Well, give Hall--and Theatre--good wholesome diet,
+ And all who attend will be sober and quiet!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SPRING'S DELIGHTS IN LONDON.--"VIA MALODORA"--clearly a lady, "DORA"
+for short--wrote to the _Times_ complaining that the result of
+the splendid weather for the first ten days of the month was the
+reproduction of "summer effluvium rank and offensive" in Piccadilly.
+Poor Piccadilly! Oh, its "offence is rank," and Miss DORA might add,
+quoting to her father from another scene in _Hamlet_, "And smells so.
+Pa'!" West-Enders, in a dry summer, must he prepared to have "a high
+old time of it."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SANCTA SIMPLICITAS.
+
+_Orthodox Old Maid._ "BUT, REBECCA, IS YOUR PLACE OF WORSHIP
+CONSECRATED?"
+
+_Domestic_ (_lately received into the Plymouth Brotherhood_). "OH NO,
+MISS--IT'S GALVANISED IRON!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MY SOAP.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ I'm the maker of a Soap, which I confidently hope
+ In the advertising tournament will win,
+ And remain the fit survival, having vanquished every rival
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ I will now proceed to show, what the public ought to know,
+ Unless they would be blindly taken in.
+ How in every soap but mine certain qualities combine
+ To make it detrimental to the skin.
+
+ But surely at this date it is needless I should state
+ That the cheaper soaps are barely worth a pin,
+ For they all contain a mixture, either free or as a fixture,
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And every cake you buy is so charged with alkali,
+ To soda more than soap it is akin;
+ It is really dear at last, for it wastes away so fast.
+ And is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ The public I must warn of the colours that adorn
+ The soaps ambitious foreigners bring in;
+ They are often very pretty, but to use them is a pity,
+ For they're very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ There are soaps which you can see through. I ask, What can it be
+ through?
+ Is it resin, or some other form of sin?
+ There are soaps which smell too strong, and of course that must be
+ wrong,
+ And extremely detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And too much fat's injurious, and so are soaps sulphureous,
+ Though they say they keep the hair from growing thin;
+ They may keep a person's hair on, like the precious oil of AARON,
+ And yet be detrimental to his skin.
+
+ In short, the only soap which is fit for Prince or Pope
+ (I have sent some to the KAISER at Berlin)
+ Is the article I sell you. Don't believe the firms who tell you
+ It is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A LIQUOR QUESTION.--Why does a toper--especially when "before the
+beak"--always say that he was "in drink," when he evidently means that
+the drink was in him? The only soaker on record who could rightly be
+said to be "in drink" was,
+
+ "Maudlin _Clarence_ in his Malmsey butt."
+
+He was "in liquor" with a vengeance. But less lucky wine-bibbers need
+not be illogical as well as inebriate.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MR. GOSCHEN'S BUDGET.--"From a fiscal point of view, the Tobacco
+receipts are extremely good." So unlike JOKIM. Of course, as he never
+loses a chance of a _jeu de mot_, what he must have said was, that
+"the Tobacco 'returns' are extremely good." "A birthday Budget,--many
+happy 'returns,'" he observed jocosely to PRINCE ARTHUR, "quite japing
+times!" And off he went for his holiday; and, weather permitting,
+as he reclines in his funny among the weeds, he will gently murmur,
+"_Dulce est desipere in smoko_."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE NEWEST NARCISSUS;
+
+OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.
+
+ ["--The curious tendency towards imitation which is observed
+ whenever some specially sensational crime is brought into the
+ light of publicity."--_Morning Post_.']
+
+ NARCISSUS? _He_, that foul ill-favoured brute,
+ A fevered age's most repulsive fruit,
+ The murderous coxcomb, the assassin sleek?
+ Stranger comparison could fancy seek?
+
+ Truly 'tis not the self-admiring boy
+ Nymph Echo longed so vainly to enjoy;
+ Yet the old classic fable hath a phase
+ Which seems to fit the opprobrium of our days.
+ Criminal-worship seems our latest cult,
+ And this strange figure is its last result.
+ Self-conscious, self-admiring, Crime parades
+ Its loathly features, not in slumdom's shades,
+ Or in Alsatian sanctuaries vile.
+ No; peacock-posing and complacent smile
+ Pervade the common air, and take the town.
+ The glory of a scandalous renown
+ Lures the vain villain more than wrath or gain,
+ And cancels all the shame that should restrain:
+ Makes murder half-heroic in his sight,
+ And gilds the gallows with factitious light.
+
+ And whose the fault? Sensation it is thine!
+ The garrulous paragraph, the graphic line,
+ Poster and portrait, telegram and tale,
+ Make shopboy eager and domestics pale.
+ Over the morbid details workmen pore,
+ Toil's favourite pabulum and chosen lore,
+ Penny-a-liners pile the horrors up,
+ On which the cockney _gobe-mouche_ loves to sup,
+ And paragraph and picture feed the clown
+ With the foul garbage that has gorged the town.
+ "Vice is a monster of such hideous mien
+ As to be hated needs but to be seen."
+ So sang the waspish satirist long ago.
+ Now Vice is sketched and Crime is made a show.
+ A hundred eager scribes are at their heel
+ To tell the public how they look and feel,
+ How eat and drink, how sleep and smoke and play.
+ Murder's itinerary for a day,
+ Set forth in graphic phrase by skilful pens,
+ With pictures of its face, its favourite dens,
+ Its knife or bludgeon, pistol, paramour,
+ Will swell the swift editions hour by hour,
+ More than high news of war or of debate,
+ The death of heroes or the throes of state.
+ From club-room to street-corner runs the cry
+ After the newest fact, or latest lie:
+ The hurrying throng unfolded broad-sheets grasp,
+ And read with goggled eyes and lips a-gasp,
+ Blood! Blood! More Blood! It makes hot lips go pale,
+ But gives the sweetest zest to the unholy tale.
+
+ What wonder if the Horror, homaged thus
+ By frenzied eagerness and foolish fuss,
+ Swells to a hideous self-importance, struts
+ In conscious dignity, and gladly gluts
+ With vanity's fantastic tricks the herd
+ Whose pulses first by murderous crime it stirred.
+ Narcissus-like, the slayer bends to trace
+ Within Sensation's flowing stream its face,
+ And, self-enamoured, smiles a loathsome smile
+ Of fatuous conceit and gloating guile;
+ Laughs at the shadow of the lifted knife,
+ And thinks of all things save its victim's life.
+ The "Noisy Nymph," the Echo of our times,
+ The gossip, with an eager ear for crimes,
+ Lurks, half-admiring, all-recording there,
+ Watching Narcissus with persistent stare,
+ And ready note-book. Nothing but a Voice?
+ No, but its babblings travel, and rejoice
+ A myriad prurient ears with noisome news,
+ Fit only for the shambles and the stews.
+ These hear, admire, and sometimes imitate!--
+
+ Narcissus is a danger to the State,
+ And Echo hardly less. Vain-glorious crime;
+ That pestilent portent of a morbid time,
+ Would flourish less could sense or law avail
+ To strangle coarse Sensation's clamorous tale,
+ Silence the "Noisy Nymph," for half crime's ill
+ Would end were babbling Echo's voice but still.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "THE MISSING CIPHER."
+
+"OH, PAPA, ONLY FIFTY POUNDS FROM SIR GORGIUS MIDAS! SUCH A
+MILLIONAIRE--WHY HE _OUGHT_ TO HAVE SENT FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS AT
+LEAST!"
+
+"AH, I'M AFRAID HE FORGOT THE _OUGHT_, MY DEAR!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FETTERED.--In reply to the Unemployed Deputation which found
+employment in paying a visit to the L.C.C. at Spring Gardens, Messrs.
+BURNS and BEN TILLETT (Alderman) intimated that as Mr. POWER, the
+U.D.'s spokesman, was not a member of the L.C.C., that body was
+Power-less to assist them in their trouble. A nasty time of it had
+the Labour Candidates on this occasion. Nothing like putting men of
+Radical revolutionary tendencies into responsible positions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A SHADY VALET.--One DONALD CROSS was a Valet in the service of an
+absent master, whose best clothes and jewellery DONALD wore, while
+he kept his flat well aired by giving little supper-parties to young
+ladies who took him at his own valuation,--for a very superior swell.
+Alas! he was but a _valet de sham_! "Cross purposes," but Magistrate
+"disposes"; and the once happy Valet is in the shade for the next six
+months.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN FANCY DRESS.
+
+A SKETCH AT COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.
+
+ _Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous than
+ lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very decided
+ minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of their
+ costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic Hatstand,
+ hobbles painfully towards a friend who is disguised as a
+ huge Cannon._
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_huskily, through a fox's mask in the centre of his
+case, to the Cannon_). Just a trifle slow up to the present, eh?
+
+_The Cannon_ (_shifting the carriage and wheels to a less
+uncomfortable position._) Yes, it don't seem to me as lively as
+usual--_drags_, don't you know.
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_heroically_). Well, we must wake 'em up, that's
+all--put a little _go_ into the thing!
+
+ [_They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling through the
+ crowd, which regards them with compassionate wonder._
+
+_A Black Domino_ (_to a Clown, who is tapping the barometer on the
+Hatstand's back_). Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it
+may be here on the hire system.
+
+ [_The Hatstand executes a cumbrous caper by way of repartee,
+ and stumbles on._
+
+_A Folly_ (_to a highly respectable Bedouin in a burnous and gold
+spectacles_). Well, all I can say is, you don't seem to me to behave
+much _like_ an Arab!
+
+_The Bedouin_ (_uneasily, as he waltzes with conscientious
+regularity_). Don't I? How _ought_ I to behave then?
+
+_The Folly_. _I_ should have thought you'd jump about and howl, the
+way Bedouins _do_ howl. _You_ know!
+
+_The Bed._ (_dubiously_). Um--well, you see, my dear, I--I don't feel
+_up_ to that sort of thing--_before_ supper.
+
+_The Folly_ (_losing all respect for him_). No--nor yet after it. I
+expect you've told some old four-wheel caravan to come and fetch
+you home early, and you'll turn into your little tent at the usual
+time--that's the sort of wild Bedouin _you_ are! Don't let me keep
+you. [_She leaves him._
+
+_The Bed._ (_alone_). If she only knew the absolute _horror_ I have of
+making myself conspicuous, she wouldn't expect it!
+
+_Mephistopheles_ (_to a Picador_). This was the only thing I could get
+to go in. How do you think it suits me?
+
+_The Picador_ (_with candour_). Well, I must say, old fellow, you _do_
+look a beast!
+
+ [_Mephisto appears wounded._
+
+_A Masker_ (_with his face painted brown, and in a costume of coloured
+paper decorated with small boxes and packets, to a Blue Domino_). You
+see what _I_ am, don't you? The Parcels Post! Had a _lot_ of trouble
+thinking it out. Look at my face, for instance, I made _that_ up, with
+string--marks and all, to look like a brown-paper parcel.
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Pity you haven't got something _inside_ it, isn't
+it?
+
+_The Parcels Post_ (_feebly_). Don't you be too sharp. And it really
+is a first-rate idea. All these parcels now--I suppose there must be
+fifty of 'em at least--
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Are there? Well, I wish you'd go and get sorted
+somewhere else. I haven't time for it myself.
+
+_Sardonic Spectator_ (_pityingly--to a Masker in a violent
+perspiration, who represents Sindbad carrying the Old Man of the
+Sea_). 'Ow you _are_ worrying yourself to be sure!
+
+_A Polite Stranger_ (_accosting an Individual who is personifying the
+London County Council by the aid of a hat surmounted by a sky-sign,
+a cork bridge and a tin tramcar, a toy Clown and a butterfly on his
+chest, a portrait of Mlle. Zoeo on his back, a miniature fireman under
+an extinguisher, and a model crane, which he winds up and down with
+evident enjoyment_). Excuse me, Sir, but would you mind showing us
+round you--or is there a catalogue to your little collection?
+
+ [_The L.C.C. maintains a dignified silence._
+
+_Pierrot_ (_critically to Cleopatra_). Very nice indeed, my dear
+girl,--except that they ought to have given you a serpent to carry,
+you know'
+
+_Cleopatra_. Oh, they _did_--only I left it in the Cloak-room.
+
+_A Man with a False Nose_ (_to a Friend who is wearing his natural
+organ_). Why, I thought you said _you_ were coming in a nose?
+
+_His Friend_. So I did (_he produces an enormous nose and cheeks from
+his tail-pocket_). But it's no mortal use; the minute I put it on
+I'm recognised (_plaintively_). And I gave one-and-ninepence for the
+beastly thing, too!
+
+_Young Man of the Period_ (_meeting a female acquaintance attired
+in ferns, rock-work, and coloured shells, illuminated by portable
+electric light_). Hul-lo! You _are_ a swell! And what are _you_
+supposed to be?
+
+_The Lady in Rock-work_. Can't you see? I'm a Fairy Grotto. Good idea,
+isn't it?
+
+_He_. Rippin'! But what the mischief have you got on your shoulder?
+
+_She_. Oh, that's an aquarium--real goldfish. See!
+
+ [_Exhibiting them with pride._
+
+_He_. Ain't you lettin' 'em sit up rather late? They _will_ be chippy
+to-morrow--off colour, don't you know.
+
+_She_. Will they? What ought I to do for them, then?
+
+_He_. Do? Oh, just put a brandy-and-soda in their tank.
+
+ _Later; Supper is going on in the Boxes and Supper-room, and
+ the festivity has been further increased by the arrival of a
+ party of Low Comedians and Music-Hall Stars. The Lancers have
+ been danced with more abandonment, and several entirely new
+ and original figures._
+
+_The Chevalier Bayard_ (_at the Refreshment Bar--to a Watteau
+Shepherdess_). I say, you come along and dance with me, will you?--and
+look here, if you dance well, I'll give you a drink when it's over. If
+you don t dance to please me, you'll get nothing. See?
+
+_The Watteau Shepherdess_ (_with delicate disdain_). 'Ere, you go
+along, you silly ass!
+
+ [_Hits him with her crook._
+
+_A Gentleman who has obviously supped_ (_catching hold of a passing
+Acquaintance, whose hand he wrings affectionately_). Dear ole HUGHIE!
+don't go away just yet. Shtop an' talk with me. Got lotsh er things
+say to you, dear ole boy--mosh 'portant things! Shure you, you're the
+on'y man in the wide world I ever kicked a care--cared a kick about.
+Don't _you_ leave me, HUGHIE!
+
+[Illustration: "Exit unsteadily towards Bar."]
+
+_Hughie_ (_who is looking for his partner_). Not now, old man--can't
+stop. See you later!
+
+ [_He makes his escape._
+
+_The Affect. G._ (_confidentially--to a Policeman_). Thash a very
+dear ole pal o' mine, plishman, a _very_ dear ole pal. Worsht of him
+ish--shimply imposhble get a lit' rational conversation with him. No
+_sheriousness_ in his character!
+
+ [_Exit unsteadily towards Bar, in blissful unconsciousness
+ that somebody has attached a large false nose and spectacles
+ to the buttons of his coat-tails._
+
+_A Troubadour_ (_jealously--to an Arleguina_). No--but look here, you
+might just as well say right put which costume you like best--mine
+or--(_indicating a Cavalier on her other side_)--his.
+
+_Arleguina_ (_cautiously--not desiring to offend either_). Well, I'd
+rather be _him_--not as a _man_, I wouldn't--but, as _myself_, I'd
+like to be _this_ one.
+
+ [_Both appear equally satisfied and soothed by this
+ diplomatic, but slightly mystic response._
+
+_A Vivandière_ (_to a Martyr, who is shuffling along inside a
+property-trunk, covered with twigs, and supposed to represent a
+Bird in the Hand_). Well, that's _one_ way of coming _out_ to enjoy
+yourself, I suppose!
+
+_A Middle-aged Man_ (_wandering behind the Orchestra_). It's
+beastly dull, that's what it is--none of the give-and-take
+humour and practical fun you get in Paris or Vienna!... That's a
+nice, simple-looking little thing in the seat over there. (_The
+simple-looking little thing peeps at him, with one eye over her fan,
+in arch invitation._) Gad, I'll go up and talk to her--it will be
+something to _do_, at any rate--she looks as if she wouldn't mind.
+(_He goes up._) Think I know your face--haven't we met before?
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_after an elaborate wink aside at a_
+Fireman). Shouldn't wonder. Don't you run away yet. Sit down and
+talk to me--do now. No, not _that_ side--try the arm-chair, it's more
+comfortable.
+
+_The M.M._ (_throwing himself gracefully into a well-padded chintz
+chair_). Well, really--(_The chair suddenly digs him in the ribs with
+one of its elbows_). Eh, look here now--'pon my--(_He attempts to
+rise, and finds himself tightly pinioned by the arms of the chair._)
+There's some confounded fool _inside_ this chair!
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_tickling him under the chin with her
+fan_). Shouldn't call yourself names! I'm going--don't get up on
+_my_ account. [_She goes off, laughing; a crowd collects and heartily
+enjoys his situation._
+
+_The M.M._ (_later--very red after his release_). If I could have
+found a policeman, I'd have given that chair in custody! It's
+scandalous to call _that_ coming in Fancy Dress! [_Exit indignantly._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE BROWN-JONES INCIDENT.
+
+(_ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH._)
+
+ SCENE--_A Street. Enter BROWN and JONES. They meet, and
+ regard one another for a moment, fixedly. Then they salute one
+ another respectfully._
+
+_Brown._ I have been looking for you everywhere.
+
+_Jones._ Then I am delighted to have met you.
+
+_Brown._ I have said of you that you are a trickster, a scoundrel, a
+fool, and an idiot!
+
+_Jones._ Yes--and I have regretted the saying, because it shows to me
+that you have misunderstood the great literary movement of the present
+day, in its vast and varied effort.
+
+_Brown._ Of that I know nothing, for I confess I have never read your
+books.
+
+_Jones_ (_reproachfully_). Yes--and yet you accuse me of being a
+trickster, a scoundrel, and a fool, without knowing my works?
+
+_Brown._ It was my duty. But still I had no wish to be guilty of an
+outrage.
+
+_Jones._ An outrage--how an outrage?
+
+_Brown._ Had I known you had been present to hear me I would not have
+caused you the pain of listening to me.
+
+_Jones_ (_with admiration_). But it was the act of a brave man! Did
+it not occur to you that had I been within reach of you that you too
+would have suffered pain?
+
+_Brown._ It did not, I was unconscious of your presence. I would
+have preferred to have spoken behind your back. It is brutal to speak
+before any face. It might lead to an unpleasantness.
+
+_Jones._ No, it is your duty to do what you think is right. It is also
+my duty to do what I think is right. We are now face to face. Have you
+anything further to say to me?
+
+_Brown_ (_hurriedly_). You have immense gifts--gifts which are those
+of genius.
+
+_Jones._ I thought you would understand me better when we met. My dear
+friend, I am delighted at this reconciliation. Give me your hand.
+
+_Brown_ (_clasping palms_). With all the pleasure in the world. But
+still I owe you reparation. How can I--
+
+_Jones_ (_interrupting_). Not another word, my dear friend. That is a
+matter we can leave in the hands of our Solicitors.
+
+ [_Scene closes in upon the suggestion._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: A SOLILOQUY.
+
+_Youthful Mercury._ "WHAT'S THIS 'ERE ON THE PLYTE? 'KNOCK AND RING'!
+BLOWED IF THEY WON'T BE HARSKING YER TO '_WALK HINSIDE_,' NEXT!!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
+
+[Illustration: "Oliver asking for More."]
+
+It is curious to find a coincidence in style and in idea between an
+earnest, witty and pious English author of the Sixteenth Century,
+and an American author of our own day. Yet so it is, and here is the
+parallel to be found between the quaint American tales about the old
+negro, _Uncle Remus_, by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, in this year of Grace,
+1892, and the fables writ by Sir THOMAS MORE in 1520, or thereabouts,
+which he represents as if told him by an old wife and nurse, one
+Mother MAUD. Here are "The Wolf,"--"Brer Wolf"--and the simple-minded
+Jackass, both are going to confession to Father Fox--"Brer Fox." Æsop
+is, of course, the common origin of all such tales. The extracts which
+I have come across, are to be found in a small book compiled by the
+Rev. THOMAS BRIDGETT, entitled, _The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas
+More_. The Baron wishes that with it had been issued a glossary of old
+English words and expressions, as, to an ordinary modern reader, much
+of Sir THOMAS MORE's writing is well-nigh unintelligible; nay, in some
+instances, the Baron can only approximately arrive at the meaning,
+as though it were a writ in a foreign language with which his
+acquaintance was of no great profundity. Certes, the learned and
+reverend compiler hath a keen relish for this quaintness, but not so
+will fifteen out of his twenty readers, who, pardie! shall regret the
+absence of a key without which some of the treasure must, to them at
+least, remain inaccessible. With this reservation, but with no sort
+of equivocation, doth the Baron heartily recommend The Reverend
+BRIDGETT's compilation of Sir THOMAS MORE's "English as she is
+writ" in the Sixteenth Century, to all lovers of good books in this
+"so-called (O, immortal phrase!) Nineteenth Century." The Rev. THOMAS
+hath well and ably done his work, and therefore doth the Baron advise
+his readers to go to their booksellers, and, being there, to imitate
+the example of DICKENS's oft-quoted _Oliver_, and "ask for MORE."
+
+Quoth the Baron, "Much liketh me the Macmillanite series of _English
+Men of Action_, and in a very special manner do I laud the latest
+that, to my knowledge, hath appeared 'yclept _Montrose_, by Master
+MOWBRAY MORRIS--a good many 'M's' in these names--who hath executed
+his _Montrose_ with as loving a heart and as tender a touch as ever
+did use old IZAAK towards the gentle that he, and the simple fish, did
+love so well. Did not the very hangman burst into tears as he thrust
+the unfortunate nobleman off the step? and did not a universal sob
+of pity break from the vast crowd assembled to see the last of the
+noble cavalier, victim to an unfortunate tradition of loyalty? What
+wonder then if we sympathise with this luckless hero of romance?
+The weak-knee'd villain of this historical drama was '_Charles_ (his
+friend),' in which character, be it allowed, this sad dog of a Merry
+Monarch not infrequently appeared. Thank you much, Mr. MOWBRAY
+MONTROSE MORRIS," quoth
+
+THE BENEFICENT BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SYMPATHY.
+
+_Mamma_ (_to Cook_)--"AND MRS. STUBBS, THE CREAM WITH THE APPLE-TART
+YESTERDAY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED."
+
+_Ethel_ (_who has a grateful remembrance of the dish in question_).
+"OH, MUMMY DEAR! 'OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED!' I THOUGHT IT WAS
+PARTICULARLY GOOD!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+APRIL SHOWERS;
+
+OR, A SPOILED EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+(_A VACATION CANTATA._)
+
+_Master George (stretching forth his fingers to feel if the shower is
+abating) sings_:-- Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+_Master Arthur_ (_gloomily_). Pooh! Rain won't go away, not in these
+times,
+ By being sung at to old nursery rhymes:
+ Especially in such a voice as yours!
+
+_Master George._ Needn't be nasty, ARTHUR!
+
+_Master Robert._ How it pours!
+ Thought we were going to have a real jolly day,
+ And now it's set in wet, to spoil our holiday.
+
+_Master George._ Always the way at Easter. Shall we trudge it?
+
+_Master Arthur._ Not yet. What have you got, GEORGE, in your Budget?
+
+_Master George._ Not very much, I fear!
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah, that's vexatious!
+ It might have cheered us up a bit.
+
+_Master George_ (_indignantly_). Good gracious!
+ You're always down on me, with no good reasons.
+ You know _I_'m not the ruler of the Seasons.
+ Now if I'd been in _your_ place--but no matter!
+
+_Master Robert._ By Jingo, how the raindrops rush and clatter!
+ Ah, Primrose-gathering is not half so jolly
+ As once it used to be.
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah! my dear SOLLY,
+ The springs are now so awfully wet and cold,
+ The "cry" don't seem so fetching as of old.
+
+ [_Pipes up._
+
+_Recitative_. "_Who will buy my pretty, pretty Pri-im-ro-o-ses!_
+ _All fresh gathered from the va-a-a-ll-ey?_"
+
+_Master George._ The wet and cold have got into your throat,
+ A quaver and a crack on every note!
+
+_Master Robert._ Don't aggravate each other, boys; 'tis wrong,
+ But while it rains _I_'ll tootle out a song:--
+ (_Sings._) The days we went a-Primrosing!
+
+ AIR--"_The days we went a-Gipsying!_"
+
+ The days are gone, the happy days
+ When _we_ were in our Spring;
+ When all the Primrose loved to praise,
+ And join its gathering.
+ Oh! we could sing like anything,
+ We felt the conqueror's glow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ Then April's flowery return
+ Was "Peace-with-Honour's" goal.
+ And the bright brimstone-bunch would burn
+ In every button-hole.
+ Our Dames were gaily on the wing,
+ With blossoms in full blow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ But now Progressive storms prevail
+ Election blizzards chill;
+ The Primroses seem sparse and pale
+ In valley and on hill.
+ Yon cloud looks black as raven's wing!
+ Things did not menace so.
+ In the days when we went Primrosing
+ A long time ago!
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+_Both._ Oh, brayvo, BOBBY!
+
+_Master Robert._ Thanks. Yet my song's burden
+ Is dismal as the croakings of _Dame Durden_.
+ Our holiday is spoilt by driving showers.
+ I fear we shall have no great show of flowers;
+ But--anyhow my boys we're under cover;
+ And let us hope that storm-cloud will pass over
+ Without first giving us a dreadful drenching,
+ And all our April-hopes entirely quenching.
+
+_All_ (_singing together_).
+ Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+ [_Left crouching and singing._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FROM THE THEATRES, &C. COMMISSION.--"I am afraid," said Mr. P.S.
+RUTLAND, speaking of the Music Halls, and in answer to a question
+of Mr. BOLTON's, "we cannot do a wreck. (_Laughter._)" Mr. WOODALL:
+"Without being wrecked in the attempt. (_Renewed laughter._)" Oh,
+witty WOODALL! Why, encouraged by this applause, he may yet be led on
+to make a pun on his own name, and say, "_Would all_ were like him!"
+or some such merry jest. The proceedings in this Committee were
+becoming a trifle dull, but it is to be hoped that they may yet hear
+something still more sparkling from the wise and witty WOODALL.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+TRIO. "RAIN! RAIN! GO AWAY! COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TO MY COOK.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ Oh, hard of favour, fat of form,
+ How fairer art thou than thy looks,
+ Whose heart with kitchen fires is warm,
+ Thou plainest of the plainer Cooks!
+
+ Low down upon thy forehead grows
+ Thick hair of no conducive dye;
+ Short and aspiring is thy nose,
+ Watched ever by a furtive eye.
+
+ In shy defiance rarely seen
+ Where kitchen stairways darkly tend,
+ A foe to judge thee by thy mien,
+ Proclaimed in every act a friend!
+
+ I know thee little; not thy views
+ On public or on private life,
+ Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,
+ Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's wife;
+
+ For who can rightly read the change
+ When, still'd the work-day traffic's din,
+ In best apparel, rich and strange,
+ Thou passest weekly to thy kin!
+
+ A silken gown, that bravely stands
+ Environing thy form, or no;
+ Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,
+ For brooch, the breastplate cameo.
+
+ Shod with the well-heeled boots, whose knell
+ Afar along the pavement sounds,
+ Blent with the tinkling muffin-bell,
+ Or milkman, shrilling on his rounds.
+
+ _Nil tangis quod non ornas._ Nay,
+ 'Tis not alone the parsley sprig,
+ The paper frill, the fennel spray,
+ The Yule-tide's pertly-berried twig;
+
+ But common objects by thy art
+ Some proper beauty seem to own;
+ Thy chop is as a chop apart,
+ Fraught with a grace before unknown;
+
+ The very egg thou poachest seems
+ Some work of deft _orfévrerie_,--
+ A yolk of gold that chastely gleams
+ Through a thin shrine of ivory.
+
+ From thee no pale and wilted ghost,
+ Or branded by the blackening bar,
+ But crisp and cheery comes the toast,
+ And brown as ripening hazels are.
+
+ Thy butter has not lost the voice
+ Of English meads, where cowslips grow,
+ And oh, the bacon of thy choice--
+ Rose-jacinth labyrinthed in snow!
+
+ And mutton, colder than the kiss
+ Of formal love, where loathing lurks
+ Its deadlier chill doth wholly miss,
+ Fired with the spirit of thy works.
+
+ To true occasion thou art true,
+ As upon great occasions great;
+ Doing whatever Cook may do
+ When PHYLLIS, neat, alone will wait,
+
+ As when the neighbouring villas send
+ Their modish guests to statelier fare,
+ And PHYLLIS, neat, is helped to tend
+ By that staid man the Greengrocer.
+
+ Though thou art more than plain in look,
+ Thou wieldest charms that never tire--
+ O Cook--we will not call thee Cook,
+ Thou Priestess of the Genial Fire.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+LAYING A GHOST!
+
+ PROSPECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS.--Owing to the continued success of
+ _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by arrangement with the Author)
+ to postpone, &c.--_Extract from Advertisement in Daily Paper._
+
+ SCENE--_Sanctum of Popular Actor-Manager of Theatre Royal
+ Haymarket, Popular Actor-Manager dozing over a submitted
+ Play. He closes his eyes and slumbers. When to him enter
+ Master WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE._
+
+_Master W.S._ (_shouting_). What ho, Sir Player! Wake up, Sir, wake
+up!
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_rousing himself_). Delighted to see you, Mr. SHAKSPEARE. I
+hope you have been in front and seen us?
+
+_Master W.S._ Yes, I just had a glance. Find you have put in some new
+business. When will all you fellows leave me alone?
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_earnestly_). I hope, Sir, that in the cause of Art you do
+not object, that--
+
+_Master W.S._ (_interrupting_). Oh, no! It makes little difference to
+me what you do. _My_ author's fees ceased years ago! But look here,
+What do you mean by this? (_Produces Press-cutting of advertisement
+and reads_)--"Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Prospective Arrangements.
+Owing to the continued success of _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by
+arrangement with the Author) to postpone" another play. Now, Master
+TREE, or as I may call ye, "Master up a Tree," what have you to say
+to that? You see your advertisement has caught my eye. I am here to
+answer it!
+
+_P.A.-M._ Most wonderful! I do not know how or wherefore my pen
+slipped, but slip it did, indeed. However, I apologise. Is that
+enough?
+
+_Master W.S._ More than enough!
+
+ _Enter the Ghost of HAMLET's Father suddenly._
+
+_Ghost_ (_with a glance at W.S._). Ah, the Governor here already!
+Still, I may have my chance as well as he! I gave the plot of
+_Hamlet_! Why shouldn't I have another shot? (_To P.A.-M._)--
+ But that I am forbid
+ To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
+ I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
+ Would harrow up thy soul.
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_eagerly_). The very thing for a melodrama. Delighted to
+make your acquaintance--hem--in the Spirit!
+
+_Master W.S._ Nay, good Master Player, this is scarcely business! If
+anything in _that_ line is to be done, I should do it. (_To Ghost of
+HAMLET's Father_). Begone, Sirrah!
+
+_Ghost._ Nay, this is professional jealousy! (_To P.A.-M._). I find
+thee apt--
+
+ [_A book falls, and Master WM. SHAKSPEARE and Ghost of
+ HAMLET's Father vanish together._
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_opening his eyes_). Was I dreaming? (_With a recollection
+of "The Red Lamp"_) I wonder! [_Left wondering._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TAKING A SIGHT AT RINGANDKNOCK.
+
+(_BY RUDDIER STRIPLING._)
+
+After the roughness of the Atlantic, in which to my taste there is far
+too much water moving about, I stepped on to America with considerable
+relief. I was quite satisfied, after that excellent dinner, the first
+I had enjoyed since Liverpool slid away eastward, to walk aimlessly
+through the streets till I fell into the arms of a broad-shouldered,
+pug-nosed, Irish New York policeman. I remember no more till New York
+passed away on a sunny afternoon, and then I fell asleep again and
+slept till the brakeman, conductor, Pullman-car conductor, negro
+porter and newsboy somehow managed to pull me out into the midnight
+temperature of 80 below freezing. It was just like having one's head
+put under the pump, but it did not quite revive me, for I mistook
+my host in his sleigh for a walrus, and tried to harpoon him with my
+umbrella. After matters had been explained, we went off, at least I
+did, and never woke up till I fell out into a snow-drift, just as we
+turned a corner at our journey's end.
+
+[Illustration: "Ta-ra-ra-Boom!"]
+
+In the morning, I had some idea that the sky was a great sapphire, and
+that I was inside it, and that the fields were some sort of velvet
+or wool-work, going round and round with the sun rioting over them,
+whatever that may mean, till my head ached. I can't quite understand
+all this now, but it seemed a very picturesque, impressionist
+description when I wrote it. Then I went for a walk down Main Street.
+I think it is about 400 miles long, for I got nowhere near the end,
+but this was perhaps owing to my uncertainty as to which side was
+the pleasanter to walk on. At last I gave it up, and sat down on the
+side-walk. Now, the wisdom of Vermont, not being at all times equal
+to grasping all the problems of everybody else's life with delicacy,
+sometimes makes pathetic mistakes, and it did so in my ease. I
+explained to the policeman that I had been sitting up half the night
+on a wild horse in New Zealand, and had only just come over for the
+day, but it was all in vain.
+
+The cell at Vermont was horribly uncomfortable. I dreamt that I was
+trying to boil snow in a thimble, to make maple syrup, and to swim on
+my head in deep water, with a life-belt tied to my ankles. There was
+another man there, and in the early morning he told me about Mastodons
+and Plesiosauri in a wood near the town, and how he caught them by the
+tails and photographed them; and also that Ringandknock, a mountain
+near, was mentioned by EMERSON in a verse, which I remembered,
+because he made "co-eval" rhyme with "extended." Only a truly great
+Philosopher could have done that.
+
+It was all new and delightful; and it must have been true, because my
+informant was a quiet, slow-spoken man of the West, who refrained from
+laughing at me. I have met very few people who could do that. Next day
+all the idleness and trifling were at an end, and my friends conveyed
+me back to New York.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+EPITAPH ON A DYER.
+
+ This Dyer with a dire liver tried
+ To earn a living dyeing, and he died.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER.
+
+NO. VIII.--THE DUFFER AS A HOST.
+
+Of course I don't try to give dinners at home. The difficulties and
+anxieties are too enormous. First there is inviting the people. I like
+to have none but very clever men and very pretty women, but nobody's
+acquaintance is limited to those rare beings, and, if I did invite
+them, they would all have previous engagements: I do not blame them.
+But suppose that two or three of the wits and beauties accept, that
+is worse than ever, because the rest are a Q.C. (who talks about
+his cases) and his wife, who talks about her children. An old
+school-fellow, who has no conversation that does not begin, "I say, do
+you remember old JACK WILLIAMS." This does not entertain the beauty,
+who sits next him.
+
+A Dowager Duchess, she knows none of the other people and wonders
+audibly (to me) who they are. A clever young man, whose language is
+the language of the future, and whose humour is of a date to which I
+humbly hope my own days may not be prolonged. A Psychical Researcher,
+with a note-book; he gets at the Duchess at once, and cross-examines
+her about a visionary Piper who plays audible pibrochs through Castle
+Blawearie, her ancestral home. Does she think the pibroch could be
+taken down in a phonograph. Could the Piper be snapped in a kodak?
+The Duchess does not know what a phonograph is; never heard of a
+kodak. She does not like the note-book any more than _Mr. Pickwick's_
+cabman liked it. She is afraid of getting into print. Then there is
+the Warden of St. Jude's, a great scholar; he pricks up his ears,
+not the keenest, at the word kodak, and begins to talk about a
+newly-discovered _Codex_ of PODONIAN the Elder. Nobody knows what
+a _Codex_ is. There is a School-board Lady, but, alas, she is next
+the Warden of St. Jude's, not next the enthusiastic Clergyman, who
+proses about a Club for Milliners. There is GRIGSBY, who develops an
+undesirable interest in the Milliners' Club. Have they a Strangers'
+Room? Do they give suppers? Are they Friendly Girls? Everyone thinks
+GRIGSBY flippant and coarse; I wish I had not asked him to come. There
+is a Positivist, who sneers at the Clergyman; there are a Squire and
+his wife from Rutlandshire: she is next the Radical Candidate for the
+Isle of Dogs. They do not seem to get on well together. GRIGSBY and
+the humorist of the future are chaffing each other across the table:
+nobody understands them; I don't know whether they are quarrelling
+or not. Miss JONES, the authoress of _Melancholy Moods_ (in a
+Greek dress, with a _pince-nez_: a woman should not combine these
+attributes) is next the Squire: he has never heard of any of her
+friends the Minor Poets: she takes no interest in Hay, nor in Tithes.
+I see the Guardsman and the Beauty looking at each other across the
+flowers and things: the language of their eyes is not difficult, nor
+pleasant, to read. Why is the champagne so hot, and why are the ices
+so salt and hard? I know something is the matter with the claret:
+something is always the matter with the claret. It has been iced, and
+the champagne has been standing for days in an equable temperature of
+65°.
+
+[Illustration: "It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, Bielby
+_will_ have something to drink, and another cigar--a very large one."]
+
+When they want to go away, it is a wet night, and those who have come
+in cabs cannot get cabs to go back in. The Duchess's coachman lost his
+way, coming here, she was half-an-hour late: she is anxious about his
+finding his way home. GRIGSBY has got at the Psychical-Researcher, and
+I hear him telling stories, as personal experiences, which I know are
+not true. Psychical-Researchers have no sense of humour. "S.P.R.,"
+why not "S.P.Q.R.?" I hear GRIGSBY asking, and suggesting "Society for
+Propagating Rubbish." It is very rude of him, and not at all funny.
+
+However, they do go away at last, that advantage a dinner at home
+has over a dinner at the Club, there they often seem as if they would
+never go away at all.
+
+On the other hand, the wine is all right at the Club, I believe, for
+I know nothing about wine myself. Some men talk of nothing else, and
+seem to know the vintages without looking at the names on the bottles.
+
+The worst of giving a dinner at the Club is, that I never know how
+many men I have asked, nor even who they are. It is enough if I
+remember the date. It might be a good thing to write these matters
+down in a Diary, or on a big sheet of paper, pinned up in one's room.
+I know I have written to ask some Americans whom I have not seen:
+they brought letters of introduction. I forget their names--there is a
+Professor who has written a novel, there is a General, I think, and a
+Mad Doctor.
+
+My best plan will be to stand about in the drawing-room, and try to
+select them as they come in. Here is WILKINSON, who was at St. Jude's
+with me: I shake hands with him warmly. He looks blank. It is not
+WILKINSON, after all; it is a stranger, he is dining with somebody
+else. Some other men have come in while I am apologising. One of them
+comes up and says, "Mr. McDUFFER!" He must be an American. Which? He
+tells me: he is the Mad Doctor. He introduces his countrymen; they
+all say "Mr. McDUFFER!" How am I to remember which is the General and
+which is the Professor? Other people drop in. Here is CRIMPTON. He
+is a Reviewer. Clever fellow, CRIMPTON. Here is old BEILBY--he is hot
+from the University Match. He begins to tell me all about it. JONES
+was awfully well set, but that muff SMITH ran him out. BEILBY does
+not believe it _was_ out. Odd the spite umpires always have at our
+side. Feel that I must tear myself from BEILBY, the only man whose
+conversation really interests me. Here is an English writer on
+military subjects. I introduce him to the American General. Find he
+is the Professor, after all. We get down-stairs somehow. BEILBY is
+opposite me. CRIMPTON is next the Professor. The Military Writer is
+next the General. Things do not appear to go very smoothly. It seems
+that the Military one has said something about General BEAUREGARD
+which he should not have said. The General is getting red. I hate it,
+when men begin to talk about the American War. Any other war they
+are welcome to: the Danish War, the war of 1866, the war of 1870, the
+glorious affair of Majuba. But Americans are touchy about their war,
+not easy to please them whatever you say. Much best to say nothing.
+CRIMPTON is laughing at American novels. He does not know that the
+Professor is an American novelist. What am I to do? I try to kick him
+under the table. I kick the Mad Doctor, and apologise. Was feeling
+about for a footstool. BEILBY is trying to talk about Base Ball to
+the General, who is still red. Nothing is more disagreeable than these
+international discussions at dinner.
+
+Now, a clever host would know how to get out of this; he would start
+some other subject. I can think of no other subject. Happy thought:
+gradually glide into American cookery, clams, canvas-backed ducks,
+what is that dish with a queer name--Jumbo? I don't feel as if it
+were Jumbo. Squambo? Terapin soup? It sounds rather like the Hebrew
+for a talisman, or an angel of some sort. However, they are talking
+about cookery now, and wines. Is there not an American wine called
+Catawampus? The Mad Doctor has his eye on me; he seems interested.
+I thought I heard him murmur Aspasia, or Aphasia, or something
+like that. It is not Catawampus--it is Catawba. I feel that I
+_patauge_--flounder, I mean. I am getting quite nervous; feel like a
+man in a powder-magazine, with lighted cigarettes everywhere. If one
+can withdraw them to the smoking-room, they will settle down somehow.
+They do. The Military Critic gets into a corner with BEILBY. The
+Americans and I consort together. Most agreeable fellows; have been
+everywhere, and seen everything. CRIMPTON, luckily, is reading one of
+his own reviews in the evening paper. I glance at it; it is a review
+of the Professor's novel. Not a kind review--rather insulting than
+otherwise. He hates BEILBY, and he does not know the Military Critic.
+If he joins us, there will be more international discussion. I get
+them on to the balcony, and pretend to go to ring the bell for coffee.
+I whisper to CRIMPTON. He is quite taken aback. "Awfully sorry; never
+dreamed the Professor was not English." He wants to tell the Professor
+that, thinks he will be pleased. He apologises to me; it is dreadfully
+disagreeable to be apologised to by a guest. "All my fault," I say;
+and, really, so it is. CRIMPTON remembers an evening engagement, and
+goes off _à l'Anglaise_.
+
+[Illustration: A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS.]
+
+The Americans go off; say they have enjoyed themselves. I feel
+inclined to apologise for CRIMPTON. On second thoughts, I don't. They
+do not look like men who write about their adventures in their native
+newspapers. Ladies do that. A weight is off my mind. The Military
+Writer goes home. He asks, "Who was that old man who fancied himself
+so about SHERMAN's March?" "That was General HOME, who held a command
+under SHERMAN." The Military Writer whistles; wishes I had told him
+that before dinner. I wish I had, but I got so flurried and confused.
+It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, BEILBY _will_ have something
+to drink, and another cigar--a very large one. He begins to talk about
+the University Match, about all University Matches, about old scores,
+and old catches, from MITCHELL's year to the present day.
+
+It is three o'clock before I get home; the Americans _may_ have
+enjoyed themselves, I have not. I dream about the Mad Doctor; perhaps
+he will put me into his next book on _Incipient Insanity_. Serve me
+right.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE YOUNG GIRL'S COMPANION.
+
+(_BY MRS. PAYLEY._)
+
+I.--THE YOUNG GIRL'S DIARY.
+
+My very dear young girls, those Arts and accomplishments which form
+part of the average education will be taught you by your Governess,
+and in some cases, if your parents think it judicious, by a male
+Professor. I do not propose in these papers to deal with such
+subjects. But there are certain points in the life of the young girl,
+about which the handbooks have but little to say, which your teachers
+do not include in their course of tuition. Some of these points are
+particularly intimate and sentimental. It is here that I would wish
+to act as your adviser, and, if I may, as your confidential friend.
+I shall always be glad, while these papers are being published,
+to receive and answer any letters from young girls on questions of
+sentiment and propriety. If we had no sentiment, life would not stand
+thinking about; if we had no propriety, life would not stand talking
+about. Of the two, propriety is, perhaps, for the woman the more
+important, but I shall be glad to answer questions on both. And now
+let me say a few words on the subject of the Young Girl's Diary.
+
+[Illustration: (Young girl.)]
+
+You must most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+When I was a young girl of twenty-eight--it is not so very long ago--I
+had my Diary bound in pale blue watered silk; it had three locks and a
+little silver key which I wore on a riband round my neck. I never took
+it off except to--I mean for the purposes of the toilette. There was a
+pocket at the end of the book, which would hold a faded flower or any
+little souvenir. I always wrote it in solitude and by night. Secresy
+has its ritual, and it is infinitely sweet and consoling. If you
+should ever choose to read any passage from your Diary to the dearest
+of your girl-friends, the confidence becomes in consequence so much
+more confidential; for she will know that you are reading to her what
+was never intended for any human eye to see, and will enjoy it more.
+If you have the least appreciation of what sentiment really means, if
+you feel that you are misunderstood, or if you suffer from the most
+sacred of all emotions, you will most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+The entries in the Diary need not be of any great length. I once had
+a dear girl-friend who, during the happy season of her first love,
+became in the pages of her Diary almost entirely interjectional. I
+think this was from natural delicacy. I was recently stopping at her
+house, and owing to circumstances over which she had no control, I
+am able to reproduce here the entries which she made in the few days
+which culminated in her engagement.
+
+"_September_ 6.--Why?"
+
+You observe that she is puzzled to account for her own emotions, and
+yet hesitates to give the inevitable solution. The intense reticence
+of this entry seems to me peculiarly beautiful.
+
+"_September_ 7.--I hate MARY BINDLER."
+
+I can remember the circumstances very well, and I am inclined to think
+that she had some reason to be jealous of MARY BINDLER. MARY was not
+at all a nice girl.
+
+"_September_ 8.--Joy, joy, joy!"
+
+I think I can explain this entry. MARY BINDLER had been called away
+hurriedly. Somebody was dead, or something of that sort. My friend's
+expression of relief seems to me very pretty and natural.
+
+"_September_ 9.--Ah!"
+
+"_September_ 10.--Oh!"
+
+In that little word "Ah!" there is the whole history of a pic-nic and
+a carriage accident. It was there that she first guessed his feelings
+towards her. I am sorry to say that I have not been able to obtain
+any adequate explanation of the "Oh!" But I know they went out after
+dinner to see if it was possible to play tennis by moonlight. I
+conclude that it was not, for the next entry, which consists simply of
+a note of exclamation, is really a record of her engagement.
+
+Of course I need not point out the impropriety of mixing in the pages
+of your Diary the record of the most sacred emotions, and notes of
+things more commonplace. I knew a girl who invariably did this. She
+always commenced with an account of any money that she might have
+spent during the day. I have managed, with considerable difficulty, to
+make a copy of one of these entries, and I give it as a warning:--
+
+"Chocolate, one-and-six. ALGERNON has written to me, asking me to see
+him again for the last time. I have written back that my decision
+is unalterable. It breaks my heart to have to be so cruel--but fate
+wills it, and it's no good fighting against Mamma. Sent my grey to be
+cleaned--but it won't look anything when it's done."
+
+In another entry I found the following:--
+
+"A dear long letter from EGBERT. How perfect his sympathy is! Not
+feeling very well to-day--will always refuse _vol-au-vent_ in future."
+
+I need hardly say that a girl who would chronicle the state of her
+digestion and the sympathy of her lover in one paragraph could not
+possibly have any soul.
+
+The perfect Diary is something of a paradox. It should be composed
+chiefly of what is unpublishable--of one's secrets and sentiments--but
+it should always be written as if with a view to publication. In your
+Diary you can say things about yourself which it would be conceited to
+say openly, and you can say things about your friends which it would
+be unkind to say openly; you can make your own pose seem more real
+to yourself. So, my dear young girls, take my advice, and commence
+Diaries. And remember I shall be very glad to answer any questions on
+the subject.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+JOKIM'S LATEST LITTLE JOKE.
+
+(_BY A MANY TIMES DISAPPOINTED INCOME-TAX PAYER._)
+
+ It is out at last, but it falls very flat;
+ Such a very big "bag," such a very small "cat"!
+ Popularity Budget? It can't be called _that_!
+ The Budget that was to have been such "good biz,"
+ And have caused the Election to go with a "whizz,"
+ Fizzles out in--reducing the duty on Fizz!
+ Ah, JOKIM, my joker, you've hardly the knack
+ Of holding the Bag, so we'll give you "_the Sack_!"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"MEET IT IS I SET IT DOWN."--"Mr. J. McN. WHISTLER," it was remarked
+by one of his visitors on the closing day of his recent Exhibition,
+"has in his Catalogue put down all unfavourable criticisms." How, in
+this respect, would all of us like to imitate the Eccentric Knight of
+the Order of the Butterfly, and put down all adverse criticism.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NOTICE.--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.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14514 ***
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 23, 1892, by Various</title>
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14514 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102,
+April 23, 1892, by Various, Edited by F. C. Burnand</h1>
+<hr class="full" />
+ <h1>PUNCH,<br />
+ OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.</h1>
+
+ <h2>Vol. 102.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>April 23, 1892.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"
+ id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span>
+
+ <h2>TOWN THOUGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>With the usual apologies.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Oh, to be in London now that April's there,</p>
+
+ <p>And whoever walks in London sees, some morning, in
+ the Square,</p>
+
+ <p>That the upper thousands have come to Town,</p>
+
+ <p>To the plane-trees droll in their new bark gown,</p>
+
+ <p>While the sparrows chirp, and the cats miaow</p>
+
+ <p>In London&mdash;now!</p>
+
+ <p>And after April, when May follows</p>
+
+ <p>And the black-coats come and go like swallows!</p>
+
+ <p>Mark, where yon fairy blossom in the Row</p>
+
+ <p>Leans to the rails, and canters on in clover,</p>
+
+ <p>Blushing and drooping, with her head bent low!</p>
+
+ <p>That's the wise child: she makes him ask twice
+ over,</p>
+
+ <p>Lest he should think she views with too much
+ rapture</p>
+
+ <p>Her first fine wealthy capture!</p>
+
+ <p>But,&mdash;though her path looks smooth, and though,
+ alack,</p>
+
+ <p>All will he gay, till Time has painted black</p>
+
+ <p>The <i>Marigold</i>, her Mother's chosen
+ flower,&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>Far brighter is my <i>Heartsease</i>, Love's own
+ dower.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A WANT.&mdash;"There is only one thing," a visitor writes to
+ us, "that I missed at Venice, S.W. I've never been to the real
+ place, which is the Bride, or Pride, of the Sea, I forget
+ which, but, as I was saying, there's only one thing I miss, and
+ that is the heather. Who has not heard of 'the moor of Venice'?
+ And I daresay good shooting there too, with black game and such
+ like. I only saw pigeons flying, who some one informed me are
+ the pigeons of SAM MARK. Next time I go, I shall inquire at the
+ Restaurant for fresh Pigeon Pie. However, if Mr. KIRALFY will
+ take a hint, he will, in August provide a moor. It will add to
+ the gaiety of the show. 'The moor the merrier,' eh?"</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>Neo-Dramatic Nursery Rhyme.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>MRS. GRUNDY, good woman, scarce knew what to
+ think</p>
+
+ <p>About the relation 'twixt Drama and Drink.</p>
+
+ <p>Well, give Hall&mdash;and Theatre&mdash;good
+ wholesome diet,</p>
+
+ <p>And all who attend will be sober and quiet!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>SPRING'S DELIGHTS IN LONDON.&mdash;"VIA
+ MALODORA"&mdash;clearly a lady, "DORA" for short&mdash;wrote to
+ the <i>Times</i> complaining that the result of the splendid
+ weather for the first ten days of the month was the
+ reproduction of "summer effluvium rank and offensive" in
+ Piccadilly. Poor Piccadilly! Oh, its "offence is rank," and
+ Miss DORA might add, quoting to her father from another scene
+ in <i>Hamlet</i>, "And smells so. Pa'!" West-Enders, in a dry
+ summer, must he prepared to have "a high old time of it."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:60%;">
+ <a href="images/193-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/193-1.png"
+ alt="SANCTA SIMPLICITAS." /></a>
+
+ <h3>SANCTA SIMPLICITAS.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Orthodox Old Maid.</i> "BUT, REBECCA, IS YOUR PLACE
+ OF WORSHIP CONSECRATED?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Domestic</i> (<i>lately received into the Plymouth
+ Brotherhood</i>). "OH NO, MISS&mdash;IT'S GALVANISED
+ IRON!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>MY SOAP.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:20%;">
+ <a href="images/193-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/193-2.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I'm the maker of a Soap, which I confidently
+ hope</p>
+
+ <p>In the advertising tournament will win,</p>
+
+ <p>And remain the fit survival, having vanquished every
+ rival</p>
+
+ <p>Which is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I will now proceed to show, what the public ought to
+ know,</p>
+
+ <p>Unless they would be blindly taken in.</p>
+
+ <p>How in every soap but mine certain qualities
+ combine</p>
+
+ <p>To make it detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But surely at this date it is needless I should
+ state</p>
+
+ <p>That the cheaper soaps are barely worth a pin,</p>
+
+ <p>For they all contain a mixture, either free or as a
+ fixture,</p>
+
+ <p>Which is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And every cake you buy is so charged with
+ alkali,</p>
+
+ <p>To soda more than soap it is akin;</p>
+
+ <p>It is really dear at last, for it wastes away so
+ fast.</p>
+
+ <p>And is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The public I must warn of the colours that adorn</p>
+
+ <p>The soaps ambitious foreigners bring in;</p>
+
+ <p>They are often very pretty, but to use them is a
+ pity,</p>
+
+ <p>For they're very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>There are soaps which you can see through. I ask,
+ What can it be through?</p>
+
+ <p>Is it resin, or some other form of sin?</p>
+
+ <p>There are soaps which smell too strong, and of
+ course that must be wrong,</p>
+
+ <p>And extremely detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And too much fat's injurious, and so are soaps
+ sulphureous,</p>
+
+ <p>Though they say they keep the hair from growing
+ thin;</p>
+
+ <p>They may keep a person's hair on, like the precious
+ oil of AARON,</p>
+
+ <p>And yet be detrimental to his skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In short, the only soap which is fit for Prince or
+ Pope</p>
+
+ <p>(I have sent some to the KAISER at Berlin)</p>
+
+ <p>Is the article I sell you. Don't believe the firms
+ who tell you</p>
+
+ <p>It is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A LIQUOR QUESTION.&mdash;Why does a toper&mdash;especially
+ when "before the beak"&mdash;always say that he was "in drink,"
+ when he evidently means that the drink was in him? The only
+ soaker on record who could rightly be said to be "in drink"
+ was,</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Maudlin <i>Clarence</i> in his Malmsey butt."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>He was "in liquor" with a vengeance. But less lucky
+ wine-bibbers need not be illogical as well as inebriate.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>MR. GOSCHEN'S BUDGET.&mdash;"From a fiscal point of view,
+ the Tobacco receipts are extremely good." So unlike JOKIM. Of
+ course, as he never loses a chance of a <i>jeu de mot</i>, what
+ he must have said was, that "the Tobacco 'returns' are
+ extremely good." "A birthday Budget,&mdash;many happy
+ 'returns,'" he observed jocosely to PRINCE ARTHUR, "quite
+ japing times!" And off he went for his holiday; and, weather
+ permitting, as he reclines in his funny among the weeds, he
+ will gently murmur, "<i>Dulce est desipere in smoko</i>."</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"
+ id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span>
+
+ <h2>THE NEWEST NARCISSUS;</h2>
+
+ <h3>OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.</h3>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>["&mdash;The curious tendency towards imitation which is
+ observed whenever some specially sensational crime is
+ brought into the light of publicity."&mdash;<i>Morning
+ Post</i>.']</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>NARCISSUS? <i>He</i>, that foul ill-favoured
+ brute,</p>
+
+ <p>A fevered age's most repulsive fruit,</p>
+
+ <p>The murderous coxcomb, the assassin sleek?</p>
+
+ <p>Stranger comparison could fancy seek?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Truly 'tis not the self-admiring boy</p>
+
+ <p>Nymph Echo longed so vainly to enjoy;</p>
+
+ <p>Yet the old classic fable hath a phase</p>
+
+ <p>Which seems to fit the opprobrium of our days.</p>
+
+ <p>Criminal-worship seems our latest cult,</p>
+
+ <p>And this strange figure is its last result.</p>
+
+ <p>Self-conscious, self-admiring, Crime parades</p>
+
+ <p>Its loathly features, not in slumdom's shades,</p>
+
+ <p>Or in Alsatian sanctuaries vile.</p>
+
+ <p>No; peacock-posing and complacent smile</p>
+
+ <p>Pervade the common air, and take the town.</p>
+
+ <p>The glory of a scandalous renown</p>
+
+ <p>Lures the vain villain more than wrath or gain,</p>
+
+ <p>And cancels all the shame that should restrain:</p>
+
+ <p>Makes murder half-heroic in his sight,</p>
+
+ <p>And gilds the gallows with factitious light.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And whose the fault? Sensation it is thine!</p>
+
+ <p>The garrulous paragraph, the graphic line,</p>
+
+ <p>Poster and portrait, telegram and tale,</p>
+
+ <p>Make shopboy eager and domestics pale.</p>
+
+ <p>Over the morbid details workmen pore,</p>
+
+ <p>Toil's favourite pabulum and chosen lore,</p>
+
+ <p>Penny-a-liners pile the horrors up,</p>
+
+ <p>On which the cockney <i>gobe-mouche</i> loves to
+ sup,</p>
+
+ <p>And paragraph and picture feed the clown</p>
+
+ <p>With the foul garbage that has gorged the town.</p>
+
+ <p>"Vice is a monster of such hideous mien</p>
+
+ <p>As to be hated needs but to be seen."</p>
+
+ <p>So sang the waspish satirist long ago.</p>
+
+ <p>Now Vice is sketched and Crime is made a show.</p>
+
+ <p>A hundred eager scribes are at their heel</p>
+
+ <p>To tell the public how they look and feel,</p>
+
+ <p>How eat and drink, how sleep and smoke and play.</p>
+
+ <p>Murder's itinerary for a day,</p>
+
+ <p>Set forth in graphic phrase by skilful pens,</p>
+
+ <p>With pictures of its face, its favourite dens,</p>
+
+ <p>Its knife or bludgeon, pistol, paramour,</p>
+
+ <p>Will swell the swift editions hour by hour,</p>
+
+ <p>More than high news of war or of debate,</p>
+
+ <p>The death of heroes or the throes of state.</p>
+
+ <p>From club-room to street-corner runs the cry</p>
+
+ <p>After the newest fact, or latest lie:</p>
+
+ <p>The hurrying throng unfolded broad-sheets grasp,</p>
+
+ <p>And read with goggled eyes and lips a-gasp,</p>
+
+ <p>Blood! Blood! More Blood! It makes hot lips go
+ pale,</p>
+
+ <p>But gives the sweetest zest to the unholy tale.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>What wonder if the Horror, homaged thus</p>
+
+ <p>By frenzied eagerness and foolish fuss,</p>
+
+ <p>Swells to a hideous self-importance, struts</p>
+
+ <p>In conscious dignity, and gladly gluts</p>
+
+ <p>With vanity's fantastic tricks the herd</p>
+
+ <p>Whose pulses first by murderous crime it
+ stirred.</p>
+
+ <p>Narcissus-like, the slayer bends to trace</p>
+
+ <p>Within Sensation's flowing stream its face,</p>
+
+ <p>And, self-enamoured, smiles a loathsome smile</p>
+
+ <p>Of fatuous conceit and gloating guile;</p>
+
+ <p>Laughs at the shadow of the lifted knife,</p>
+
+ <p>And thinks of all things save its victim's life.</p>
+
+ <p>The "Noisy Nymph," the Echo of our times,</p>
+
+ <p>The gossip, with an eager ear for crimes,</p>
+
+ <p>Lurks, half-admiring, all-recording there,</p>
+
+ <p>Watching Narcissus with persistent stare,</p>
+
+ <p>And ready note-book. Nothing but a Voice?</p>
+
+ <p>No, but its babblings travel, and rejoice</p>
+
+ <p>A myriad prurient ears with noisome news,</p>
+
+ <p>Fit only for the shambles and the stews.</p>
+
+ <p>These hear, admire, and sometimes
+ imitate!&mdash;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Narcissus is a danger to the State,</p>
+
+ <p>And Echo hardly less. Vain-glorious crime;</p>
+
+ <p>That pestilent portent of a morbid time,</p>
+
+ <p>Would flourish less could sense or law avail</p>
+
+ <p>To strangle coarse Sensation's clamorous tale,</p>
+
+ <p>Silence the "Noisy Nymph," for half crime's ill</p>
+
+ <p>Would end were babbling Echo's voice but still.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:75%;">
+ <a href="images/194.png"><img width="70%"
+ src="images/194.png"
+ alt="'THE MISSING CIPHER.'" /></a>
+
+ <h3>"THE MISSING CIPHER."</h3>
+
+ <p>"OH, PAPA, ONLY FIFTY POUNDS FROM SIR GORGIUS MIDAS!
+ SUCH A MILLIONAIRE&mdash;WHY HE <i>OUGHT</i> TO HAVE SENT
+ FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS AT LEAST!"</p>
+
+ <p>"AH, I'M AFRAID HE FORGOT THE <i>OUGHT</i>, MY
+ DEAR!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195"
+ id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/195.png"><img width="70%"
+ src="images/195.png"
+ alt="THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS." />
+ </a>
+
+ <h3>THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.</h3>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>FETTERED.&mdash;In reply to the Unemployed Deputation which
+ found employment in paying a visit to the L.C.C. at Spring
+ Gardens, Messrs. BURNS and BEN TILLETT (Alderman) intimated
+ that as Mr. POWER, the U.D.'s spokesman, was not a member of
+ the L.C.C., that body was Power-less to assist them in their
+ trouble. A nasty time of it had the Labour Candidates on this
+ occasion. Nothing like putting men of Radical revolutionary
+ tendencies into responsible positions.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A SHADY VALET.&mdash;One DONALD CROSS was a Valet in the
+ service of an absent master, whose best clothes and jewellery
+ DONALD wore, while he kept his flat well aired by giving little
+ supper-parties to young ladies who took him at his own
+ valuation,&mdash;for a very superior swell. Alas! he was but a
+ <i>valet de sham</i>! "Cross purposes," but Magistrate
+ "disposes"; and the once happy Valet is in the shade for the
+ next six months.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196"
+ id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span>
+
+ <h2>IN FANCY DRESS.</h2>
+
+ <h4>A Sketch At Covent Garden Theatre.</h4>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous
+ than lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very
+ decided minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of
+ their costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic</i>
+ Hatstand, <i>hobbles painfully towards a friend who is
+ disguised as a huge</i> Cannon.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>The Hatstand</i> (<i>huskily, through a fox's mask in
+ the centre of his case, to the</i> Cannon). Just a trifle
+ slow up to the present, eh?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Cannon</i> (<i>shifting the carriage and wheels
+ to a less uncomfortable position.</i>) Yes, it don't seem
+ to me as lively as usual&mdash;<i>drags</i>, don't you
+ know.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Hatstand</i> (<i>heroically</i>). Well, we must
+ wake 'em up, that's all&mdash;put a little <i>go</i> into
+ the thing!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling
+ through the crowd, which regards them with
+ compassionate wonder.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Black Domino</i> (<i>to a</i> Clown, <i>who is
+ tapping the barometer on the</i> Hatstand's <i>back</i>).
+ Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it may be
+ here on the hire system.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>The</i> Hatstand <i>executes a cumbrous caper by
+ way of repartee, and stumbles on.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Folly</i> (<i>to a highly respectable</i> Bedouin
+ <i>in a burnous and gold spectacles</i>). Well, all I can
+ say is, you don't seem to me to behave much <i>like</i> an
+ Arab!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bedouin</i> (<i>uneasily, as he waltzes with
+ conscientious regularity</i>). Don't I? How <i>ought</i> I
+ to behave then?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Folly</i>. <i>I</i> should have thought you'd
+ jump about and howl, the way Bedouins <i>do</i> howl.
+ <i>You</i> know!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bed.</i> (<i>dubiously</i>). Um&mdash;well, you
+ see, my dear, I&mdash;I don't feel <i>up</i> to that sort
+ of thing&mdash;<i>before</i> supper.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Folly</i> (<i>losing all respect for him</i>).
+ No&mdash;nor yet after it. I expect you've told some old
+ four-wheel caravan to come and fetch you home early, and
+ you'll turn into your little tent at the usual
+ time&mdash;that's the sort of wild Bedouin <i>you</i> are!
+ Don't let me keep you. [<i>She leaves him.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bed.</i> (<i>alone</i>). If she only knew the
+ absolute <i>horror</i> I have of making myself conspicuous,
+ she wouldn't expect it!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mephistopheles</i> (<i>to a Picador</i>). This was
+ the only thing I could get to go in. How do you think it
+ suits me?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Picador</i> (<i>with candour</i>). Well, I must
+ say, old fellow, you <i>do</i> look a beast!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[Mephisto <i>appears wounded.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Masker</i> (<i>with his face painted brown, and in
+ a costume of coloured paper decorated with small boxes and
+ packets, to a Blue Domino</i>). You see what <i>I</i> am,
+ don't you? The Parcels Post! Had a <i>lot</i> of trouble
+ thinking it out. Look at my face, for instance, I made
+ <i>that</i> up, with string&mdash;marks and all, to look
+ like a brown-paper parcel.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Blue Domino</i>. Pity you haven't got something
+ <i>inside</i> it, isn't it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Parcels Post</i> (<i>feebly</i>). Don't you be
+ too sharp. And it really is a first-rate idea. All these
+ parcels now&mdash;I suppose there must be fifty of 'em at
+ least&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Blue Domino</i>. Are there? Well, I wish you'd go
+ and get sorted somewhere else. I haven't time for it
+ myself.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Sardonic Spectator</i> (<i>pityingly&mdash;to a
+ Masker in a violent perspiration, who represents Sindbad
+ carrying the Old Man of the Sea</i>). 'Ow you <i>are</i>
+ worrying yourself to be sure!</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Polite Stranger</i> (<i>accosting an Individual who
+ is personifying the London County Council by the aid of a
+ hat surmounted by a sky-sign, a cork bridge and a tin
+ tramcar, a toy Clown and a butterfly on his chest, a
+ portrait of Mlle. Zoeo on his back, a miniature fireman
+ under an extinguisher, and a model crane, which he winds up
+ and down with evident enjoyment</i>). Excuse me, Sir, but
+ would you mind showing us round you&mdash;or is there a
+ catalogue to your little collection?</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>The L.C.C. maintains a dignified
+ silence.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Pierrot</i> (<i>critically to Cleopatra</i>). Very
+ nice indeed, my dear girl,&mdash;except that they ought to
+ have given you a serpent to carry, you know'</p>
+
+ <p><i>Cleopatra</i>. Oh, they <i>did</i>&mdash;only I left
+ it in the Cloak-room.</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Man with a False Nose</i> (<i>to a Friend who is
+ wearing his natural organ</i>). Why, I thought you said
+ <i>you</i> were coming in a nose?</p>
+
+ <p><i>His Friend</i>. So I did (<i>he produces an enormous
+ nose and cheeks from his tail-pocket</i>). But it's no
+ mortal use; the minute I put it on I'm recognised
+ (<i>plaintively</i>). And I gave one-and-ninepence for the
+ beastly thing, too!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Young Man of the Period</i> (<i>meeting a female
+ acquaintance attired in ferns, rock-work, and coloured
+ shells, illuminated by portable electric light</i>).
+ Hul-lo! You <i>are</i> a swell! And what are <i>you</i>
+ supposed to be?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Lady in Rock-work</i>. Can't you see? I'm a Fairy
+ Grotto. Good idea, isn't it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Rippin'! But what the mischief have you got
+ on your shoulder?</p>
+
+ <p><i>She</i>. Oh, that's an aquarium&mdash;real goldfish.
+ See!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Exhibiting them with pride.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Ain't you lettin' 'em sit up rather late?
+ They <i>will</i> be chippy to-morrow&mdash;off colour,
+ don't you know.</p>
+
+ <p><i>She</i>. Will they? What ought I to do for them,
+ then?</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Do? Oh, just put a brandy-and-soda in their
+ tank.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Later; Supper is going on in the Boxes and
+ Supper-room, and the festivity has been further
+ increased by the arrival of a party of Low Comedians
+ and Music-Hall Stars. The Lancers have been danced with
+ more abandonment, and several entirely new and original
+ figures</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>The Chevalier Bayard</i> (<i>at the Refreshment
+ Bar&mdash;to a Watteau Shepherdess</i>). I say, you come
+ along and dance with me, will you?&mdash;and look here, if
+ you dance well, I'll give you a drink when it's over. If
+ you don t dance to please me, you'll get nothing. See?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Watteau Shepherdess</i> (<i>with delicate
+ disdain</i>). 'Ere, you go along, you silly ass!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Hits him with her crook.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Gentleman who has obviously supped</i> (<i>catching
+ hold of a passing Acquaintance, whose hand he wrings
+ affectionately</i>). Dear ole HUGHIE! don't go away just
+ yet. Shtop an' talk with me. Got lotsh er things say to
+ you, dear ole boy&mdash;mosh 'portant things! Shure you,
+ you're the on'y man in the wide world I ever kicked a
+ care&mdash;cared a kick about. Don't <i>you</i> leave me,
+ HUGHIE!</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:47%;">
+ <a href="images/196.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/196.png"
+ alt="'Exit unsteadily towards Bar.'" /></a>"Exit
+ unsteadily towards Bar."
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>Hughie</i> (<i>who is looking for his partner</i>).
+ Not now, old man&mdash;can't stop. See you later!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>He makes his escape.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>The Affect. G.</i> (<i>confidentially&mdash;to a
+ Policeman</i>). Thash a very dear ole pal o' mine,
+ plishman, a <i>very</i> dear ole pal. Worsht of him
+ ish&mdash;shimply imposhble get a lit' rational
+ conversation with him. No <i>sheriousness</i> in his
+ character!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Exit unsteadily towards Bar, in blissful
+ unconsciousness that somebody has attached a large
+ false nose and spectacles to the buttons of his
+ coat-tails.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Troubadour</i> (<i>jealously&mdash;to an
+ Arleguina</i>). No&mdash;but look here, you might just as
+ well say right put which costume you like best&mdash;mine
+ or&mdash;(<i>indicating a Cavalier on her other
+ side</i>)&mdash;his.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Arleguina</i> (<i>cautiously&mdash;not desiring to
+ offend either</i>). Well, I'd rather be
+ <i>him</i>&mdash;not as a <i>man</i>, I wouldn't&mdash;but,
+ as <i>myself</i>, I'd like to be <i>this</i> one.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Both appear equally satisfied and soothed by
+ this diplomatic, but slightly mystic response.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Vivandière</i> (<i>to a Martyr, who is shuffling
+ along inside a property-trunk, covered with twigs, and
+ supposed to represent a Bird in the Hand</i>). Well, that's
+ <i>one</i> way of coming <i>out</i> to enjoy yourself, I
+ suppose!</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Middle-aged Man</i> (<i>wandering behind the
+ Orchestra</i>). It's beastly dull, that's what it
+ is&mdash;none of the give-and-take humour and practical fun
+ you get in Paris or Vienna!... That's a nice,
+ simple-looking little thing in the seat over there. (<i>The
+ simple-looking little thing peeps at him, with one eye over
+ her fan, in arch invitation.</i>) Gad, I'll go up and talk
+ to her&mdash;it will be something to <i>do</i>, at any
+ rate&mdash;she looks as if she wouldn't mind. (<i>He goes
+ up.</i>) Think I know your face&mdash;haven't we met
+ before?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Simple Little Thing</i> (<i>after an elaborate
+ wink aside at a</i> Fireman). Shouldn't wonder. Don't you
+ run away yet. Sit down and talk to me&mdash;do now. No, not
+ <i>that</i> side&mdash;try the arm-chair, it's more
+ comfortable.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197"
+ id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span>
+
+ <p><i>The M.M.</i> (<i>throwing himself gracefully into a
+ well-padded chintz chair</i>). Well, really&mdash;(<i>The
+ chair suddenly digs him in the ribs with one of its
+ elbows</i>). Eh, look here now&mdash;'pon my&mdash;(<i>He
+ attempts to rise, and finds himself tightly pinioned by the
+ arms of the chair.</i>) There's some confounded fool
+ <i>inside</i> this chair!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Simple Little Thing</i> (<i>tickling him under
+ the chin with her fan</i>). Shouldn't call yourself names!
+ I'm going&mdash;don't get up on <i>my</i> account. [<i>She
+ goes off, laughing; a crowd collects and heartily enjoys
+ his situation.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>The M.M.</i> (<i>later&mdash;very red after his
+ release</i>). If I could have found a policeman, I'd have
+ given that chair in custody! It's scandalous to call
+ <i>that</i> coming in Fancy Dress! [<i>Exit
+ indignantly.</i></p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE BROWN-JONES INCIDENT.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>Adapted from the French.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>SCENE&mdash;<i>A Street. Enter</i> BROWN <i>and</i>
+ JONES. <i>They meet, and regard one another for a moment,
+ fixedly. Then they salute one another respectfully.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> I have been looking for you
+ everywhere.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> Then I am delighted to have met you.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> I have said of you that you are a
+ trickster, a scoundrel, a fool, and an idiot!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> Yes&mdash;and I have regretted the saying,
+ because it shows to me that you have misunderstood the
+ great literary movement of the present day, in its vast and
+ varied effort.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> Of that I know nothing, for I confess I
+ have never read your books.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>reproachfully</i>). Yes&mdash;and yet
+ you accuse me of being a trickster, a scoundrel, and a
+ fool, without knowing my works?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> It was my duty. But still I had no wish to
+ be guilty of an outrage.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> An outrage&mdash;how an outrage?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> Had I known you had been present to hear
+ me I would not have caused you the pain of listening to
+ me.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>with admiration</i>). But it was the
+ act of a brave man! Did it not occur to you that had I been
+ within reach of you that you too would have suffered
+ pain?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> It did not, I was unconscious of your
+ presence. I would have preferred to have spoken behind your
+ back. It is brutal to speak before any face. It might lead
+ to an unpleasantness.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> No, it is your duty to do what you think
+ is right. It is also my duty to do what I think is right.
+ We are now face to face. Have you anything further to say
+ to me?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown</i> (<i>hurriedly</i>). You have immense
+ gifts&mdash;gifts which are those of genius.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> I thought you would understand me better
+ when we met. My dear friend, I am delighted at this
+ reconciliation. Give me your hand.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown</i> (<i>clasping palms</i>). With all the
+ pleasure in the world. But still I owe you reparation. How
+ can I&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>interrupting</i>). Not another word, my
+ dear friend. That is a matter we can leave in the hands of
+ our Solicitors.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Scene closes in upon the suggestion.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/197-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/197-1.png"
+ alt="A SOLILOQUY." /></a>
+
+ <h3>A SOLILOQUY.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Youthful Mercury.</i> "WHAT'S THIS 'ERE ON THE PLYTE?
+ 'KNOCK AND RING'! BLOWED IF THEY WON'T BE HARSKING YER TO
+ '<i>WALK HINSIDE</i>,' NEXT!!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:30%;">
+ <a href="images/197-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/197-2.png"
+ alt="'Oliver asking for More.'" /></a>"Oliver asking
+ for More."
+ </div>
+
+ <p>It is curious to find a coincidence in style and in idea
+ between an earnest, witty and pious English author of the
+ Sixteenth Century, and an American author of our own day. Yet
+ so it is, and here is the parallel to be found between the
+ quaint American tales about the old negro, <i>Uncle Remus</i>,
+ by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, in this year of Grace, 1892, and the
+ fables writ by Sir THOMAS MORE in 1520, or thereabouts, which
+ he represents as if told him by an old wife and nurse, one
+ Mother MAUD. Here are "The Wolf,"&mdash;"Brer Wolf"&mdash;and
+ the simple-minded Jackass, both are going to confession to
+ Father Fox&mdash;"Brer Fox." Æsop is, of course, the common
+ origin of all such tales. The extracts which I have come
+ across, are to be found in a small book compiled by the Rev.
+ THOMAS BRIDGETT, entitled, <i>The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas
+ More</i>. The Baron wishes that with it had been issued a
+ glossary of old English words and expressions, as, to an
+ ordinary modern reader, much of Sir THOMAS MORE's writing is
+ well-nigh unintelligible; nay, in some instances, the Baron can
+ only approximately arrive at the meaning, as though it were a
+ writ in a foreign language with which his acquaintance was of
+ no great profundity. Certes, the learned and reverend compiler
+ hath a keen relish for this quaintness, but not so will fifteen
+ out of his twenty readers, who, pardie! shall regret the
+ absence of a key without which some of the treasure must, to
+ them at least, remain inaccessible. With this reservation, but
+ with no sort of equivocation, doth the Baron heartily recommend
+ The Reverend BRIDGETT's compilation of Sir THOMAS MORE's
+ "English as she is writ" in the Sixteenth Century, to all
+ lovers of good books in this "so-called (O, immortal phrase!)
+ Nineteenth Century." The Rev. THOMAS hath well and ably done
+ his work, and therefore doth the Baron advise his readers to go
+ to their booksellers, and, being there, to imitate the example
+ of DICKENS's oft-quoted <i>Oliver</i>, and "ask for MORE."</p>
+
+ <p>Quoth the Baron, "Much liketh me the Macmillanite series of
+ <i>English Men of Action</i>, and in a very special manner do I
+ laud the latest that, to my knowledge, hath appeared 'yclept
+ <i>Montrose</i>, by Master MOWBRAY MORRIS&mdash;a good many
+ 'M's' in these names&mdash;who hath executed his
+ <i>Montrose</i> with as loving a heart and as tender a touch as
+ ever did use old IZAAK towards the gentle that he, and the
+ simple fish, did love so well. Did not the very hangman burst
+ into tears as he thrust the unfortunate nobleman off the step?
+ and did not a universal sob of pity break from the vast crowd
+ assembled to see the last of the noble cavalier, victim to an
+ unfortunate tradition of loyalty? What wonder then if we
+ sympathise with this luckless hero of romance? The weak-knee'd
+ villain of this historical drama was '<i>Charles</i> (his
+ friend),' in which character, be it allowed, this sad dog of a
+ Merry Monarch not infrequently appeared. Thank you much, Mr.
+ MOWBRAY MONTROSE MORRIS," quoth</p>
+
+ <p class="author">THE BENEFICENT BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198"
+ id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/198.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/198.png"
+ alt="SYMPATHY." /></a>
+
+ <h3>SYMPATHY.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Mamma</i> (<i>to Cook</i>)&mdash;"AND MRS. STUBBS,
+ THE CREAM WITH THE APPLE-TART YESTERDAY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN
+ WHIPPED."</p>
+
+ <p><i>Ethel</i> (<i>who has a grateful remembrance of the
+ dish in question</i>). "OH, MUMMY DEAR! 'OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN
+ WHIPPED!' I THOUGHT IT WAS PARTICULARLY GOOD!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>APRIL SHOWERS;</h2>
+
+ <h3>OR, A SPOILED EASTER HOLIDAY.</h3>
+
+ <h4>(<i>A Vacation Cantata.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Master George (stretching forth his fingers to feel
+ if the shower is abating) sings</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Rain! Rain!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Go away!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Come again</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Another day!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur</i> (<i>gloomily</i>). Pooh! Rain won't
+ go away, not in these times,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">By being sung at to old nursery rhymes:</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Especially in such a voice as yours!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Needn't be nasty, ARTHUR!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;How it pours!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Thought we were going to have a real jolly
+ day,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And now it's set in wet, to spoil our
+ holiday.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Always the way at Easter. Shall we
+ trudge it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i> Not yet. What have you got,
+ GEORGE, in your Budget?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Not very much, I fear!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;Ah, that's vexatious!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">It might have cheered us up a bit.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George</i> (<i>indignantly</i>). Good
+ gracious!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">You're always down on me, with no good
+ reasons.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">You know <i>I</i>'m not the ruler of the
+ Seasons.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Now if I'd been in <i>your</i>
+ place&mdash;but no matter!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> By Jingo, how the raindrops rush
+ and clatter!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Ah, Primrose-gathering is not half so
+ jolly</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">As once it used to be.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;Ah! my dear SOLLY,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The springs are now so awfully wet and
+ cold,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The "cry" don't seem so fetching as of
+ old.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Pipes up.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Recitative. "Who will buy my pretty, pretty
+ Pri-im-ro-o-ses!</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i4"><i>All fresh gathered from the
+ va-a-a-ll-ey?"</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> The wet and cold have got into
+ your throat,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">A quaver and a crack on every note!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> Don't aggravate each other, boys;
+ 'tis wrong,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But while it rains <i>I</i>'ll tootle out a
+ song:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">(<i>Sings.</i>) The days we went
+ a-Primrosing!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">AIR&mdash;"<i>The days we went
+ a-Gipsying!</i>"</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The days are gone, the happy days</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">When <i>we</i> were in our Spring;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">When all the Primrose loved to praise,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">And join its gathering.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Oh! we could sing like anything,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">We felt the conqueror's glow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Then April's flowery return</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Was "Peace-with-Honour's" goal.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And the bright brimstone-bunch would burn</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">In every button-hole.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Our Dames were gaily on the wing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">With blossoms in full blow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But now Progressive storms prevail</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Election blizzards chill;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The Primroses seem sparse and pale</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">In valley and on hill.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Yon cloud looks black as raven's wing!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Things did not menace so.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Both.</i> Oh, brayvo, BOBBY!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> Thanks. Yet my song's burden</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Is dismal as the croakings of <i>Dame
+ Durden</i>.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Our holiday is spoilt by driving showers.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">I fear we shall have no great show of
+ flowers;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But&mdash;anyhow my boys we're under
+ cover;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And let us hope that storm-cloud will pass
+ over</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Without first giving us a dreadful
+ drenching,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And all our April-hopes entirely
+ quenching.</p>
+
+ <p><i>All</i> (<i>singing together</i>).</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Rain! Rain!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Go away!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Come again</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Another day!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Left crouching and singing.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>FROM THE THEATRES, &amp;C. COMMISSION.&mdash;"I am afraid,"
+ said Mr. P.S. RUTLAND, speaking of the Music Halls, and in
+ answer to a question of Mr. BOLTON's, "we cannot do a wreck.
+ (<i>Laughter.</i>)" Mr. WOODALL: "Without being wrecked in the
+ attempt. (<i>Renewed laughter.</i>)" Oh, witty WOODALL! Why,
+ encouraged by this applause, he may yet be led on to make a pun
+ on his own name, and say, "<i>Would all</i> were like him!" or
+ some such merry jest. The proceedings in this Committee were
+ becoming a trifle dull, but it is to be hoped that they may yet
+ hear something still more sparkling from the wise and witty
+ WOODALL.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199"
+ id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/199.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/199.png"
+ alt="APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY." />
+ </a>
+
+ <h3>APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY.</h3>TRIO.
+ "RAIN! RAIN! GO AWAY! COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"
+ id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span>
+
+ <h2>TO MY COOK.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:33%;">
+ <a href="images/201-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/201-1.png"
+ alt="My cook." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Oh, hard of favour, fat of form,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">How fairer art thou than thy looks,</p>
+
+ <p>Whose heart with kitchen fires is warm,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou plainest of the plainer Cooks!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Low down upon thy forehead grows</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thick hair of no conducive dye;</p>
+
+ <p>Short and aspiring is thy nose,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Watched ever by a furtive eye.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In shy defiance rarely seen</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Where kitchen stairways darkly tend,</p>
+
+ <p>A foe to judge thee by thy mien,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Proclaimed in every act a friend!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I know thee little; not thy views</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">On public or on private life,</p>
+
+ <p>Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's
+ wife;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>For who can rightly read the change</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When, still'd the work-day traffic's
+ din,</p>
+
+ <p>In best apparel, rich and strange,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou passest weekly to thy kin!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A silken gown, that bravely stands</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Environing thy form, or no;</p>
+
+ <p>Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">For brooch, the breastplate cameo.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Shod with the well-heeled boots, whose knell</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Afar along the pavement sounds,</p>
+
+ <p>Blent with the tinkling muffin-bell,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or milkman, shrilling on his rounds.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p><i>Nil tangis quod non ornas.</i> Nay,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">'Tis not alone the parsley sprig,</p>
+
+ <p>The paper frill, the fennel spray,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The Yule-tide's pertly-berried twig;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But common objects by thy art</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Some proper beauty seem to own;</p>
+
+ <p>Thy chop is as a chop apart,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fraught with a grace before unknown;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The very egg thou poachest seems</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Some work of deft
+ <i>orfévrerie</i>,&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>A yolk of gold that chastely gleams</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Through a thin shrine of ivory.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>From thee no pale and wilted ghost,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or branded by the blackening bar,</p>
+
+ <p>But crisp and cheery comes the toast,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And brown as ripening hazels are.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thy butter has not lost the voice</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of English meads, where cowslips
+ grow,</p>
+
+ <p>And oh, the bacon of thy choice&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Rose-jacinth labyrinthed in snow!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And mutton, colder than the kiss</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of formal love, where loathing lurks</p>
+
+ <p>Its deadlier chill doth wholly miss,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fired with the spirit of thy works.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>To true occasion thou art true,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">As upon great occasions great;</p>
+
+ <p>Doing whatever Cook may do</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When PHYLLIS, neat, alone will wait,</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>As when the neighbouring villas send</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Their modish guests to statelier
+ fare,</p>
+
+ <p>And PHYLLIS, neat, is helped to tend</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By that staid man the Greengrocer.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Though thou art more than plain in look,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou wieldest charms that never
+ tire&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>O Cook&mdash;we will not call thee Cook,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou Priestess of the Genial Fire.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>LAYING A GHOST!</h2>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>PROSPECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS.&mdash;Owing to the continued
+ success of <i>Hamlet</i>, it has been decided (by
+ arrangement with the Author) to postpone,
+ &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Extract from Advertisement in Daily
+ Paper.</i></p>
+
+ <p>SCENE&mdash;<i>Sanctum of</i> Popular Actor-Manager
+ <i>of Theatre Royal Haymarket</i>, Popular Actor-Manager
+ <i>dozing over a submitted Play. He closes his eyes and
+ slumbers. When to him enter</i> Master WILLIAM
+ SHAKSPEARE.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> (<i>shouting</i>). What ho, Sir
+ Player! Wake up, Sir, wake up!</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>rousing himself</i>). Delighted to
+ see you, Mr. SHAKSPEARE. I hope you have been in front and
+ seen us?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> Yes, I just had a glance. Find you
+ have put in some new business. When will all you fellows
+ leave me alone?</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>earnestly</i>). I hope, Sir, that in
+ the cause of Art you do not object, that&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> (<i>interrupting</i>). Oh, no! It
+ makes little difference to me what you do. <i>My</i>
+ author's fees ceased years ago! But look here, What do you
+ mean by this? (<i>Produces Press-cutting of advertisement
+ and reads</i>)&mdash;"Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Prospective
+ Arrangements. Owing to the continued success of
+ <i>Hamlet</i>, it has been decided (by arrangement with the
+ Author) to postpone" another play. Now, Master TREE, or as
+ I may call ye, "Master up a Tree," what have you to say to
+ that? You see your advertisement has caught my eye. I am
+ here to answer it!</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> Most wonderful! I do not know how or
+ wherefore my pen slipped, but slip it did, indeed. However,
+ I apologise. Is that enough?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> More than enough!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Enter the</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father
+ <i>suddenly.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Ghost</i> (<i>with a glance at W.S.</i>). Ah, the
+ Governor here already! Still, I may have my chance as well
+ as he! I gave the plot of <i>Hamlet</i>! Why shouldn't I
+ have another shot? (<i>To P.A.-M.</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">But that I am forbid</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">To tell the secrets of my prison-house,</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">I could a tale unfold, whose lightest
+ word</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Would harrow up thy soul.</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>eagerly</i>). The very thing for a
+ melodrama. Delighted to make your
+ acquaintance&mdash;hem&mdash;in the Spirit!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> Nay, good Master Player, this is
+ scarcely business! If anything in <i>that</i> line is to be
+ done, I should do it. (<i>To</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father).
+ Begone, Sirrah!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Ghost.</i> Nay, this is professional jealousy! (<i>To
+ P.A.-M.</i>). I find thee apt&mdash;</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>A book falls, and</i> Master WM. SHAKSPEARE
+ <i>and</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father <i>vanish
+ together.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>opening his eyes</i>). Was I
+ dreaming? (<i>With a recollection of "The Red Lamp</i>") I
+ wonder! [<i>Left wondering.</i></p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>TAKING A SIGHT AT RINGANDKNOCK.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By Ruddier Stripling.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <p>After the roughness of the Atlantic, in which to my taste
+ there is far too much water moving about, I stepped on to
+ America with considerable relief. I was quite satisfied, after
+ that excellent dinner, the first I had enjoyed since Liverpool
+ slid away eastward, to walk aimlessly through the streets till
+ I fell into the arms of a broad-shouldered, pug-nosed, Irish
+ New York policeman. I remember no more till New York passed
+ away on a sunny afternoon, and then I fell asleep again and
+ slept till the brakeman, conductor, Pullman-car conductor,
+ negro porter and newsboy somehow managed to pull me out into
+ the midnight temperature of 80 below freezing. It was just like
+ having one's head put under the pump, but it did not quite
+ revive me, for I mistook my host in his sleigh for a walrus,
+ and tried to harpoon him with my umbrella. After matters had
+ been explained, we went off, at least I did, and never woke up
+ till I fell out into a snow-drift, just as we turned a corner
+ at our journey's end.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:17%;">
+ <a href="images/201-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/201-2.png"
+ alt="'Ta-ra-ra-Boom!'" /></a>"Ta-ra-ra-Boom!"
+ </div>
+
+ <p>In the morning, I had some idea that the sky was a great
+ sapphire, and that I was inside it, and that the fields were
+ some sort of velvet or wool-work, going round and round with
+ the sun rioting over them, whatever that may mean, till my head
+ ached. I can't quite understand all this now, but it seemed a
+ very picturesque, impressionist description when I wrote it.
+ Then I went for a walk down Main Street. I think it is about
+ 400 miles long, for I got nowhere near the end, but this was
+ perhaps owing to my uncertainty as to which side was the
+ pleasanter to walk on. At last I gave it up, and sat down on
+ the side-walk. Now, the wisdom of Vermont, not being at all
+ times equal to grasping all the problems of everybody else's
+ life with delicacy, sometimes makes pathetic mistakes, and it
+ did so in my ease. I explained to the policeman that I had been
+ sitting up half the night on a wild horse in New Zealand, and
+ had only just come over for the day, but it was all in
+ vain.</p>
+
+ <p>The cell at Vermont was horribly uncomfortable. I dreamt
+ that I was trying to boil snow in a thimble, to make maple
+ syrup, and to swim on my head in deep water, with a life-belt
+ tied to my ankles. There was another man there, and in the
+ early morning he told me about Mastodons and Plesiosauri in a
+ wood near the town, and how he caught them by the tails and
+ photographed them; and also that Ringandknock, a mountain near,
+ was mentioned by EMERSON in a verse, which I remembered,
+ because he made "co-eval" rhyme with "extended." Only a truly
+ great Philosopher could have done that.</p>
+
+ <p>It was all new and delightful; and it must have been true,
+ because my informant was a quiet, slow-spoken man of the West,
+ who refrained from laughing at me. I have met very few people
+ who could do that. Next day all the idleness and trifling were
+ at an end, and my friends conveyed me back to New York.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>EPITAPH ON A DYER.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>This Dyer with a dire liver tried</p>
+
+ <p>To earn a living dyeing, and he died.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"
+ id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span>
+
+ <h2>THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER.</h2>
+
+ <h3>No. VIII.&mdash;THE DUFFER AS A HOST.</h3>
+
+ <p>Of course I don't try to give dinners at home. The
+ difficulties and anxieties are too enormous. First there is
+ inviting the people. I like to have none but very clever men
+ and very pretty women, but nobody's acquaintance is limited to
+ those rare beings, and, if I did invite them, they would all
+ have previous engagements: I do not blame them. But suppose
+ that two or three of the wits and beauties accept, that is
+ worse than ever, because the rest are a Q.C. (who talks about
+ his cases) and his wife, who talks about her children. An old
+ school-fellow, who has no conversation that does not begin, "I
+ say, do you remember old JACK WILLIAMS." This does not
+ entertain the beauty, who sits next him.</p>
+
+ <p>A Dowager Duchess, she knows none of the other people and
+ wonders audibly (to me) who they are. A clever young man, whose
+ language is the language of the future, and whose humour is of
+ a date to which I humbly hope my own days may not be prolonged.
+ A Psychical Researcher, with a note-book; he gets at the
+ Duchess at once, and cross-examines her about a visionary Piper
+ who plays audible pibrochs through Castle Blawearie, her
+ ancestral home. Does she think the pibroch could be taken down
+ in a phonograph. Could the Piper be snapped in a kodak? The
+ Duchess does not know what a phonograph is; never heard of a
+ kodak. She does not like the note-book any more than <i>Mr.
+ Pickwick's</i> cabman liked it. She is afraid of getting into
+ print. Then there is the Warden of St. Jude's, a great scholar;
+ he pricks up his ears, not the keenest, at the word kodak, and
+ begins to talk about a newly-discovered <i>Codex</i> of
+ PODONIAN the Elder. Nobody knows what a <i>Codex</i> is. There
+ is a School-board Lady, but, alas, she is next the Warden of
+ St. Jude's, not next the enthusiastic Clergyman, who proses
+ about a Club for Milliners. There is GRIGSBY, who develops an
+ undesirable interest in the Milliners' Club. Have they a
+ Strangers' Room? Do they give suppers? Are they Friendly Girls?
+ Everyone thinks GRIGSBY flippant and coarse; I wish I had not
+ asked him to come. There is a Positivist, who sneers at the
+ Clergyman; there are a Squire and his wife from Rutlandshire:
+ she is next the Radical Candidate for the Isle of Dogs. They do
+ not seem to get on well together. GRIGSBY and the humorist of
+ the future are chaffing each other across the table: nobody
+ understands them; I don't know whether they are quarrelling or
+ not. Miss JONES, the authoress of <i>Melancholy Moods</i> (in a
+ Greek dress, with a <i>pince-nez</i>: a woman should not
+ combine these attributes) is next the Squire: he has never
+ heard of any of her friends the Minor Poets: she takes no
+ interest in Hay, nor in Tithes. I see the Guardsman and the
+ Beauty looking at each other across the flowers and things: the
+ language of their eyes is not difficult, nor pleasant, to read.
+ Why is the champagne so hot, and why are the ices so salt and
+ hard? I know something is the matter with the claret: something
+ is always the matter with the claret. It has been iced, and the
+ champagne has been standing for days in an equable temperature
+ of 65°.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/202.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/202.png"
+ alt="'It is midnight; I am tired to death.'" /></a>"It
+ is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, Bielby
+ <i>will</i> have something to drink, and another
+ cigar&mdash;a very large one."
+ </div>
+
+ <p>When they want to go away, it is a wet night, and those who
+ have come in cabs cannot get cabs to go back in. The Duchess's
+ coachman lost his way, coming here, she was half-an-hour late:
+ she is anxious about his finding his way home. GRIGSBY has got
+ at the Psychical-Researcher, and I hear him telling stories, as
+ personal experiences, which I know are not true.
+ Psychical-Researchers have no sense of humour. "S.P.R.," why
+ not "S.P.Q.R.?" I hear GRIGSBY asking, and suggesting "Society
+ for Propagating Rubbish." It is very rude of him, and not at
+ all funny.</p>
+
+ <p>However, they do go away at last, that advantage a dinner at
+ home has over a dinner at the Club, there they often seem as if
+ they would never go away at all.</p>
+
+ <p>On the other hand, the wine is all right at the Club, I
+ believe, for I know nothing about wine myself. Some men talk of
+ nothing else, and seem to know the vintages without looking at
+ the names on the bottles.</p>
+
+ <p>The worst of giving a dinner at the Club is, that I never
+ know how many men I have asked, nor even who they are. It is
+ enough if I remember the date. It might be a good thing to
+ write these matters down in a Diary, or on a big sheet of
+ paper, pinned up in one's room. I know I have written to ask
+ some Americans whom I have not seen: they brought letters of
+ introduction. I forget their names&mdash;there is a Professor
+ who has written a novel, there is a General, I think, and a Mad
+ Doctor.</p>
+
+ <p>My best plan will be to stand about in the drawing-room, and
+ try to select them as they come in. Here is WILKINSON, who was
+ at St. Jude's with me: I shake hands with him warmly. He looks
+ blank. It is not WILKINSON, after all; it is a stranger, he is
+ dining with somebody else. Some other men have come in while I
+ am apologising. One of them comes up and says, "Mr. McDUFFER!"
+ He must be an American. Which? He tells me: he is the Mad
+ Doctor. He introduces his countrymen; they all say "Mr.
+ McDUFFER!" How am I to remember which is the General and which
+ is the Professor? Other people drop in. Here is CRIMPTON. He is
+ a Reviewer. Clever fellow, CRIMPTON. Here is old
+ BEILBY&mdash;he is hot from the University Match. He begins to
+ tell me all about it. JONES was awfully well set, but that muff
+ SMITH ran him out. BEILBY does not believe it <i>was</i> out.
+ Odd the spite umpires always have at our side. Feel that I must
+ tear myself from BEILBY, the only man whose conversation really
+ interests me. Here is an English writer on military subjects. I
+ introduce him to the American General. Find he is the
+ Professor, after all. We get down-stairs somehow. BEILBY is
+ opposite me. CRIMPTON is next the Professor. The Military
+ Writer is next the General. Things do not appear to go very
+ smoothly. It seems that the Military one has said something
+ about General BEAUREGARD which he should not have said. The
+ General is getting red. I hate it, when men begin to talk about
+ the American War. Any other war they are welcome to: the Danish
+ War, the war of 1866, the war of 1870, the glorious affair of
+ Majuba. But Americans are touchy about their war, not easy to
+ please them whatever you say. Much best to say nothing.
+ CRIMPTON is laughing at American novels. He does not know that
+ the Professor is an American novelist. What am I to do? I try
+ to kick him under the table. I kick the Mad Doctor, and
+ apologise. Was feeling about for a footstool. BEILBY is trying
+ to talk about Base Ball to the General, who is still red.
+ Nothing is more disagreeable than these international
+ discussions at dinner.</p>
+
+ <p>Now, a clever host would know how to get out of this; he
+ would start some other subject. I can think of no other
+ subject. Happy thought: gradually glide into American cookery,
+ clams, canvas-backed ducks, what is that dish with a queer
+ name&mdash;Jumbo? I don't feel as if it were Jumbo. Squambo?
+ Terapin soup? It sounds rather like the Hebrew for a talisman,
+ or an angel of some sort. However, they are talking about
+ cookery now, and wines. Is there not an American wine called
+ Catawampus? The Mad Doctor has his eye on me; he seems
+ interested. I thought I heard him murmur Aspasia, or Aphasia,
+ or something like that. It is not Catawampus&mdash;it is
+ Catawba. I feel that I <i>patauge</i>&mdash;flounder, I mean. I
+ am getting quite nervous; feel like a man in a powder-magazine,
+ with lighted cigarettes everywhere. If one can withdraw them to
+ the smoking-room, they will settle down somehow. They do. The
+ Military Critic gets into a corner with BEILBY. The Americans
+ and I consort together. Most agreeable fellows; have been
+ everywhere, and seen everything. CRIMPTON, luckily, is reading
+ one of his own reviews in the evening paper. I glance at it; it
+ is a review of the Professor's novel. Not a kind
+ review&mdash;rather insulting than otherwise. He hates BEILBY,
+ and he does not know the Military Critic. If he joins us, there
+ will be more international discussion. I get them on to the
+ balcony, and pretend to go to ring the bell for coffee. I
+ whisper to CRIMPTON. He is quite taken aback. "Awfully sorry;
+ never dreamed the Professor was not English." He wants to tell
+ the Professor that, thinks he will be pleased. He apologises to
+ me; it is dreadfully disagreeable to be apologised to by a
+ guest. "All my fault," I say; and, really, so it is. CRIMPTON
+ remembers an evening engagement, and goes off <i>à
+ l'Anglaise</i>.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"
+ id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/203.png"><img width="60%"
+ src="images/203.png"
+ alt="A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS." /></a>
+
+ <h3>A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS.</h3>
+ </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"
+ id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span>
+
+ <p>The Americans go off; say they have enjoyed themselves. I
+ feel inclined to apologise for CRIMPTON. On second thoughts, I
+ don't. They do not look like men who write about their
+ adventures in their native newspapers. Ladies do that. A weight
+ is off my mind. The Military Writer goes home. He asks, "Who
+ was that old man who fancied himself so about SHERMAN's March?"
+ "That was General HOME, who held a command under SHERMAN." The
+ Military Writer whistles; wishes I had told him that before
+ dinner. I wish I had, but I got so flurried and confused. It is
+ midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, BEILBY <i>will</i> have
+ something to drink, and another cigar&mdash;a very large one.
+ He begins to talk about the University Match, about all
+ University Matches, about old scores, and old catches, from
+ MITCHELL's year to the present day.</p>
+
+ <p>It is three o'clock before I get home; the Americans
+ <i>may</i> have enjoyed themselves, I have not. I dream about
+ the Mad Doctor; perhaps he will put me into his next book on
+ <i>Incipient Insanity</i>. Serve me right.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE YOUNG GIRL'S COMPANION.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By Mrs. Payley.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <h4>I.&mdash;THE YOUNG GIRL'S DIARY.</h4>
+
+ <p>My very dear young girls, those Arts and accomplishments
+ which form part of the average education will be taught you by
+ your Governess, and in some cases, if your parents think it
+ judicious, by a male Professor. I do not propose in these
+ papers to deal with such subjects. But there are certain points
+ in the life of the young girl, about which the handbooks have
+ but little to say, which your teachers do not include in their
+ course of tuition. Some of these points are particularly
+ intimate and sentimental. It is here that I would wish to act
+ as your adviser, and, if I may, as your confidential friend. I
+ shall always be glad, while these papers are being published,
+ to receive and answer any letters from young girls on questions
+ of sentiment and propriety. If we had no sentiment, life would
+ not stand thinking about; if we had no propriety, life would
+ not stand talking about. Of the two, propriety is, perhaps, for
+ the woman the more important, but I shall be glad to answer
+ questions on both. And now let me say a few words on the
+ subject of the Young Girl's Diary.</p>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:25%;">
+ <a href="images/204.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/204.png"
+ alt="Young girl." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>You must most certainly keep a Diary.</p>
+
+ <p>When I was a young girl of twenty-eight&mdash;it is not so
+ very long ago&mdash;I had my Diary bound in pale blue watered
+ silk; it had three locks and a little silver key which I wore
+ on a riband round my neck. I never took it off except
+ to&mdash;I mean for the purposes of the toilette. There was a
+ pocket at the end of the book, which would hold a faded flower
+ or any little souvenir. I always wrote it in solitude and by
+ night. Secresy has its ritual, and it is infinitely sweet and
+ consoling. If you should ever choose to read any passage from
+ your Diary to the dearest of your girl-friends, the confidence
+ becomes in consequence so much more confidential; for she will
+ know that you are reading to her what was never intended for
+ any human eye to see, and will enjoy it more. If you have the
+ least appreciation of what sentiment really means, if you feel
+ that you are misunderstood, or if you suffer from the most
+ sacred of all emotions, you will most certainly keep a
+ Diary.</p>
+
+ <p>The entries in the Diary need not be of any great length. I
+ once had a dear girl-friend who, during the happy season of her
+ first love, became in the pages of her Diary almost entirely
+ interjectional. I think this was from natural delicacy. I was
+ recently stopping at her house, and owing to circumstances over
+ which she had no control, I am able to reproduce here the
+ entries which she made in the few days which culminated in her
+ engagement.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 6.&mdash;Why?"</p>
+
+ <p>You observe that she is puzzled to account for her own
+ emotions, and yet hesitates to give the inevitable solution.
+ The intense reticence of this entry seems to me peculiarly
+ beautiful.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 7.&mdash;I hate MARY BINDLER."</p>
+
+ <p>I can remember the circumstances very well, and I am
+ inclined to think that she had some reason to be jealous of
+ MARY BINDLER. MARY was not at all a nice girl.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 8.&mdash;Joy, joy, joy!"</p>
+
+ <p>I think I can explain this entry. MARY BINDLER had been
+ called away hurriedly. Somebody was dead, or something of that
+ sort. My friend's expression of relief seems to me very pretty
+ and natural.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 9.&mdash;Ah!"</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 10.&mdash;Oh!"</p>
+
+ <p>In that little word "Ah!" there is the whole history of a
+ pic-nic and a carriage accident. It was there that she first
+ guessed his feelings towards her. I am sorry to say that I have
+ not been able to obtain any adequate explanation of the "Oh!"
+ But I know they went out after dinner to see if it was possible
+ to play tennis by moonlight. I conclude that it was not, for
+ the next entry, which consists simply of a note of exclamation,
+ is really a record of her engagement.</p>
+
+ <p>Of course I need not point out the impropriety of mixing in
+ the pages of your Diary the record of the most sacred emotions,
+ and notes of things more commonplace. I knew a girl who
+ invariably did this. She always commenced with an account of
+ any money that she might have spent during the day. I have
+ managed, with considerable difficulty, to make a copy of one of
+ these entries, and I give it as a warning:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"Chocolate, one-and-six. ALGERNON has written to me, asking
+ me to see him again for the last time. I have written back that
+ my decision is unalterable. It breaks my heart to have to be so
+ cruel&mdash;but fate wills it, and it's no good fighting
+ against Mamma. Sent my grey to be cleaned&mdash;but it won't
+ look anything when it's done."</p>
+
+ <p>In another entry I found the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"A dear long letter from EGBERT. How perfect his sympathy
+ is! Not feeling very well to-day&mdash;will always refuse
+ <i>vol-au-vent</i> in future."</p>
+
+ <p>I need hardly say that a girl who would chronicle the state
+ of her digestion and the sympathy of her lover in one paragraph
+ could not possibly have any soul.</p>
+
+ <p>The perfect Diary is something of a paradox. It should be
+ composed chiefly of what is unpublishable&mdash;of one's
+ secrets and sentiments&mdash;but it should always be written as
+ if with a view to publication. In your Diary you can say things
+ about yourself which it would be conceited to say openly, and
+ you can say things about your friends which it would be unkind
+ to say openly; you can make your own pose seem more real to
+ yourself. So, my dear young girls, take my advice, and commence
+ Diaries. And remember I shall be very glad to answer any
+ questions on the subject.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>Jokim's Latest Little Joke.</h3>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By a many times disappointed Income-Tax
+ Payer.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>It is out at last, but it falls very flat;</p>
+
+ <p>Such a very big "bag," such a very small "cat"!</p>
+
+ <p>Popularity Budget? It can't be called
+ <i>that</i>!</p>
+
+ <p>The Budget that was to have been such "good
+ biz,"</p>
+
+ <p>And have caused the Election to go with a
+ "whizz,"</p>
+
+ <p>Fizzles out in&mdash;reducing the duty on Fizz!</p>
+
+ <p>Ah, JOKIM, my joker, you've hardly the knack</p>
+
+ <p>Of holding the Bag, so we'll give you "<i>the
+ Sack</i>!"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>"MEET IT IS I SET IT DOWN."&mdash;"Mr. J. McN. WHISTLER," it
+ was remarked by one of his visitors on the closing day of his
+ recent Exhibition, "has in his Catalogue put down all
+ unfavourable criticisms." How, in this respect, would all of us
+ like to imitate the Eccentric Knight of the Order of the
+ Butterfly, and put down all adverse criticism.</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>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14514 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #14514 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14514)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102,
+April 23, 1892, by Various, Edited by F. C. Burnand
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 23, 1892
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 29, 2004 [eBook #14514]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
+VOL. 102, APRIL 23, 1892***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Malcolm Farmer, William Flis, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 14514-h.htm or 14514-h.zip:
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h/14514-h.htm)
+ or
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOL. 102
+
+April 23, 1892
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOWN THOUGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY.
+
+(_WITH THE USUAL APOLOGIES._)
+
+ Oh, to be in London now that April's there,
+ And whoever walks in London sees, some morning, in the Square,
+ That the upper thousands have come to Town,
+ To the plane-trees droll in their new bark gown,
+ While the sparrows chirp, and the cats miaow
+ In London--now!
+ And after April, when May follows
+ And the black-coats come and go like swallows!
+ Mark, where yon fairy blossom in the Row
+ Leans to the rails, and canters on in clover,
+ Blushing and drooping, with her head bent low!
+ That's the wise child: she makes him ask twice over,
+ Lest he should think she views with too much rapture
+ Her first fine wealthy capture!
+ But,--though her path looks smooth, and though, alack,
+ All will he gay, till Time has painted black
+ The _Marigold_, her Mother's chosen flower,--
+ Far brighter is my _Heartsease_, Love's own dower.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A WANT.--"There is only one thing," a visitor writes to us, "that I
+missed at Venice, S.W. I've never been to the real place, which is
+the Bride, or Pride, of the Sea, I forget which, but, as I was saying,
+there's only one thing I miss, and that is the heather. Who has not
+heard of 'the moor of Venice'? And I daresay good shooting there too,
+with black game and such like. I only saw pigeons flying, who some
+one informed me are the pigeons of SAM MARK. Next time I go, I shall
+inquire at the Restaurant for fresh Pigeon Pie. However, if Mr.
+KIRALFY will take a hint, he will, in August provide a moor. It will
+add to the gaiety of the show. 'The moor the merrier,' eh?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NEO-DRAMATIC NURSERY RHYME.
+
+ MRS. GRUNDY, good woman, scarce knew what to think
+ About the relation 'twixt Drama and Drink.
+ Well, give Hall--and Theatre--good wholesome diet,
+ And all who attend will be sober and quiet!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SPRING'S DELIGHTS IN LONDON.--"VIA MALODORA"--clearly a lady, "DORA"
+for short--wrote to the _Times_ complaining that the result of
+the splendid weather for the first ten days of the month was the
+reproduction of "summer effluvium rank and offensive" in Piccadilly.
+Poor Piccadilly! Oh, its "offence is rank," and Miss DORA might add,
+quoting to her father from another scene in _Hamlet_, "And smells so.
+Pa'!" West-Enders, in a dry summer, must he prepared to have "a high
+old time of it."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SANCTA SIMPLICITAS.
+
+_Orthodox Old Maid._ "BUT, REBECCA, IS YOUR PLACE OF WORSHIP
+CONSECRATED?"
+
+_Domestic_ (_lately received into the Plymouth Brotherhood_). "OH NO,
+MISS--IT'S GALVANISED IRON!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MY SOAP.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ I'm the maker of a Soap, which I confidently hope
+ In the advertising tournament will win,
+ And remain the fit survival, having vanquished every rival
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ I will now proceed to show, what the public ought to know,
+ Unless they would be blindly taken in.
+ How in every soap but mine certain qualities combine
+ To make it detrimental to the skin.
+
+ But surely at this date it is needless I should state
+ That the cheaper soaps are barely worth a pin,
+ For they all contain a mixture, either free or as a fixture,
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And every cake you buy is so charged with alkali,
+ To soda more than soap it is akin;
+ It is really dear at last, for it wastes away so fast.
+ And is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ The public I must warn of the colours that adorn
+ The soaps ambitious foreigners bring in;
+ They are often very pretty, but to use them is a pity,
+ For they're very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ There are soaps which you can see through. I ask, What can it be
+ through?
+ Is it resin, or some other form of sin?
+ There are soaps which smell too strong, and of course that must be
+ wrong,
+ And extremely detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And too much fat's injurious, and so are soaps sulphureous,
+ Though they say they keep the hair from growing thin;
+ They may keep a person's hair on, like the precious oil of AARON,
+ And yet be detrimental to his skin.
+
+ In short, the only soap which is fit for Prince or Pope
+ (I have sent some to the KAISER at Berlin)
+ Is the article I sell you. Don't believe the firms who tell you
+ It is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A LIQUOR QUESTION.--Why does a toper--especially when "before the
+beak"--always say that he was "in drink," when he evidently means that
+the drink was in him? The only soaker on record who could rightly be
+said to be "in drink" was,
+
+ "Maudlin _Clarence_ in his Malmsey butt."
+
+He was "in liquor" with a vengeance. But less lucky wine-bibbers need
+not be illogical as well as inebriate.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MR. GOSCHEN'S BUDGET.--"From a fiscal point of view, the Tobacco
+receipts are extremely good." So unlike JOKIM. Of course, as he never
+loses a chance of a _jeu de mot_, what he must have said was, that
+"the Tobacco 'returns' are extremely good." "A birthday Budget,--many
+happy 'returns,'" he observed jocosely to PRINCE ARTHUR, "quite japing
+times!" And off he went for his holiday; and, weather permitting,
+as he reclines in his funny among the weeds, he will gently murmur,
+"_Dulce est desipere in smoko_."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE NEWEST NARCISSUS;
+
+OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.
+
+ ["--The curious tendency towards imitation which is observed
+ whenever some specially sensational crime is brought into the
+ light of publicity."--_Morning Post_.']
+
+ NARCISSUS? _He_, that foul ill-favoured brute,
+ A fevered age's most repulsive fruit,
+ The murderous coxcomb, the assassin sleek?
+ Stranger comparison could fancy seek?
+
+ Truly 'tis not the self-admiring boy
+ Nymph Echo longed so vainly to enjoy;
+ Yet the old classic fable hath a phase
+ Which seems to fit the opprobrium of our days.
+ Criminal-worship seems our latest cult,
+ And this strange figure is its last result.
+ Self-conscious, self-admiring, Crime parades
+ Its loathly features, not in slumdom's shades,
+ Or in Alsatian sanctuaries vile.
+ No; peacock-posing and complacent smile
+ Pervade the common air, and take the town.
+ The glory of a scandalous renown
+ Lures the vain villain more than wrath or gain,
+ And cancels all the shame that should restrain:
+ Makes murder half-heroic in his sight,
+ And gilds the gallows with factitious light.
+
+ And whose the fault? Sensation it is thine!
+ The garrulous paragraph, the graphic line,
+ Poster and portrait, telegram and tale,
+ Make shopboy eager and domestics pale.
+ Over the morbid details workmen pore,
+ Toil's favourite pabulum and chosen lore,
+ Penny-a-liners pile the horrors up,
+ On which the cockney _gobe-mouche_ loves to sup,
+ And paragraph and picture feed the clown
+ With the foul garbage that has gorged the town.
+ "Vice is a monster of such hideous mien
+ As to be hated needs but to be seen."
+ So sang the waspish satirist long ago.
+ Now Vice is sketched and Crime is made a show.
+ A hundred eager scribes are at their heel
+ To tell the public how they look and feel,
+ How eat and drink, how sleep and smoke and play.
+ Murder's itinerary for a day,
+ Set forth in graphic phrase by skilful pens,
+ With pictures of its face, its favourite dens,
+ Its knife or bludgeon, pistol, paramour,
+ Will swell the swift editions hour by hour,
+ More than high news of war or of debate,
+ The death of heroes or the throes of state.
+ From club-room to street-corner runs the cry
+ After the newest fact, or latest lie:
+ The hurrying throng unfolded broad-sheets grasp,
+ And read with goggled eyes and lips a-gasp,
+ Blood! Blood! More Blood! It makes hot lips go pale,
+ But gives the sweetest zest to the unholy tale.
+
+ What wonder if the Horror, homaged thus
+ By frenzied eagerness and foolish fuss,
+ Swells to a hideous self-importance, struts
+ In conscious dignity, and gladly gluts
+ With vanity's fantastic tricks the herd
+ Whose pulses first by murderous crime it stirred.
+ Narcissus-like, the slayer bends to trace
+ Within Sensation's flowing stream its face,
+ And, self-enamoured, smiles a loathsome smile
+ Of fatuous conceit and gloating guile;
+ Laughs at the shadow of the lifted knife,
+ And thinks of all things save its victim's life.
+ The "Noisy Nymph," the Echo of our times,
+ The gossip, with an eager ear for crimes,
+ Lurks, half-admiring, all-recording there,
+ Watching Narcissus with persistent stare,
+ And ready note-book. Nothing but a Voice?
+ No, but its babblings travel, and rejoice
+ A myriad prurient ears with noisome news,
+ Fit only for the shambles and the stews.
+ These hear, admire, and sometimes imitate!--
+
+ Narcissus is a danger to the State,
+ And Echo hardly less. Vain-glorious crime;
+ That pestilent portent of a morbid time,
+ Would flourish less could sense or law avail
+ To strangle coarse Sensation's clamorous tale,
+ Silence the "Noisy Nymph," for half crime's ill
+ Would end were babbling Echo's voice but still.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "THE MISSING CIPHER."
+
+"OH, PAPA, ONLY FIFTY POUNDS FROM SIR GORGIUS MIDAS! SUCH A
+MILLIONAIRE--WHY HE _OUGHT_ TO HAVE SENT FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS AT
+LEAST!"
+
+"AH, I'M AFRAID HE FORGOT THE _OUGHT_, MY DEAR!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FETTERED.--In reply to the Unemployed Deputation which found
+employment in paying a visit to the L.C.C. at Spring Gardens, Messrs.
+BURNS and BEN TILLETT (Alderman) intimated that as Mr. POWER, the
+U.D.'s spokesman, was not a member of the L.C.C., that body was
+Power-less to assist them in their trouble. A nasty time of it had
+the Labour Candidates on this occasion. Nothing like putting men of
+Radical revolutionary tendencies into responsible positions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A SHADY VALET.--One DONALD CROSS was a Valet in the service of an
+absent master, whose best clothes and jewellery DONALD wore, while
+he kept his flat well aired by giving little supper-parties to young
+ladies who took him at his own valuation,--for a very superior swell.
+Alas! he was but a _valet de sham_! "Cross purposes," but Magistrate
+"disposes"; and the once happy Valet is in the shade for the next six
+months.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN FANCY DRESS.
+
+A SKETCH AT COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.
+
+ _Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous than
+ lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very decided
+ minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of their
+ costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic Hatstand,
+ hobbles painfully towards a friend who is disguised as a
+ huge Cannon._
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_huskily, through a fox's mask in the centre of his
+case, to the Cannon_). Just a trifle slow up to the present, eh?
+
+_The Cannon_ (_shifting the carriage and wheels to a less
+uncomfortable position._) Yes, it don't seem to me as lively as
+usual--_drags_, don't you know.
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_heroically_). Well, we must wake 'em up, that's
+all--put a little _go_ into the thing!
+
+ [_They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling through the
+ crowd, which regards them with compassionate wonder._
+
+_A Black Domino_ (_to a Clown, who is tapping the barometer on the
+Hatstand's back_). Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it
+may be here on the hire system.
+
+ [_The Hatstand executes a cumbrous caper by way of repartee,
+ and stumbles on._
+
+_A Folly_ (_to a highly respectable Bedouin in a burnous and gold
+spectacles_). Well, all I can say is, you don't seem to me to behave
+much _like_ an Arab!
+
+_The Bedouin_ (_uneasily, as he waltzes with conscientious
+regularity_). Don't I? How _ought_ I to behave then?
+
+_The Folly_. _I_ should have thought you'd jump about and howl, the
+way Bedouins _do_ howl. _You_ know!
+
+_The Bed._ (_dubiously_). Um--well, you see, my dear, I--I don't feel
+_up_ to that sort of thing--_before_ supper.
+
+_The Folly_ (_losing all respect for him_). No--nor yet after it. I
+expect you've told some old four-wheel caravan to come and fetch
+you home early, and you'll turn into your little tent at the usual
+time--that's the sort of wild Bedouin _you_ are! Don't let me keep
+you. [_She leaves him._
+
+_The Bed._ (_alone_). If she only knew the absolute _horror_ I have of
+making myself conspicuous, she wouldn't expect it!
+
+_Mephistopheles_ (_to a Picador_). This was the only thing I could get
+to go in. How do you think it suits me?
+
+_The Picador_ (_with candour_). Well, I must say, old fellow, you _do_
+look a beast!
+
+ [_Mephisto appears wounded._
+
+_A Masker_ (_with his face painted brown, and in a costume of coloured
+paper decorated with small boxes and packets, to a Blue Domino_). You
+see what _I_ am, don't you? The Parcels Post! Had a _lot_ of trouble
+thinking it out. Look at my face, for instance, I made _that_ up, with
+string--marks and all, to look like a brown-paper parcel.
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Pity you haven't got something _inside_ it, isn't
+it?
+
+_The Parcels Post_ (_feebly_). Don't you be too sharp. And it really
+is a first-rate idea. All these parcels now--I suppose there must be
+fifty of 'em at least--
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Are there? Well, I wish you'd go and get sorted
+somewhere else. I haven't time for it myself.
+
+_Sardonic Spectator_ (_pityingly--to a Masker in a violent
+perspiration, who represents Sindbad carrying the Old Man of the
+Sea_). 'Ow you _are_ worrying yourself to be sure!
+
+_A Polite Stranger_ (_accosting an Individual who is personifying the
+London County Council by the aid of a hat surmounted by a sky-sign,
+a cork bridge and a tin tramcar, a toy Clown and a butterfly on his
+chest, a portrait of Mlle. Zoeo on his back, a miniature fireman under
+an extinguisher, and a model crane, which he winds up and down with
+evident enjoyment_). Excuse me, Sir, but would you mind showing us
+round you--or is there a catalogue to your little collection?
+
+ [_The L.C.C. maintains a dignified silence._
+
+_Pierrot_ (_critically to Cleopatra_). Very nice indeed, my dear
+girl,--except that they ought to have given you a serpent to carry,
+you know'
+
+_Cleopatra_. Oh, they _did_--only I left it in the Cloak-room.
+
+_A Man with a False Nose_ (_to a Friend who is wearing his natural
+organ_). Why, I thought you said _you_ were coming in a nose?
+
+_His Friend_. So I did (_he produces an enormous nose and cheeks from
+his tail-pocket_). But it's no mortal use; the minute I put it on
+I'm recognised (_plaintively_). And I gave one-and-ninepence for the
+beastly thing, too!
+
+_Young Man of the Period_ (_meeting a female acquaintance attired
+in ferns, rock-work, and coloured shells, illuminated by portable
+electric light_). Hul-lo! You _are_ a swell! And what are _you_
+supposed to be?
+
+_The Lady in Rock-work_. Can't you see? I'm a Fairy Grotto. Good idea,
+isn't it?
+
+_He_. Rippin'! But what the mischief have you got on your shoulder?
+
+_She_. Oh, that's an aquarium--real goldfish. See!
+
+ [_Exhibiting them with pride._
+
+_He_. Ain't you lettin' 'em sit up rather late? They _will_ be chippy
+to-morrow--off colour, don't you know.
+
+_She_. Will they? What ought I to do for them, then?
+
+_He_. Do? Oh, just put a brandy-and-soda in their tank.
+
+ _Later; Supper is going on in the Boxes and Supper-room, and
+ the festivity has been further increased by the arrival of a
+ party of Low Comedians and Music-Hall Stars. The Lancers have
+ been danced with more abandonment, and several entirely new
+ and original figures._
+
+_The Chevalier Bayard_ (_at the Refreshment Bar--to a Watteau
+Shepherdess_). I say, you come along and dance with me, will you?--and
+look here, if you dance well, I'll give you a drink when it's over. If
+you don t dance to please me, you'll get nothing. See?
+
+_The Watteau Shepherdess_ (_with delicate disdain_). 'Ere, you go
+along, you silly ass!
+
+ [_Hits him with her crook._
+
+_A Gentleman who has obviously supped_ (_catching hold of a passing
+Acquaintance, whose hand he wrings affectionately_). Dear ole HUGHIE!
+don't go away just yet. Shtop an' talk with me. Got lotsh er things
+say to you, dear ole boy--mosh 'portant things! Shure you, you're the
+on'y man in the wide world I ever kicked a care--cared a kick about.
+Don't _you_ leave me, HUGHIE!
+
+[Illustration: "Exit unsteadily towards Bar."]
+
+_Hughie_ (_who is looking for his partner_). Not now, old man--can't
+stop. See you later!
+
+ [_He makes his escape._
+
+_The Affect. G._ (_confidentially--to a Policeman_). Thash a very
+dear ole pal o' mine, plishman, a _very_ dear ole pal. Worsht of him
+ish--shimply imposhble get a lit' rational conversation with him. No
+_sheriousness_ in his character!
+
+ [_Exit unsteadily towards Bar, in blissful unconsciousness
+ that somebody has attached a large false nose and spectacles
+ to the buttons of his coat-tails._
+
+_A Troubadour_ (_jealously--to an Arleguina_). No--but look here, you
+might just as well say right put which costume you like best--mine
+or--(_indicating a Cavalier on her other side_)--his.
+
+_Arleguina_ (_cautiously--not desiring to offend either_). Well, I'd
+rather be _him_--not as a _man_, I wouldn't--but, as _myself_, I'd
+like to be _this_ one.
+
+ [_Both appear equally satisfied and soothed by this
+ diplomatic, but slightly mystic response._
+
+_A Vivandière_ (_to a Martyr, who is shuffling along inside a
+property-trunk, covered with twigs, and supposed to represent a
+Bird in the Hand_). Well, that's _one_ way of coming _out_ to enjoy
+yourself, I suppose!
+
+_A Middle-aged Man_ (_wandering behind the Orchestra_). It's
+beastly dull, that's what it is--none of the give-and-take
+humour and practical fun you get in Paris or Vienna!... That's a
+nice, simple-looking little thing in the seat over there. (_The
+simple-looking little thing peeps at him, with one eye over her fan,
+in arch invitation._) Gad, I'll go up and talk to her--it will be
+something to _do_, at any rate--she looks as if she wouldn't mind.
+(_He goes up._) Think I know your face--haven't we met before?
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_after an elaborate wink aside at a_
+Fireman). Shouldn't wonder. Don't you run away yet. Sit down and
+talk to me--do now. No, not _that_ side--try the arm-chair, it's more
+comfortable.
+
+_The M.M._ (_throwing himself gracefully into a well-padded chintz
+chair_). Well, really--(_The chair suddenly digs him in the ribs with
+one of its elbows_). Eh, look here now--'pon my--(_He attempts to
+rise, and finds himself tightly pinioned by the arms of the chair._)
+There's some confounded fool _inside_ this chair!
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_tickling him under the chin with her
+fan_). Shouldn't call yourself names! I'm going--don't get up on
+_my_ account. [_She goes off, laughing; a crowd collects and heartily
+enjoys his situation._
+
+_The M.M._ (_later--very red after his release_). If I could have
+found a policeman, I'd have given that chair in custody! It's
+scandalous to call _that_ coming in Fancy Dress! [_Exit indignantly._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE BROWN-JONES INCIDENT.
+
+(_ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH._)
+
+ SCENE--_A Street. Enter BROWN and JONES. They meet, and
+ regard one another for a moment, fixedly. Then they salute one
+ another respectfully._
+
+_Brown._ I have been looking for you everywhere.
+
+_Jones._ Then I am delighted to have met you.
+
+_Brown._ I have said of you that you are a trickster, a scoundrel, a
+fool, and an idiot!
+
+_Jones._ Yes--and I have regretted the saying, because it shows to me
+that you have misunderstood the great literary movement of the present
+day, in its vast and varied effort.
+
+_Brown._ Of that I know nothing, for I confess I have never read your
+books.
+
+_Jones_ (_reproachfully_). Yes--and yet you accuse me of being a
+trickster, a scoundrel, and a fool, without knowing my works?
+
+_Brown._ It was my duty. But still I had no wish to be guilty of an
+outrage.
+
+_Jones._ An outrage--how an outrage?
+
+_Brown._ Had I known you had been present to hear me I would not have
+caused you the pain of listening to me.
+
+_Jones_ (_with admiration_). But it was the act of a brave man! Did
+it not occur to you that had I been within reach of you that you too
+would have suffered pain?
+
+_Brown._ It did not, I was unconscious of your presence. I would
+have preferred to have spoken behind your back. It is brutal to speak
+before any face. It might lead to an unpleasantness.
+
+_Jones._ No, it is your duty to do what you think is right. It is also
+my duty to do what I think is right. We are now face to face. Have you
+anything further to say to me?
+
+_Brown_ (_hurriedly_). You have immense gifts--gifts which are those
+of genius.
+
+_Jones._ I thought you would understand me better when we met. My dear
+friend, I am delighted at this reconciliation. Give me your hand.
+
+_Brown_ (_clasping palms_). With all the pleasure in the world. But
+still I owe you reparation. How can I--
+
+_Jones_ (_interrupting_). Not another word, my dear friend. That is a
+matter we can leave in the hands of our Solicitors.
+
+ [_Scene closes in upon the suggestion._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: A SOLILOQUY.
+
+_Youthful Mercury._ "WHAT'S THIS 'ERE ON THE PLYTE? 'KNOCK AND RING'!
+BLOWED IF THEY WON'T BE HARSKING YER TO '_WALK HINSIDE_,' NEXT!!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
+
+[Illustration: "Oliver asking for More."]
+
+It is curious to find a coincidence in style and in idea between an
+earnest, witty and pious English author of the Sixteenth Century,
+and an American author of our own day. Yet so it is, and here is the
+parallel to be found between the quaint American tales about the old
+negro, _Uncle Remus_, by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, in this year of Grace,
+1892, and the fables writ by Sir THOMAS MORE in 1520, or thereabouts,
+which he represents as if told him by an old wife and nurse, one
+Mother MAUD. Here are "The Wolf,"--"Brer Wolf"--and the simple-minded
+Jackass, both are going to confession to Father Fox--"Brer Fox." Æsop
+is, of course, the common origin of all such tales. The extracts which
+I have come across, are to be found in a small book compiled by the
+Rev. THOMAS BRIDGETT, entitled, _The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas
+More_. The Baron wishes that with it had been issued a glossary of old
+English words and expressions, as, to an ordinary modern reader, much
+of Sir THOMAS MORE's writing is well-nigh unintelligible; nay, in some
+instances, the Baron can only approximately arrive at the meaning,
+as though it were a writ in a foreign language with which his
+acquaintance was of no great profundity. Certes, the learned and
+reverend compiler hath a keen relish for this quaintness, but not so
+will fifteen out of his twenty readers, who, pardie! shall regret the
+absence of a key without which some of the treasure must, to them at
+least, remain inaccessible. With this reservation, but with no sort
+of equivocation, doth the Baron heartily recommend The Reverend
+BRIDGETT's compilation of Sir THOMAS MORE's "English as she is
+writ" in the Sixteenth Century, to all lovers of good books in this
+"so-called (O, immortal phrase!) Nineteenth Century." The Rev. THOMAS
+hath well and ably done his work, and therefore doth the Baron advise
+his readers to go to their booksellers, and, being there, to imitate
+the example of DICKENS's oft-quoted _Oliver_, and "ask for MORE."
+
+Quoth the Baron, "Much liketh me the Macmillanite series of _English
+Men of Action_, and in a very special manner do I laud the latest
+that, to my knowledge, hath appeared 'yclept _Montrose_, by Master
+MOWBRAY MORRIS--a good many 'M's' in these names--who hath executed
+his _Montrose_ with as loving a heart and as tender a touch as ever
+did use old IZAAK towards the gentle that he, and the simple fish, did
+love so well. Did not the very hangman burst into tears as he thrust
+the unfortunate nobleman off the step? and did not a universal sob
+of pity break from the vast crowd assembled to see the last of the
+noble cavalier, victim to an unfortunate tradition of loyalty? What
+wonder then if we sympathise with this luckless hero of romance?
+The weak-knee'd villain of this historical drama was '_Charles_ (his
+friend),' in which character, be it allowed, this sad dog of a Merry
+Monarch not infrequently appeared. Thank you much, Mr. MOWBRAY
+MONTROSE MORRIS," quoth
+
+THE BENEFICENT BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SYMPATHY.
+
+_Mamma_ (_to Cook_)--"AND MRS. STUBBS, THE CREAM WITH THE APPLE-TART
+YESTERDAY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED."
+
+_Ethel_ (_who has a grateful remembrance of the dish in question_).
+"OH, MUMMY DEAR! 'OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED!' I THOUGHT IT WAS
+PARTICULARLY GOOD!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+APRIL SHOWERS;
+
+OR, A SPOILED EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+(_A VACATION CANTATA._)
+
+_Master George (stretching forth his fingers to feel if the shower is
+abating) sings_:-- Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+_Master Arthur_ (_gloomily_). Pooh! Rain won't go away, not in these
+times,
+ By being sung at to old nursery rhymes:
+ Especially in such a voice as yours!
+
+_Master George._ Needn't be nasty, ARTHUR!
+
+_Master Robert._ How it pours!
+ Thought we were going to have a real jolly day,
+ And now it's set in wet, to spoil our holiday.
+
+_Master George._ Always the way at Easter. Shall we trudge it?
+
+_Master Arthur._ Not yet. What have you got, GEORGE, in your Budget?
+
+_Master George._ Not very much, I fear!
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah, that's vexatious!
+ It might have cheered us up a bit.
+
+_Master George_ (_indignantly_). Good gracious!
+ You're always down on me, with no good reasons.
+ You know _I_'m not the ruler of the Seasons.
+ Now if I'd been in _your_ place--but no matter!
+
+_Master Robert._ By Jingo, how the raindrops rush and clatter!
+ Ah, Primrose-gathering is not half so jolly
+ As once it used to be.
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah! my dear SOLLY,
+ The springs are now so awfully wet and cold,
+ The "cry" don't seem so fetching as of old.
+
+ [_Pipes up._
+
+_Recitative_. "_Who will buy my pretty, pretty Pri-im-ro-o-ses!_
+ _All fresh gathered from the va-a-a-ll-ey?_"
+
+_Master George._ The wet and cold have got into your throat,
+ A quaver and a crack on every note!
+
+_Master Robert._ Don't aggravate each other, boys; 'tis wrong,
+ But while it rains _I_'ll tootle out a song:--
+ (_Sings._) The days we went a-Primrosing!
+
+ AIR--"_The days we went a-Gipsying!_"
+
+ The days are gone, the happy days
+ When _we_ were in our Spring;
+ When all the Primrose loved to praise,
+ And join its gathering.
+ Oh! we could sing like anything,
+ We felt the conqueror's glow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ Then April's flowery return
+ Was "Peace-with-Honour's" goal.
+ And the bright brimstone-bunch would burn
+ In every button-hole.
+ Our Dames were gaily on the wing,
+ With blossoms in full blow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ But now Progressive storms prevail
+ Election blizzards chill;
+ The Primroses seem sparse and pale
+ In valley and on hill.
+ Yon cloud looks black as raven's wing!
+ Things did not menace so.
+ In the days when we went Primrosing
+ A long time ago!
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+_Both._ Oh, brayvo, BOBBY!
+
+_Master Robert._ Thanks. Yet my song's burden
+ Is dismal as the croakings of _Dame Durden_.
+ Our holiday is spoilt by driving showers.
+ I fear we shall have no great show of flowers;
+ But--anyhow my boys we're under cover;
+ And let us hope that storm-cloud will pass over
+ Without first giving us a dreadful drenching,
+ And all our April-hopes entirely quenching.
+
+_All_ (_singing together_).
+ Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+ [_Left crouching and singing._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FROM THE THEATRES, &C. COMMISSION.--"I am afraid," said Mr. P.S.
+RUTLAND, speaking of the Music Halls, and in answer to a question
+of Mr. BOLTON's, "we cannot do a wreck. (_Laughter._)" Mr. WOODALL:
+"Without being wrecked in the attempt. (_Renewed laughter._)" Oh,
+witty WOODALL! Why, encouraged by this applause, he may yet be led on
+to make a pun on his own name, and say, "_Would all_ were like him!"
+or some such merry jest. The proceedings in this Committee were
+becoming a trifle dull, but it is to be hoped that they may yet hear
+something still more sparkling from the wise and witty WOODALL.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+TRIO. "RAIN! RAIN! GO AWAY! COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TO MY COOK.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ Oh, hard of favour, fat of form,
+ How fairer art thou than thy looks,
+ Whose heart with kitchen fires is warm,
+ Thou plainest of the plainer Cooks!
+
+ Low down upon thy forehead grows
+ Thick hair of no conducive dye;
+ Short and aspiring is thy nose,
+ Watched ever by a furtive eye.
+
+ In shy defiance rarely seen
+ Where kitchen stairways darkly tend,
+ A foe to judge thee by thy mien,
+ Proclaimed in every act a friend!
+
+ I know thee little; not thy views
+ On public or on private life,
+ Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,
+ Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's wife;
+
+ For who can rightly read the change
+ When, still'd the work-day traffic's din,
+ In best apparel, rich and strange,
+ Thou passest weekly to thy kin!
+
+ A silken gown, that bravely stands
+ Environing thy form, or no;
+ Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,
+ For brooch, the breastplate cameo.
+
+ Shod with the well-heeled boots, whose knell
+ Afar along the pavement sounds,
+ Blent with the tinkling muffin-bell,
+ Or milkman, shrilling on his rounds.
+
+ _Nil tangis quod non ornas._ Nay,
+ 'Tis not alone the parsley sprig,
+ The paper frill, the fennel spray,
+ The Yule-tide's pertly-berried twig;
+
+ But common objects by thy art
+ Some proper beauty seem to own;
+ Thy chop is as a chop apart,
+ Fraught with a grace before unknown;
+
+ The very egg thou poachest seems
+ Some work of deft _orfévrerie_,--
+ A yolk of gold that chastely gleams
+ Through a thin shrine of ivory.
+
+ From thee no pale and wilted ghost,
+ Or branded by the blackening bar,
+ But crisp and cheery comes the toast,
+ And brown as ripening hazels are.
+
+ Thy butter has not lost the voice
+ Of English meads, where cowslips grow,
+ And oh, the bacon of thy choice--
+ Rose-jacinth labyrinthed in snow!
+
+ And mutton, colder than the kiss
+ Of formal love, where loathing lurks
+ Its deadlier chill doth wholly miss,
+ Fired with the spirit of thy works.
+
+ To true occasion thou art true,
+ As upon great occasions great;
+ Doing whatever Cook may do
+ When PHYLLIS, neat, alone will wait,
+
+ As when the neighbouring villas send
+ Their modish guests to statelier fare,
+ And PHYLLIS, neat, is helped to tend
+ By that staid man the Greengrocer.
+
+ Though thou art more than plain in look,
+ Thou wieldest charms that never tire--
+ O Cook--we will not call thee Cook,
+ Thou Priestess of the Genial Fire.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+LAYING A GHOST!
+
+ PROSPECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS.--Owing to the continued success of
+ _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by arrangement with the Author)
+ to postpone, &c.--_Extract from Advertisement in Daily Paper._
+
+ SCENE--_Sanctum of Popular Actor-Manager of Theatre Royal
+ Haymarket, Popular Actor-Manager dozing over a submitted
+ Play. He closes his eyes and slumbers. When to him enter
+ Master WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE._
+
+_Master W.S._ (_shouting_). What ho, Sir Player! Wake up, Sir, wake
+up!
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_rousing himself_). Delighted to see you, Mr. SHAKSPEARE. I
+hope you have been in front and seen us?
+
+_Master W.S._ Yes, I just had a glance. Find you have put in some new
+business. When will all you fellows leave me alone?
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_earnestly_). I hope, Sir, that in the cause of Art you do
+not object, that--
+
+_Master W.S._ (_interrupting_). Oh, no! It makes little difference to
+me what you do. _My_ author's fees ceased years ago! But look here,
+What do you mean by this? (_Produces Press-cutting of advertisement
+and reads_)--"Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Prospective Arrangements.
+Owing to the continued success of _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by
+arrangement with the Author) to postpone" another play. Now, Master
+TREE, or as I may call ye, "Master up a Tree," what have you to say
+to that? You see your advertisement has caught my eye. I am here to
+answer it!
+
+_P.A.-M._ Most wonderful! I do not know how or wherefore my pen
+slipped, but slip it did, indeed. However, I apologise. Is that
+enough?
+
+_Master W.S._ More than enough!
+
+ _Enter the Ghost of HAMLET's Father suddenly._
+
+_Ghost_ (_with a glance at W.S._). Ah, the Governor here already!
+Still, I may have my chance as well as he! I gave the plot of
+_Hamlet_! Why shouldn't I have another shot? (_To P.A.-M._)--
+ But that I am forbid
+ To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
+ I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
+ Would harrow up thy soul.
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_eagerly_). The very thing for a melodrama. Delighted to
+make your acquaintance--hem--in the Spirit!
+
+_Master W.S._ Nay, good Master Player, this is scarcely business! If
+anything in _that_ line is to be done, I should do it. (_To Ghost of
+HAMLET's Father_). Begone, Sirrah!
+
+_Ghost._ Nay, this is professional jealousy! (_To P.A.-M._). I find
+thee apt--
+
+ [_A book falls, and Master WM. SHAKSPEARE and Ghost of
+ HAMLET's Father vanish together._
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_opening his eyes_). Was I dreaming? (_With a recollection
+of "The Red Lamp"_) I wonder! [_Left wondering._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TAKING A SIGHT AT RINGANDKNOCK.
+
+(_BY RUDDIER STRIPLING._)
+
+After the roughness of the Atlantic, in which to my taste there is far
+too much water moving about, I stepped on to America with considerable
+relief. I was quite satisfied, after that excellent dinner, the first
+I had enjoyed since Liverpool slid away eastward, to walk aimlessly
+through the streets till I fell into the arms of a broad-shouldered,
+pug-nosed, Irish New York policeman. I remember no more till New York
+passed away on a sunny afternoon, and then I fell asleep again and
+slept till the brakeman, conductor, Pullman-car conductor, negro
+porter and newsboy somehow managed to pull me out into the midnight
+temperature of 80 below freezing. It was just like having one's head
+put under the pump, but it did not quite revive me, for I mistook
+my host in his sleigh for a walrus, and tried to harpoon him with my
+umbrella. After matters had been explained, we went off, at least I
+did, and never woke up till I fell out into a snow-drift, just as we
+turned a corner at our journey's end.
+
+[Illustration: "Ta-ra-ra-Boom!"]
+
+In the morning, I had some idea that the sky was a great sapphire, and
+that I was inside it, and that the fields were some sort of velvet
+or wool-work, going round and round with the sun rioting over them,
+whatever that may mean, till my head ached. I can't quite understand
+all this now, but it seemed a very picturesque, impressionist
+description when I wrote it. Then I went for a walk down Main Street.
+I think it is about 400 miles long, for I got nowhere near the end,
+but this was perhaps owing to my uncertainty as to which side was
+the pleasanter to walk on. At last I gave it up, and sat down on the
+side-walk. Now, the wisdom of Vermont, not being at all times equal
+to grasping all the problems of everybody else's life with delicacy,
+sometimes makes pathetic mistakes, and it did so in my ease. I
+explained to the policeman that I had been sitting up half the night
+on a wild horse in New Zealand, and had only just come over for the
+day, but it was all in vain.
+
+The cell at Vermont was horribly uncomfortable. I dreamt that I was
+trying to boil snow in a thimble, to make maple syrup, and to swim on
+my head in deep water, with a life-belt tied to my ankles. There was
+another man there, and in the early morning he told me about Mastodons
+and Plesiosauri in a wood near the town, and how he caught them by the
+tails and photographed them; and also that Ringandknock, a mountain
+near, was mentioned by EMERSON in a verse, which I remembered,
+because he made "co-eval" rhyme with "extended." Only a truly great
+Philosopher could have done that.
+
+It was all new and delightful; and it must have been true, because my
+informant was a quiet, slow-spoken man of the West, who refrained from
+laughing at me. I have met very few people who could do that. Next day
+all the idleness and trifling were at an end, and my friends conveyed
+me back to New York.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+EPITAPH ON A DYER.
+
+ This Dyer with a dire liver tried
+ To earn a living dyeing, and he died.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER.
+
+NO. VIII.--THE DUFFER AS A HOST.
+
+Of course I don't try to give dinners at home. The difficulties and
+anxieties are too enormous. First there is inviting the people. I like
+to have none but very clever men and very pretty women, but nobody's
+acquaintance is limited to those rare beings, and, if I did invite
+them, they would all have previous engagements: I do not blame them.
+But suppose that two or three of the wits and beauties accept, that
+is worse than ever, because the rest are a Q.C. (who talks about
+his cases) and his wife, who talks about her children. An old
+school-fellow, who has no conversation that does not begin, "I say, do
+you remember old JACK WILLIAMS." This does not entertain the beauty,
+who sits next him.
+
+A Dowager Duchess, she knows none of the other people and wonders
+audibly (to me) who they are. A clever young man, whose language is
+the language of the future, and whose humour is of a date to which I
+humbly hope my own days may not be prolonged. A Psychical Researcher,
+with a note-book; he gets at the Duchess at once, and cross-examines
+her about a visionary Piper who plays audible pibrochs through Castle
+Blawearie, her ancestral home. Does she think the pibroch could be
+taken down in a phonograph. Could the Piper be snapped in a kodak?
+The Duchess does not know what a phonograph is; never heard of a
+kodak. She does not like the note-book any more than _Mr. Pickwick's_
+cabman liked it. She is afraid of getting into print. Then there is
+the Warden of St. Jude's, a great scholar; he pricks up his ears,
+not the keenest, at the word kodak, and begins to talk about a
+newly-discovered _Codex_ of PODONIAN the Elder. Nobody knows what
+a _Codex_ is. There is a School-board Lady, but, alas, she is next
+the Warden of St. Jude's, not next the enthusiastic Clergyman, who
+proses about a Club for Milliners. There is GRIGSBY, who develops an
+undesirable interest in the Milliners' Club. Have they a Strangers'
+Room? Do they give suppers? Are they Friendly Girls? Everyone thinks
+GRIGSBY flippant and coarse; I wish I had not asked him to come. There
+is a Positivist, who sneers at the Clergyman; there are a Squire and
+his wife from Rutlandshire: she is next the Radical Candidate for the
+Isle of Dogs. They do not seem to get on well together. GRIGSBY and
+the humorist of the future are chaffing each other across the table:
+nobody understands them; I don't know whether they are quarrelling
+or not. Miss JONES, the authoress of _Melancholy Moods_ (in a
+Greek dress, with a _pince-nez_: a woman should not combine these
+attributes) is next the Squire: he has never heard of any of her
+friends the Minor Poets: she takes no interest in Hay, nor in Tithes.
+I see the Guardsman and the Beauty looking at each other across the
+flowers and things: the language of their eyes is not difficult, nor
+pleasant, to read. Why is the champagne so hot, and why are the ices
+so salt and hard? I know something is the matter with the claret:
+something is always the matter with the claret. It has been iced, and
+the champagne has been standing for days in an equable temperature of
+65°.
+
+[Illustration: "It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, Bielby
+_will_ have something to drink, and another cigar--a very large one."]
+
+When they want to go away, it is a wet night, and those who have come
+in cabs cannot get cabs to go back in. The Duchess's coachman lost his
+way, coming here, she was half-an-hour late: she is anxious about his
+finding his way home. GRIGSBY has got at the Psychical-Researcher, and
+I hear him telling stories, as personal experiences, which I know are
+not true. Psychical-Researchers have no sense of humour. "S.P.R.,"
+why not "S.P.Q.R.?" I hear GRIGSBY asking, and suggesting "Society for
+Propagating Rubbish." It is very rude of him, and not at all funny.
+
+However, they do go away at last, that advantage a dinner at home
+has over a dinner at the Club, there they often seem as if they would
+never go away at all.
+
+On the other hand, the wine is all right at the Club, I believe, for
+I know nothing about wine myself. Some men talk of nothing else, and
+seem to know the vintages without looking at the names on the bottles.
+
+The worst of giving a dinner at the Club is, that I never know how
+many men I have asked, nor even who they are. It is enough if I
+remember the date. It might be a good thing to write these matters
+down in a Diary, or on a big sheet of paper, pinned up in one's room.
+I know I have written to ask some Americans whom I have not seen:
+they brought letters of introduction. I forget their names--there is a
+Professor who has written a novel, there is a General, I think, and a
+Mad Doctor.
+
+My best plan will be to stand about in the drawing-room, and try to
+select them as they come in. Here is WILKINSON, who was at St. Jude's
+with me: I shake hands with him warmly. He looks blank. It is not
+WILKINSON, after all; it is a stranger, he is dining with somebody
+else. Some other men have come in while I am apologising. One of them
+comes up and says, "Mr. McDUFFER!" He must be an American. Which? He
+tells me: he is the Mad Doctor. He introduces his countrymen; they
+all say "Mr. McDUFFER!" How am I to remember which is the General and
+which is the Professor? Other people drop in. Here is CRIMPTON. He
+is a Reviewer. Clever fellow, CRIMPTON. Here is old BEILBY--he is hot
+from the University Match. He begins to tell me all about it. JONES
+was awfully well set, but that muff SMITH ran him out. BEILBY does
+not believe it _was_ out. Odd the spite umpires always have at our
+side. Feel that I must tear myself from BEILBY, the only man whose
+conversation really interests me. Here is an English writer on
+military subjects. I introduce him to the American General. Find he
+is the Professor, after all. We get down-stairs somehow. BEILBY is
+opposite me. CRIMPTON is next the Professor. The Military Writer is
+next the General. Things do not appear to go very smoothly. It seems
+that the Military one has said something about General BEAUREGARD
+which he should not have said. The General is getting red. I hate it,
+when men begin to talk about the American War. Any other war they
+are welcome to: the Danish War, the war of 1866, the war of 1870, the
+glorious affair of Majuba. But Americans are touchy about their war,
+not easy to please them whatever you say. Much best to say nothing.
+CRIMPTON is laughing at American novels. He does not know that the
+Professor is an American novelist. What am I to do? I try to kick him
+under the table. I kick the Mad Doctor, and apologise. Was feeling
+about for a footstool. BEILBY is trying to talk about Base Ball to
+the General, who is still red. Nothing is more disagreeable than these
+international discussions at dinner.
+
+Now, a clever host would know how to get out of this; he would start
+some other subject. I can think of no other subject. Happy thought:
+gradually glide into American cookery, clams, canvas-backed ducks,
+what is that dish with a queer name--Jumbo? I don't feel as if it
+were Jumbo. Squambo? Terapin soup? It sounds rather like the Hebrew
+for a talisman, or an angel of some sort. However, they are talking
+about cookery now, and wines. Is there not an American wine called
+Catawampus? The Mad Doctor has his eye on me; he seems interested.
+I thought I heard him murmur Aspasia, or Aphasia, or something
+like that. It is not Catawampus--it is Catawba. I feel that I
+_patauge_--flounder, I mean. I am getting quite nervous; feel like a
+man in a powder-magazine, with lighted cigarettes everywhere. If one
+can withdraw them to the smoking-room, they will settle down somehow.
+They do. The Military Critic gets into a corner with BEILBY. The
+Americans and I consort together. Most agreeable fellows; have been
+everywhere, and seen everything. CRIMPTON, luckily, is reading one of
+his own reviews in the evening paper. I glance at it; it is a review
+of the Professor's novel. Not a kind review--rather insulting than
+otherwise. He hates BEILBY, and he does not know the Military Critic.
+If he joins us, there will be more international discussion. I get
+them on to the balcony, and pretend to go to ring the bell for coffee.
+I whisper to CRIMPTON. He is quite taken aback. "Awfully sorry; never
+dreamed the Professor was not English." He wants to tell the Professor
+that, thinks he will be pleased. He apologises to me; it is dreadfully
+disagreeable to be apologised to by a guest. "All my fault," I say;
+and, really, so it is. CRIMPTON remembers an evening engagement, and
+goes off _à l'Anglaise_.
+
+[Illustration: A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS.]
+
+The Americans go off; say they have enjoyed themselves. I feel
+inclined to apologise for CRIMPTON. On second thoughts, I don't. They
+do not look like men who write about their adventures in their native
+newspapers. Ladies do that. A weight is off my mind. The Military
+Writer goes home. He asks, "Who was that old man who fancied himself
+so about SHERMAN's March?" "That was General HOME, who held a command
+under SHERMAN." The Military Writer whistles; wishes I had told him
+that before dinner. I wish I had, but I got so flurried and confused.
+It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, BEILBY _will_ have something
+to drink, and another cigar--a very large one. He begins to talk about
+the University Match, about all University Matches, about old scores,
+and old catches, from MITCHELL's year to the present day.
+
+It is three o'clock before I get home; the Americans _may_ have
+enjoyed themselves, I have not. I dream about the Mad Doctor; perhaps
+he will put me into his next book on _Incipient Insanity_. Serve me
+right.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE YOUNG GIRL'S COMPANION.
+
+(_BY MRS. PAYLEY._)
+
+I.--THE YOUNG GIRL'S DIARY.
+
+My very dear young girls, those Arts and accomplishments which form
+part of the average education will be taught you by your Governess,
+and in some cases, if your parents think it judicious, by a male
+Professor. I do not propose in these papers to deal with such
+subjects. But there are certain points in the life of the young girl,
+about which the handbooks have but little to say, which your teachers
+do not include in their course of tuition. Some of these points are
+particularly intimate and sentimental. It is here that I would wish
+to act as your adviser, and, if I may, as your confidential friend.
+I shall always be glad, while these papers are being published,
+to receive and answer any letters from young girls on questions of
+sentiment and propriety. If we had no sentiment, life would not stand
+thinking about; if we had no propriety, life would not stand talking
+about. Of the two, propriety is, perhaps, for the woman the more
+important, but I shall be glad to answer questions on both. And now
+let me say a few words on the subject of the Young Girl's Diary.
+
+[Illustration: (Young girl.)]
+
+You must most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+When I was a young girl of twenty-eight--it is not so very long ago--I
+had my Diary bound in pale blue watered silk; it had three locks and a
+little silver key which I wore on a riband round my neck. I never took
+it off except to--I mean for the purposes of the toilette. There was a
+pocket at the end of the book, which would hold a faded flower or any
+little souvenir. I always wrote it in solitude and by night. Secresy
+has its ritual, and it is infinitely sweet and consoling. If you
+should ever choose to read any passage from your Diary to the dearest
+of your girl-friends, the confidence becomes in consequence so much
+more confidential; for she will know that you are reading to her what
+was never intended for any human eye to see, and will enjoy it more.
+If you have the least appreciation of what sentiment really means, if
+you feel that you are misunderstood, or if you suffer from the most
+sacred of all emotions, you will most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+The entries in the Diary need not be of any great length. I once had
+a dear girl-friend who, during the happy season of her first love,
+became in the pages of her Diary almost entirely interjectional. I
+think this was from natural delicacy. I was recently stopping at her
+house, and owing to circumstances over which she had no control, I
+am able to reproduce here the entries which she made in the few days
+which culminated in her engagement.
+
+"_September_ 6.--Why?"
+
+You observe that she is puzzled to account for her own emotions, and
+yet hesitates to give the inevitable solution. The intense reticence
+of this entry seems to me peculiarly beautiful.
+
+"_September_ 7.--I hate MARY BINDLER."
+
+I can remember the circumstances very well, and I am inclined to think
+that she had some reason to be jealous of MARY BINDLER. MARY was not
+at all a nice girl.
+
+"_September_ 8.--Joy, joy, joy!"
+
+I think I can explain this entry. MARY BINDLER had been called away
+hurriedly. Somebody was dead, or something of that sort. My friend's
+expression of relief seems to me very pretty and natural.
+
+"_September_ 9.--Ah!"
+
+"_September_ 10.--Oh!"
+
+In that little word "Ah!" there is the whole history of a pic-nic and
+a carriage accident. It was there that she first guessed his feelings
+towards her. I am sorry to say that I have not been able to obtain
+any adequate explanation of the "Oh!" But I know they went out after
+dinner to see if it was possible to play tennis by moonlight. I
+conclude that it was not, for the next entry, which consists simply of
+a note of exclamation, is really a record of her engagement.
+
+Of course I need not point out the impropriety of mixing in the pages
+of your Diary the record of the most sacred emotions, and notes of
+things more commonplace. I knew a girl who invariably did this. She
+always commenced with an account of any money that she might have
+spent during the day. I have managed, with considerable difficulty, to
+make a copy of one of these entries, and I give it as a warning:--
+
+"Chocolate, one-and-six. ALGERNON has written to me, asking me to see
+him again for the last time. I have written back that my decision
+is unalterable. It breaks my heart to have to be so cruel--but fate
+wills it, and it's no good fighting against Mamma. Sent my grey to be
+cleaned--but it won't look anything when it's done."
+
+In another entry I found the following:--
+
+"A dear long letter from EGBERT. How perfect his sympathy is! Not
+feeling very well to-day--will always refuse _vol-au-vent_ in future."
+
+I need hardly say that a girl who would chronicle the state of her
+digestion and the sympathy of her lover in one paragraph could not
+possibly have any soul.
+
+The perfect Diary is something of a paradox. It should be composed
+chiefly of what is unpublishable--of one's secrets and sentiments--but
+it should always be written as if with a view to publication. In your
+Diary you can say things about yourself which it would be conceited to
+say openly, and you can say things about your friends which it would
+be unkind to say openly; you can make your own pose seem more real
+to yourself. So, my dear young girls, take my advice, and commence
+Diaries. And remember I shall be very glad to answer any questions on
+the subject.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+JOKIM'S LATEST LITTLE JOKE.
+
+(_BY A MANY TIMES DISAPPOINTED INCOME-TAX PAYER._)
+
+ It is out at last, but it falls very flat;
+ Such a very big "bag," such a very small "cat"!
+ Popularity Budget? It can't be called _that_!
+ The Budget that was to have been such "good biz,"
+ And have caused the Election to go with a "whizz,"
+ Fizzles out in--reducing the duty on Fizz!
+ Ah, JOKIM, my joker, you've hardly the knack
+ Of holding the Bag, so we'll give you "_the Sack_!"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"MEET IT IS I SET IT DOWN."--"Mr. J. McN. WHISTLER," it was remarked
+by one of his visitors on the closing day of his recent Exhibition,
+"has in his Catalogue put down all unfavourable criticisms." How, in
+this respect, would all of us like to imitate the Eccentric Knight of
+the Order of the Butterfly, and put down all adverse criticism.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NOTICE.--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.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
+102, APRIL 23, 1892***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 14514-8.txt or 14514-8.zip *******
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
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+<html>
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 23, 1892, by Various</title>
+ <style type="text/css">
+ /*<![CDATA[*/
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+
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+ {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;}
+
+ .poem
+ {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;}
+ .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+ .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+ .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;}
+ .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;}
+ .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;}
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102,
+April 23, 1892, by Various, Edited by F. C. Burnand</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 23, 1892</p>
+<p>Author: Various</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 29, 2004 [eBook #14514]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL. 102, APRIL 23, 1892***</p>
+<br /><br /><h4>E-text prepared by Malcolm Farmer, William Flis,<br />
+ and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h4><br /><br />
+<hr class="full" />
+ <h1>PUNCH,<br />
+ OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.</h1>
+
+ <h2>Vol. 102.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>April 23, 1892.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"
+ id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span>
+
+ <h2>TOWN THOUGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>With the usual apologies.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Oh, to be in London now that April's there,</p>
+
+ <p>And whoever walks in London sees, some morning, in
+ the Square,</p>
+
+ <p>That the upper thousands have come to Town,</p>
+
+ <p>To the plane-trees droll in their new bark gown,</p>
+
+ <p>While the sparrows chirp, and the cats miaow</p>
+
+ <p>In London&mdash;now!</p>
+
+ <p>And after April, when May follows</p>
+
+ <p>And the black-coats come and go like swallows!</p>
+
+ <p>Mark, where yon fairy blossom in the Row</p>
+
+ <p>Leans to the rails, and canters on in clover,</p>
+
+ <p>Blushing and drooping, with her head bent low!</p>
+
+ <p>That's the wise child: she makes him ask twice
+ over,</p>
+
+ <p>Lest he should think she views with too much
+ rapture</p>
+
+ <p>Her first fine wealthy capture!</p>
+
+ <p>But,&mdash;though her path looks smooth, and though,
+ alack,</p>
+
+ <p>All will he gay, till Time has painted black</p>
+
+ <p>The <i>Marigold</i>, her Mother's chosen
+ flower,&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>Far brighter is my <i>Heartsease</i>, Love's own
+ dower.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A WANT.&mdash;"There is only one thing," a visitor writes to
+ us, "that I missed at Venice, S.W. I've never been to the real
+ place, which is the Bride, or Pride, of the Sea, I forget
+ which, but, as I was saying, there's only one thing I miss, and
+ that is the heather. Who has not heard of 'the moor of Venice'?
+ And I daresay good shooting there too, with black game and such
+ like. I only saw pigeons flying, who some one informed me are
+ the pigeons of SAM MARK. Next time I go, I shall inquire at the
+ Restaurant for fresh Pigeon Pie. However, if Mr. KIRALFY will
+ take a hint, he will, in August provide a moor. It will add to
+ the gaiety of the show. 'The moor the merrier,' eh?"</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>Neo-Dramatic Nursery Rhyme.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>MRS. GRUNDY, good woman, scarce knew what to
+ think</p>
+
+ <p>About the relation 'twixt Drama and Drink.</p>
+
+ <p>Well, give Hall&mdash;and Theatre&mdash;good
+ wholesome diet,</p>
+
+ <p>And all who attend will be sober and quiet!</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>SPRING'S DELIGHTS IN LONDON.&mdash;"VIA
+ MALODORA"&mdash;clearly a lady, "DORA" for short&mdash;wrote to
+ the <i>Times</i> complaining that the result of the splendid
+ weather for the first ten days of the month was the
+ reproduction of "summer effluvium rank and offensive" in
+ Piccadilly. Poor Piccadilly! Oh, its "offence is rank," and
+ Miss DORA might add, quoting to her father from another scene
+ in <i>Hamlet</i>, "And smells so. Pa'!" West-Enders, in a dry
+ summer, must he prepared to have "a high old time of it."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:60%;">
+ <a href="images/193-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/193-1.png"
+ alt="SANCTA SIMPLICITAS." /></a>
+
+ <h3>SANCTA SIMPLICITAS.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Orthodox Old Maid.</i> "BUT, REBECCA, IS YOUR PLACE
+ OF WORSHIP CONSECRATED?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Domestic</i> (<i>lately received into the Plymouth
+ Brotherhood</i>). "OH NO, MISS&mdash;IT'S GALVANISED
+ IRON!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>MY SOAP.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:20%;">
+ <a href="images/193-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/193-2.png"
+ alt="" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I'm the maker of a Soap, which I confidently
+ hope</p>
+
+ <p>In the advertising tournament will win,</p>
+
+ <p>And remain the fit survival, having vanquished every
+ rival</p>
+
+ <p>Which is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I will now proceed to show, what the public ought to
+ know,</p>
+
+ <p>Unless they would be blindly taken in.</p>
+
+ <p>How in every soap but mine certain qualities
+ combine</p>
+
+ <p>To make it detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But surely at this date it is needless I should
+ state</p>
+
+ <p>That the cheaper soaps are barely worth a pin,</p>
+
+ <p>For they all contain a mixture, either free or as a
+ fixture,</p>
+
+ <p>Which is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And every cake you buy is so charged with
+ alkali,</p>
+
+ <p>To soda more than soap it is akin;</p>
+
+ <p>It is really dear at last, for it wastes away so
+ fast.</p>
+
+ <p>And is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The public I must warn of the colours that adorn</p>
+
+ <p>The soaps ambitious foreigners bring in;</p>
+
+ <p>They are often very pretty, but to use them is a
+ pity,</p>
+
+ <p>For they're very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>There are soaps which you can see through. I ask,
+ What can it be through?</p>
+
+ <p>Is it resin, or some other form of sin?</p>
+
+ <p>There are soaps which smell too strong, and of
+ course that must be wrong,</p>
+
+ <p>And extremely detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And too much fat's injurious, and so are soaps
+ sulphureous,</p>
+
+ <p>Though they say they keep the hair from growing
+ thin;</p>
+
+ <p>They may keep a person's hair on, like the precious
+ oil of AARON,</p>
+
+ <p>And yet be detrimental to his skin.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In short, the only soap which is fit for Prince or
+ Pope</p>
+
+ <p>(I have sent some to the KAISER at Berlin)</p>
+
+ <p>Is the article I sell you. Don't believe the firms
+ who tell you</p>
+
+ <p>It is very detrimental to the skin.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A LIQUOR QUESTION.&mdash;Why does a toper&mdash;especially
+ when "before the beak"&mdash;always say that he was "in drink,"
+ when he evidently means that the drink was in him? The only
+ soaker on record who could rightly be said to be "in drink"
+ was,</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Maudlin <i>Clarence</i> in his Malmsey butt."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>He was "in liquor" with a vengeance. But less lucky
+ wine-bibbers need not be illogical as well as inebriate.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>MR. GOSCHEN'S BUDGET.&mdash;"From a fiscal point of view,
+ the Tobacco receipts are extremely good." So unlike JOKIM. Of
+ course, as he never loses a chance of a <i>jeu de mot</i>, what
+ he must have said was, that "the Tobacco 'returns' are
+ extremely good." "A birthday Budget,&mdash;many happy
+ 'returns,'" he observed jocosely to PRINCE ARTHUR, "quite
+ japing times!" And off he went for his holiday; and, weather
+ permitting, as he reclines in his funny among the weeds, he
+ will gently murmur, "<i>Dulce est desipere in smoko</i>."</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"
+ id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span>
+
+ <h2>THE NEWEST NARCISSUS;</h2>
+
+ <h3>OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.</h3>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>["&mdash;The curious tendency towards imitation which is
+ observed whenever some specially sensational crime is
+ brought into the light of publicity."&mdash;<i>Morning
+ Post</i>.']</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>NARCISSUS? <i>He</i>, that foul ill-favoured
+ brute,</p>
+
+ <p>A fevered age's most repulsive fruit,</p>
+
+ <p>The murderous coxcomb, the assassin sleek?</p>
+
+ <p>Stranger comparison could fancy seek?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Truly 'tis not the self-admiring boy</p>
+
+ <p>Nymph Echo longed so vainly to enjoy;</p>
+
+ <p>Yet the old classic fable hath a phase</p>
+
+ <p>Which seems to fit the opprobrium of our days.</p>
+
+ <p>Criminal-worship seems our latest cult,</p>
+
+ <p>And this strange figure is its last result.</p>
+
+ <p>Self-conscious, self-admiring, Crime parades</p>
+
+ <p>Its loathly features, not in slumdom's shades,</p>
+
+ <p>Or in Alsatian sanctuaries vile.</p>
+
+ <p>No; peacock-posing and complacent smile</p>
+
+ <p>Pervade the common air, and take the town.</p>
+
+ <p>The glory of a scandalous renown</p>
+
+ <p>Lures the vain villain more than wrath or gain,</p>
+
+ <p>And cancels all the shame that should restrain:</p>
+
+ <p>Makes murder half-heroic in his sight,</p>
+
+ <p>And gilds the gallows with factitious light.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And whose the fault? Sensation it is thine!</p>
+
+ <p>The garrulous paragraph, the graphic line,</p>
+
+ <p>Poster and portrait, telegram and tale,</p>
+
+ <p>Make shopboy eager and domestics pale.</p>
+
+ <p>Over the morbid details workmen pore,</p>
+
+ <p>Toil's favourite pabulum and chosen lore,</p>
+
+ <p>Penny-a-liners pile the horrors up,</p>
+
+ <p>On which the cockney <i>gobe-mouche</i> loves to
+ sup,</p>
+
+ <p>And paragraph and picture feed the clown</p>
+
+ <p>With the foul garbage that has gorged the town.</p>
+
+ <p>"Vice is a monster of such hideous mien</p>
+
+ <p>As to be hated needs but to be seen."</p>
+
+ <p>So sang the waspish satirist long ago.</p>
+
+ <p>Now Vice is sketched and Crime is made a show.</p>
+
+ <p>A hundred eager scribes are at their heel</p>
+
+ <p>To tell the public how they look and feel,</p>
+
+ <p>How eat and drink, how sleep and smoke and play.</p>
+
+ <p>Murder's itinerary for a day,</p>
+
+ <p>Set forth in graphic phrase by skilful pens,</p>
+
+ <p>With pictures of its face, its favourite dens,</p>
+
+ <p>Its knife or bludgeon, pistol, paramour,</p>
+
+ <p>Will swell the swift editions hour by hour,</p>
+
+ <p>More than high news of war or of debate,</p>
+
+ <p>The death of heroes or the throes of state.</p>
+
+ <p>From club-room to street-corner runs the cry</p>
+
+ <p>After the newest fact, or latest lie:</p>
+
+ <p>The hurrying throng unfolded broad-sheets grasp,</p>
+
+ <p>And read with goggled eyes and lips a-gasp,</p>
+
+ <p>Blood! Blood! More Blood! It makes hot lips go
+ pale,</p>
+
+ <p>But gives the sweetest zest to the unholy tale.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>What wonder if the Horror, homaged thus</p>
+
+ <p>By frenzied eagerness and foolish fuss,</p>
+
+ <p>Swells to a hideous self-importance, struts</p>
+
+ <p>In conscious dignity, and gladly gluts</p>
+
+ <p>With vanity's fantastic tricks the herd</p>
+
+ <p>Whose pulses first by murderous crime it
+ stirred.</p>
+
+ <p>Narcissus-like, the slayer bends to trace</p>
+
+ <p>Within Sensation's flowing stream its face,</p>
+
+ <p>And, self-enamoured, smiles a loathsome smile</p>
+
+ <p>Of fatuous conceit and gloating guile;</p>
+
+ <p>Laughs at the shadow of the lifted knife,</p>
+
+ <p>And thinks of all things save its victim's life.</p>
+
+ <p>The "Noisy Nymph," the Echo of our times,</p>
+
+ <p>The gossip, with an eager ear for crimes,</p>
+
+ <p>Lurks, half-admiring, all-recording there,</p>
+
+ <p>Watching Narcissus with persistent stare,</p>
+
+ <p>And ready note-book. Nothing but a Voice?</p>
+
+ <p>No, but its babblings travel, and rejoice</p>
+
+ <p>A myriad prurient ears with noisome news,</p>
+
+ <p>Fit only for the shambles and the stews.</p>
+
+ <p>These hear, admire, and sometimes
+ imitate!&mdash;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Narcissus is a danger to the State,</p>
+
+ <p>And Echo hardly less. Vain-glorious crime;</p>
+
+ <p>That pestilent portent of a morbid time,</p>
+
+ <p>Would flourish less could sense or law avail</p>
+
+ <p>To strangle coarse Sensation's clamorous tale,</p>
+
+ <p>Silence the "Noisy Nymph," for half crime's ill</p>
+
+ <p>Would end were babbling Echo's voice but still.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:75%;">
+ <a href="images/194.png"><img width="70%"
+ src="images/194.png"
+ alt="'THE MISSING CIPHER.'" /></a>
+
+ <h3>"THE MISSING CIPHER."</h3>
+
+ <p>"OH, PAPA, ONLY FIFTY POUNDS FROM SIR GORGIUS MIDAS!
+ SUCH A MILLIONAIRE&mdash;WHY HE <i>OUGHT</i> TO HAVE SENT
+ FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS AT LEAST!"</p>
+
+ <p>"AH, I'M AFRAID HE FORGOT THE <i>OUGHT</i>, MY
+ DEAR!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195"
+ id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/195.png"><img width="70%"
+ src="images/195.png"
+ alt="THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS." />
+ </a>
+
+ <h3>THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.</h3>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>FETTERED.&mdash;In reply to the Unemployed Deputation which
+ found employment in paying a visit to the L.C.C. at Spring
+ Gardens, Messrs. BURNS and BEN TILLETT (Alderman) intimated
+ that as Mr. POWER, the U.D.'s spokesman, was not a member of
+ the L.C.C., that body was Power-less to assist them in their
+ trouble. A nasty time of it had the Labour Candidates on this
+ occasion. Nothing like putting men of Radical revolutionary
+ tendencies into responsible positions.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>A SHADY VALET.&mdash;One DONALD CROSS was a Valet in the
+ service of an absent master, whose best clothes and jewellery
+ DONALD wore, while he kept his flat well aired by giving little
+ supper-parties to young ladies who took him at his own
+ valuation,&mdash;for a very superior swell. Alas! he was but a
+ <i>valet de sham</i>! "Cross purposes," but Magistrate
+ "disposes"; and the once happy Valet is in the shade for the
+ next six months.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196"
+ id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span>
+
+ <h2>IN FANCY DRESS.</h2>
+
+ <h4>A Sketch At Covent Garden Theatre.</h4>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous
+ than lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very
+ decided minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of
+ their costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic</i>
+ Hatstand, <i>hobbles painfully towards a friend who is
+ disguised as a huge</i> Cannon.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>The Hatstand</i> (<i>huskily, through a fox's mask in
+ the centre of his case, to the</i> Cannon). Just a trifle
+ slow up to the present, eh?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Cannon</i> (<i>shifting the carriage and wheels
+ to a less uncomfortable position.</i>) Yes, it don't seem
+ to me as lively as usual&mdash;<i>drags</i>, don't you
+ know.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Hatstand</i> (<i>heroically</i>). Well, we must
+ wake 'em up, that's all&mdash;put a little <i>go</i> into
+ the thing!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling
+ through the crowd, which regards them with
+ compassionate wonder.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Black Domino</i> (<i>to a</i> Clown, <i>who is
+ tapping the barometer on the</i> Hatstand's <i>back</i>).
+ Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it may be
+ here on the hire system.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>The</i> Hatstand <i>executes a cumbrous caper by
+ way of repartee, and stumbles on.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Folly</i> (<i>to a highly respectable</i> Bedouin
+ <i>in a burnous and gold spectacles</i>). Well, all I can
+ say is, you don't seem to me to behave much <i>like</i> an
+ Arab!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bedouin</i> (<i>uneasily, as he waltzes with
+ conscientious regularity</i>). Don't I? How <i>ought</i> I
+ to behave then?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Folly</i>. <i>I</i> should have thought you'd
+ jump about and howl, the way Bedouins <i>do</i> howl.
+ <i>You</i> know!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bed.</i> (<i>dubiously</i>). Um&mdash;well, you
+ see, my dear, I&mdash;I don't feel <i>up</i> to that sort
+ of thing&mdash;<i>before</i> supper.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Folly</i> (<i>losing all respect for him</i>).
+ No&mdash;nor yet after it. I expect you've told some old
+ four-wheel caravan to come and fetch you home early, and
+ you'll turn into your little tent at the usual
+ time&mdash;that's the sort of wild Bedouin <i>you</i> are!
+ Don't let me keep you. [<i>She leaves him.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>The Bed.</i> (<i>alone</i>). If she only knew the
+ absolute <i>horror</i> I have of making myself conspicuous,
+ she wouldn't expect it!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mephistopheles</i> (<i>to a Picador</i>). This was
+ the only thing I could get to go in. How do you think it
+ suits me?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Picador</i> (<i>with candour</i>). Well, I must
+ say, old fellow, you <i>do</i> look a beast!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[Mephisto <i>appears wounded.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Masker</i> (<i>with his face painted brown, and in
+ a costume of coloured paper decorated with small boxes and
+ packets, to a Blue Domino</i>). You see what <i>I</i> am,
+ don't you? The Parcels Post! Had a <i>lot</i> of trouble
+ thinking it out. Look at my face, for instance, I made
+ <i>that</i> up, with string&mdash;marks and all, to look
+ like a brown-paper parcel.</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Blue Domino</i>. Pity you haven't got something
+ <i>inside</i> it, isn't it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Parcels Post</i> (<i>feebly</i>). Don't you be
+ too sharp. And it really is a first-rate idea. All these
+ parcels now&mdash;I suppose there must be fifty of 'em at
+ least&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Blue Domino</i>. Are there? Well, I wish you'd go
+ and get sorted somewhere else. I haven't time for it
+ myself.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Sardonic Spectator</i> (<i>pityingly&mdash;to a
+ Masker in a violent perspiration, who represents Sindbad
+ carrying the Old Man of the Sea</i>). 'Ow you <i>are</i>
+ worrying yourself to be sure!</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Polite Stranger</i> (<i>accosting an Individual who
+ is personifying the London County Council by the aid of a
+ hat surmounted by a sky-sign, a cork bridge and a tin
+ tramcar, a toy Clown and a butterfly on his chest, a
+ portrait of Mlle. Zoeo on his back, a miniature fireman
+ under an extinguisher, and a model crane, which he winds up
+ and down with evident enjoyment</i>). Excuse me, Sir, but
+ would you mind showing us round you&mdash;or is there a
+ catalogue to your little collection?</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>The L.C.C. maintains a dignified
+ silence.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Pierrot</i> (<i>critically to Cleopatra</i>). Very
+ nice indeed, my dear girl,&mdash;except that they ought to
+ have given you a serpent to carry, you know'</p>
+
+ <p><i>Cleopatra</i>. Oh, they <i>did</i>&mdash;only I left
+ it in the Cloak-room.</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Man with a False Nose</i> (<i>to a Friend who is
+ wearing his natural organ</i>). Why, I thought you said
+ <i>you</i> were coming in a nose?</p>
+
+ <p><i>His Friend</i>. So I did (<i>he produces an enormous
+ nose and cheeks from his tail-pocket</i>). But it's no
+ mortal use; the minute I put it on I'm recognised
+ (<i>plaintively</i>). And I gave one-and-ninepence for the
+ beastly thing, too!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Young Man of the Period</i> (<i>meeting a female
+ acquaintance attired in ferns, rock-work, and coloured
+ shells, illuminated by portable electric light</i>).
+ Hul-lo! You <i>are</i> a swell! And what are <i>you</i>
+ supposed to be?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Lady in Rock-work</i>. Can't you see? I'm a Fairy
+ Grotto. Good idea, isn't it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Rippin'! But what the mischief have you got
+ on your shoulder?</p>
+
+ <p><i>She</i>. Oh, that's an aquarium&mdash;real goldfish.
+ See!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Exhibiting them with pride.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Ain't you lettin' 'em sit up rather late?
+ They <i>will</i> be chippy to-morrow&mdash;off colour,
+ don't you know.</p>
+
+ <p><i>She</i>. Will they? What ought I to do for them,
+ then?</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Do? Oh, just put a brandy-and-soda in their
+ tank.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Later; Supper is going on in the Boxes and
+ Supper-room, and the festivity has been further
+ increased by the arrival of a party of Low Comedians
+ and Music-Hall Stars. The Lancers have been danced with
+ more abandonment, and several entirely new and original
+ figures</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>The Chevalier Bayard</i> (<i>at the Refreshment
+ Bar&mdash;to a Watteau Shepherdess</i>). I say, you come
+ along and dance with me, will you?&mdash;and look here, if
+ you dance well, I'll give you a drink when it's over. If
+ you don t dance to please me, you'll get nothing. See?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Watteau Shepherdess</i> (<i>with delicate
+ disdain</i>). 'Ere, you go along, you silly ass!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Hits him with her crook.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Gentleman who has obviously supped</i> (<i>catching
+ hold of a passing Acquaintance, whose hand he wrings
+ affectionately</i>). Dear ole HUGHIE! don't go away just
+ yet. Shtop an' talk with me. Got lotsh er things say to
+ you, dear ole boy&mdash;mosh 'portant things! Shure you,
+ you're the on'y man in the wide world I ever kicked a
+ care&mdash;cared a kick about. Don't <i>you</i> leave me,
+ HUGHIE!</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:47%;">
+ <a href="images/196.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/196.png"
+ alt="'Exit unsteadily towards Bar.'" /></a>"Exit
+ unsteadily towards Bar."
+ </div>
+
+ <p><i>Hughie</i> (<i>who is looking for his partner</i>).
+ Not now, old man&mdash;can't stop. See you later!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>He makes his escape.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>The Affect. G.</i> (<i>confidentially&mdash;to a
+ Policeman</i>). Thash a very dear ole pal o' mine,
+ plishman, a <i>very</i> dear ole pal. Worsht of him
+ ish&mdash;shimply imposhble get a lit' rational
+ conversation with him. No <i>sheriousness</i> in his
+ character!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Exit unsteadily towards Bar, in blissful
+ unconsciousness that somebody has attached a large
+ false nose and spectacles to the buttons of his
+ coat-tails.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Troubadour</i> (<i>jealously&mdash;to an
+ Arleguina</i>). No&mdash;but look here, you might just as
+ well say right put which costume you like best&mdash;mine
+ or&mdash;(<i>indicating a Cavalier on her other
+ side</i>)&mdash;his.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Arleguina</i> (<i>cautiously&mdash;not desiring to
+ offend either</i>). Well, I'd rather be
+ <i>him</i>&mdash;not as a <i>man</i>, I wouldn't&mdash;but,
+ as <i>myself</i>, I'd like to be <i>this</i> one.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Both appear equally satisfied and soothed by
+ this diplomatic, but slightly mystic response.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>A Vivandière</i> (<i>to a Martyr, who is shuffling
+ along inside a property-trunk, covered with twigs, and
+ supposed to represent a Bird in the Hand</i>). Well, that's
+ <i>one</i> way of coming <i>out</i> to enjoy yourself, I
+ suppose!</p>
+
+ <p><i>A Middle-aged Man</i> (<i>wandering behind the
+ Orchestra</i>). It's beastly dull, that's what it
+ is&mdash;none of the give-and-take humour and practical fun
+ you get in Paris or Vienna!... That's a nice,
+ simple-looking little thing in the seat over there. (<i>The
+ simple-looking little thing peeps at him, with one eye over
+ her fan, in arch invitation.</i>) Gad, I'll go up and talk
+ to her&mdash;it will be something to <i>do</i>, at any
+ rate&mdash;she looks as if she wouldn't mind. (<i>He goes
+ up.</i>) Think I know your face&mdash;haven't we met
+ before?</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Simple Little Thing</i> (<i>after an elaborate
+ wink aside at a</i> Fireman). Shouldn't wonder. Don't you
+ run away yet. Sit down and talk to me&mdash;do now. No, not
+ <i>that</i> side&mdash;try the arm-chair, it's more
+ comfortable.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197"
+ id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span>
+
+ <p><i>The M.M.</i> (<i>throwing himself gracefully into a
+ well-padded chintz chair</i>). Well, really&mdash;(<i>The
+ chair suddenly digs him in the ribs with one of its
+ elbows</i>). Eh, look here now&mdash;'pon my&mdash;(<i>He
+ attempts to rise, and finds himself tightly pinioned by the
+ arms of the chair.</i>) There's some confounded fool
+ <i>inside</i> this chair!</p>
+
+ <p><i>The Simple Little Thing</i> (<i>tickling him under
+ the chin with her fan</i>). Shouldn't call yourself names!
+ I'm going&mdash;don't get up on <i>my</i> account. [<i>She
+ goes off, laughing; a crowd collects and heartily enjoys
+ his situation.</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>The M.M.</i> (<i>later&mdash;very red after his
+ release</i>). If I could have found a policeman, I'd have
+ given that chair in custody! It's scandalous to call
+ <i>that</i> coming in Fancy Dress! [<i>Exit
+ indignantly.</i></p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE BROWN-JONES INCIDENT.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>Adapted from the French.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>SCENE&mdash;<i>A Street. Enter</i> BROWN <i>and</i>
+ JONES. <i>They meet, and regard one another for a moment,
+ fixedly. Then they salute one another respectfully.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> I have been looking for you
+ everywhere.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> Then I am delighted to have met you.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> I have said of you that you are a
+ trickster, a scoundrel, a fool, and an idiot!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> Yes&mdash;and I have regretted the saying,
+ because it shows to me that you have misunderstood the
+ great literary movement of the present day, in its vast and
+ varied effort.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> Of that I know nothing, for I confess I
+ have never read your books.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>reproachfully</i>). Yes&mdash;and yet
+ you accuse me of being a trickster, a scoundrel, and a
+ fool, without knowing my works?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> It was my duty. But still I had no wish to
+ be guilty of an outrage.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> An outrage&mdash;how an outrage?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> Had I known you had been present to hear
+ me I would not have caused you the pain of listening to
+ me.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>with admiration</i>). But it was the
+ act of a brave man! Did it not occur to you that had I been
+ within reach of you that you too would have suffered
+ pain?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown.</i> It did not, I was unconscious of your
+ presence. I would have preferred to have spoken behind your
+ back. It is brutal to speak before any face. It might lead
+ to an unpleasantness.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> No, it is your duty to do what you think
+ is right. It is also my duty to do what I think is right.
+ We are now face to face. Have you anything further to say
+ to me?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown</i> (<i>hurriedly</i>). You have immense
+ gifts&mdash;gifts which are those of genius.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones.</i> I thought you would understand me better
+ when we met. My dear friend, I am delighted at this
+ reconciliation. Give me your hand.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Brown</i> (<i>clasping palms</i>). With all the
+ pleasure in the world. But still I owe you reparation. How
+ can I&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>Jones</i> (<i>interrupting</i>). Not another word, my
+ dear friend. That is a matter we can leave in the hands of
+ our Solicitors.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Scene closes in upon the suggestion.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/197-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/197-1.png"
+ alt="A SOLILOQUY." /></a>
+
+ <h3>A SOLILOQUY.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Youthful Mercury.</i> "WHAT'S THIS 'ERE ON THE PLYTE?
+ 'KNOCK AND RING'! BLOWED IF THEY WON'T BE HARSKING YER TO
+ '<i>WALK HINSIDE</i>,' NEXT!!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:30%;">
+ <a href="images/197-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/197-2.png"
+ alt="'Oliver asking for More.'" /></a>"Oliver asking
+ for More."
+ </div>
+
+ <p>It is curious to find a coincidence in style and in idea
+ between an earnest, witty and pious English author of the
+ Sixteenth Century, and an American author of our own day. Yet
+ so it is, and here is the parallel to be found between the
+ quaint American tales about the old negro, <i>Uncle Remus</i>,
+ by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, in this year of Grace, 1892, and the
+ fables writ by Sir THOMAS MORE in 1520, or thereabouts, which
+ he represents as if told him by an old wife and nurse, one
+ Mother MAUD. Here are "The Wolf,"&mdash;"Brer Wolf"&mdash;and
+ the simple-minded Jackass, both are going to confession to
+ Father Fox&mdash;"Brer Fox." Æsop is, of course, the common
+ origin of all such tales. The extracts which I have come
+ across, are to be found in a small book compiled by the Rev.
+ THOMAS BRIDGETT, entitled, <i>The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas
+ More</i>. The Baron wishes that with it had been issued a
+ glossary of old English words and expressions, as, to an
+ ordinary modern reader, much of Sir THOMAS MORE's writing is
+ well-nigh unintelligible; nay, in some instances, the Baron can
+ only approximately arrive at the meaning, as though it were a
+ writ in a foreign language with which his acquaintance was of
+ no great profundity. Certes, the learned and reverend compiler
+ hath a keen relish for this quaintness, but not so will fifteen
+ out of his twenty readers, who, pardie! shall regret the
+ absence of a key without which some of the treasure must, to
+ them at least, remain inaccessible. With this reservation, but
+ with no sort of equivocation, doth the Baron heartily recommend
+ The Reverend BRIDGETT's compilation of Sir THOMAS MORE's
+ "English as she is writ" in the Sixteenth Century, to all
+ lovers of good books in this "so-called (O, immortal phrase!)
+ Nineteenth Century." The Rev. THOMAS hath well and ably done
+ his work, and therefore doth the Baron advise his readers to go
+ to their booksellers, and, being there, to imitate the example
+ of DICKENS's oft-quoted <i>Oliver</i>, and "ask for MORE."</p>
+
+ <p>Quoth the Baron, "Much liketh me the Macmillanite series of
+ <i>English Men of Action</i>, and in a very special manner do I
+ laud the latest that, to my knowledge, hath appeared 'yclept
+ <i>Montrose</i>, by Master MOWBRAY MORRIS&mdash;a good many
+ 'M's' in these names&mdash;who hath executed his
+ <i>Montrose</i> with as loving a heart and as tender a touch as
+ ever did use old IZAAK towards the gentle that he, and the
+ simple fish, did love so well. Did not the very hangman burst
+ into tears as he thrust the unfortunate nobleman off the step?
+ and did not a universal sob of pity break from the vast crowd
+ assembled to see the last of the noble cavalier, victim to an
+ unfortunate tradition of loyalty? What wonder then if we
+ sympathise with this luckless hero of romance? The weak-knee'd
+ villain of this historical drama was '<i>Charles</i> (his
+ friend),' in which character, be it allowed, this sad dog of a
+ Merry Monarch not infrequently appeared. Thank you much, Mr.
+ MOWBRAY MONTROSE MORRIS," quoth</p>
+
+ <p class="author">THE BENEFICENT BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198"
+ id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/198.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/198.png"
+ alt="SYMPATHY." /></a>
+
+ <h3>SYMPATHY.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Mamma</i> (<i>to Cook</i>)&mdash;"AND MRS. STUBBS,
+ THE CREAM WITH THE APPLE-TART YESTERDAY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN
+ WHIPPED."</p>
+
+ <p><i>Ethel</i> (<i>who has a grateful remembrance of the
+ dish in question</i>). "OH, MUMMY DEAR! 'OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN
+ WHIPPED!' I THOUGHT IT WAS PARTICULARLY GOOD!"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>APRIL SHOWERS;</h2>
+
+ <h3>OR, A SPOILED EASTER HOLIDAY.</h3>
+
+ <h4>(<i>A Vacation Cantata.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Master George (stretching forth his fingers to feel
+ if the shower is abating) sings</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Rain! Rain!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Go away!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Come again</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Another day!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur</i> (<i>gloomily</i>). Pooh! Rain won't
+ go away, not in these times,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">By being sung at to old nursery rhymes:</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Especially in such a voice as yours!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Needn't be nasty, ARTHUR!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;How it pours!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Thought we were going to have a real jolly
+ day,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And now it's set in wet, to spoil our
+ holiday.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Always the way at Easter. Shall we
+ trudge it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i> Not yet. What have you got,
+ GEORGE, in your Budget?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> Not very much, I fear!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;Ah, that's vexatious!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">It might have cheered us up a bit.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George</i> (<i>indignantly</i>). Good
+ gracious!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">You're always down on me, with no good
+ reasons.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">You know <i>I</i>'m not the ruler of the
+ Seasons.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Now if I'd been in <i>your</i>
+ place&mdash;but no matter!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> By Jingo, how the raindrops rush
+ and clatter!</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Ah, Primrose-gathering is not half so
+ jolly</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">As once it used to be.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Arthur.</i>7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;7nbsp;Ah! my dear SOLLY,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The springs are now so awfully wet and
+ cold,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The "cry" don't seem so fetching as of
+ old.</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Pipes up.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Recitative. "Who will buy my pretty, pretty
+ Pri-im-ro-o-ses!</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i4"><i>All fresh gathered from the
+ va-a-a-ll-ey?"</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>Master George.</i> The wet and cold have got into
+ your throat,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">A quaver and a crack on every note!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> Don't aggravate each other, boys;
+ 'tis wrong,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But while it rains <i>I</i>'ll tootle out a
+ song:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">(<i>Sings.</i>) The days we went
+ a-Primrosing!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">AIR&mdash;"<i>The days we went
+ a-Gipsying!</i>"</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The days are gone, the happy days</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">When <i>we</i> were in our Spring;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">When all the Primrose loved to praise,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">And join its gathering.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Oh! we could sing like anything,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">We felt the conqueror's glow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Then April's flowery return</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Was "Peace-with-Honour's" goal.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And the bright brimstone-bunch would burn</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">In every button-hole.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Our Dames were gaily on the wing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">With blossoms in full blow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago.</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But now Progressive storms prevail</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Election blizzards chill;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">The Primroses seem sparse and pale</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">In valley and on hill.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Yon cloud looks black as raven's wing!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Things did not menace so.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">In the days when we went Primrosing</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">A long time ago!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8"><i>Chorus.</i>&mdash;In the days, &amp;c.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Both.</i> Oh, brayvo, BOBBY!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master Robert.</i> Thanks. Yet my song's burden</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Is dismal as the croakings of <i>Dame
+ Durden</i>.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Our holiday is spoilt by driving showers.</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">I fear we shall have no great show of
+ flowers;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">But&mdash;anyhow my boys we're under
+ cover;</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And let us hope that storm-cloud will pass
+ over</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Without first giving us a dreadful
+ drenching,</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">And all our April-hopes entirely
+ quenching.</p>
+
+ <p><i>All</i> (<i>singing together</i>).</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Rain! Rain!</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Go away!</p>
+
+ <p class="i6">Come again</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Another day!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>Left crouching and singing.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>FROM THE THEATRES, &amp;C. COMMISSION.&mdash;"I am afraid,"
+ said Mr. P.S. RUTLAND, speaking of the Music Halls, and in
+ answer to a question of Mr. BOLTON's, "we cannot do a wreck.
+ (<i>Laughter.</i>)" Mr. WOODALL: "Without being wrecked in the
+ attempt. (<i>Renewed laughter.</i>)" Oh, witty WOODALL! Why,
+ encouraged by this applause, he may yet be led on to make a pun
+ on his own name, and say, "<i>Would all</i> were like him!" or
+ some such merry jest. The proceedings in this Committee were
+ becoming a trifle dull, but it is to be hoped that they may yet
+ hear something still more sparkling from the wise and witty
+ WOODALL.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199"
+ id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/199.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/199.png"
+ alt="APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY." />
+ </a>
+
+ <h3>APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY.</h3>TRIO.
+ "RAIN! RAIN! GO AWAY! COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"
+ id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span>
+
+ <h2>TO MY COOK.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:33%;">
+ <a href="images/201-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/201-1.png"
+ alt="My cook." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Oh, hard of favour, fat of form,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">How fairer art thou than thy looks,</p>
+
+ <p>Whose heart with kitchen fires is warm,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou plainest of the plainer Cooks!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Low down upon thy forehead grows</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thick hair of no conducive dye;</p>
+
+ <p>Short and aspiring is thy nose,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Watched ever by a furtive eye.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In shy defiance rarely seen</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Where kitchen stairways darkly tend,</p>
+
+ <p>A foe to judge thee by thy mien,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Proclaimed in every act a friend!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I know thee little; not thy views</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">On public or on private life,</p>
+
+ <p>Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's
+ wife;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>For who can rightly read the change</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When, still'd the work-day traffic's
+ din,</p>
+
+ <p>In best apparel, rich and strange,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou passest weekly to thy kin!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A silken gown, that bravely stands</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Environing thy form, or no;</p>
+
+ <p>Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">For brooch, the breastplate cameo.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Shod with the well-heeled boots, whose knell</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Afar along the pavement sounds,</p>
+
+ <p>Blent with the tinkling muffin-bell,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or milkman, shrilling on his rounds.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p><i>Nil tangis quod non ornas.</i> Nay,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">'Tis not alone the parsley sprig,</p>
+
+ <p>The paper frill, the fennel spray,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The Yule-tide's pertly-berried twig;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>But common objects by thy art</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Some proper beauty seem to own;</p>
+
+ <p>Thy chop is as a chop apart,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fraught with a grace before unknown;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The very egg thou poachest seems</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Some work of deft
+ <i>orfévrerie</i>,&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>A yolk of gold that chastely gleams</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Through a thin shrine of ivory.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>From thee no pale and wilted ghost,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Or branded by the blackening bar,</p>
+
+ <p>But crisp and cheery comes the toast,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And brown as ripening hazels are.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Thy butter has not lost the voice</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of English meads, where cowslips
+ grow,</p>
+
+ <p>And oh, the bacon of thy choice&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Rose-jacinth labyrinthed in snow!</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And mutton, colder than the kiss</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Of formal love, where loathing lurks</p>
+
+ <p>Its deadlier chill doth wholly miss,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Fired with the spirit of thy works.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>To true occasion thou art true,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">As upon great occasions great;</p>
+
+ <p>Doing whatever Cook may do</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">When PHYLLIS, neat, alone will wait,</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>As when the neighbouring villas send</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Their modish guests to statelier
+ fare,</p>
+
+ <p>And PHYLLIS, neat, is helped to tend</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By that staid man the Greengrocer.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Though thou art more than plain in look,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou wieldest charms that never
+ tire&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>O Cook&mdash;we will not call thee Cook,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thou Priestess of the Genial Fire.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>LAYING A GHOST!</h2>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>PROSPECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS.&mdash;Owing to the continued
+ success of <i>Hamlet</i>, it has been decided (by
+ arrangement with the Author) to postpone,
+ &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Extract from Advertisement in Daily
+ Paper.</i></p>
+
+ <p>SCENE&mdash;<i>Sanctum of</i> Popular Actor-Manager
+ <i>of Theatre Royal Haymarket</i>, Popular Actor-Manager
+ <i>dozing over a submitted Play. He closes his eyes and
+ slumbers. When to him enter</i> Master WILLIAM
+ SHAKSPEARE.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="drama">
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> (<i>shouting</i>). What ho, Sir
+ Player! Wake up, Sir, wake up!</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>rousing himself</i>). Delighted to
+ see you, Mr. SHAKSPEARE. I hope you have been in front and
+ seen us?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> Yes, I just had a glance. Find you
+ have put in some new business. When will all you fellows
+ leave me alone?</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>earnestly</i>). I hope, Sir, that in
+ the cause of Art you do not object, that&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> (<i>interrupting</i>). Oh, no! It
+ makes little difference to me what you do. <i>My</i>
+ author's fees ceased years ago! But look here, What do you
+ mean by this? (<i>Produces Press-cutting of advertisement
+ and reads</i>)&mdash;"Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Prospective
+ Arrangements. Owing to the continued success of
+ <i>Hamlet</i>, it has been decided (by arrangement with the
+ Author) to postpone" another play. Now, Master TREE, or as
+ I may call ye, "Master up a Tree," what have you to say to
+ that? You see your advertisement has caught my eye. I am
+ here to answer it!</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> Most wonderful! I do not know how or
+ wherefore my pen slipped, but slip it did, indeed. However,
+ I apologise. Is that enough?</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> More than enough!</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><i>Enter the</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father
+ <i>suddenly.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>Ghost</i> (<i>with a glance at W.S.</i>). Ah, the
+ Governor here already! Still, I may have my chance as well
+ as he! I gave the plot of <i>Hamlet</i>! Why shouldn't I
+ have another shot? (<i>To P.A.-M.</i>)&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">But that I am forbid</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">To tell the secrets of my prison-house,</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">I could a tale unfold, whose lightest
+ word</p>
+
+ <p class="i8">Would harrow up thy soul.</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>eagerly</i>). The very thing for a
+ melodrama. Delighted to make your
+ acquaintance&mdash;hem&mdash;in the Spirit!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Master W.S.</i> Nay, good Master Player, this is
+ scarcely business! If anything in <i>that</i> line is to be
+ done, I should do it. (<i>To</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father).
+ Begone, Sirrah!</p>
+
+ <p><i>Ghost.</i> Nay, this is professional jealousy! (<i>To
+ P.A.-M.</i>). I find thee apt&mdash;</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>[<i>A book falls, and</i> Master WM. SHAKSPEARE
+ <i>and</i> Ghost of HAMLET's Father <i>vanish
+ together.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p><i>P.A.-M.</i> (<i>opening his eyes</i>). Was I
+ dreaming? (<i>With a recollection of "The Red Lamp</i>") I
+ wonder! [<i>Left wondering.</i></p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>TAKING A SIGHT AT RINGANDKNOCK.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By Ruddier Stripling.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <p>After the roughness of the Atlantic, in which to my taste
+ there is far too much water moving about, I stepped on to
+ America with considerable relief. I was quite satisfied, after
+ that excellent dinner, the first I had enjoyed since Liverpool
+ slid away eastward, to walk aimlessly through the streets till
+ I fell into the arms of a broad-shouldered, pug-nosed, Irish
+ New York policeman. I remember no more till New York passed
+ away on a sunny afternoon, and then I fell asleep again and
+ slept till the brakeman, conductor, Pullman-car conductor,
+ negro porter and newsboy somehow managed to pull me out into
+ the midnight temperature of 80 below freezing. It was just like
+ having one's head put under the pump, but it did not quite
+ revive me, for I mistook my host in his sleigh for a walrus,
+ and tried to harpoon him with my umbrella. After matters had
+ been explained, we went off, at least I did, and never woke up
+ till I fell out into a snow-drift, just as we turned a corner
+ at our journey's end.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:17%;">
+ <a href="images/201-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/201-2.png"
+ alt="'Ta-ra-ra-Boom!'" /></a>"Ta-ra-ra-Boom!"
+ </div>
+
+ <p>In the morning, I had some idea that the sky was a great
+ sapphire, and that I was inside it, and that the fields were
+ some sort of velvet or wool-work, going round and round with
+ the sun rioting over them, whatever that may mean, till my head
+ ached. I can't quite understand all this now, but it seemed a
+ very picturesque, impressionist description when I wrote it.
+ Then I went for a walk down Main Street. I think it is about
+ 400 miles long, for I got nowhere near the end, but this was
+ perhaps owing to my uncertainty as to which side was the
+ pleasanter to walk on. At last I gave it up, and sat down on
+ the side-walk. Now, the wisdom of Vermont, not being at all
+ times equal to grasping all the problems of everybody else's
+ life with delicacy, sometimes makes pathetic mistakes, and it
+ did so in my ease. I explained to the policeman that I had been
+ sitting up half the night on a wild horse in New Zealand, and
+ had only just come over for the day, but it was all in
+ vain.</p>
+
+ <p>The cell at Vermont was horribly uncomfortable. I dreamt
+ that I was trying to boil snow in a thimble, to make maple
+ syrup, and to swim on my head in deep water, with a life-belt
+ tied to my ankles. There was another man there, and in the
+ early morning he told me about Mastodons and Plesiosauri in a
+ wood near the town, and how he caught them by the tails and
+ photographed them; and also that Ringandknock, a mountain near,
+ was mentioned by EMERSON in a verse, which I remembered,
+ because he made "co-eval" rhyme with "extended." Only a truly
+ great Philosopher could have done that.</p>
+
+ <p>It was all new and delightful; and it must have been true,
+ because my informant was a quiet, slow-spoken man of the West,
+ who refrained from laughing at me. I have met very few people
+ who could do that. Next day all the idleness and trifling were
+ at an end, and my friends conveyed me back to New York.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>EPITAPH ON A DYER.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>This Dyer with a dire liver tried</p>
+
+ <p>To earn a living dyeing, and he died.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"
+ id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span>
+
+ <h2>THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER.</h2>
+
+ <h3>No. VIII.&mdash;THE DUFFER AS A HOST.</h3>
+
+ <p>Of course I don't try to give dinners at home. The
+ difficulties and anxieties are too enormous. First there is
+ inviting the people. I like to have none but very clever men
+ and very pretty women, but nobody's acquaintance is limited to
+ those rare beings, and, if I did invite them, they would all
+ have previous engagements: I do not blame them. But suppose
+ that two or three of the wits and beauties accept, that is
+ worse than ever, because the rest are a Q.C. (who talks about
+ his cases) and his wife, who talks about her children. An old
+ school-fellow, who has no conversation that does not begin, "I
+ say, do you remember old JACK WILLIAMS." This does not
+ entertain the beauty, who sits next him.</p>
+
+ <p>A Dowager Duchess, she knows none of the other people and
+ wonders audibly (to me) who they are. A clever young man, whose
+ language is the language of the future, and whose humour is of
+ a date to which I humbly hope my own days may not be prolonged.
+ A Psychical Researcher, with a note-book; he gets at the
+ Duchess at once, and cross-examines her about a visionary Piper
+ who plays audible pibrochs through Castle Blawearie, her
+ ancestral home. Does she think the pibroch could be taken down
+ in a phonograph. Could the Piper be snapped in a kodak? The
+ Duchess does not know what a phonograph is; never heard of a
+ kodak. She does not like the note-book any more than <i>Mr.
+ Pickwick's</i> cabman liked it. She is afraid of getting into
+ print. Then there is the Warden of St. Jude's, a great scholar;
+ he pricks up his ears, not the keenest, at the word kodak, and
+ begins to talk about a newly-discovered <i>Codex</i> of
+ PODONIAN the Elder. Nobody knows what a <i>Codex</i> is. There
+ is a School-board Lady, but, alas, she is next the Warden of
+ St. Jude's, not next the enthusiastic Clergyman, who proses
+ about a Club for Milliners. There is GRIGSBY, who develops an
+ undesirable interest in the Milliners' Club. Have they a
+ Strangers' Room? Do they give suppers? Are they Friendly Girls?
+ Everyone thinks GRIGSBY flippant and coarse; I wish I had not
+ asked him to come. There is a Positivist, who sneers at the
+ Clergyman; there are a Squire and his wife from Rutlandshire:
+ she is next the Radical Candidate for the Isle of Dogs. They do
+ not seem to get on well together. GRIGSBY and the humorist of
+ the future are chaffing each other across the table: nobody
+ understands them; I don't know whether they are quarrelling or
+ not. Miss JONES, the authoress of <i>Melancholy Moods</i> (in a
+ Greek dress, with a <i>pince-nez</i>: a woman should not
+ combine these attributes) is next the Squire: he has never
+ heard of any of her friends the Minor Poets: she takes no
+ interest in Hay, nor in Tithes. I see the Guardsman and the
+ Beauty looking at each other across the flowers and things: the
+ language of their eyes is not difficult, nor pleasant, to read.
+ Why is the champagne so hot, and why are the ices so salt and
+ hard? I know something is the matter with the claret: something
+ is always the matter with the claret. It has been iced, and the
+ champagne has been standing for days in an equable temperature
+ of 65°.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/202.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/202.png"
+ alt="'It is midnight; I am tired to death.'" /></a>"It
+ is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, Bielby
+ <i>will</i> have something to drink, and another
+ cigar&mdash;a very large one."
+ </div>
+
+ <p>When they want to go away, it is a wet night, and those who
+ have come in cabs cannot get cabs to go back in. The Duchess's
+ coachman lost his way, coming here, she was half-an-hour late:
+ she is anxious about his finding his way home. GRIGSBY has got
+ at the Psychical-Researcher, and I hear him telling stories, as
+ personal experiences, which I know are not true.
+ Psychical-Researchers have no sense of humour. "S.P.R.," why
+ not "S.P.Q.R.?" I hear GRIGSBY asking, and suggesting "Society
+ for Propagating Rubbish." It is very rude of him, and not at
+ all funny.</p>
+
+ <p>However, they do go away at last, that advantage a dinner at
+ home has over a dinner at the Club, there they often seem as if
+ they would never go away at all.</p>
+
+ <p>On the other hand, the wine is all right at the Club, I
+ believe, for I know nothing about wine myself. Some men talk of
+ nothing else, and seem to know the vintages without looking at
+ the names on the bottles.</p>
+
+ <p>The worst of giving a dinner at the Club is, that I never
+ know how many men I have asked, nor even who they are. It is
+ enough if I remember the date. It might be a good thing to
+ write these matters down in a Diary, or on a big sheet of
+ paper, pinned up in one's room. I know I have written to ask
+ some Americans whom I have not seen: they brought letters of
+ introduction. I forget their names&mdash;there is a Professor
+ who has written a novel, there is a General, I think, and a Mad
+ Doctor.</p>
+
+ <p>My best plan will be to stand about in the drawing-room, and
+ try to select them as they come in. Here is WILKINSON, who was
+ at St. Jude's with me: I shake hands with him warmly. He looks
+ blank. It is not WILKINSON, after all; it is a stranger, he is
+ dining with somebody else. Some other men have come in while I
+ am apologising. One of them comes up and says, "Mr. McDUFFER!"
+ He must be an American. Which? He tells me: he is the Mad
+ Doctor. He introduces his countrymen; they all say "Mr.
+ McDUFFER!" How am I to remember which is the General and which
+ is the Professor? Other people drop in. Here is CRIMPTON. He is
+ a Reviewer. Clever fellow, CRIMPTON. Here is old
+ BEILBY&mdash;he is hot from the University Match. He begins to
+ tell me all about it. JONES was awfully well set, but that muff
+ SMITH ran him out. BEILBY does not believe it <i>was</i> out.
+ Odd the spite umpires always have at our side. Feel that I must
+ tear myself from BEILBY, the only man whose conversation really
+ interests me. Here is an English writer on military subjects. I
+ introduce him to the American General. Find he is the
+ Professor, after all. We get down-stairs somehow. BEILBY is
+ opposite me. CRIMPTON is next the Professor. The Military
+ Writer is next the General. Things do not appear to go very
+ smoothly. It seems that the Military one has said something
+ about General BEAUREGARD which he should not have said. The
+ General is getting red. I hate it, when men begin to talk about
+ the American War. Any other war they are welcome to: the Danish
+ War, the war of 1866, the war of 1870, the glorious affair of
+ Majuba. But Americans are touchy about their war, not easy to
+ please them whatever you say. Much best to say nothing.
+ CRIMPTON is laughing at American novels. He does not know that
+ the Professor is an American novelist. What am I to do? I try
+ to kick him under the table. I kick the Mad Doctor, and
+ apologise. Was feeling about for a footstool. BEILBY is trying
+ to talk about Base Ball to the General, who is still red.
+ Nothing is more disagreeable than these international
+ discussions at dinner.</p>
+
+ <p>Now, a clever host would know how to get out of this; he
+ would start some other subject. I can think of no other
+ subject. Happy thought: gradually glide into American cookery,
+ clams, canvas-backed ducks, what is that dish with a queer
+ name&mdash;Jumbo? I don't feel as if it were Jumbo. Squambo?
+ Terapin soup? It sounds rather like the Hebrew for a talisman,
+ or an angel of some sort. However, they are talking about
+ cookery now, and wines. Is there not an American wine called
+ Catawampus? The Mad Doctor has his eye on me; he seems
+ interested. I thought I heard him murmur Aspasia, or Aphasia,
+ or something like that. It is not Catawampus&mdash;it is
+ Catawba. I feel that I <i>patauge</i>&mdash;flounder, I mean. I
+ am getting quite nervous; feel like a man in a powder-magazine,
+ with lighted cigarettes everywhere. If one can withdraw them to
+ the smoking-room, they will settle down somehow. They do. The
+ Military Critic gets into a corner with BEILBY. The Americans
+ and I consort together. Most agreeable fellows; have been
+ everywhere, and seen everything. CRIMPTON, luckily, is reading
+ one of his own reviews in the evening paper. I glance at it; it
+ is a review of the Professor's novel. Not a kind
+ review&mdash;rather insulting than otherwise. He hates BEILBY,
+ and he does not know the Military Critic. If he joins us, there
+ will be more international discussion. I get them on to the
+ balcony, and pretend to go to ring the bell for coffee. I
+ whisper to CRIMPTON. He is quite taken aback. "Awfully sorry;
+ never dreamed the Professor was not English." He wants to tell
+ the Professor that, thinks he will be pleased. He apologises to
+ me; it is dreadfully disagreeable to be apologised to by a
+ guest. "All my fault," I say; and, really, so it is. CRIMPTON
+ remembers an evening engagement, and goes off <i>à
+ l'Anglaise</i>.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"
+ id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/203.png"><img width="60%"
+ src="images/203.png"
+ alt="A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS." /></a>
+
+ <h3>A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS.</h3>
+ </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"
+ id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span>
+
+ <p>The Americans go off; say they have enjoyed themselves. I
+ feel inclined to apologise for CRIMPTON. On second thoughts, I
+ don't. They do not look like men who write about their
+ adventures in their native newspapers. Ladies do that. A weight
+ is off my mind. The Military Writer goes home. He asks, "Who
+ was that old man who fancied himself so about SHERMAN's March?"
+ "That was General HOME, who held a command under SHERMAN." The
+ Military Writer whistles; wishes I had told him that before
+ dinner. I wish I had, but I got so flurried and confused. It is
+ midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, BEILBY <i>will</i> have
+ something to drink, and another cigar&mdash;a very large one.
+ He begins to talk about the University Match, about all
+ University Matches, about old scores, and old catches, from
+ MITCHELL's year to the present day.</p>
+
+ <p>It is three o'clock before I get home; the Americans
+ <i>may</i> have enjoyed themselves, I have not. I dream about
+ the Mad Doctor; perhaps he will put me into his next book on
+ <i>Incipient Insanity</i>. Serve me right.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE YOUNG GIRL'S COMPANION.</h2>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By Mrs. Payley.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <h4>I.&mdash;THE YOUNG GIRL'S DIARY.</h4>
+
+ <p>My very dear young girls, those Arts and accomplishments
+ which form part of the average education will be taught you by
+ your Governess, and in some cases, if your parents think it
+ judicious, by a male Professor. I do not propose in these
+ papers to deal with such subjects. But there are certain points
+ in the life of the young girl, about which the handbooks have
+ but little to say, which your teachers do not include in their
+ course of tuition. Some of these points are particularly
+ intimate and sentimental. It is here that I would wish to act
+ as your adviser, and, if I may, as your confidential friend. I
+ shall always be glad, while these papers are being published,
+ to receive and answer any letters from young girls on questions
+ of sentiment and propriety. If we had no sentiment, life would
+ not stand thinking about; if we had no propriety, life would
+ not stand talking about. Of the two, propriety is, perhaps, for
+ the woman the more important, but I shall be glad to answer
+ questions on both. And now let me say a few words on the
+ subject of the Young Girl's Diary.</p>
+
+ <div class="figleft"
+ style="width:25%;">
+ <a href="images/204.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/204.png"
+ alt="Young girl." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>You must most certainly keep a Diary.</p>
+
+ <p>When I was a young girl of twenty-eight&mdash;it is not so
+ very long ago&mdash;I had my Diary bound in pale blue watered
+ silk; it had three locks and a little silver key which I wore
+ on a riband round my neck. I never took it off except
+ to&mdash;I mean for the purposes of the toilette. There was a
+ pocket at the end of the book, which would hold a faded flower
+ or any little souvenir. I always wrote it in solitude and by
+ night. Secresy has its ritual, and it is infinitely sweet and
+ consoling. If you should ever choose to read any passage from
+ your Diary to the dearest of your girl-friends, the confidence
+ becomes in consequence so much more confidential; for she will
+ know that you are reading to her what was never intended for
+ any human eye to see, and will enjoy it more. If you have the
+ least appreciation of what sentiment really means, if you feel
+ that you are misunderstood, or if you suffer from the most
+ sacred of all emotions, you will most certainly keep a
+ Diary.</p>
+
+ <p>The entries in the Diary need not be of any great length. I
+ once had a dear girl-friend who, during the happy season of her
+ first love, became in the pages of her Diary almost entirely
+ interjectional. I think this was from natural delicacy. I was
+ recently stopping at her house, and owing to circumstances over
+ which she had no control, I am able to reproduce here the
+ entries which she made in the few days which culminated in her
+ engagement.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 6.&mdash;Why?"</p>
+
+ <p>You observe that she is puzzled to account for her own
+ emotions, and yet hesitates to give the inevitable solution.
+ The intense reticence of this entry seems to me peculiarly
+ beautiful.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 7.&mdash;I hate MARY BINDLER."</p>
+
+ <p>I can remember the circumstances very well, and I am
+ inclined to think that she had some reason to be jealous of
+ MARY BINDLER. MARY was not at all a nice girl.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 8.&mdash;Joy, joy, joy!"</p>
+
+ <p>I think I can explain this entry. MARY BINDLER had been
+ called away hurriedly. Somebody was dead, or something of that
+ sort. My friend's expression of relief seems to me very pretty
+ and natural.</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 9.&mdash;Ah!"</p>
+
+ <p>"<i>September</i> 10.&mdash;Oh!"</p>
+
+ <p>In that little word "Ah!" there is the whole history of a
+ pic-nic and a carriage accident. It was there that she first
+ guessed his feelings towards her. I am sorry to say that I have
+ not been able to obtain any adequate explanation of the "Oh!"
+ But I know they went out after dinner to see if it was possible
+ to play tennis by moonlight. I conclude that it was not, for
+ the next entry, which consists simply of a note of exclamation,
+ is really a record of her engagement.</p>
+
+ <p>Of course I need not point out the impropriety of mixing in
+ the pages of your Diary the record of the most sacred emotions,
+ and notes of things more commonplace. I knew a girl who
+ invariably did this. She always commenced with an account of
+ any money that she might have spent during the day. I have
+ managed, with considerable difficulty, to make a copy of one of
+ these entries, and I give it as a warning:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"Chocolate, one-and-six. ALGERNON has written to me, asking
+ me to see him again for the last time. I have written back that
+ my decision is unalterable. It breaks my heart to have to be so
+ cruel&mdash;but fate wills it, and it's no good fighting
+ against Mamma. Sent my grey to be cleaned&mdash;but it won't
+ look anything when it's done."</p>
+
+ <p>In another entry I found the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"A dear long letter from EGBERT. How perfect his sympathy
+ is! Not feeling very well to-day&mdash;will always refuse
+ <i>vol-au-vent</i> in future."</p>
+
+ <p>I need hardly say that a girl who would chronicle the state
+ of her digestion and the sympathy of her lover in one paragraph
+ could not possibly have any soul.</p>
+
+ <p>The perfect Diary is something of a paradox. It should be
+ composed chiefly of what is unpublishable&mdash;of one's
+ secrets and sentiments&mdash;but it should always be written as
+ if with a view to publication. In your Diary you can say things
+ about yourself which it would be conceited to say openly, and
+ you can say things about your friends which it would be unkind
+ to say openly; you can make your own pose seem more real to
+ yourself. So, my dear young girls, take my advice, and commence
+ Diaries. And remember I shall be very glad to answer any
+ questions on the subject.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>Jokim's Latest Little Joke.</h3>
+
+ <h4>(<i>By a many times disappointed Income-Tax
+ Payer.</i>)</h4>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>It is out at last, but it falls very flat;</p>
+
+ <p>Such a very big "bag," such a very small "cat"!</p>
+
+ <p>Popularity Budget? It can't be called
+ <i>that</i>!</p>
+
+ <p>The Budget that was to have been such "good
+ biz,"</p>
+
+ <p>And have caused the Election to go with a
+ "whizz,"</p>
+
+ <p>Fizzles out in&mdash;reducing the duty on Fizz!</p>
+
+ <p>Ah, JOKIM, my joker, you've hardly the knack</p>
+
+ <p>Of holding the Bag, so we'll give you "<i>the
+ Sack</i>!"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>"MEET IT IS I SET IT DOWN."&mdash;"Mr. J. McN. WHISTLER," it
+ was remarked by one of his visitors on the closing day of his
+ recent Exhibition, "has in his Catalogue put down all
+ unfavourable criticisms." How, in this respect, would all of us
+ like to imitate the Eccentric Knight of the Order of the
+ Butterfly, and put down all adverse criticism.</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" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL. 102, APRIL 23, 1892***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102,
+April 23, 1892, by Various, Edited by F. C. Burnand
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 23, 1892
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 29, 2004 [eBook #14514]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
+VOL. 102, APRIL 23, 1892***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Malcolm Farmer, William Flis, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 14514-h.htm or 14514-h.zip:
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h/14514-h.htm)
+ or
+ (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/4/5/1/14514/14514-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOL. 102
+
+April 23, 1892
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOWN THOUGHTS FROM THE COUNTRY.
+
+(_WITH THE USUAL APOLOGIES._)
+
+ Oh, to be in London now that April's there,
+ And whoever walks in London sees, some morning, in the Square,
+ That the upper thousands have come to Town,
+ To the plane-trees droll in their new bark gown,
+ While the sparrows chirp, and the cats miaow
+ In London--now!
+ And after April, when May follows
+ And the black-coats come and go like swallows!
+ Mark, where yon fairy blossom in the Row
+ Leans to the rails, and canters on in clover,
+ Blushing and drooping, with her head bent low!
+ That's the wise child: she makes him ask twice over,
+ Lest he should think she views with too much rapture
+ Her first fine wealthy capture!
+ But,--though her path looks smooth, and though, alack,
+ All will he gay, till Time has painted black
+ The _Marigold_, her Mother's chosen flower,--
+ Far brighter is my _Heartsease_, Love's own dower.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A WANT.--"There is only one thing," a visitor writes to us, "that I
+missed at Venice, S.W. I've never been to the real place, which is
+the Bride, or Pride, of the Sea, I forget which, but, as I was saying,
+there's only one thing I miss, and that is the heather. Who has not
+heard of 'the moor of Venice'? And I daresay good shooting there too,
+with black game and such like. I only saw pigeons flying, who some
+one informed me are the pigeons of SAM MARK. Next time I go, I shall
+inquire at the Restaurant for fresh Pigeon Pie. However, if Mr.
+KIRALFY will take a hint, he will, in August provide a moor. It will
+add to the gaiety of the show. 'The moor the merrier,' eh?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NEO-DRAMATIC NURSERY RHYME.
+
+ MRS. GRUNDY, good woman, scarce knew what to think
+ About the relation 'twixt Drama and Drink.
+ Well, give Hall--and Theatre--good wholesome diet,
+ And all who attend will be sober and quiet!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SPRING'S DELIGHTS IN LONDON.--"VIA MALODORA"--clearly a lady, "DORA"
+for short--wrote to the _Times_ complaining that the result of
+the splendid weather for the first ten days of the month was the
+reproduction of "summer effluvium rank and offensive" in Piccadilly.
+Poor Piccadilly! Oh, its "offence is rank," and Miss DORA might add,
+quoting to her father from another scene in _Hamlet_, "And smells so.
+Pa'!" West-Enders, in a dry summer, must he prepared to have "a high
+old time of it."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SANCTA SIMPLICITAS.
+
+_Orthodox Old Maid._ "BUT, REBECCA, IS YOUR PLACE OF WORSHIP
+CONSECRATED?"
+
+_Domestic_ (_lately received into the Plymouth Brotherhood_). "OH NO,
+MISS--IT'S GALVANISED IRON!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MY SOAP.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ I'm the maker of a Soap, which I confidently hope
+ In the advertising tournament will win,
+ And remain the fit survival, having vanquished every rival
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ I will now proceed to show, what the public ought to know,
+ Unless they would be blindly taken in.
+ How in every soap but mine certain qualities combine
+ To make it detrimental to the skin.
+
+ But surely at this date it is needless I should state
+ That the cheaper soaps are barely worth a pin,
+ For they all contain a mixture, either free or as a fixture,
+ Which is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And every cake you buy is so charged with alkali,
+ To soda more than soap it is akin;
+ It is really dear at last, for it wastes away so fast.
+ And is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ The public I must warn of the colours that adorn
+ The soaps ambitious foreigners bring in;
+ They are often very pretty, but to use them is a pity,
+ For they're very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ There are soaps which you can see through. I ask, What can it be
+ through?
+ Is it resin, or some other form of sin?
+ There are soaps which smell too strong, and of course that must be
+ wrong,
+ And extremely detrimental to the skin.
+
+ And too much fat's injurious, and so are soaps sulphureous,
+ Though they say they keep the hair from growing thin;
+ They may keep a person's hair on, like the precious oil of AARON,
+ And yet be detrimental to his skin.
+
+ In short, the only soap which is fit for Prince or Pope
+ (I have sent some to the KAISER at Berlin)
+ Is the article I sell you. Don't believe the firms who tell you
+ It is very detrimental to the skin.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A LIQUOR QUESTION.--Why does a toper--especially when "before the
+beak"--always say that he was "in drink," when he evidently means that
+the drink was in him? The only soaker on record who could rightly be
+said to be "in drink" was,
+
+ "Maudlin _Clarence_ in his Malmsey butt."
+
+He was "in liquor" with a vengeance. But less lucky wine-bibbers need
+not be illogical as well as inebriate.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MR. GOSCHEN'S BUDGET.--"From a fiscal point of view, the Tobacco
+receipts are extremely good." So unlike JOKIM. Of course, as he never
+loses a chance of a _jeu de mot_, what he must have said was, that
+"the Tobacco 'returns' are extremely good." "A birthday Budget,--many
+happy 'returns,'" he observed jocosely to PRINCE ARTHUR, "quite japing
+times!" And off he went for his holiday; and, weather permitting,
+as he reclines in his funny among the weeds, he will gently murmur,
+"_Dulce est desipere in smoko_."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE NEWEST NARCISSUS;
+
+OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.
+
+ ["--The curious tendency towards imitation which is observed
+ whenever some specially sensational crime is brought into the
+ light of publicity."--_Morning Post_.']
+
+ NARCISSUS? _He_, that foul ill-favoured brute,
+ A fevered age's most repulsive fruit,
+ The murderous coxcomb, the assassin sleek?
+ Stranger comparison could fancy seek?
+
+ Truly 'tis not the self-admiring boy
+ Nymph Echo longed so vainly to enjoy;
+ Yet the old classic fable hath a phase
+ Which seems to fit the opprobrium of our days.
+ Criminal-worship seems our latest cult,
+ And this strange figure is its last result.
+ Self-conscious, self-admiring, Crime parades
+ Its loathly features, not in slumdom's shades,
+ Or in Alsatian sanctuaries vile.
+ No; peacock-posing and complacent smile
+ Pervade the common air, and take the town.
+ The glory of a scandalous renown
+ Lures the vain villain more than wrath or gain,
+ And cancels all the shame that should restrain:
+ Makes murder half-heroic in his sight,
+ And gilds the gallows with factitious light.
+
+ And whose the fault? Sensation it is thine!
+ The garrulous paragraph, the graphic line,
+ Poster and portrait, telegram and tale,
+ Make shopboy eager and domestics pale.
+ Over the morbid details workmen pore,
+ Toil's favourite pabulum and chosen lore,
+ Penny-a-liners pile the horrors up,
+ On which the cockney _gobe-mouche_ loves to sup,
+ And paragraph and picture feed the clown
+ With the foul garbage that has gorged the town.
+ "Vice is a monster of such hideous mien
+ As to be hated needs but to be seen."
+ So sang the waspish satirist long ago.
+ Now Vice is sketched and Crime is made a show.
+ A hundred eager scribes are at their heel
+ To tell the public how they look and feel,
+ How eat and drink, how sleep and smoke and play.
+ Murder's itinerary for a day,
+ Set forth in graphic phrase by skilful pens,
+ With pictures of its face, its favourite dens,
+ Its knife or bludgeon, pistol, paramour,
+ Will swell the swift editions hour by hour,
+ More than high news of war or of debate,
+ The death of heroes or the throes of state.
+ From club-room to street-corner runs the cry
+ After the newest fact, or latest lie:
+ The hurrying throng unfolded broad-sheets grasp,
+ And read with goggled eyes and lips a-gasp,
+ Blood! Blood! More Blood! It makes hot lips go pale,
+ But gives the sweetest zest to the unholy tale.
+
+ What wonder if the Horror, homaged thus
+ By frenzied eagerness and foolish fuss,
+ Swells to a hideous self-importance, struts
+ In conscious dignity, and gladly gluts
+ With vanity's fantastic tricks the herd
+ Whose pulses first by murderous crime it stirred.
+ Narcissus-like, the slayer bends to trace
+ Within Sensation's flowing stream its face,
+ And, self-enamoured, smiles a loathsome smile
+ Of fatuous conceit and gloating guile;
+ Laughs at the shadow of the lifted knife,
+ And thinks of all things save its victim's life.
+ The "Noisy Nymph," the Echo of our times,
+ The gossip, with an eager ear for crimes,
+ Lurks, half-admiring, all-recording there,
+ Watching Narcissus with persistent stare,
+ And ready note-book. Nothing but a Voice?
+ No, but its babblings travel, and rejoice
+ A myriad prurient ears with noisome news,
+ Fit only for the shambles and the stews.
+ These hear, admire, and sometimes imitate!--
+
+ Narcissus is a danger to the State,
+ And Echo hardly less. Vain-glorious crime;
+ That pestilent portent of a morbid time,
+ Would flourish less could sense or law avail
+ To strangle coarse Sensation's clamorous tale,
+ Silence the "Noisy Nymph," for half crime's ill
+ Would end were babbling Echo's voice but still.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "THE MISSING CIPHER."
+
+"OH, PAPA, ONLY FIFTY POUNDS FROM SIR GORGIUS MIDAS! SUCH A
+MILLIONAIRE--WHY HE _OUGHT_ TO HAVE SENT FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS AT
+LEAST!"
+
+"AH, I'M AFRAID HE FORGOT THE _OUGHT_, MY DEAR!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE NEWEST NARCISSUS; OR, THE HERO OF OUR DAYS.]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FETTERED.--In reply to the Unemployed Deputation which found
+employment in paying a visit to the L.C.C. at Spring Gardens, Messrs.
+BURNS and BEN TILLETT (Alderman) intimated that as Mr. POWER, the
+U.D.'s spokesman, was not a member of the L.C.C., that body was
+Power-less to assist them in their trouble. A nasty time of it had
+the Labour Candidates on this occasion. Nothing like putting men of
+Radical revolutionary tendencies into responsible positions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A SHADY VALET.--One DONALD CROSS was a Valet in the service of an
+absent master, whose best clothes and jewellery DONALD wore, while
+he kept his flat well aired by giving little supper-parties to young
+ladies who took him at his own valuation,--for a very superior swell.
+Alas! he was but a _valet de sham_! "Cross purposes," but Magistrate
+"disposes"; and the once happy Valet is in the shade for the next six
+months.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN FANCY DRESS.
+
+A SKETCH AT COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.
+
+ _Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous than
+ lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very decided
+ minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of their
+ costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic Hatstand,
+ hobbles painfully towards a friend who is disguised as a
+ huge Cannon._
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_huskily, through a fox's mask in the centre of his
+case, to the Cannon_). Just a trifle slow up to the present, eh?
+
+_The Cannon_ (_shifting the carriage and wheels to a less
+uncomfortable position._) Yes, it don't seem to me as lively as
+usual--_drags_, don't you know.
+
+_The Hatstand_ (_heroically_). Well, we must wake 'em up, that's
+all--put a little _go_ into the thing!
+
+ [_They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling through the
+ crowd, which regards them with compassionate wonder._
+
+_A Black Domino_ (_to a Clown, who is tapping the barometer on the
+Hatstand's back_). Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it
+may be here on the hire system.
+
+ [_The Hatstand executes a cumbrous caper by way of repartee,
+ and stumbles on._
+
+_A Folly_ (_to a highly respectable Bedouin in a burnous and gold
+spectacles_). Well, all I can say is, you don't seem to me to behave
+much _like_ an Arab!
+
+_The Bedouin_ (_uneasily, as he waltzes with conscientious
+regularity_). Don't I? How _ought_ I to behave then?
+
+_The Folly_. _I_ should have thought you'd jump about and howl, the
+way Bedouins _do_ howl. _You_ know!
+
+_The Bed._ (_dubiously_). Um--well, you see, my dear, I--I don't feel
+_up_ to that sort of thing--_before_ supper.
+
+_The Folly_ (_losing all respect for him_). No--nor yet after it. I
+expect you've told some old four-wheel caravan to come and fetch
+you home early, and you'll turn into your little tent at the usual
+time--that's the sort of wild Bedouin _you_ are! Don't let me keep
+you. [_She leaves him._
+
+_The Bed._ (_alone_). If she only knew the absolute _horror_ I have of
+making myself conspicuous, she wouldn't expect it!
+
+_Mephistopheles_ (_to a Picador_). This was the only thing I could get
+to go in. How do you think it suits me?
+
+_The Picador_ (_with candour_). Well, I must say, old fellow, you _do_
+look a beast!
+
+ [_Mephisto appears wounded._
+
+_A Masker_ (_with his face painted brown, and in a costume of coloured
+paper decorated with small boxes and packets, to a Blue Domino_). You
+see what _I_ am, don't you? The Parcels Post! Had a _lot_ of trouble
+thinking it out. Look at my face, for instance, I made _that_ up, with
+string--marks and all, to look like a brown-paper parcel.
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Pity you haven't got something _inside_ it, isn't
+it?
+
+_The Parcels Post_ (_feebly_). Don't you be too sharp. And it really
+is a first-rate idea. All these parcels now--I suppose there must be
+fifty of 'em at least--
+
+_The Blue Domino_. Are there? Well, I wish you'd go and get sorted
+somewhere else. I haven't time for it myself.
+
+_Sardonic Spectator_ (_pityingly--to a Masker in a violent
+perspiration, who represents Sindbad carrying the Old Man of the
+Sea_). 'Ow you _are_ worrying yourself to be sure!
+
+_A Polite Stranger_ (_accosting an Individual who is personifying the
+London County Council by the aid of a hat surmounted by a sky-sign,
+a cork bridge and a tin tramcar, a toy Clown and a butterfly on his
+chest, a portrait of Mlle. Zoeo on his back, a miniature fireman under
+an extinguisher, and a model crane, which he winds up and down with
+evident enjoyment_). Excuse me, Sir, but would you mind showing us
+round you--or is there a catalogue to your little collection?
+
+ [_The L.C.C. maintains a dignified silence._
+
+_Pierrot_ (_critically to Cleopatra_). Very nice indeed, my dear
+girl,--except that they ought to have given you a serpent to carry,
+you know'
+
+_Cleopatra_. Oh, they _did_--only I left it in the Cloak-room.
+
+_A Man with a False Nose_ (_to a Friend who is wearing his natural
+organ_). Why, I thought you said _you_ were coming in a nose?
+
+_His Friend_. So I did (_he produces an enormous nose and cheeks from
+his tail-pocket_). But it's no mortal use; the minute I put it on
+I'm recognised (_plaintively_). And I gave one-and-ninepence for the
+beastly thing, too!
+
+_Young Man of the Period_ (_meeting a female acquaintance attired
+in ferns, rock-work, and coloured shells, illuminated by portable
+electric light_). Hul-lo! You _are_ a swell! And what are _you_
+supposed to be?
+
+_The Lady in Rock-work_. Can't you see? I'm a Fairy Grotto. Good idea,
+isn't it?
+
+_He_. Rippin'! But what the mischief have you got on your shoulder?
+
+_She_. Oh, that's an aquarium--real goldfish. See!
+
+ [_Exhibiting them with pride._
+
+_He_. Ain't you lettin' 'em sit up rather late? They _will_ be chippy
+to-morrow--off colour, don't you know.
+
+_She_. Will they? What ought I to do for them, then?
+
+_He_. Do? Oh, just put a brandy-and-soda in their tank.
+
+ _Later; Supper is going on in the Boxes and Supper-room, and
+ the festivity has been further increased by the arrival of a
+ party of Low Comedians and Music-Hall Stars. The Lancers have
+ been danced with more abandonment, and several entirely new
+ and original figures._
+
+_The Chevalier Bayard_ (_at the Refreshment Bar--to a Watteau
+Shepherdess_). I say, you come along and dance with me, will you?--and
+look here, if you dance well, I'll give you a drink when it's over. If
+you don t dance to please me, you'll get nothing. See?
+
+_The Watteau Shepherdess_ (_with delicate disdain_). 'Ere, you go
+along, you silly ass!
+
+ [_Hits him with her crook._
+
+_A Gentleman who has obviously supped_ (_catching hold of a passing
+Acquaintance, whose hand he wrings affectionately_). Dear ole HUGHIE!
+don't go away just yet. Shtop an' talk with me. Got lotsh er things
+say to you, dear ole boy--mosh 'portant things! Shure you, you're the
+on'y man in the wide world I ever kicked a care--cared a kick about.
+Don't _you_ leave me, HUGHIE!
+
+[Illustration: "Exit unsteadily towards Bar."]
+
+_Hughie_ (_who is looking for his partner_). Not now, old man--can't
+stop. See you later!
+
+ [_He makes his escape._
+
+_The Affect. G._ (_confidentially--to a Policeman_). Thash a very
+dear ole pal o' mine, plishman, a _very_ dear ole pal. Worsht of him
+ish--shimply imposhble get a lit' rational conversation with him. No
+_sheriousness_ in his character!
+
+ [_Exit unsteadily towards Bar, in blissful unconsciousness
+ that somebody has attached a large false nose and spectacles
+ to the buttons of his coat-tails._
+
+_A Troubadour_ (_jealously--to an Arleguina_). No--but look here, you
+might just as well say right put which costume you like best--mine
+or--(_indicating a Cavalier on her other side_)--his.
+
+_Arleguina_ (_cautiously--not desiring to offend either_). Well, I'd
+rather be _him_--not as a _man_, I wouldn't--but, as _myself_, I'd
+like to be _this_ one.
+
+ [_Both appear equally satisfied and soothed by this
+ diplomatic, but slightly mystic response._
+
+_A Vivandiere_ (_to a Martyr, who is shuffling along inside a
+property-trunk, covered with twigs, and supposed to represent a
+Bird in the Hand_). Well, that's _one_ way of coming _out_ to enjoy
+yourself, I suppose!
+
+_A Middle-aged Man_ (_wandering behind the Orchestra_). It's
+beastly dull, that's what it is--none of the give-and-take
+humour and practical fun you get in Paris or Vienna!... That's a
+nice, simple-looking little thing in the seat over there. (_The
+simple-looking little thing peeps at him, with one eye over her fan,
+in arch invitation._) Gad, I'll go up and talk to her--it will be
+something to _do_, at any rate--she looks as if she wouldn't mind.
+(_He goes up._) Think I know your face--haven't we met before?
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_after an elaborate wink aside at a_
+Fireman). Shouldn't wonder. Don't you run away yet. Sit down and
+talk to me--do now. No, not _that_ side--try the arm-chair, it's more
+comfortable.
+
+_The M.M._ (_throwing himself gracefully into a well-padded chintz
+chair_). Well, really--(_The chair suddenly digs him in the ribs with
+one of its elbows_). Eh, look here now--'pon my--(_He attempts to
+rise, and finds himself tightly pinioned by the arms of the chair._)
+There's some confounded fool _inside_ this chair!
+
+_The Simple Little Thing_ (_tickling him under the chin with her
+fan_). Shouldn't call yourself names! I'm going--don't get up on
+_my_ account. [_She goes off, laughing; a crowd collects and heartily
+enjoys his situation._
+
+_The M.M._ (_later--very red after his release_). If I could have
+found a policeman, I'd have given that chair in custody! It's
+scandalous to call _that_ coming in Fancy Dress! [_Exit indignantly._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE BROWN-JONES INCIDENT.
+
+(_ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH._)
+
+ SCENE--_A Street. Enter BROWN and JONES. They meet, and
+ regard one another for a moment, fixedly. Then they salute one
+ another respectfully._
+
+_Brown._ I have been looking for you everywhere.
+
+_Jones._ Then I am delighted to have met you.
+
+_Brown._ I have said of you that you are a trickster, a scoundrel, a
+fool, and an idiot!
+
+_Jones._ Yes--and I have regretted the saying, because it shows to me
+that you have misunderstood the great literary movement of the present
+day, in its vast and varied effort.
+
+_Brown._ Of that I know nothing, for I confess I have never read your
+books.
+
+_Jones_ (_reproachfully_). Yes--and yet you accuse me of being a
+trickster, a scoundrel, and a fool, without knowing my works?
+
+_Brown._ It was my duty. But still I had no wish to be guilty of an
+outrage.
+
+_Jones._ An outrage--how an outrage?
+
+_Brown._ Had I known you had been present to hear me I would not have
+caused you the pain of listening to me.
+
+_Jones_ (_with admiration_). But it was the act of a brave man! Did
+it not occur to you that had I been within reach of you that you too
+would have suffered pain?
+
+_Brown._ It did not, I was unconscious of your presence. I would
+have preferred to have spoken behind your back. It is brutal to speak
+before any face. It might lead to an unpleasantness.
+
+_Jones._ No, it is your duty to do what you think is right. It is also
+my duty to do what I think is right. We are now face to face. Have you
+anything further to say to me?
+
+_Brown_ (_hurriedly_). You have immense gifts--gifts which are those
+of genius.
+
+_Jones._ I thought you would understand me better when we met. My dear
+friend, I am delighted at this reconciliation. Give me your hand.
+
+_Brown_ (_clasping palms_). With all the pleasure in the world. But
+still I owe you reparation. How can I--
+
+_Jones_ (_interrupting_). Not another word, my dear friend. That is a
+matter we can leave in the hands of our Solicitors.
+
+ [_Scene closes in upon the suggestion._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: A SOLILOQUY.
+
+_Youthful Mercury._ "WHAT'S THIS 'ERE ON THE PLYTE? 'KNOCK AND RING'!
+BLOWED IF THEY WON'T BE HARSKING YER TO '_WALK HINSIDE_,' NEXT!!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
+
+[Illustration: "Oliver asking for More."]
+
+It is curious to find a coincidence in style and in idea between an
+earnest, witty and pious English author of the Sixteenth Century,
+and an American author of our own day. Yet so it is, and here is the
+parallel to be found between the quaint American tales about the old
+negro, _Uncle Remus_, by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, in this year of Grace,
+1892, and the fables writ by Sir THOMAS MORE in 1520, or thereabouts,
+which he represents as if told him by an old wife and nurse, one
+Mother MAUD. Here are "The Wolf,"--"Brer Wolf"--and the simple-minded
+Jackass, both are going to confession to Father Fox--"Brer Fox." AEsop
+is, of course, the common origin of all such tales. The extracts which
+I have come across, are to be found in a small book compiled by the
+Rev. THOMAS BRIDGETT, entitled, _The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas
+More_. The Baron wishes that with it had been issued a glossary of old
+English words and expressions, as, to an ordinary modern reader, much
+of Sir THOMAS MORE's writing is well-nigh unintelligible; nay, in some
+instances, the Baron can only approximately arrive at the meaning,
+as though it were a writ in a foreign language with which his
+acquaintance was of no great profundity. Certes, the learned and
+reverend compiler hath a keen relish for this quaintness, but not so
+will fifteen out of his twenty readers, who, pardie! shall regret the
+absence of a key without which some of the treasure must, to them at
+least, remain inaccessible. With this reservation, but with no sort
+of equivocation, doth the Baron heartily recommend The Reverend
+BRIDGETT's compilation of Sir THOMAS MORE's "English as she is
+writ" in the Sixteenth Century, to all lovers of good books in this
+"so-called (O, immortal phrase!) Nineteenth Century." The Rev. THOMAS
+hath well and ably done his work, and therefore doth the Baron advise
+his readers to go to their booksellers, and, being there, to imitate
+the example of DICKENS's oft-quoted _Oliver_, and "ask for MORE."
+
+Quoth the Baron, "Much liketh me the Macmillanite series of _English
+Men of Action_, and in a very special manner do I laud the latest
+that, to my knowledge, hath appeared 'yclept _Montrose_, by Master
+MOWBRAY MORRIS--a good many 'M's' in these names--who hath executed
+his _Montrose_ with as loving a heart and as tender a touch as ever
+did use old IZAAK towards the gentle that he, and the simple fish, did
+love so well. Did not the very hangman burst into tears as he thrust
+the unfortunate nobleman off the step? and did not a universal sob
+of pity break from the vast crowd assembled to see the last of the
+noble cavalier, victim to an unfortunate tradition of loyalty? What
+wonder then if we sympathise with this luckless hero of romance?
+The weak-knee'd villain of this historical drama was '_Charles_ (his
+friend),' in which character, be it allowed, this sad dog of a Merry
+Monarch not infrequently appeared. Thank you much, Mr. MOWBRAY
+MONTROSE MORRIS," quoth
+
+THE BENEFICENT BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: SYMPATHY.
+
+_Mamma_ (_to Cook_)--"AND MRS. STUBBS, THE CREAM WITH THE APPLE-TART
+YESTERDAY OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED."
+
+_Ethel_ (_who has a grateful remembrance of the dish in question_).
+"OH, MUMMY DEAR! 'OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WHIPPED!' I THOUGHT IT WAS
+PARTICULARLY GOOD!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+APRIL SHOWERS;
+
+OR, A SPOILED EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+(_A VACATION CANTATA._)
+
+_Master George (stretching forth his fingers to feel if the shower is
+abating) sings_:-- Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+_Master Arthur_ (_gloomily_). Pooh! Rain won't go away, not in these
+times,
+ By being sung at to old nursery rhymes:
+ Especially in such a voice as yours!
+
+_Master George._ Needn't be nasty, ARTHUR!
+
+_Master Robert._ How it pours!
+ Thought we were going to have a real jolly day,
+ And now it's set in wet, to spoil our holiday.
+
+_Master George._ Always the way at Easter. Shall we trudge it?
+
+_Master Arthur._ Not yet. What have you got, GEORGE, in your Budget?
+
+_Master George._ Not very much, I fear!
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah, that's vexatious!
+ It might have cheered us up a bit.
+
+_Master George_ (_indignantly_). Good gracious!
+ You're always down on me, with no good reasons.
+ You know _I_'m not the ruler of the Seasons.
+ Now if I'd been in _your_ place--but no matter!
+
+_Master Robert._ By Jingo, how the raindrops rush and clatter!
+ Ah, Primrose-gathering is not half so jolly
+ As once it used to be.
+
+_Master Arthur._ Ah! my dear SOLLY,
+ The springs are now so awfully wet and cold,
+ The "cry" don't seem so fetching as of old.
+
+ [_Pipes up._
+
+_Recitative_. "_Who will buy my pretty, pretty Pri-im-ro-o-ses!_
+ _All fresh gathered from the va-a-a-ll-ey?_"
+
+_Master George._ The wet and cold have got into your throat,
+ A quaver and a crack on every note!
+
+_Master Robert._ Don't aggravate each other, boys; 'tis wrong,
+ But while it rains _I_'ll tootle out a song:--
+ (_Sings._) The days we went a-Primrosing!
+
+ AIR--"_The days we went a-Gipsying!_"
+
+ The days are gone, the happy days
+ When _we_ were in our Spring;
+ When all the Primrose loved to praise,
+ And join its gathering.
+ Oh! we could sing like anything,
+ We felt the conqueror's glow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ Then April's flowery return
+ Was "Peace-with-Honour's" goal.
+ And the bright brimstone-bunch would burn
+ In every button-hole.
+ Our Dames were gaily on the wing,
+ With blossoms in full blow,
+ In the days when we went Primrosing,
+ A long time ago.
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+ But now Progressive storms prevail
+ Election blizzards chill;
+ The Primroses seem sparse and pale
+ In valley and on hill.
+ Yon cloud looks black as raven's wing!
+ Things did not menace so.
+ In the days when we went Primrosing
+ A long time ago!
+
+ _Chorus._--In the days, &c.
+
+_Both._ Oh, brayvo, BOBBY!
+
+_Master Robert._ Thanks. Yet my song's burden
+ Is dismal as the croakings of _Dame Durden_.
+ Our holiday is spoilt by driving showers.
+ I fear we shall have no great show of flowers;
+ But--anyhow my boys we're under cover;
+ And let us hope that storm-cloud will pass over
+ Without first giving us a dreadful drenching,
+ And all our April-hopes entirely quenching.
+
+_All_ (_singing together_).
+ Rain! Rain!
+ Go away!
+ Come again
+ Another day!
+
+ [_Left crouching and singing._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+FROM THE THEATRES, &C. COMMISSION.--"I am afraid," said Mr. P.S.
+RUTLAND, speaking of the Music Halls, and in answer to a question
+of Mr. BOLTON's, "we cannot do a wreck. (_Laughter._)" Mr. WOODALL:
+"Without being wrecked in the attempt. (_Renewed laughter._)" Oh,
+witty WOODALL! Why, encouraged by this applause, he may yet be led on
+to make a pun on his own name, and say, "_Would all_ were like him!"
+or some such merry jest. The proceedings in this Committee were
+becoming a trifle dull, but it is to be hoped that they may yet hear
+something still more sparkling from the wise and witty WOODALL.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: APRIL SHOWERS; OR, A SPOILT EASTER HOLIDAY.
+
+TRIO. "RAIN! RAIN! GO AWAY! COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TO MY COOK.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ Oh, hard of favour, fat of form,
+ How fairer art thou than thy looks,
+ Whose heart with kitchen fires is warm,
+ Thou plainest of the plainer Cooks!
+
+ Low down upon thy forehead grows
+ Thick hair of no conducive dye;
+ Short and aspiring is thy nose,
+ Watched ever by a furtive eye.
+
+ In shy defiance rarely seen
+ Where kitchen stairways darkly tend,
+ A foe to judge thee by thy mien,
+ Proclaimed in every act a friend!
+
+ I know thee little; not thy views
+ On public or on private life,
+ Whether a single lot thou'dst choose,
+ Or fain would'st be a Guardsman's wife;
+
+ For who can rightly read the change
+ When, still'd the work-day traffic's din,
+ In best apparel, rich and strange,
+ Thou passest weekly to thy kin!
+
+ A silken gown, that bravely stands
+ Environing thy form, or no;
+ Stout gloves upon thy straining hands,
+ For brooch, the breastplate cameo.
+
+ Shod with the well-heeled boots, whose knell
+ Afar along the pavement sounds,
+ Blent with the tinkling muffin-bell,
+ Or milkman, shrilling on his rounds.
+
+ _Nil tangis quod non ornas._ Nay,
+ 'Tis not alone the parsley sprig,
+ The paper frill, the fennel spray,
+ The Yule-tide's pertly-berried twig;
+
+ But common objects by thy art
+ Some proper beauty seem to own;
+ Thy chop is as a chop apart,
+ Fraught with a grace before unknown;
+
+ The very egg thou poachest seems
+ Some work of deft _orfevrerie_,--
+ A yolk of gold that chastely gleams
+ Through a thin shrine of ivory.
+
+ From thee no pale and wilted ghost,
+ Or branded by the blackening bar,
+ But crisp and cheery comes the toast,
+ And brown as ripening hazels are.
+
+ Thy butter has not lost the voice
+ Of English meads, where cowslips grow,
+ And oh, the bacon of thy choice--
+ Rose-jacinth labyrinthed in snow!
+
+ And mutton, colder than the kiss
+ Of formal love, where loathing lurks
+ Its deadlier chill doth wholly miss,
+ Fired with the spirit of thy works.
+
+ To true occasion thou art true,
+ As upon great occasions great;
+ Doing whatever Cook may do
+ When PHYLLIS, neat, alone will wait,
+
+ As when the neighbouring villas send
+ Their modish guests to statelier fare,
+ And PHYLLIS, neat, is helped to tend
+ By that staid man the Greengrocer.
+
+ Though thou art more than plain in look,
+ Thou wieldest charms that never tire--
+ O Cook--we will not call thee Cook,
+ Thou Priestess of the Genial Fire.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+LAYING A GHOST!
+
+ PROSPECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS.--Owing to the continued success of
+ _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by arrangement with the Author)
+ to postpone, &c.--_Extract from Advertisement in Daily Paper._
+
+ SCENE--_Sanctum of Popular Actor-Manager of Theatre Royal
+ Haymarket, Popular Actor-Manager dozing over a submitted
+ Play. He closes his eyes and slumbers. When to him enter
+ Master WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE._
+
+_Master W.S._ (_shouting_). What ho, Sir Player! Wake up, Sir, wake
+up!
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_rousing himself_). Delighted to see you, Mr. SHAKSPEARE. I
+hope you have been in front and seen us?
+
+_Master W.S._ Yes, I just had a glance. Find you have put in some new
+business. When will all you fellows leave me alone?
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_earnestly_). I hope, Sir, that in the cause of Art you do
+not object, that--
+
+_Master W.S._ (_interrupting_). Oh, no! It makes little difference to
+me what you do. _My_ author's fees ceased years ago! But look here,
+What do you mean by this? (_Produces Press-cutting of advertisement
+and reads_)--"Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Prospective Arrangements.
+Owing to the continued success of _Hamlet_, it has been decided (by
+arrangement with the Author) to postpone" another play. Now, Master
+TREE, or as I may call ye, "Master up a Tree," what have you to say
+to that? You see your advertisement has caught my eye. I am here to
+answer it!
+
+_P.A.-M._ Most wonderful! I do not know how or wherefore my pen
+slipped, but slip it did, indeed. However, I apologise. Is that
+enough?
+
+_Master W.S._ More than enough!
+
+ _Enter the Ghost of HAMLET's Father suddenly._
+
+_Ghost_ (_with a glance at W.S._). Ah, the Governor here already!
+Still, I may have my chance as well as he! I gave the plot of
+_Hamlet_! Why shouldn't I have another shot? (_To P.A.-M._)--
+ But that I am forbid
+ To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
+ I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
+ Would harrow up thy soul.
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_eagerly_). The very thing for a melodrama. Delighted to
+make your acquaintance--hem--in the Spirit!
+
+_Master W.S._ Nay, good Master Player, this is scarcely business! If
+anything in _that_ line is to be done, I should do it. (_To Ghost of
+HAMLET's Father_). Begone, Sirrah!
+
+_Ghost._ Nay, this is professional jealousy! (_To P.A.-M._). I find
+thee apt--
+
+ [_A book falls, and Master WM. SHAKSPEARE and Ghost of
+ HAMLET's Father vanish together._
+
+_P.A.-M._ (_opening his eyes_). Was I dreaming? (_With a recollection
+of "The Red Lamp"_) I wonder! [_Left wondering._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TAKING A SIGHT AT RINGANDKNOCK.
+
+(_BY RUDDIER STRIPLING._)
+
+After the roughness of the Atlantic, in which to my taste there is far
+too much water moving about, I stepped on to America with considerable
+relief. I was quite satisfied, after that excellent dinner, the first
+I had enjoyed since Liverpool slid away eastward, to walk aimlessly
+through the streets till I fell into the arms of a broad-shouldered,
+pug-nosed, Irish New York policeman. I remember no more till New York
+passed away on a sunny afternoon, and then I fell asleep again and
+slept till the brakeman, conductor, Pullman-car conductor, negro
+porter and newsboy somehow managed to pull me out into the midnight
+temperature of 80 below freezing. It was just like having one's head
+put under the pump, but it did not quite revive me, for I mistook
+my host in his sleigh for a walrus, and tried to harpoon him with my
+umbrella. After matters had been explained, we went off, at least I
+did, and never woke up till I fell out into a snow-drift, just as we
+turned a corner at our journey's end.
+
+[Illustration: "Ta-ra-ra-Boom!"]
+
+In the morning, I had some idea that the sky was a great sapphire, and
+that I was inside it, and that the fields were some sort of velvet
+or wool-work, going round and round with the sun rioting over them,
+whatever that may mean, till my head ached. I can't quite understand
+all this now, but it seemed a very picturesque, impressionist
+description when I wrote it. Then I went for a walk down Main Street.
+I think it is about 400 miles long, for I got nowhere near the end,
+but this was perhaps owing to my uncertainty as to which side was
+the pleasanter to walk on. At last I gave it up, and sat down on the
+side-walk. Now, the wisdom of Vermont, not being at all times equal
+to grasping all the problems of everybody else's life with delicacy,
+sometimes makes pathetic mistakes, and it did so in my ease. I
+explained to the policeman that I had been sitting up half the night
+on a wild horse in New Zealand, and had only just come over for the
+day, but it was all in vain.
+
+The cell at Vermont was horribly uncomfortable. I dreamt that I was
+trying to boil snow in a thimble, to make maple syrup, and to swim on
+my head in deep water, with a life-belt tied to my ankles. There was
+another man there, and in the early morning he told me about Mastodons
+and Plesiosauri in a wood near the town, and how he caught them by the
+tails and photographed them; and also that Ringandknock, a mountain
+near, was mentioned by EMERSON in a verse, which I remembered,
+because he made "co-eval" rhyme with "extended." Only a truly great
+Philosopher could have done that.
+
+It was all new and delightful; and it must have been true, because my
+informant was a quiet, slow-spoken man of the West, who refrained from
+laughing at me. I have met very few people who could do that. Next day
+all the idleness and trifling were at an end, and my friends conveyed
+me back to New York.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+EPITAPH ON A DYER.
+
+ This Dyer with a dire liver tried
+ To earn a living dyeing, and he died.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER.
+
+NO. VIII.--THE DUFFER AS A HOST.
+
+Of course I don't try to give dinners at home. The difficulties and
+anxieties are too enormous. First there is inviting the people. I like
+to have none but very clever men and very pretty women, but nobody's
+acquaintance is limited to those rare beings, and, if I did invite
+them, they would all have previous engagements: I do not blame them.
+But suppose that two or three of the wits and beauties accept, that
+is worse than ever, because the rest are a Q.C. (who talks about
+his cases) and his wife, who talks about her children. An old
+school-fellow, who has no conversation that does not begin, "I say, do
+you remember old JACK WILLIAMS." This does not entertain the beauty,
+who sits next him.
+
+A Dowager Duchess, she knows none of the other people and wonders
+audibly (to me) who they are. A clever young man, whose language is
+the language of the future, and whose humour is of a date to which I
+humbly hope my own days may not be prolonged. A Psychical Researcher,
+with a note-book; he gets at the Duchess at once, and cross-examines
+her about a visionary Piper who plays audible pibrochs through Castle
+Blawearie, her ancestral home. Does she think the pibroch could be
+taken down in a phonograph. Could the Piper be snapped in a kodak?
+The Duchess does not know what a phonograph is; never heard of a
+kodak. She does not like the note-book any more than _Mr. Pickwick's_
+cabman liked it. She is afraid of getting into print. Then there is
+the Warden of St. Jude's, a great scholar; he pricks up his ears,
+not the keenest, at the word kodak, and begins to talk about a
+newly-discovered _Codex_ of PODONIAN the Elder. Nobody knows what
+a _Codex_ is. There is a School-board Lady, but, alas, she is next
+the Warden of St. Jude's, not next the enthusiastic Clergyman, who
+proses about a Club for Milliners. There is GRIGSBY, who develops an
+undesirable interest in the Milliners' Club. Have they a Strangers'
+Room? Do they give suppers? Are they Friendly Girls? Everyone thinks
+GRIGSBY flippant and coarse; I wish I had not asked him to come. There
+is a Positivist, who sneers at the Clergyman; there are a Squire and
+his wife from Rutlandshire: she is next the Radical Candidate for the
+Isle of Dogs. They do not seem to get on well together. GRIGSBY and
+the humorist of the future are chaffing each other across the table:
+nobody understands them; I don't know whether they are quarrelling
+or not. Miss JONES, the authoress of _Melancholy Moods_ (in a
+Greek dress, with a _pince-nez_: a woman should not combine these
+attributes) is next the Squire: he has never heard of any of her
+friends the Minor Poets: she takes no interest in Hay, nor in Tithes.
+I see the Guardsman and the Beauty looking at each other across the
+flowers and things: the language of their eyes is not difficult, nor
+pleasant, to read. Why is the champagne so hot, and why are the ices
+so salt and hard? I know something is the matter with the claret:
+something is always the matter with the claret. It has been iced, and
+the champagne has been standing for days in an equable temperature of
+65 deg..
+
+[Illustration: "It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, Bielby
+_will_ have something to drink, and another cigar--a very large one."]
+
+When they want to go away, it is a wet night, and those who have come
+in cabs cannot get cabs to go back in. The Duchess's coachman lost his
+way, coming here, she was half-an-hour late: she is anxious about his
+finding his way home. GRIGSBY has got at the Psychical-Researcher, and
+I hear him telling stories, as personal experiences, which I know are
+not true. Psychical-Researchers have no sense of humour. "S.P.R.,"
+why not "S.P.Q.R.?" I hear GRIGSBY asking, and suggesting "Society for
+Propagating Rubbish." It is very rude of him, and not at all funny.
+
+However, they do go away at last, that advantage a dinner at home
+has over a dinner at the Club, there they often seem as if they would
+never go away at all.
+
+On the other hand, the wine is all right at the Club, I believe, for
+I know nothing about wine myself. Some men talk of nothing else, and
+seem to know the vintages without looking at the names on the bottles.
+
+The worst of giving a dinner at the Club is, that I never know how
+many men I have asked, nor even who they are. It is enough if I
+remember the date. It might be a good thing to write these matters
+down in a Diary, or on a big sheet of paper, pinned up in one's room.
+I know I have written to ask some Americans whom I have not seen:
+they brought letters of introduction. I forget their names--there is a
+Professor who has written a novel, there is a General, I think, and a
+Mad Doctor.
+
+My best plan will be to stand about in the drawing-room, and try to
+select them as they come in. Here is WILKINSON, who was at St. Jude's
+with me: I shake hands with him warmly. He looks blank. It is not
+WILKINSON, after all; it is a stranger, he is dining with somebody
+else. Some other men have come in while I am apologising. One of them
+comes up and says, "Mr. McDUFFER!" He must be an American. Which? He
+tells me: he is the Mad Doctor. He introduces his countrymen; they
+all say "Mr. McDUFFER!" How am I to remember which is the General and
+which is the Professor? Other people drop in. Here is CRIMPTON. He
+is a Reviewer. Clever fellow, CRIMPTON. Here is old BEILBY--he is hot
+from the University Match. He begins to tell me all about it. JONES
+was awfully well set, but that muff SMITH ran him out. BEILBY does
+not believe it _was_ out. Odd the spite umpires always have at our
+side. Feel that I must tear myself from BEILBY, the only man whose
+conversation really interests me. Here is an English writer on
+military subjects. I introduce him to the American General. Find he
+is the Professor, after all. We get down-stairs somehow. BEILBY is
+opposite me. CRIMPTON is next the Professor. The Military Writer is
+next the General. Things do not appear to go very smoothly. It seems
+that the Military one has said something about General BEAUREGARD
+which he should not have said. The General is getting red. I hate it,
+when men begin to talk about the American War. Any other war they
+are welcome to: the Danish War, the war of 1866, the war of 1870, the
+glorious affair of Majuba. But Americans are touchy about their war,
+not easy to please them whatever you say. Much best to say nothing.
+CRIMPTON is laughing at American novels. He does not know that the
+Professor is an American novelist. What am I to do? I try to kick him
+under the table. I kick the Mad Doctor, and apologise. Was feeling
+about for a footstool. BEILBY is trying to talk about Base Ball to
+the General, who is still red. Nothing is more disagreeable than these
+international discussions at dinner.
+
+Now, a clever host would know how to get out of this; he would start
+some other subject. I can think of no other subject. Happy thought:
+gradually glide into American cookery, clams, canvas-backed ducks,
+what is that dish with a queer name--Jumbo? I don't feel as if it
+were Jumbo. Squambo? Terapin soup? It sounds rather like the Hebrew
+for a talisman, or an angel of some sort. However, they are talking
+about cookery now, and wines. Is there not an American wine called
+Catawampus? The Mad Doctor has his eye on me; he seems interested.
+I thought I heard him murmur Aspasia, or Aphasia, or something
+like that. It is not Catawampus--it is Catawba. I feel that I
+_patauge_--flounder, I mean. I am getting quite nervous; feel like a
+man in a powder-magazine, with lighted cigarettes everywhere. If one
+can withdraw them to the smoking-room, they will settle down somehow.
+They do. The Military Critic gets into a corner with BEILBY. The
+Americans and I consort together. Most agreeable fellows; have been
+everywhere, and seen everything. CRIMPTON, luckily, is reading one of
+his own reviews in the evening paper. I glance at it; it is a review
+of the Professor's novel. Not a kind review--rather insulting than
+otherwise. He hates BEILBY, and he does not know the Military Critic.
+If he joins us, there will be more international discussion. I get
+them on to the balcony, and pretend to go to ring the bell for coffee.
+I whisper to CRIMPTON. He is quite taken aback. "Awfully sorry; never
+dreamed the Professor was not English." He wants to tell the Professor
+that, thinks he will be pleased. He apologises to me; it is dreadfully
+disagreeable to be apologised to by a guest. "All my fault," I say;
+and, really, so it is. CRIMPTON remembers an evening engagement, and
+goes off _a l'Anglaise_.
+
+[Illustration: A PENNY FOR THE MEMBER'S THOUGHTS.]
+
+The Americans go off; say they have enjoyed themselves. I feel
+inclined to apologise for CRIMPTON. On second thoughts, I don't. They
+do not look like men who write about their adventures in their native
+newspapers. Ladies do that. A weight is off my mind. The Military
+Writer goes home. He asks, "Who was that old man who fancied himself
+so about SHERMAN's March?" "That was General HOME, who held a command
+under SHERMAN." The Military Writer whistles; wishes I had told him
+that before dinner. I wish I had, but I got so flurried and confused.
+It is midnight; I am tired to death. Yes, BEILBY _will_ have something
+to drink, and another cigar--a very large one. He begins to talk about
+the University Match, about all University Matches, about old scores,
+and old catches, from MITCHELL's year to the present day.
+
+It is three o'clock before I get home; the Americans _may_ have
+enjoyed themselves, I have not. I dream about the Mad Doctor; perhaps
+he will put me into his next book on _Incipient Insanity_. Serve me
+right.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE YOUNG GIRL'S COMPANION.
+
+(_BY MRS. PAYLEY._)
+
+I.--THE YOUNG GIRL'S DIARY.
+
+My very dear young girls, those Arts and accomplishments which form
+part of the average education will be taught you by your Governess,
+and in some cases, if your parents think it judicious, by a male
+Professor. I do not propose in these papers to deal with such
+subjects. But there are certain points in the life of the young girl,
+about which the handbooks have but little to say, which your teachers
+do not include in their course of tuition. Some of these points are
+particularly intimate and sentimental. It is here that I would wish
+to act as your adviser, and, if I may, as your confidential friend.
+I shall always be glad, while these papers are being published,
+to receive and answer any letters from young girls on questions of
+sentiment and propriety. If we had no sentiment, life would not stand
+thinking about; if we had no propriety, life would not stand talking
+about. Of the two, propriety is, perhaps, for the woman the more
+important, but I shall be glad to answer questions on both. And now
+let me say a few words on the subject of the Young Girl's Diary.
+
+[Illustration: (Young girl.)]
+
+You must most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+When I was a young girl of twenty-eight--it is not so very long ago--I
+had my Diary bound in pale blue watered silk; it had three locks and a
+little silver key which I wore on a riband round my neck. I never took
+it off except to--I mean for the purposes of the toilette. There was a
+pocket at the end of the book, which would hold a faded flower or any
+little souvenir. I always wrote it in solitude and by night. Secresy
+has its ritual, and it is infinitely sweet and consoling. If you
+should ever choose to read any passage from your Diary to the dearest
+of your girl-friends, the confidence becomes in consequence so much
+more confidential; for she will know that you are reading to her what
+was never intended for any human eye to see, and will enjoy it more.
+If you have the least appreciation of what sentiment really means, if
+you feel that you are misunderstood, or if you suffer from the most
+sacred of all emotions, you will most certainly keep a Diary.
+
+The entries in the Diary need not be of any great length. I once had
+a dear girl-friend who, during the happy season of her first love,
+became in the pages of her Diary almost entirely interjectional. I
+think this was from natural delicacy. I was recently stopping at her
+house, and owing to circumstances over which she had no control, I
+am able to reproduce here the entries which she made in the few days
+which culminated in her engagement.
+
+"_September_ 6.--Why?"
+
+You observe that she is puzzled to account for her own emotions, and
+yet hesitates to give the inevitable solution. The intense reticence
+of this entry seems to me peculiarly beautiful.
+
+"_September_ 7.--I hate MARY BINDLER."
+
+I can remember the circumstances very well, and I am inclined to think
+that she had some reason to be jealous of MARY BINDLER. MARY was not
+at all a nice girl.
+
+"_September_ 8.--Joy, joy, joy!"
+
+I think I can explain this entry. MARY BINDLER had been called away
+hurriedly. Somebody was dead, or something of that sort. My friend's
+expression of relief seems to me very pretty and natural.
+
+"_September_ 9.--Ah!"
+
+"_September_ 10.--Oh!"
+
+In that little word "Ah!" there is the whole history of a pic-nic and
+a carriage accident. It was there that she first guessed his feelings
+towards her. I am sorry to say that I have not been able to obtain
+any adequate explanation of the "Oh!" But I know they went out after
+dinner to see if it was possible to play tennis by moonlight. I
+conclude that it was not, for the next entry, which consists simply of
+a note of exclamation, is really a record of her engagement.
+
+Of course I need not point out the impropriety of mixing in the pages
+of your Diary the record of the most sacred emotions, and notes of
+things more commonplace. I knew a girl who invariably did this. She
+always commenced with an account of any money that she might have
+spent during the day. I have managed, with considerable difficulty, to
+make a copy of one of these entries, and I give it as a warning:--
+
+"Chocolate, one-and-six. ALGERNON has written to me, asking me to see
+him again for the last time. I have written back that my decision
+is unalterable. It breaks my heart to have to be so cruel--but fate
+wills it, and it's no good fighting against Mamma. Sent my grey to be
+cleaned--but it won't look anything when it's done."
+
+In another entry I found the following:--
+
+"A dear long letter from EGBERT. How perfect his sympathy is! Not
+feeling very well to-day--will always refuse _vol-au-vent_ in future."
+
+I need hardly say that a girl who would chronicle the state of her
+digestion and the sympathy of her lover in one paragraph could not
+possibly have any soul.
+
+The perfect Diary is something of a paradox. It should be composed
+chiefly of what is unpublishable--of one's secrets and sentiments--but
+it should always be written as if with a view to publication. In your
+Diary you can say things about yourself which it would be conceited to
+say openly, and you can say things about your friends which it would
+be unkind to say openly; you can make your own pose seem more real
+to yourself. So, my dear young girls, take my advice, and commence
+Diaries. And remember I shall be very glad to answer any questions on
+the subject.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+JOKIM'S LATEST LITTLE JOKE.
+
+(_BY A MANY TIMES DISAPPOINTED INCOME-TAX PAYER._)
+
+ It is out at last, but it falls very flat;
+ Such a very big "bag," such a very small "cat"!
+ Popularity Budget? It can't be called _that_!
+ The Budget that was to have been such "good biz,"
+ And have caused the Election to go with a "whizz,"
+ Fizzles out in--reducing the duty on Fizz!
+ Ah, JOKIM, my joker, you've hardly the knack
+ Of holding the Bag, so we'll give you "_the Sack_!"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"MEET IT IS I SET IT DOWN."--"Mr. J. McN. WHISTLER," it was remarked
+by one of his visitors on the closing day of his recent Exhibition,
+"has in his Catalogue put down all unfavourable criticisms." How, in
+this respect, would all of us like to imitate the Eccentric Knight of
+the Order of the Butterfly, and put down all adverse criticism.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NOTICE.--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.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
+102, APRIL 23, 1892***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 14514.txt or 14514.zip *******
+
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+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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