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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93.
+September 17, 1887, 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. 93. September 17, 1887
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: F. C. Burnand
+
+Release Date: September 13, 2010 [eBook #33717]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
+VOL. 93. SEPTEMBER 17, 1887***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Neville Allen, Malcolm Farmer, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 33717-h.htm or 33717-h.zip:
+ (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33717/33717-h/33717-h.htm)
+ or
+ (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33717/33717-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOLUME 93.
+
+SEPTEMBER 17, 1887.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+OUR IGNOBLE SELVES.
+
+(_Lament by a Reader of "Letters to the Papers."_)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ OH! bless us and save us! Like men to behave us
+ We Britons once held it our glory;
+ Now Party bids fair to befool and enslave us.
+ We're lost between Liberal and Tory!
+ Some quidnunc inditeth a letter to GLADSTONE,
+ The style of it, "Stand and deliver!"
+ Its speech may be rude, and its tone quite a cad's tone,
+ Its logic may make a man shiver.
+ _Au contraire_ it _may_ be most lucid and modest,
+ In taste and in pertinence equal
+ (Though such a conjunction would be of the oddest),
+ But what, anyhow, is the sequel?
+ Rad papers _all_ cry, "We've once more before us
+ An instance of folly inrushing."
+ Whilst _all_ the Conservative Journals in chorus
+ Declare "it is perfectly crushing!"
+ "Little Pedlington's" snubbed by the Liberal Press,
+ And urged such fool tricks to abandon.
+ Cry Tories, "I guess the Old Man's in a mess,
+ He hasn't a leg left to stand on!"
+ Oh! save us and bless us! The shirt of old Nessus,
+ Was not such a snare to the hero,
+ As poisonous faction. Crass fools we confess us,
+ With sense and with spirit at zero.
+ If thus we comport us like blind sprawling kittens,
+ Or pitiful partisan poodles,
+ 'Twill prove Party makes e'en of freeminded Britons,
+ A race of incontinent noodles!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"TO TEAPOT BAY AND BACK."
+
+LONDONERS who like but are weary of the attractions of Eastend-on-Mud,
+and want a change, can scarcely do better than spend twenty-four hours
+in that rising watering-place Teapot Bay. I say advisedly "rising,"
+because the operation has been going on for more than forty years. In
+these very pages a description of the "juvenile town," appeared nearly
+half a century ago. Then it was said that the place was "so infantine
+that many of the houses were not out of their scaffold-poles, whilst
+others had not yet cut their windows," and the place has been growing
+ever since--but very gradually. The "ground plan of the High Street" of
+those days would still be useful as a guide, although it is only fair to
+say that several of the fields then occupied by cabbages are now to some
+extent covered with empty villas labelled "To Let." In the past the High
+Street was intersected by roads described as "a street, half houses,
+half potatoes," "a street apparently doing a good stroke of business,"
+"a street, but no houses," "a street indigent, but houseless," "a street
+which appears to have been nipped in the kitchens," "a street thickly
+populated with three inhabitants," and last but not least, "a street in
+such a flourishing condition that it has started a boarding-house and
+seminary." The present condition of Teapot Bay is much the same--the
+roads running between two lines of cellars (contributions to houses that
+have yet to be built) are numerous and testify to good intentions never
+fulfilled. There is the same meaningless tower with a small illuminated
+clock at the top of it, and if the pier is not quite so long as it was
+thirty or forty years ago, it still seems to be occupying the same site.
+
+[Illustration: Cheap and Picturesque Roots for Tourists.]
+
+The means of getting to Teapot Bay is by railway. Although no doubt
+numbered amongst the cheap and picturesque routes for tourists, the
+place is apparently considered by the authorities as more or less of a
+joke. Margate, Ramsgate, Westgate and Broadstairs, are taken _au
+serieux_, and have trains which keep their time; but Teapot Bay,
+seemingly, is looked upon as a legitimate excuse for laughter. If two
+trains are fixed to start at 12, and 12.30, the twelve o'clock train
+will leave at 12.30, and the 12.30 at 1. The authorities endeavour to
+have a train in hand at the end of the day, and I fancy are generally
+successful in carrying out their intentions. But between London and
+Teapot Bay there are many slippery carriages, which stop at various
+Junctions, and refuse to go any further in the required direction. When
+this happens, the weary traveller has to descend, cross a platform, and
+try another line. If he is a man of determination, and is not easily
+disheartened, nine times out of ten he ultimately reaches Teapot Bay,
+where his arrival causes more astonishment than gratification.
+
+When I got to this "rising watering-place" the other day, I found an
+omnibus in waiting, ready to carry me to the town, which is some little
+distance from the station. We travelled by circular tour, which included
+a trot through many of the fields of my boyhood, now, alas! potatoless,
+and covered with weeds! In one of these fields I noticed a canvas booth,
+three or four flags, and a group of about twenty spectators, inspecting
+a gentleman in a scarlet coat, mounted on rather a large-boned horse.
+
+"They still have a country-fair here?" I suggested to the person who had
+collected my sixpence.
+
+"That isn't a fair, Sir--them's the Races," was the reply.
+
+"Not very well attended, I fear?" I observed.
+
+[Illustration: A Circular Tour.]
+
+"Better than they was last year--why the whole town has gone to see them
+this time."
+
+A little later we reached the principal inn of the place, which was
+described in a local Handbook as "an old-established hotel, but
+comfortable." Rather, to my annoyance (as I was anxious to preserve my
+_incognito_), I was received by the landlord with respectful cordiality.
+"Glad you have honoured us, Sir--proud of your presence."
+
+I made a sign to him not to betray me, and asked for my room.
+
+"Well, Sir, we must put _you_ into the Rotunda."
+
+Again by a gesture inviting silence as to my identity, I mounted a
+flight of stairs, and found myself in a room that once, I think, must
+have been entirely arbour. Much of the arbour still remained, but a
+large slice had been partitioned off affording space for a
+chimney-piece, two chairs, a washstand and a bed. By opening a window
+which reached to the ground, I found myself on a balcony covered in with
+creepers, and beneath which was a gas-lamp labelled "Hotel Tap." In
+front of me was a field with the foundation (long since completed) for
+some houses at the end of it. On my left another field in the same state
+of passive preparation, and on my right a side view of the Ocean. It was
+growing dark, so after an "old-fashioned but comfortable" dinner, I went
+out for a stroll.
+
+"Pleased you should honour us," said the landlord, as he opened the door
+to allow me to pass. Again to my annoyance, as it was vexatious to be
+thus identified in this out-of-the-way place as one of the celebrities
+of the hour.
+
+The visitors and other inhabitants of Teapot Bay had returned from the
+Races, and were walking on the pier listening to the band. The gentlemen
+were in flannels, the ladies decorated with yards of white ribbon. The
+band was more select than numerous. Its conductor beat time with his
+left hand, while with his right he played the "air" of the tune at the
+moment attracting his attention upon an elaborate instrument that looked
+like a cross between a clarionet and an old-fashioned brass serpent.
+There was not much drumming, because the drummer spent nearly all his
+ample leisure on more or less successful efforts to vend programmes. The
+band was in a gusty alcove at one end of the pier, a small room covered
+with placards of a Wizard who, after making the acquaintance of "The
+Crowned Heads of Europe," was to perform there "to-night," was at the
+other. Having soon exhausted the pleasure derivable from listening to
+the band, I sought out the wizard.
+
+"Oh, he ain't going to do it again until next Saturday," was the answer
+of a little girl who had charge of a turnstile, when I asked for a
+ticket. "But you can see him then."
+
+[Illustration: "You're up!"]
+
+I retired. As all the shops (possibly a couple of dozen) were closed, I
+returned to my hotel--really a very comfortable one. In the morning I
+thought I would have a sea-bath. There were a few machines, which were
+manipulated with ropes and windlasses. There was an elderly man in
+charge, who informed me that he could not lower one of these vehicles
+until his mate returned.
+
+"Gone to breakfast?" I suggested.
+
+"Breakfast--no one here has time for breakfast!" was the reply.
+
+When I left, the landlord again murmured his thanks for the honour I had
+done him by patronising his hotel. Still anxious to preserve my
+_incognito_, in bidding him adieu I begged him not to allow my name to
+appear in the Visitors' List.
+
+"You may be sure I won't Sir," said he with a bow as he opened the door,
+and a tip-inviting "boots" put my portmanteau on the omnibus starting
+for the station,--"_as I don't know it!_"
+
+On the whole I prefer Eastend-on-Mud to Teapot Bay!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A PRETTY CENTENARIAN.
+
+(_Mr. Bull's Song on Miss Columbia's Hundredth Birthday._)
+
+ "The chief authorities of the several States of this Union have
+ resolved to celebrate, on the 15th, 16th, and 17th days of September
+ next, at Philadelphia, the first centennial anniversary of the
+ framing of the Constitution of the United States, with military and
+ industrial displays, and with other suitable ceremonies."--_Letter
+ of Invitation to Mr. Gladstone from the Constitutional Centennial
+ Commission._
+
+[Illustration: _John Bull._ "A Hundred Years Old, my Dear! Who would
+have thought it! But then you have such a wonderful constitution!"]
+
+AIR.--"_I'm getting a Big Boy now._"
+
+ YOU have passed through the troubles of national youth,
+ (To have safely survived them's a boon,)
+ You have out your eye-teeth, you look pretty, in truth,
+ But much the reverse of a "spoon."
+ We gaze on you fondly, admiringly, dear;
+ Few traces of age on _your_ brow.
+ A hundred this year? Then it's perfectly clear
+ You are getting a great girl now.
+
+_Chorus._
+
+ You are getting a great girl now,
+ And you know it, COLUMBIA, I trow.
+ Philadelphia's "boom"
+ Leaves for doubt little room
+ That you're getting a great girl now.
+
+ I feel like Papa, who though elderly's fresh,
+ And with younkers can sympathise still;
+ You are bone of my bone, you are flesh of my flesh,
+ And I bear you the warmest good-will.
+ _My_ centennial dates which have rapidly run,
+ I have given up counting, somehow;
+ Like me, you'll be learning life is not _all_ fun,
+ For you're getting a great girl now.
+
+_Chorus._
+
+ You are getting a great girl now.
+ With health and that radiant brow,
+ One hardly would say
+ You're a hundred to-day,
+ Though you're getting a great girl now.
+
+ You've gone in for Parties.--my plague, dear, at home;
+ If anyone's sick of 'em _I_ am,--
+ Your land is so large you need hardly to roam,
+ Yet you're known from St. James's to Siam.
+ We greet you as Cousin, our family throng
+ Is wide, but you're welcome, I vow.
+ Come often, stay long, you can hardly do wrong,
+ Though you're getting a great girl now.
+
+_Chorus._
+
+ You are getting a great girl now,
+ The rawness of youth you outgrow.
+ I am proud of your looks,
+ Like your art, and your books;
+ You _are_ getting a great girl now.
+
+ To your big birthday party 'twas kind to invite
+ My WILLIAM; I'm sure he'd have come
+ And danced at your ball with the greatest delight,
+ But for years, and some business at home.
+ He's really a marvel, you know, for his age;
+ At your great Philadelphia pow-wow
+ He'd have reeled you off columns of talk, I'll engage,
+ Though he's getting an Old Boy now.
+
+_Chorus._
+
+ He's getting an Old Boy now,
+ Yet but for our big Irish row,
+ He'd have come like a shot,
+ And orated a lot,
+ Though he's getting an Old Boy now.
+
+ Your health, my COLUMBIA! A hundred? Seems queer!
+ What a sweet Centenarian you make!
+ I suppose it's your fine "Constitution," my dear;
+ Which nothing, I hope, will e'er shake.
+ You have proved you have not only swiftness, but stay;
+ Well, long may you flourish and grow!
+ Many happy--and hearty--returns of the Day!
+ You are getting a great girl now!
+
+_Chorus._
+
+ You are getting a great girl now;
+ May you prosper, and keep out of row;
+ Shun bunkum and bawl,
+ All that's shoddy and small,
+ For you're getting a _great_ girl now!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE FATHER OF THE MAN.
+
+A CASE of some interest to Self-made Men, the conviction of a boy fined
+half-a-crown for playing, with some other boys, the game of "brag,"
+occasioned Mr. SHIEL, on the Southwark Bench, to observe that "Gambling
+was the first step towards crime. Boys who began with gambling, very
+often ended by being thieves." Too often, perhaps, but, it may be hoped,
+not always. The boy who begins by playing at pitch-and-toss, surely
+doesn't always grow up to be a man who actually commits manslaughter. He
+may possibly stop short of larceny, burglary, or housebreaking, and do
+nothing worse than getting a useless, but not absolutely criminal
+livelihood, by betting on the Derby and the St. Leger, or speculating on
+the Stock Exchange.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: FORM.
+
+_Public School Boy (to General Sir George, G.C.B., G.S.I., V.C., &c. &c.
+&c.)_ "I SAY, GRANDPAPA,--A--WOULD YOU MIND JUST PUTTING ON YOUR HAT _A
+LITTLE STRAIGHTER?_ HERE COMES _CODGERS_--HE'S AWFULLY PARTICULAR--AND
+HE'S THE _CAPTAIN OF OUR ELEVEN, YOU KNOW!_"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+WORDS IN SEASON.
+
+NEWS are by no means wanting in the newspapers. A surprising telegram
+from Vienna announces that:--
+
+ "A large shark has been captured close to the harbour of Fiume. It
+ is four and a half metres long, and weighs 1,460 kilogrammes. The
+ stomach contained a pair of human feet with the boots on."
+
+The shark with two feet, and boots inside of it to boot, beats JERROLD'S
+"San Domingo Billy," in _Black Eyed Susan_, with a watch in his
+maw--whereby hung a yarn. Provincial journals, please copy, and report a
+jack that was so big as to have swallowed jack-boots. You may calculate
+that they will go down with some of your readers too. Nothing like
+leather.
+
+The gooseberry season is over, but if this were the height of it, the
+prodigious fruit of that family would be unmentionable to any scientific
+assembly. Nevertheless, Dr. C. FALBERG read a paper to an audience at
+the British Association upon "Saccharine, the New Sweet Product of Coal
+Tar," which, in connection with the John Hopkins' University (U.S.) he
+discovered in 1879. Coal tar has been brought to a pretty pitch. He
+averred this saccharine to be 250 times sweeter than sugar. Must have
+used nice means to calculate that quantity of the quality of sweetness.
+Said it had become an article of commerce--had a large sale in Germany,
+was perfectly harmless, he had himself used it for nine years, and it
+produced no injurious effect upon him. Apparently, then, he used to eat
+it, and if he didn't might have invited his hearers likewise to eat him.
+This "Saccharine" bears a somewhat long name, which, as it is a
+commercial article, might perhaps be compendiously replaced with
+"Sugarine."
+
+The sea-serpent, _Python marinus--Python Ambulatoris_, or _Python
+Walkerii_--seems not just yet to have been satisfactorily sighted either
+by sailors or marines. However, he may be expected to turn up again very
+soon, this time probably coiled in constrictor fashion, as an oceanic
+ophidian, around a Laocoon or leviathan of a species very like a whale.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The Duke's Motto.
+
+MR. DUKE, Secretary to the Liberal-Unionists, says that they consider
+Liberal reunion as desirable, but "with one opinion" they decline to do
+anything until publicly authorised to do so by Lord HARTINGTON and the
+Liberal-Unionist leaders. This DUKE'S motto is evidently "Ditto to Lord
+HARTINGTON." DUKE'S "Dittos" may in future pair off with GLADSTONE'S
+"Items."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A VERY PRETTY TALE BY ANDERSON.
+
+MY DEAR MR. PUNCH,
+
+In producing _The Winter's Tale_ at the Lyceum, that most charming young
+actress, Miss MARY ANDERSON, deserves well, not only of her country (if
+she insists upon calling England "abroad," like some of her
+compatriots), but also of our country, which, I presume, was furthermore
+the country of her ancestors. If the shade of Master WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE
+will pardon the liberty, the play is a very good one. It has an
+interesting plot, with plenty of scope for good acting, good music, and
+last, and not least, good scenery. Why it should not have been revived
+before I cannot imagine, unless it be that London theatres have men and
+not ladies to manage them. Had it been produced in the IRVING _regime_,
+Miss ELLEN TERRY could have played--and played well--the parts of
+_Hermione_ and _Perdita_; but I fail to see where the name of the lessee
+would have come in. _Leontes_ is not a very prominent personage, and
+even had it been coupled with _Autolycus_, still the demands upon Mr.
+IRVING'S talent would have been insufficient, not only to please
+himself, but also (which is of equal importance) to satisfy the
+audience.
+
+[Illustration: A Picture from the Stone.]
+
+However, when Miss ANDERSON takes the reins of stage management in to
+her own fair and shapely hands, the necessity of providing for a
+tragedian of the first class disappears. The "leading man" of her
+company is Mr. FORBES-ROBERTSON--a most talented person. He can paint
+pictures, and play remarkably well in certain characters. His _Captain
+Absolute_ was far from bad, and his _Romeo_ more than good. As _Leontes_
+he has a part rather out of his line; but, all things considered, he
+fills it very well. It may be objected that he is rather effeminate, and
+that his costume would have been more becoming had he worn what the
+ladies (I believe) term "half sleeves;" but for all that, his reading of
+the character was entirely conscientious, if not absolutely right. But
+naturally the success of Saturday evening was Miss ANDERSON, who was as
+matronly dignified as _Hermione_, as she was deliciously girlish as
+_Perdita_. She "looked" both parts to perfection. It may be my fancy,
+but I imagine she has greatly improved since we saw her last in London.
+The bass notes of her silvery voice have mellowed, and her attitudes,
+always graceful, are seemingly now more spontaneous, and consequently
+more natural. Charming as _Juliet_, she is more charming as _Hermione_,
+and most charming as _Perdita_. Nothing prettier than her dance in the
+"Pastoral Scene" has been seen in a London Theatre for many a long
+year.
+
+[Illustration: Young and Harpy.]
+
+And my reference to the "Pastoral Scene," (by Mr. HAWES CRAVEN) recalls
+the fact to my mind that all the scenery is excellent. The _Palace of
+Leontes_ by Mr. W. TELBIN, is only equalled by Mr. W. TELBIN'S _Queen's
+Apartment_, and a wonderful cloth of a roadside with a view of a flock
+of sheep grazing on the brow of a hill (again by Mr. HAWES CRAVEN, who
+seems to have become Artist in Ordinary to Arcadia), is not more
+remarkable than Mr. HANN'S Court of Justice. In the last stage-picture
+it is possible, but not probable, that the hypercritical might suggest
+that the accessories are slightly suggestive of a kitchen, on the score
+that the altar is something like a silver grill, and the Court Herald
+appears, during a portion of the action of the piece, to be cooking
+chops. Personally, I think this idea rather far-fetched, although, of
+course, there is some resemblance (no doubt purely accidental) between
+the helmets of the soldiers and the brass coal-scuttle of a modern
+drawing-room. And I will even go further, and admit that, to a careless
+observer, some of the warriors may appear to be wearing the garb of
+Harlequin; but when it is hinted that _Leontes_, in his first attitude
+on his throne, is not unlike a Guy on the Fifth of November, I feel that
+the wish must be father of the thought, and that the resemblance is
+purely imaginary.
+
+[Illustration: A Scene on its Metal.]
+
+Leaving the scenery to come to the acting, I may say that the play is
+generally well cast. Mr. MACLEAN and Mr. CHARLES COLLETTE are both very
+amusing, the first as _Camillo_, and the last as _Autolycus_, and Mr.
+GEORGE WARDE is quietly humorous with the baby. When I say quietly
+humorous, I do not mean that he trenches in the least on the ground
+occupied by either the Clown of Pantomime or the Clown of SHAKSPEARE. He
+does not sit upon the infant, or throw it about--no, nor even sing to it
+a little comic song. He gets all his effects by merely carrying it
+quietly about, and showing it, with an assumption of gravity that is
+killing, to Mr. FORBES-ROBERTSON. To turn to the less important
+characters of the play, Mr. DAVIES as a gaoler suggests that in "those
+days" prison officials were sometimes whatever happened to be the
+equivalent of the period to the modern "masher." Miss ZEFFIE TILBURY,
+Miss HELENA DACRE, and Miss DESMOND ("1st Lady with a song" and gigantic
+lyre) are all equally good, and even the subordinate female parts have
+efficient representatives.
+
+Returning to the gentlemen (a difficult task when it entails leaving
+such pleasant company) Mr. F. H. MACKLIN as _Polixenes_ is sufficiently
+robust in his manly bearing to suggest the necessary contrast with
+_Leontes_, and Mr. FULLER MELLISH is picturesque, painstaking and
+conscientious as _Florizel_.
+
+[Illustration: An Infant Phenomenon.]
+
+I began with Miss ANDERSON and (much to my regret) I must end with her.
+She is equally charming as _Hermione_ and _Perdita_. Her cry of horror
+and dead faint in the Hall of Justice on learning of the loss of
+_Mamillius_, is one of many points that profoundly impressed the
+audience, and in her comedy scene with _Polixenes_ in Act I, in which
+she asks him _a propos_ of _Leontes_, "Was not my lord the verier wag o'
+the two?" her smiling glance at her sombre lord is simply inimitable. I
+can quite fancy that _Leontes_ when he saw _Hermione_, and _Florizel
+Perdita_, must have talked of their condition (allowing for the loss of
+their hearts) as I describe myself when I assume the signature of
+
+ONE WHO HAS GONE TO PIECES.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A PLEA FOR THE BIRDS.
+
+(_To the Ladies of England._)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ Lo! the sea-gulls slowly whirling
+ Over all the silver sea,
+ Where the white-toothed waves are curling,
+ And the winds are blowing free.
+ There's a sound of wild commotion,
+ And the surge is stained with red;
+ Blood incarnadines the ocean,
+ Sweeping round old Flamborough Head.
+
+ For the butchers come unheeding
+ All the torture as they slay,
+ Helpless birds left slowly bleeding,
+ When the wings are reft away.
+ There the parent bird is dying,
+ With the crimson on her breast,
+ While her little ones are lying
+ Left to starve in yonder nest.
+
+ What dooms all these birds to perish,
+ What sends forth these men to kill,
+ Who can have the hearts that cherish
+ Such designs of doing ill?
+ Sad the answer: English ladies
+ Send those men, to gain each day
+ What for matron and for maid is
+ All the Fashion, so folks say.
+
+ Feathers deck the hat and bonnet.
+ Though the plumage seemeth fair,
+ _Punch_, whene'er he looks upon it,
+ Sees that slaughter in the air.
+ Many a fashion gives employment
+ Unto thousands needing bread,
+ This, to add to your enjoyment,
+ Means the dying and the dead.
+
+ Wear the hat, then, _sans_ the feather,
+ English women, kind and true;
+ Birds enjoy the summer weather
+ And the sea as much as you.
+ There's the riband, silk, or jewel,
+ Fashion's whims are oft absurd;
+ This is execrably cruel;
+ Leave his feathers to the bird!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ROBERT AT MARLOW.
+
+"HERE we are again!" as the Clown says in the Pantermine, at butiful
+Great Marlow, looking jest as bootiful as ever, though there is jest a
+few tears a falling from the dark clowds coz the sun doesn't shine as it
+did when we was in grand old Lundon last week, and turn all the drops of
+rain into reel dimons. My son WILLIAM has cum with us, and he says as
+how this lovely place makes quite a Poet of him, so he dashed off the
+following description of it larst nite when the rain was a coming down
+in palefuls, witch we all thinks to be amost as butiful as it's trew:--
+
+ "To Marlow have we come, a little city,
+ Famous for pretty girls and boating, he
+ Who has not seen it, will be much to pity,
+ So says King ROBERT, and I quite agree
+ Of all the towns on Thames there's none more pretty,
+ Pangbourne perhaps, but that you soon may see.
+ Our nice clean lodging's near the flowing river,
+ A noble stream, much like the Guadalquiver."
+
+I haven't corrected none of his rayther rum spelling, but writ it down
+jest as he wrote it all out of his hone hed. Not having ever herd of the
+place that he says the River is like, I natrally arsked him where it
+were, and he said in Sow Ameriky. What it is to be not only a Poet but a
+geolergist as well! ah, it's all owing to the Bellowsmender's Skool.
+
+I don't find much difference in the old Place xcep that it's gitting
+bigger, witch it's a pity, but how can one be surprized. If peeple finds
+out a perfec pairodice they natrally tells their friends of it, and so
+more cums ewery year. Among others we've got a real live Hem Pea, but
+he's here on the sly, having told the Tory Whip as he's bin obligated to
+go to Swizzerland to see his pore sick Mother-in-Law! A nice sort of
+green Whip he must ha' bin to be so eesily gammond. His wally told me as
+he had shaved off his beard so nobody knowed him, but for fear of
+accidence he passes ewery Satterday and Sunday at a farm yard inland.
+Wot a lively life for a reel Swell!
+
+I've ony bin here jest a few days, and I've had another startling
+adwenture. I never seed such a plaice as this is for adwentures. I had
+taken my favorit stroll to Temple Lock, and had my customary chat with
+the werry intellegent Lock Keeper there on things in general, and
+Locksmen's trubbles in partickler, and was walking gently home, wen I
+herd the most unusual report of Guns close by me, on the hopposite Bank;
+and jest as I came up to where they was a shooting, I seed three Gents
+raise their sanguinary Rifels and haim bang at my dewoted hed! I hadn't
+time to shout tout or to run away, so I had to stand it like a traitor
+or a dezerter. Luckely they missed me, and, laying down their murdrous
+weppons, went into the ouse. I was so prostrated with estonishment that
+I remaned fixt on the spot. Luckely my son WILLIAM came by in a Bote, so
+I hollowed to him, and, getting in, he pulled me across the foaming
+River. I luckely remembered hearing 2 of the Tems Consewatifs a torking
+at the LORD MARE'S Bankwet about the Buy Lors, and that one on em was a
+fine of 40_s_. for ewerrybody as shot a gun across the River. So, harmed
+with this nollidge, I at wunce adrest myself to the estonished Gents
+about the enormous sum as they wood have to pay me if as how as I went
+and told. I had bin a making the Calkerlashon all the way across, so I
+was able to say boldly, eleven shots, at 40_s_. per shot, is twenty-too
+pound! One of the gents turned gashly pail, and another sed as they
+woodn't do it not never no more, so I kindly promist not to do wot I
+might do, and rode away in our Bote with the feeling of a Judge a
+pardoning 3 criminals. They did say as they could not have bin a haiming
+at me becoz they fired up in the hair, where the birds was; but how was
+I to know that, wen the dedly weppens was pinted bang at me, and how,
+too, about the falling bullets? They must have bin quite fust-rate
+shots, for wen a hole flock of pidgeons flew into their garden, amost
+close to 'em, they all three fired at the lot, and acshally wounded one
+of 'em, poor thing.
+
+When warking by the side of the River this arternoon, I was arsked by a
+young, but not werry successful angler, what o'clock it was. I told him,
+in course, and he said as he coudn't fish no more, as it was lunch time,
+so we warked along together, and he told me all his trubbels. He had bin
+at it for five days, and had never cort but one fish, and he was too
+little to keep. He was a nice brite young chap, so I simpathised with
+him. He said other peeple cort plenty of fish, but they came and looked
+at his bait, and then turned round and swum away; so I gave him a bit of
+adwice as I had wunce herd of. Don't buy your flys, I ses, but make 'em
+yourself. Anythink will do if it has 4 legs, and 2 wings made of gorze.
+And when the fishes sees it they will say to one another, "Hullo, BILL,
+here's a rum-looking fly--I never tasted one like him--so here goes,"
+and he gobbles up your fly, and so you has him slick. How my young frend
+did larf. Ah, says he, that's the frute of indulging your curiossity.
+I'll set to work this evening and make one, as I've no dout he did.
+
+I took a walk this morning in butiful Quarry Woods, but O what a site
+met my gaze! It used to be one of the atrakshuns of the place for
+anyboddy as could walk. What is it now? All the roads as bin dug up, and
+left so, and at the entrance to the lovely paths there are orrid bords
+put up, saying, "No path--trespassers persecuted." But it isn't true.
+They are Paths, and they leads everywhere, and I wasn't persecuted. All
+the finest trees are smeared over with dirty bills, saying, "No person
+allowed to camp, land, or picknick," and sumbody had added, "Or cough,
+or sneeze, without permission!" As a poor feller said to me, who was
+hobbling along on the horful road, and who knew the late propryeter,
+"Ah, a kind, Cristian Landlord ought to live as long as he posserbly
+can, for he never can tell what's to foller."
+
+There's a place there where the Wolunteers practises firing, and I'm
+afraid they must be werry careless, for they writes up, "No one must
+damage the property of the Corpse," which is werry kind of 'em, so far.
+
+ROBERT.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: A VIKING ON MODERN FASHION.
+
+"WHAT DOES T'LASS WANT WI' YON _BOOSTLE_ FOR? IT AREN'T BIG ENOUGH TO
+_SMOGGLE_ THINGS, AND SHE CAN'T _STEER_ HERSELF WI' IT!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE WAIL OF THE MALE;
+
+_Being a British Workman's View of the Cheap Female Labour Question,
+respectfully submitted to the Trades Union Congress._
+
+_Bill Smith to his Shopmate, Ben Jones, loquitur_:--
+
+ EH? Give 'em the Suffrage--the Women? Why not?
+ What else, that's worth having, lads, _haven't_ they got?
+ If it's levelling up, let 'em have it all round,
+ And _we_ shan't be the first to complain, I'll be bound.
+ They've cut down our wages, and copied our coats,
+ And I really don't see why they shouldn't have Votes.
+ Wish _I_ was a woman, old fellow, that's flat;
+ I should then have a chance, and know what to be at.
+ I have just got the "bullet," Mate--sacked without notice,
+ I wonder what pull _my_ possessin' the Vote is?
+ _She_ hasn't got ne'er a one--_she's_ got my job,
+ I lose a fair crib, and the boss saves ten bob!
+ I've been at it five years, kept a family on it,
+ And she--well, the first thing she buys is a bonnet!
+ They're cutting us out, Mate--the Women are--straight,
+ And I s'pose it's no use for to kick agen Fate,
+ But it seems blooming hard on the wife and the kids,
+ _She_'s a woman, of course, though she can't earn the "quids,"
+ But then, being married, she's out of the hunt
+ For earning or votes. Look here, BILL! If they shunt
+ You and me, and our like, as they're doing all round,
+ Because Women are cheap, and there's heaps to be found,
+ Won't it come to this, sooner or later, my boy,
+ That the most of us chaps will be out of employ,
+ Whilst the Women will do all the work there's to do,
+ And keep us, and the kids, _on about half our "screw"_?
+ Who's a-going to gain by that there but the boss?
+ And for everyone else it is bound to be loss.
+ A nice pooty look-out! Oh, I know what they say;--
+ That the women work better than us for less pay,
+ And are much less the slaves of the pint and the pot;
+ What's that got to do with it? All tommy rot!
+ We have all got to live, and if women-folk choose
+ To collar our cribs or to cut down our screws,
+ _They_ will have to be bread-winners, leaving us chaps
+ To darn stockings at home with the kids on our laps.
+ Well, I hope as they'll like it. I tell you what, neighbour,
+ The world's being ruined by petticoat labour.
+ Besides, Mate, in spite of this Woman's Rights fuss,
+ Work don't make 'em better _as_ women, but wus.
+ It mucks 'em for marriage, and spiles 'em for home,
+ 'Cos their notion of life is to racket and roam.
+ Just look at that work-girl there, her with the fringe!
+ She's a nice pooty specimen! Makes a chap cringe
+ To think of that flashy young chit as a wife,
+ That's what cheap woman labour will do for our life.
+ Oh, give 'em the Vote, and the breeks, while you're at it,
+ Make 'em soldiers, and Bobbies, and bosses. But, drat it,
+ If this blessed new-fangled game's to prewail,
+ I pities the beggar who's born a poor Male!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+BACKING BACO.
+
+THE movements of Prince FERDINAND, as recently reported, appear to be
+shrouded in some mystery. It was announced that his Mamma was about to
+join him, and that a suite of apartments was being already prepared for
+her reception at the Palace. No sooner, however, was this encouraging
+piece of news published, than it was followed by a sinister rumour that
+the Prince himself was about to hurry off from Sofia to Baco, one of his
+country-seats on the frontiers of Hungary. As there is no mention of his
+being accompanied by his _suite_, it is doubtful if, in going to Baco,
+the Prince intended to take "returns." Naturally the Sobranje would like
+to be assured that, in going to Baco, he was really only going there and
+back, and did not mean, as the name of the place might suggest, to back
+out of the situation altogether. But perhaps there may not be, after
+all, any good foundation for the story of the proposed journey, in which
+event all this disturbing talk of a visit to Baco will probably end, as
+it naturally should, in smoke.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+DEAR AT THE PRICE.--The farmers of Derbyshire have been meeting together
+and trying to fix "the price of milk during the ensuing winter." Well,
+the price that we in London pay for milk seems only too often to
+be--scarlet fever. _That_ price requires regulating.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE "FINAL TABLEAU."
+
+("A CONSUMMATION DEVOUTLY TO BE WISHED."--SHAKSPEARE.)]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: PROBLEM. TO FIND THE LAW COURTS.
+
+(_Sketched on the spot, Arundel Street, Victoria Embankment._)]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+HOUSE AND HOME.
+
+MY DEAR MONEYPENNY,
+
+PRAY excuse one more refusal of your kind and seasonable invitation, so
+often repeated, to come and stay with you at the "Sycamores." Believe
+me, there is nobody in the world than yourself I had rather live with if
+obliged to choose somebody. But to pass more than a few hours at a
+stretch in anyone's house besides my own, is more than I can abide,
+unless now and then for a night or so at an hotel, where I am not
+expected to notice anybody, and nobody minds me except the waiters in
+attendance, whom I am not ashamed of giving trouble. Besides, my dear
+fellow, you have no idea of what my making myself at home in your
+quarters as I do in my own would mean. Am in the first place, a very
+late riser. If my mind is occupied with any problem, usually lie in bed
+and think it out, very often until noon, or, even later.
+
+When I have done breakfast (invariably taken in my own room), I always
+smoke a pipe, and then set-to at reading or writing for a longer or
+shorter time, and go on smoking at intervals in the meanwhile. Sometimes
+sit and meditate till I lapse into a brown study, and am then liable to
+dream day-dreams, and fall into fits of unconscious cerebration, in
+which I frequently start up and spout SHAKSPEARE, or sing songs, or hum
+passages in operas, oratorios, symphonies, and overtures, a trick which,
+as my voice is very harsh and discordant, would of course be most
+irritating and offensive to anybody who could hear me, as would be
+generally the case anywhere out of my own den. Could never bear to be
+punctual to meal times, must always dine at what time it suits me; am
+utterly incapable of observing regular hours.
+
+So I might go on. But I trust I have now said enough to show you what a
+bore I should be if I were to repay your generous importunity to become
+your guest and do whatever I pleased so ill as to comply with it.
+Enough. I am afraid I have already bored you with much too long a
+letter. Let me only add that almost all social amusements, particularly
+cards and dancing, and every sort of small talk, common-place
+conversation, chaff, or gossip, or discussion of any subject, except
+philosophy, science, politics and theology, on which I am prone to
+argument, whilst my opponents generally lose their temper--are all so
+many bores of the very first magnitude to your sincerely candid and
+scrupulously outspoken friend,
+
+_Tub Snuggery._ ANTONY CAVEBEAR.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE BRIGAND'S DOOM.
+
+_Brief libretto for a Trades-Unionist Grand Opera written up to date._
+
+ _The Scene represents a Country Mansion surrounded by its grounds.
+ Members of the New Labour Electoral Association discovered hanging
+ about in threatening attitudes. As the Curtain rises they sing the
+ following Chorus_:--
+
+CHORUS.
+
+ SEE us here, in jubilation,
+ A brand-new Association.
+ Still, the truth to tell, although
+ What we want we don't quite know.
+ We are bound the world to wake,
+ If sufficient noise we make.
+ Hail our programme then with bliss,
+ Which is, briefly stated, this:
+ No longer we'll trust representative nous,
+ But force for ourselves Parliamentary gates,
+ As Members we'll take our own seats in the House,
+ And have our expenses paid out of the rates.
+
+A LOCAL RATEPAYER (_andante_).
+
+ Nay, nay! To take your seats, you're free,
+ But not, oh! not, to burthen me!
+ Enough am I already charged,
+ And would not see the sum enlarged,
+ Your pay,--that is your own affair;
+ I care not whence it emanates:
+ I only most distinctly swear,
+ You shall not get it from the rates.
+
+CHORUS (_advancing on him threateningly_).
+
+ Be still, and know that the whole nation,
+ Bows down to the Association!
+ [_The Local Ratepayer cowers before them._
+ And yet this question of the land
+ We own we don't quite understand.
+ Is there no specialist who'll try
+ To make it clear?
+
+_Enter_ Mr. JOSEPH ARCH. _He bounds into their midst._
+
+MR. JOSEPH ARCH.
+
+ Why here am I!
+ You want your intellect to march?
+ [_They express assent._
+ Then listen all to JOSEPH ARCH.
+ [_They group themselves in attentive
+ positions gracefully about him._
+
+BALLAD.
+
+ A man may own jewels and gold,
+ A piano, horse, railway shares,
+ A cellar of wine, new or old,
+ A house, and the clothes that he wears.
+ Everything he may sell, or may buy,
+ That is purchased by wealth or by toil;
+ But he mustn't own--no matter why--
+ A single square yard of the soil.
+ He this who from HODGE, its true owner, perverts,
+ Is a brigand, and merits a brigand's deserts!
+
+ This park that around you you see,
+ These gardens you so much admire,
+ Each hedgerow, each copse, every tree,
+ Is the owner's bequeathed from his sire.
+ He may have remitted his rents!
+ What of that till the Nation cries "Quits!"
+ His land, with the march of events,
+ Being purloined and cut up into bits?
+ For until to its true owner, HODGE, it reverts,--
+ He's a brigand, and merits a brigand's deserts!
+
+ [_At the conclusion of the ballad_ Mr. JOSEPH ARCH _gives a signal
+ and the_ OWNER OF THE PROPERTY _is led on in the custody of
+ Trade-Union Myrmidons_.
+
+CHORUS.
+
+ Rob him! fleece him! gag him! seize him!
+ Drive him from his country place.
+ Of his right of tenure ease him;
+ Call him "Brigand" to his face!
+
+OWNER OF THE PROPERTY (_recitative_).
+
+ Oh, outrage horrible
+ And entirely unsatisfactory,
+ Thus to fasten with salutations
+ Eminently unpalatable
+ On the defenceless monied one of the County!
+ Know ye not that my venerated sire,
+ A Soap-boiler successful in his line of business
+ Beyond his wildest visions,
+ Purchased for eighty thousand pounds sterling,
+ These acres, as an investment
+ Speculative and commercial.
+ Say, then, is it reasonable that I,
+ His hopeful heir and offspring,
+ Should be defrauded of what,
+ At present prices agricultural,
+ Is but a return dim and disappointing
+ On his original outlay.
+ Why call me "Brigand"? Tell me why?
+
+MR. JOSEPH ARCH (_con fuoco_).
+
+ Your father had no right to buy,
+ And, as the land to HODGE is due,
+ We take it thus by force from you!
+
+_A Crowd of Radical Land Reformers rush in, and seizing on the property,
+hew down the timber, cut away the brushwood, and parcel it out into
+small allotments._
+
+OWNER OF THE PROPERTY (_con animo_).
+
+ And is there for no compensation room?
+
+Mr. JOSEPH ARCH.
+
+ No! none! And now, behold the Brigand's doom!
+
+ [_Points triumphantly to the work at the back, while he waves the
+ draft of a new Act of Parliament over the prostrate form of the_
+ Owner of the Property, _as the Curtain slowly descends_.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "MUFTI."
+
+_Materfamilias (flurried)._ "OH, PLEASE, WILL MR. CHARKLE COME TO OUR
+HOUSE DIRECTLY--THE SOOT IS FALLING INTO THE NURSERY, AND----"
+
+_Mrs. Charkle._ "CERTAINLY, M'UM. LEASTWAYS MY 'USBAND _AIN'T IN BLACK_
+HISSELF TO-DAY, M'UM, BUT I'LL SEND SOMEBODY AT ONCE, M'UM!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MORE ADVICE GRATIS.
+
+VICTIM.--We should not advise you to prosecute the constable who
+"pummeled you severely," and then took you up for being drunk and
+disorderly, because you happened to drop your hymn-book on the pavement
+on returning from Church last Sunday evening. We cannot, either,
+recommend your going to the Police Station to lodge a complaint, unless
+you are an expert pugilist or take the precaution to wear sheet-iron
+next the skin. Perhaps the poor fellow was trying to introduce the
+_massage_ treatment to your attention.
+
+RIPARIAN OWNER.--Yes, you can, if you think it worthwhile, sue the
+owners of the five houseboats which have moored themselves close to your
+front-garden, and to whose proximity you fancy the two cases of typhus
+and one of cholera in your family are to be attributed. You ask what the
+maximum costs would be. Costs are things which have no maximum. Multiply
+your yearly income by the number of boats, and you will be pretty near
+the amount.
+
+HISTORICAL STUDENT.--1. THOMAS CROMWELL was called the "Lord Protector"
+because he protected the Lord Chancellor (WOLSEY) from the King's
+vengeance. 2. No, the expression "short commons" has nothing do with the
+Long Parliament.
+
+POLITICIAN.--1. You are under a misapprehension in supposing that Mr.
+CHAMBERLAIN has undertaken to delimit the Afghan frontier. He has been
+appointed a Fishery Commissioner, with full power to investigate the
+condition of the Margate whelk-trade. 2. North Sea "Smacksmen" are not
+so called in consequence of their recent treatment by the Ostend
+fish-wives.
+
+VOTARY OF SCIENCE.--The Antarctic regions were so named to distinguish
+them from the Arctic regions. A rather illiterate sea-captain discovered
+them, and at once exclaimed, "Why, these _Aint Arctic!_" They have
+retained this quaint title ever since.--No, the British Association does
+not require its members to have, as you suppose, "a profound knowledge
+of Chemistry, Physiology, Dynamics, and all other branches of Modern
+Science." Payment of a guinea entrance-fee is all that is needed.
+
+NERVOUS INVALID.--It is unfortunate that the last Southbourne Park
+train, should "blow off steam and whistle continuously for half an hour
+under your windows," at 1.30 A.M. Still, this does not quite excuse your
+smashing all the furniture and throwing the fire-irons into the street
+in one of the paroxysms you speak of. When you have a lucid interval
+write to the Company. No, don't "put a bullet through the
+engine-driver's head," as you suggest. Try a _mandamus_ first,--also try
+some soothing syrup.
+
+ANXIOUS ENGINEER.--You ask "if there is any danger attending the
+experiment of mixing equal parts of nitro-glycerine, gun-cotton, and
+sulphuric acid in an iron tank in your back-garden?" We have never tried
+it, so cannot say. The best _modus operandi_ would be to invite your
+landlord, mother-in-law, and nearest tax-collector to come and see the
+fun. Go off yourself to the seaside, and get one of them to do the
+mixing. You would be sure to be interested in the result.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE LOST RECORD.
+
+(_A Chaunt by an ex-Champion._)
+
+AIR--"_The Lost Chord._"
+
+ RUNNING one day on the "Cinder,"
+ I led all the field with ease;
+ I felt I was going strongly,
+ I romped in quite "as you please."
+ I knew not what I was doing,
+ I was "fit as a fiddle" then,
+ And I made a "Record" that morning
+ I never shall make again.
+
+ It flooded the sporting papers,
+ I got the pedestrian palm.
+ They called me Champion of Champions;
+ The praise in my ears was balm.
+ But another "Ped."--confound him!--
+ "Cut" my record, in our next strife,
+ By exactly one-tenth of a second.
+ I should like to have his life!
+
+ I was Champion of Champions no longer,
+ Gone, gone was my pride, my peace.
+ Oh, the cheers for my hated supplanter!
+ I thought they would never cease.
+ I have struggled, but struggled vainly,
+ By practice and training fine,
+ To regain once more that "Record,"
+ Which for a brief month was mine.
+ It may be the man who licked me
+ Will be licked by yet better men,
+ But the "Record" I lost that morning
+ _I_ never shall win again.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+AN "ORANGE FREE STATE" THAT SHOULD HAVE ITS LIBERTY CURTAILED.--Peel on
+the pavement.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE HOUSE "UP" AT LAST.
+
+ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.
+
+_House of Commons, Tuesday, September 13._--The House is "up," or nearly
+so, and if not altogether, more shame for it. _We_ are, as will be seen
+from thumb-nail sketch annexed. I'm not only up, but have been off for a
+clear week. Come back just to hear HARCOURT'S Speech. Liked to go
+finally before, but ARNOLD MORLEY wouldn't let me. "Get a pair," said
+he, when I again broached subject, "and go as soon as you like."
+
+All very well to say, "Get a pair," but where do they grow? In moody
+thought, and growing despair, met HARTINGTON'S dog. Here was chance!
+"ROY" rather nondescript politician. Says he's a Liberal, but barks in
+favour of Government, and, though admits they're not always right
+(opposed them, for example, on CADOGAN'S Amendment to Land Bill, and
+on Proclaiming of National League), yet steadily votes for them.
+Is, in short, a Liberal-Unionist. We're asked not to pair with
+Liberal-Unionists. But exceptions to every rule; will make one here.
+"ROY" delighted. Says he's sick of politics, and would like a roll on
+pasture-land.
+
+Nearly everyone else off, pair or no pair. Irish Members, with exception
+of PARNELL, have nowhere else to go, so make up their minds not only to
+stop themselves, but to be the cause of stopping in others. PARNELL long
+ago gone off shooting. The O'GORMAN MAHON shook his hand all the way
+across Palace Yard, and assured him he might go without a sense of
+uneasiness.
+
+"I'll keep mee oi on things when ye'er gone, dear Bhoy," he said, giving
+his Chief resounding whack on back that nearly knocked him down. "We
+learnt a thing or two when gettin' the Bill o' Roights through, and I've
+seen a thrifle since."
+
+A dreary place the House, yet struggling through fag-ends of work. Not a
+cheery Session from any point of view. No new reputations made; some old
+ones shaken, some shattered.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SOME NOTES AT STARMOUTH.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Views after Breakfast._--Now to lay down the lines for my Drama....
+Eleven--and the only lines I have laid down, as yet, are "Act I., Scene
+I!" I must stimulate my imagination by the sight of salt water.
+
+_On the Sands._--Dense crowd. Deafening noise. Penny bagpipes, comb and
+paper. Italian girls with accordion, trumpet from sailing-boat. "'Ere
+y'are for a jolly sail out, Sir!"--which happens to be just the precise
+thing I am _not_ here for. Nor (I should have thought) do I look the
+kind of person likely to buy that "strong and emusing toy, one penny,
+the little Chinese Bandalore"--but these fellows have no eye for
+character. Several shoeblacks very anxious to black my boots, which, as
+I tell them, would be "painting the lily." Don't think they understand
+me. Stop thoughtlessly to look at a cage containing a tree-frog and two
+Japanese rats. Proprietor approaches with plate: "This little Jubilee
+Menagerie open free to the Public," he says--"we ope the Public will
+respond by a similar liberality." Well, well, if I must--but it really
+was _not_ worth a penny.
+
+Join a crowd: a conjuror--good, I am fond of conjuring. Conjuror now
+going to introduce his "celebrated and favourite Shell-trick." Crowd
+very obligingly make way for me--capital place in front row. Conjuror
+takes a large Nautilus shell. I have never seen this trick--it looks a
+good one.... It appears this is his way of making a collection--he comes
+to me first. He is sure, he says (he is an impudent dog), that I shall
+feel hurt if he passes _me_ over. No change. He begs me not to get
+flurried--sooner than deprive me of the pleasure of patronising him,
+_he_ will give me change--he does. This is the end of the performance.
+Singular how depressed I feel by this petty incident. Blazers in great
+force on the sands. Teasing half-offended nursemaids, playing penny
+"nap" on newspapers, or lying in pits scooped out of sand, with their
+heads on the laps of their fair ones, or pursuing the fair ones, and
+putting sand down their backs.
+
+[Illustration: Charing-Cross.]
+
+Most flourishing institution on the Beach is certainly Phrenology. No
+less than three little platforms, each with a Consulting Chair, a table,
+on which stands a meek bust, and a canvas awning overhead, and row of
+garden-seats (free) in front. Have long wished to gain insight into this
+Science. Think there certainly is something in it. As a Blazer near me
+remarks, "Why, you'd say Cocoa-nuts looked all alike, till you come to
+see there's differences--and it's the same with 'eds." Cockney tone
+about this. To find his proper station, I should have to go, I fancy, to
+Charing Cross, Cannon Street, or Waterloo.
+
+[Illustration: Canon's Treat.]
+
+Find a Lady-Professor on first platform giving a "delineation" of a live
+subject--a turnip-headed little boy of three, who sits with his tongue
+out, under the impression he is at the Doctor's. "His self-will is
+strong," she is announcing in Sibylline accents to his proud parents,
+"and I should say you would find him very strong-willed. I should check
+it by curbing his will. Conjugality large, and therefore we may say that
+he will be fond of his wife and of his home. Self-esteem only moderate.
+It will be useless to bring up this little boy to any trade or business
+of a mechanical kind, unless he developes an after-taste for it, which I
+do not say he may not--far from it. But he has a brain which will fit
+him for great success in some artistic profession. Give him colours and
+a brush, and you will see he will immediately commence to
+paint--likewise draw. Or he has an organ with which he can be a great
+Composer, if you care to develope him that way. Or he would write books
+or poetry--that would come very easy to him, he would have no difficulty
+in doing it at all. I think that is all with this subject."
+
+[Illustration: Water-loo.]
+
+Pass on to Professor PODDER. Venerable gentleman with dark grey beard,
+and a certain ponderous playfulness. He has got a subject too--a pretty
+little impish girl of eight, who is struggling to suppress a fit of the
+giggles. "This is a thoughtful little one we 'ave here," he says,
+patting her hair in a fatherly way. "She thinks. Turns over things in
+her mind. Reflects. Compares. Memory for dates moderate. She will be
+fond of her home, fond of her parents. She will be capable of passing in
+an examination--if she takes pains. She finds no difficulty in doing
+anything that comes easy to her." (_Here the patient giggles._) "There is
+one thing I should like to see--a little more Veneration. Where
+Veneration should be I find a distinct depression. This young lady has a
+keen sense of the ridiculous. Easily detects what is ridiculous." (_Here
+the subject breaks into a scream of laughter by way of corroboration._)
+"I have done, young lady. Now, we have a nice large audience--I hope
+some other subject will oblige us by stepping up. We like to see one
+coming up briskly after another, you know. We don't like to be idle."
+
+His eye seems glancing in my direction. Off to hear Professor SKITTLES.
+He is a bony, lantern-jawed young man, in velveteen jacket, with a
+puggaree round his hat. As I come up, he is delineating a lady of
+portentous plainness, who sits and sniggers with a dreadful bashfulness.
+"This young lady has a large and powerful brain," he says--"plenty of
+Wit and Humour, Thoughtfulness and Consideration for Others, Caution,
+and Memory for Events that impress her strongly. Her Social Brain is
+large; she is fond of Society, and likes to see others enjoying
+themselves. Thinks more of others' happiness than her own. We should
+like to see a little more 'ope."
+
+This Professor, I find, enjoys the highest reputation; he measures more,
+for one thing, and has an Assistant, who enters all the measurements in
+a ledger, which naturally inspires confidence. The Lady delineator, I
+also hear, does not think it necessary to measure so much, and is of
+opinion that Professor SKITTLES "studies too hard."
+
+[Illustration: Tennis-Sun and Miltin'.]
+
+New subject; quite a typical 'ARRY, round back, hock-bottle shoulders,
+has shambled up, and taken the chair. No forehead nor chin worth
+mentioning; but, as he removes his hat (which he puts on the bust), a
+tall crest of yellow hair starts up like a trick wig. Professor measures
+him solemnly as he sits with a crooked grin.
+
+"The measurement of this brain is rather below the average," says the
+lecturer, forbearingly. "Here we have a brain measuring only eighteen
+and three-quarter inches. A very tall and narrow head. You would find
+that this gentleman arrives at his ideas without conscious reflection,
+or exercise of thought." (_'ARRY looks gratified._) "He takes a strong
+and deep interest in religious subjects." (_Derisive "hor-hor!" from
+'ARRY._) "Language strong. He will find no difficulty in putting what he
+wishes to say into language with considerable fluency, though perhaps
+not with much variety. Great Firmness and Benevolence. The Moral Brain
+is large, and your moral standard"--("_My_ what?" _interrupts 'ARRY,
+with a suspicious cock of his eye_)--"Your moral standard is high."
+("Right!" _says 'ARRY, mollified, and seance terminates_.)
+
+These delineators certainly put things very agreeably. One might get
+some useful hints, too. If Professor SKITTLES could tell me whether I am
+most poetic, or witty, or dramatic, I should know exactly what to aim at
+in my Nautical Drama. I have never been able to decide which I love the
+best--TENNYSON, MILTON, or CAMPBELL. And, after what he found to say
+about 'ARRY----but it is all so very public, I don't think I _could_
+bring myself to do it--I will go on....
+
+[Illustration: Cam-belle.]
+
+I hardly know exactly how I came here--but here I am on the platform,
+sitting in the Professor's chair. He is measuring me with a sliding
+scale, the brass end of which feels cold against my forehead. Curious
+sensation, as if I was upside down at a Bootmaker's. Sun in my eyes.
+Tittering from girls on benches in front.
+
+A party of Blazers has just come up--I fear in a frivolous spirit. Begin
+to wish now I had had this done privately.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE LAND OF THE 'ARRY'UNS.--'Am'stead 'Eath.
+
+ * * * * *
+
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+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
+93. SEPTEMBER 17, 1887***
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