SOME ECHOES FROM "PUNCH."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 124, 26 May 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOME ECHOES FROM "PUNCH."

A NOTABLE, CHAPTER IX THE LIFE OE!

THE VETEItAN COMIC,

i "Fundi," like good wine, loses none of fig I excellency with keeping. Indeed, the back ! pages of the world's most famous satirical .journal acquire with age n certain charm, which can, perhaps, he best likened to the meeting again after a lapse of years -of m* old and esteemed friend. To dip Into, the handsome volumes of "Tug j First Fifty Years of 'Punch,' 1841-1891," i 3 jto renew acquaintance with a host ot'men who were the cheery companions of one's i youth and early manhood. Leech, Keene I Thackeray, Mark Lemon, Shirley Brooks' j "Poni" Mayhew—christened "Poni" by his* | colleagues as a punishment for persistentlyj inflicting upon them a song he had written i called "Poniatowskl's Banner"—Gilbert a i Beckett, "Dicky" Doyle, George dv MfluI rier, and the other units in that congregai tion of great wits are all gathered together; lin these volumes, their pencilling, seeming J none the less clever, their Jests none the, less bright, than when they were first made? j In fact, there is a perennial youth about "Punch"—a peculiarity strikingly demon* I strated l>y this collection of hair a century iof issues. In August, 1819, at the time of ' j the ; QUEEN'S FIKST VISIT TO IRELAND," there was published a characteristic piece,of work by "Dicky" Doyle, entitled "Ire--land: A Dream of the Future," showingour then young Queen seeing in the clear waters of Lough Xeagh a reflection of Ire-. land as all wished and hoped some -day it would be, and, as happily, it has become*.'" The illustration was accompanied by two verses, one of which ran:— On Lough Neagh's banks, when our eobtt • Queen strays, •- Now that faction's heat's declining, May she see the bright promise of bettetf" ■ days --; _In the wave of the future Inning. •' Thus let Erin look forward with faith subV lime, Forgetting the days that are over; '"■■' " Ami allow the stream of a brlghtesMiine lv oblivion the past to cover! ::.-. . Mr "Punch" despatched his own corre-spondent-one "P. O'Noman"—to record till doings iv Dublin on the occasion of the' Royal visit. He wrote:—"The excitement of ' ' the city continues, like the beds at the tav-' cms, on tho rise. Her Majesty's foot has'" sent a thrill of expectation throughout the city. The Queen is known to possess a Cln-:' derella foot, a fairy foot, that would stand tiptoe on an unbent daisy. One of Her Majesty's slippers—the perquisite of Lady —, Maid of Honour—has been obtained, and , modelled In silver, is in the windows of all the goldsmiths. The silver slipper — the thought Is very pretty—is made to serve iss a butter boat, eUaiinhigly typical of the be*' lief that, wherever Her Majesty treads hr Ireland, the richness of plenty will follo#.: "Yen will be glad to hear," the genial---0 Neman" continues, "that every attention wiU be given to Dublin's Lord Mayor/ who insists on meeting the Queen on horseback. Ho will, for safety's sake, be tied W the animal, for nothing weaker than cords' of silver and gold can keep his enthusiasm' from running clean away with him." In a "1.5." the modest "special" writes!. —"It has been hinted to me that Her Majesty proposes—out of respect to the correspoh-' dents of the Press in general—to honour me "' with a knighthood. I hope I am misinformed; but if not, I shall endeavour to bear tha visitation like a-man." ' "'■ Mr "Punch" really rose to this great cccasion, for he had another representative at . Cork who was So impressed by what he saw' that he must needs break into poesy. As thus:— \ ..... ...:.• Sure them I pity that didn't see Cork' city,-"? Wai its recreations and lashlus ov flowers; 1 he. triumphal arches of laurels and' larches On the line of march is b'eyant my powers. •'■ Cork's iligant stliructures and manufacthurs" Will satisfaction the Queen survey'd, And the height of curiosity and generosity; . Widout hnnimosity to all display'd. ■' • The superiority of the Boer as ar y iiiarksman seenis to have been .as much, discussed In 18S1 as it 'was ,: at the cutset ef the present campaign. But recent events in South Africa demonstrate two things—that the present generation-of Boers ;ue not so skilful with the Wfle asv.eie their forbears, Whereas OUR OWN "TOMMIES" have aatle iuanense progress in that Impor-. tant particular. Consequently the. old, "Punch "ode, entitled "Ye Infantry of England," "imitated from Campbell," does not apply so forcibly to present conditions as : it did when written:— "Ye infantry of England, i Supposed to guard" our shores. .-; jWho made a precious mess of it In tiying to pot the Boers, Your realty rifles take again, And tiy ani.ther style;' Not fool by old rule White the foreign critics smile, ■ . y Whilst the Dutchman chuckles" loud and' . •ens. . ' . And our foreign critics smile. v Britannia needs instructors :',:,'- To teach her boys to shoot, ' >- ~-, Fixed targets and mere red-tape drili y Have borne but lilt ter fruit, ' y; Our blunders \ire a standing joke, - V 'the Scandal of our Isle. And the Boc-r loud doth roar, ; . .'■"■■'■ Whilst oar foreign critics smile, While the Teuton guflawsjotid and long, . And ear foreign critics smile. ' . . •'.':. It is not generally known that the -.plate,.- , or wood cut, as the ease may be, of every stasia drawing which .has appeared in "Punch" litis been carefully kept from the y very beginning: but so it is, and from these-: tho 25 vcir.mes of "The First Fifty Years of 'Punch,' 181-1—1891,:' have been printed.. There is a 2(>th volume in the shape of a' "History of 'Punch,' " by Mr M. H. Spiel-" mann. - . . '-'- ' Just half a century ago there occurred an '■ interesting epech in the history of "Punch." John Tennitl, the prince of cartoonists,joined the staff, and his first drawing for- - the paper may be seen in the second half-. ' vol nine for 1850. Sir John is one of the' very few left us of that little band of "giar.ts" who gave "Punch" its unique po-^ sition in the world's Tress.