Punch (10.1846)

PUNCH, OE THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

19

PUNCH'S POLITICAL DICTIONARY.

shewing how a seely yonge manne wold sell hys sottle to 8atah,
and what followed therefrom.

ounsel. A barrister, whose duty it is to
manage the causes of his clients, and get rid
of their effects. Some are called Common-
law Counsel, to whom law is not common at
all, for they are seldom employed ; and there
are also Chamber Counsel, who sit in their
chambers, doing nothing, and so far deserve
the name. Counsel are punishable for mal-
practice by being prohibited from addressing
the Court; but that which prohibits Counsel
from addressing the Court is not so much mal-
practice as no practice at all.

Count. A foreign title, which may be purchased in Austria or
the Papal States at a very low figure! In the new tariff the duty
was not expressly taken off foreign Counts, but they probably came
under the head of " other live aDimals." The English title of Earl
corresponds with the foreign title of Count, and it is called Earl
because it is of early origin.

, Court-martial. A tribunal for trying military or naval offences,
such as the abandonment of posts and fortresses. Thus, if the guard
at Storey's-gate were to be thrown off his guard, or if a soldier in
command of a fort were to come to the conclusion that soldiering
was not his forte, and he were to desert, each would be liable to be
Xried by a court-martial. Behaviour unbecoming an officer or a
gentleman is punishable by a court-martial; and it will be observed
that an officer and a gentleman are regarded as two distinctly dif-
ferent personages. A court-martial always consists of a number
that is uneven, which accounts for the members conducting them-
selves frequently in a very odd manner. In a trial by jury, all must
agree to the verdict ; but in trial by court-martial, the major part
will bind the rest ; and there is a case of a Major who, though dif-
fering in opinion from all his brother officers, insisted that, as he
represented the major part, his verdict ought to be received. A
General who deserts his post may be tried by court-martial, unless
he be a general postman who deserts his post, in which case he will | " What woldst thou here V in awfulle -voice

not have another trial allowed him. Thus asked ye maiiue of synne;

find in courts a cure for their grievances, though the better opinion
is that a court is called curia, from the curious proceedings that go
on within its limits.

Credit, signifies the trusting or lending one man's property to
another ; and my tailor, when he sends me home a coat, gives me
credit and does himself credit at the same time if the coat is a good
one ; so that the obligation is really mutual. Some political econo-
mists say there can be no credit without capital. But the absence
of capital is the very essence of credit ; for when a man has not the
capital to pay a bill, it is necessary to give him credit. In a case of
credit, the party to whom credit is given is generally called the
consumer, though the other party often consumes much time in
running after the original consumer without being able to lay hold
of him.

THE DRAMA IN AMERICA.

It would seem that the genial soil of America had a wondrous effect
upon some English actors. We are continually reading of its miraculous
power on theatrical mediocrity. For instance, we ship a walking gentle-
man at Liverpool, and at New York he becomes a sparkling light come-
■Jian. A melo-dramatic ranter bursts into a first-rate tragedy genius. We
have heard of a soil so fruitful that, drop a tenpenny nail in it over night,
Mid it will have grown to a crow-bar in the morning. In the like way,
the merest sticks from the English stage, planted in America, blossom
itnd (for themselves) bear golden fruit.

Singular Exhibition.

A youthe there was of changefulle lotte,

Now bryghte, now seedie broune ;
Hee called hymselfe " a kiddie swelle,"
And lived upon ye toune.

Hys youthfulle pryme hee waisted alle

In synne and godlesse revell ;
And oft played hee unlawfull gaimes,
And oft hee played ye devill.

Atte length a frende, who oft before
Hadde counselled hym to wronge,
With trecherous pitie, acted welle,
Thus wagged hys wilie tongue :

" Thou knowst my garbe how sere before,
Thou seest its bryghtnesse now;
My tiDne is fiushe : alle this I gayned
By boldnesse, as mayst thou."

" How I " eager cryed ye seedie one ;

Thus answered hee of bronze :
'•' My frende, I maide alle this and more
By Diddelsexe Junctionnes."

" Who may hee bee," thus asked hys frende,

" Who hath such wondrous poure ? "
" A necromauncer strange," quothe hee,
" And dwelles in secret boure."

Fulle soone hee stoode within ye roome

Where ye oulde sage dyd dwelle ;
Strange lynes around and mystic schryppe
Sette forth a dismalle selle.

Courts, from the Latin word curia, because, as some say, people I Ye seedie raskaUe wynked hys eye,

And brefely answered—" Tinne.

Sygne here thy naime :"—ye youthe complyed;
" Ere Sol hathe kyssed ye fioode
Seven tymes, bryDge thou to mee ten droppes
Of humanne heartis bloode.

" And shouldst thou fayle dire shalt thou rue
This checked ye youthe hys lauffe ;

And straighte hee soughte a potte-house neare,
And called for halfe and halfe.

Daye rolled on daye, hys frendes hee prayed

To aid hym in hys neede ;
Eacn after each, hee tryed them alle—

But uot a soule wold bleede.

Soe, when seven sunnes had rase and sette.}

Hee fayld hys tryste to keepe,
And recklesse soughte hys iowlie couche,

But not, alas ! to sleepe.

When mornynge came, oh dire to telle 1

He was hymselfe no more ;
On handes and feete of liornie hoofe

He ranne along ye fioore.

From heade to foote was 6haggie hayre ;

Hys brow encyrclynge wragge
O'ertopped a pay re of antlers hyghe :

In shorte—he was a stagge !

But aye hee mourned hys deadlie synne,

Unpityed and unseene ;
And, myndefulle of hys former lyfe,

Still preyed upon ye greene.

There has been lately exhibiting at numerous public meetings a moral
Mammoth Ass of the most gigantic kind, far exceeding anything that ever
yet was seen in the way of asinine development. The Mammoth Ass is
of the Norfolk breed, and has been fed partly on curry powder. It has
all the peculiar characteristics of its tribe, and is undoubtedly the greatest
donkey of the present day.

Take solemne warnynge ye who hop©

Withouten toyle to fattenae,
Lest when ye sygne some mystic Bchryppe,
Ye sygne yourselves to Satan.