Punch (10.1846)

46 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

ALL THESE MILITIA SUBSTITUTES A GREAT BARGAIN.

UNEASY NICHOLAS.

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH.

Padua, he himself visited the apartment in which he was to sleep,
striking the walls with a hammer," iest, we presume, two or three
Poles should be concealed behind the wainscot, ready to pay a
midn'ght visit to the benefactor of their country. He u then caused
the mattresses of the bed to be removed," lest they should have been
crammed with combustibles, to explode upon the imperial pressure—
" and replaced by a leather mattress, which was filled "—with roses t
asks the reader ; no—" with hay under bis eyes !" And then catch

"Whether the Emperor bad previously drawn and superintended the
roasting of the fowl himself, is not stated : nevertheless, it would not
make a bad ideal subject for the picture gallery of St. Petersburgh,
to have Nicholas, the father of his country, duly limned for posterity,
— with one eye watching the spit, and the other fixed on a new
ukase about to be issued against the Russian Catholics and Jews.
When he went to the opera at Venice, " he remained in the bottom
of the box, and could scarcely be seen. Count Orloff sat in the
front, attired in a rich uniform "—that the bullets, if any should be
fired, might be officially delivered through that officer. The play
being over, four carriages drove up to the gate ; " but nobody could
tell which was the one intended for the Emperor."

It is thus clear that Nicholas has, in his own mind, insured him-
self as doubly hazardous. In the Gesta fiomanorum, there is a story
of a beautiful girl who was fed upon serpents, and then sent to a
certain tyrant. She kissed him, and " venom did its work ; " the

THE LAST NEW POLKER.

Mr. Polk would persuade us that the annexation of Texas is by special'
desire of the people of that state. The defence is ingenious, but Dot
original, being manifestly copied from the following lines in Borrow's
" Gipsies of Spain :"—

" There runs a swine down yonder hill
As fast as e'er he can.

And as he tuds he crieth still,

.jjoui,, kjuc moseu mm, auu veuuiu uui its worn. : uic ~ 1 /-•• > >>

x i j- j xt , . , Come steal me Gipsy man.

tyrant aiea. .Nicholas has, assuredly, never read the story,—other-

wise he would never present his hand—" his ted right hand"—to

the lips of any of his loving subjects.

Approaching Water Parties.

Just Published.

Ellenborough's first Naval exploit will be to command a squadron in
order to capture the Pillars of Hercules—which he has been told will
A striking pen-and-ink portrait of the Right Honourable the Earl Grey. j match admirably with his Gates of Somnnuth. His next expedition wiD
It is executed in the line manner, and the likeness reputed to be admirable. I be a voyage to the North Pole, which he has promised posterity to bring

he pen are I to England, and plant on the summit of Primrose Hill. If he s-hould ac-

Tbe shadows could not be deeper, and some of the btrokes of th.

remsrkable for their boldness. For a proof before letters, apply to T. B. ( complish this great achievement, prizes will be distributed every year to
Macaulay, Des-igner in geueral, at 1, Albany, (lately removed Jrom Down- ! the boy who climbs to the top of the North Pole, after it has been pro-
ing Street,) where a variety of portraits are always kept en hand. Mem- 1 perly greased. The prizes will be appointments at the Admiralty, or else
bers of Parliament taken off at the shortest notice. the command of a man at war

After all, it cannot be a very enviable post,—that of Emperor ■ Being desirous of procuring an early copy of this interesting document,
of Russia, as at present filled by the magnificent potentate. His ! we despatched a private note to Sir R. Peel, requesting him to favour us
Impenal Greatness must occasionally, be terribly flustered by his ; with the speech> as we are cumpelied t0 t0 9 before it will be deii.
digni ty. Suspicion must be to mm a continual body-guard. Of tins jyered, in the ordinary course, by He* Majsst*. , The Prgh ier has not
pleasing truth we read the strongest evidence m a letter from Venice, i , , , ,

r,„,v+, a ;~ *u n t-f i ~wt t u it i. a u- i I answered our letter, and we can only codc ude that in consequence of the

quoted in the Constihitwnnel. We are told that "on his arrival at , ' 1

Earl of St. Germans being new to his place, there has been some mis-
take at the Post Office, which has caused our communication to miscarry.
We have had better luck with the Duke of Wellington, unless the fol-
lowing is a hoax, which is not at all impossible :—

'•F.M. the Duke of Wellington would be happy to oblige Mr. Punch
with a copy of the speech ; but the fact is, the Ministers have not jet
agreed upon the contents ; and F.M. the Duke of Wellington sees no- |
likelihood at present of their doing so. F.M. the Duke has had a good

his Magnificence taking bite or sup, for fear of ratsbane. No : « he dea, of experience in the disagreements of C.binets on the subject o*
refused to taste any of the dishes prepared for his supper, and called , R , speeches . but he never remembere such a mess as the present,
for his travelling case, out oi which he took a bottle of Malaga wine, i

and a cold roast fowl, which he shared with Count Orloff." " F-M- the DuKE 0F Wellington will let Mr. Punch have the-

eailiest intimation of anything definite having been come to."

As we ha*e not heard from His Grace up to the time of our number
going to piess, we can only presume that the Ministers were, up to the,
very last moment, at loggerheads.