Punch (10.1846)

108

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

THE BROOK GREEN VOLUNTEER.

stop ; and -with this patriotic aspiration, the man-
of the hammer proceeded to knock down right
and left. We can only give one or two of the lots,,
and purchasers.

Lot 1.—The tin-box which the prisoners used
to rattle whilst crying, " Please to remember the
poor debtors," was very fiercely contested. It
was ultimately knocked down at ten shillings to-
a distinguished attorney of Cursitor Street, who
purposed to use it as a family tea-caddy.

Lot 2.—The bolt and lock of the outer gate of
the Fleet. Bought by Mr. Lazarus Macnab,
Sheriff's Officer, of Tetter Lane, for the garden-
gate of his villa at Hackney.

Ten thousand bricks were purchased by the
celebrated novelist, Mr. Ainsworth ; that gen-
tleman being about to add Fleet Prison to his-
Old St. PauVs, and other public buildings ; and
being desirous—to give the weight of truthful-
ness to his book—to employ the original bricks
in the composition of his three volumes.

Owing to the Mildness of the Season, the Militia Man looks up his Ducks.

THE LATE FLEET PRISON.

Nine Groans for the Man tbat we Cheer'd I

a soxg of monopoly.

Ye Dukes, Lords, and Squires, and Knights of
the Shires,

Cry Out on the name once revered !
We 're abandon'd by Peel for the national weal:

Nine groans for the man that we cheer'd .'

What is it to us, all this clamour and fuss

Concerning the famine that's fear'd ?
Our sole int'rest we thought he'd consult—as he
ought :

Nine groans for the man that we cheer'd !

Whilst we howl, hiss, and yelp, we 're aware he
can't help
Pursuing the course he has steer'd,
But we 're vex'd and we 're griev'd, and, besides,
we 're deceiv'd ;
So, nine groans for the man that we cheer'd !

For our cause going in, through thick and through
thin,

try's request,
That's no reason why he should have veer'd,
No : our rents to defend should have been all his
end ;

So nine groans for the man that we cheer'd !

HINTS FOR THE FORMATION OF A MILITIA.

his venerable institution—one of the many evidences I We believ'd that Opinion he'd beard,

of the wisdom of our ancestors—is fast vanishing. Right or wrong, never mind — he has left us
The ruthless hand of reform is casting brick from behind ;

brick of the time-hallowed edifice, and in a few Then nine gToans for the man that we cheer d !
days we may say of the Fleet what was long since' Though the Sovereign's behest back'd the coun-
said of Troy—Fuit!

However, not wholly unmourned does the fabric
disappear. We own it; our pen weeps ink, confess-
ing it, that we have fallen upon a money-changing,
utilitarian age ; nevertheless, it is an age not
wholly unredeemed by some lovers of the ancient
and the picturesque ; for, at the late sale of the
- materials of the Fleet, Punch was happy to see the
old familiar faces of various sharp attorneys,
levitical and others, with the well-known counte-
nances of distinguished officers of the Sheriff.
They all attended—we were delighted Avith the
knowledge of the pleasing fact—to secure for
themselves various articles and fragments of a
building endeared to them by so many ties, and
associated with so many bygone years of happiness
and profit* Several of the late turnkeys (in very
decent mourning) were upon the ground, and exci-
ted considerable interest as living relics of the past.
Messrs. Puxlen & Son were the gifted auctioneers employed on the melancholy occasion.
The gentleman who wielded the hammer was evidently elevated by the subject. He felt
that " the eyes of all Israel were upon him," and did his best. He commenced his address
by stating that the materials which he had the honour to offer to an enlightened Public
were associated with the social history of England. Men of the highest and profoundest
genius—men very dear, indeed, to their fellow-Englishmen—had, from time to time, dwelt
in the Fleet, making every brick of it truly classic. He would not weary the attention of
his auditors, otherwise he could tell them how many had not only lived there—but died
there, and all to prove to surrounding nations that the English Constitution gave freedom
to every man—though there had been some people so obstinately constituted as to refuse
to accept it. However, the levelling spirit of the times had doomed the Fleet ; that ancient
fabric was to be swept away. He (the auctioneer) was not an alarmist—certainly not. But
he must say this much : He had always looked upon the stones of the Fleet Prison as the
brightest gems in the British crown. He only hoped that revolutionists would know where to

We understand that considerable sensation has
been caused in White Cross Street Prison, by the
Militia Movement ; for some of the unfortunate
debtors are willing to serve as substitutes merely
on consideration of being released from custody.
As many of them are confined for very insigni-
ficant amounts, it would be actually much cheaper
to take these poor fellows at the mere outlay of
paying their debts, than to seek substitutes on
the usual terms. The debtors would be exceed-
ingly glad to exchange their present condition
for that of soldiers. The hardships of the field
and the tent cannot be so hard as the tent bed-
steads upon which they are now compelled to
bivouac. Besides, being just released from the
horrors of captivity, they would make admirable
soldiers ; for none feel so much ardour as those
who have recently burst from an ignominious
bondage. The provisions upon which they have
been lately living—consisting chiefly of gruel—
must at all events have accustomed them to pri-
vation, and rendered them callous to the quantity
as well as the quality of their fare.