Punch (10.1846)

166

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

NICHOLAS AND THE NUNS.

etrated by the serious speech of Lord
Aberdeen, and in a moment of weakness,
we suffered ourselves to he beguiled into a
sort of sympathy with the Emperor Nicho-
las ; who, as we conceived, had been un-
justly accused of cruelties towards the
Basilian Nuns. We here beg leave most
emphatically to renounce any good opinion
soever entertained towards the Evil One
of Russia. The history of his tyranny is
as true as the human life, destroyed by the
atrocity of his servants, and now—-with
who shall say how many other lives ?— I
crying against him at the bar of God.

It is impossible to refuse credence to the I
narrative of the horrors suffered by the
Nuns of Minsk,—a narrative just published
by our neighbour, Mr. Bogue. The letter
of Ann Birt to the Times—the letter in which the lady deposes to |
having seen the outraged Abbess, having heard the horrors of her
suffering—is also damning evidence against the late imperial visitor
to Borne.

Very seldom, indeed, does Punch venture upon the review of a
book, but this Narrative he especially recommends to the consideration I
of those fair ladies—those female lilies—of the fashionable world, those
high English wives, sisters, and mothers, who thronged about Nicholas
when in London, as about some health-giving shrine,—who were in a
flutter of rapture when the " dear Emperor " only smiled upon them.
In this Narrative they will learn how, under orders of the sweet j
potentate, the nuns were chained, and stripped, and flogged, and given

WAR WITH THE ALLOTTEES.

WANTED,

up to the Cossacks,—but no, we must pass some of the atrocities,— ; . . . ,

■j ■ . 4J«j..*rfiit, A FEW Active YOung Men. as Officers m a contemplated Campaign

and were, at lease very many of them, tortured out of Me. Ine^^ the Sheriff of Middlesex,
subjoined extracts may be found of especial interest to some of the ' 11T_

THESE GALLANT FELLOWS

will be chiefly employed in noble sports, such as Hunting the Stag,
and other diversions of a similarly interesting character. Those
who have already served under

THE GALLANT LEVY,

and who have been present at the taking of'so many of the foe, will be

very liberally treated with.

patronesses of Almacks, and devout admirers of " that love of an
Emperor.*'

" At the end of about two months (1838) began the punishment of flogging, which they
made us submit to twice a week; Sikmaszko's orders were thirty lashes, but Michalb-

wicz added twenty on his own account.....There was no need to li >ld us ;

the cross of Jesus Christ was enough to restrain us from stirring under the blows which
braised our bodies. All the time this torture endured, we seemed to behold our Lord
beaten with stripes, and this spectacle took away from us all feeling of pain. What most
afflicted us wa3, that we were beaten quite naked."

There is, however, every variety of torture, from the simple
knocking out of teeth to the baking alive in an oven ! We, however,
indicate the crowning horror :—

" They sent us in from our work earlier than usual, and our prison was immediately
invaded by a crowd of drunken and ferocious barbarians ! Ah ! what a sad and dreadful
hour! Whoever had seen it would not desire to survive! True hell ! How frightful
is the recollection ! to describe it were impossible ! They fell upon us as if they were
mad. Who could count the blows, the bites, the rendings ? They trampled upon us —
Ihey crushed us * * * * * Who can comprehend our groans and our
burning sobs! . . The howlings and the blasphemies of our executioners ! The
assistance that our divine spouse vouchsafed us at this moment exasperated their rage :
they bit us, they scratched with their nails, they tore us in pieces. In the twinkling of
an eye our blood inundated the prison. Two of our sisters were crushed under foot;
eight had their eyes torn out and their faces mutilated, all were horribly bruised. At
last the monsters, wearied and covered with our blood, went away."

Now, to the fair ladies who kissed the hand of Nicholas, and who
basked in the lustre, imperial lustre of his eyes, we say—buy this
Narrative. We may safely add, in the review slang of the day, that
"their libraries cannot be complete without it."

Proper Resentment

Heb Majesty laughed so heartily at Widdicomb, and Barry the
clown, on her late visit to Astley's, that the joke against them behind
the scenes has been, that they are sure to be elevated to the Peerage.
Widdicomb gets into a rage whenever the subject is mentioned ; but
Barry only laughs, and, with a fine spirit of loyalty, says, " No ! no !
I'm sure Her Majesty doesn't wish to make me a greater fool than I
look." _

cause and effect.

One day last week the only thing to be seen on the Opposition
benches, when Mr. Finch and other Protectionists were haranguing,
was Mr. Hawes' hat. We felt strongly inclined to pity this poor hat,
only we have been informed that, like everything else that listens to
the Agriculturists, it enjoyed a very good nap.

THE NEW COMETS.

It turns out after all that many of the comets which have recently
been discovered, are not new but second-hand. Our old friend Beta
having been lacquered by the imagination of some German astronomer,
had first been palmed off upon the scientific public as a bran new
comet, but on further inquiry it proves to be one of our old celestial
acquaintances.

We very much regret the number of false alarms, which are certainly
ealculated to make people very cautious for the future ; and when a
new comet does come in reality, we shall be very likely to look upon it
with suspicion, as something spurious. The cry of " comet," like the
cry of "wolf," may be raised so often in vain, that its actual approach
will be disregarded. The last new comet turns out to have been
nothing more than an idle tail, floating about in that very nebulous
space—the brains of the astronomers. We recommend Sir Ja>les
South and his colleagues to take a few lessons in the theory of
differences, and we advise him to begin by studying the (hssimilarity
existing between "ahawk and a hand-saw."

Wonderful Discovery.

In excavating for the railway at Ely, the workmen came upon " the
head of that nearly extinct species, the Roebuck.': The member for
Bath, who was nearly extinguished a few weeks ago. and who has long
since lost las head, will find great consolation in this intelligence.

APRIL FOOLS.

The Ministers were invited to bring their ladies to dine with the
Lord Mayor on the 1st of April. The dinner did not take place. As
a practical illustration of a very venerable old joke, and moreover as a
touch of civic wit, the notion was not a bad one. How the Ministers
and their ladies liked being made April fools of, is quite another question.

l-nnted by William Bradbury, o/Nj.6, Y .rd l'iac i, S: oie Newinston, and Frederick Mullett Evan*
of No. 7, Church Row, Stoke N-wirigton, both 'n the County of Middlesex, Primers, at their
Office In Lombard Street, in the Precinct of Vt hitefriars, in the City of London, and pub-
lished by them, at No. 85, Fleet Street, in the Parish of St. Bride's, In the City of London*—
SiTtraDAT, Aran, 11,1S46.