Punch: Punch (11.1846)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

51

THE WELLINGTON STATUE AND THE ARCH.

It appears from the Times that Sia R. Inglis has obtained a parliamentary docu-
ment relating to the erection of the colossal statue of the Duke of Wellington on
the comparatively diminutive arch at Hyde-Park-Corner. The architect, Mb.
Burton, has remonstrated against the imposition of such a tremendous -weight on a
place that never was intended to bear anything.

It certainly seems hard that when an architect has done his best to erect an arch
that shall be a monument of his abilities, some one else is permitted to spoil its effect
by raising some incongruous structure on the top of it. The authorities might as
well propose to put a fountain in full play on the top of Geobge the Third's head,
or stick a statue of Queen Victoria up to her knees in one of the Trafalgar basins.
We have not so much that is beautiful in art in the Great Metropolis, that we can
afford to disregard the old piece of advice to " let well alone;" and as the arch at
Hyde-Park' Corner is a very respectable structure, it is too bad to allow the Duke
op Wellington to ride rough-shod over it.

distant view of london (taken from putnet heath).

According to the architect who built it, however,—who ought to know best—the
deformity is not the worst that we have to dread from the proposed arrangement.
The probability is, that the whole concern will come down with a tremendous crash,
and that the Duke's horse will be found kicking and plunging about in the fearful
gap his own weight will have occasioned. We seriously warn the public against
passing under the arch when the statue shall be placed at the top of it. We are not
yery happy at mathematical calculation, but it strikes us very forcibly that as A B C
is to D E F, those who are not DBF to the voice of reason must allow it to be
as plain as A B C, that the arch cannot bear the weight of the statue. The effect of
the colossal monster towering at night over every other object in the metropolis,

will have a fearful effect upon the inhabitants of Lon-
don. We are sure that the Wellington horse w ill
prove a night-mare to all who are compelled to sleep
within the capital. We say nothing about the expense
of the arrangement, which will make this metallia
steed the greatest charger that was ever heard oi

Ancient Romans, ancient Romans—

Cato, Scipio Africanus,
Ye whose fame's eclips'd by no man's,

PUBLIUS wiEMILIANUS,

Stlla, Marius, Pompet, Cesar,
Faeitjs, dilatory teaser,
Coriolantjs, and ye Gracchi,
Who gave so many a foe a black-eye,.
Antont, Lepidus, and Crassus ;
And you, ye votaries of Parnassus,
Virgil, and Horace, and Tibullus,.
Terence and Juvenal, Catullus,
Martial, and all ye wits beside,
On Pegasus expert to ride ;
Numa, good king, surnamed Pompilius,
And Tullus, eke 'yclept Hostilius—
Kings, Consuls, Imperators, Lictors,
Praetors, the whole world's former victors^
Who sleep by yellow Tiber's brink ;
Ye mighty manes—what d 'ye think ?
The Pope has sanctioned Railway Bills !

And so the lofty Aventine,
And your six other famous hills

Will soon look down upon a " Line.'*
Oh ! if so be that hills could turn

Their noses up, with gesture antic,
Thus would the seven deride and spurn

A Roman work so unromantic :—
" Was this the ancient Roman Way,

With tickets taken, fares to pay,
Stokers and Engineers, perhaps—
Nothing more likely—English chaps
Bawling away, ' Go on !' for Ito,
And ' Cut along !' instead of Citb ;
The engine letting off its steam,
With puff and whistle, snort and scream 'r
A smell, meanwhile, like burning clothes,
Flouting the angry Roman nose ?
Is it not, Conscript Fathers, shocking ?
Does it not seem your mem'ry mocking ?
The Roman and the Railway Station—
What an incongruous combination !
How odd, with no one to adore him,
A Terminus—and in the Forum !"

SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY
TO SOLDIERS.

Meetings are held, and petitions presented, from
time to time, against flogging in the army ; in the
meanwhile, soldiers are whipped to death. The coster-
monger is limited in the application of the lash ; surely
the commanding officer might be restrained a little.
The donkey is a brute not so very much nobler than
the private. Now if a coster monger were to take his
donkey, tie it to a ladder nailed to a wall, and deliber-
ately whip the skin off the creature's back, the
miscreant would be fined, or sent to the treadmill, amid
the execrations of the mob. Yet thus may a court-
martial treat a fellow creature. But the one man is a
costermonger and a blackguard ; the others are officers
and gentlemen. Still even officers, and gentlemen to
boot, should not be allowed to behave exactly like fiends
incarnate.

The law should not suffer them to torture poor
soldiers to death. There really is required a Martin's
Act for the military. It is with the view of procuring
some such an enactment that we recommend the
formation of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Soldiers. The Animals' Friend Society protects even.
the Cat from man, but we want a Society for protecting
man from the Cat.