Punch (13.1847)

122

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

THE MEDIEVAL MANIA.

Somebody says that the liistory of a country is to be read in its. Body o' me! but the honourable member who last spoke is ryghte
monuments: if by monuments are meant works of art; and it' our I merrie at ve expense of ye farmers; but by ourre ladie we must look
history is to be read in those, we shall be treated by posterity as persons j to our colonies, or, by the mass, we shall lose them. 5Tis true that
who lived in the Middle Ages, for everything around us partakes , Master Russell has given me grace, and speaks like an honest
of the mediaeval character. The speeches of our statesmen, to be in j gentleman ; but marry, come up, where will be the end on't ? "
conformity with the decorations of our public buildings should be ; Thia is the 80rt of thing that will be attributed to us in the present
translated into mediaeval jargon and a speech ot 8lB R 1 eel should , daVj u our monuilients are to guide posterity in forming an estimate of
be something in the following lash ion : - mir peculiarities. As individuals are sometimes said to. be old men

" By my thwackins. Mr. Speaker! but if corn ^oes up, why, Grarnercy! | before they are young ones, so we are rendered by our artists a middle-
rents go down ; ana then, ifecks, what becomes of our landlords': asred generation even in our earliest infancy.

THEATRICAL SCANDAL.

The Herald, alluding to the death of Ciiaklks Taylor, late of
Covent Garden Theatre, has the following st nuue and ignorant remarks.
''He was," says the Herald, "one of those instances ol prudence and
foresight so rarely found among his brethren, having laid aside from his
professional earnings sufficient to support him in ease and respectability
during his later years !" Prudence and foresight rarely found ! Why,
the green-room is at this very moment crammed with millionaires. There
was a time, to be sure, when the actor was poor and picturesque;
but the improved actors of our day are bursting with money. We wish
to create no prejudice against the brotherhood, certainly not; but it is
our conscientious belief—and therefore we must express it—that the
present scarcity of gold arises from the monopoly of the precious metals
by London players. It is well known, for instance, that Mk. W.
Farren narrowly escaped the late election for the Deputy-Governor-
ship of the Bank of England. Two-thirds of the London Docks have
just been purchased by T. P. Cooke—and John Cooper himself,
having purchased all the shares of the New Company for the protection
of the river Thames from fire, is compelled for a while to leave the stage,
to attend to the gigantic speculation.

The Most Distressing Failure of All.

We regret to state that the house, or rather the attic, of Mr. Dunup
has suspended its payments. We have seen a stat ement of the liabilities,
which are not large, though rather numerous. Mn. Dunup's paper was
in the hands of his newsmen, by whom it had been held as a security
for a debt, ever since it came into his hands, for binding. Mr. Dunup's
largest creditor—his laundress—holds security, in the shape of two
sliirts; but the realisation of this security cannot be effected in the
present state of the market — Bag Fair—without a sacrifice. Mr.
Dunup's credit had been a good deal shaken lately by his knocker,
which has been going incessantly for the last fortnight. A creditor had

it in his hands when the suspension of payment was announced—through
the letter-box. Mr. Dunup assigns the state of matters in the city"
as the primary cause of his failure, but he complains bitterly of the
general want of confidence. He has announced to his creditors a hope
that he shall soon be enabled " to resume; " but they say, they " hope
lie will not," and ask what is the use of his "resuming," when his
goings on hitherto have ended in the present predicament? Mb.
Dunup's affairs will be easily wound up, for his watch is understood to-
be the only thing he has got remaining.

DEAFNESS IN THE CITY.

A book has been published by a Mr. Yearsley under the title of
" Deafness Practically Illustrated." WTe do not happen to have read
Mr. Yearsley's book, so that we do not know what he considers to be
a practical illustration of Deafness; but we suppose that he would'
regard, as something of that sort, the inability to hear the loudest
possible noise. Accordingly, we defy Mr. Yearsley, or any one else, to
produce a more practical and more signal illustration of deafness than
that presented by the Corporation of London. The Mayor and Aldermen
are utterly insensible even to the tremendous outcry that has been
raised against Smithfield Market. There must be something in the air of
the City which deadens the auditory—and, we may add, the olfactory—
nerves. The Mayor and the Aldermen can neither be led by the ears
nor the noses to reform their Smithfield, and their shambles, and their
sewers. They are, however, only deaf north-west: they know a dinner-
bell from a drum. Nevertheless, they are undoubtedly the deafest of
living mortals : since it is acknowledged that none are so deaf as those-
that will not hear. They are utterly beyond the power of any Dispensary
for Diseases of t he Ear; except an institution of that nature, which we
hope will in a few months be in operation at St. Stephen's. Nothing,
short of the omnipotence of an Act of Parliament will ever make them
listen to reason.