Punch (61.1871)

September 23, 1871.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

123

OUR NEW NOVEL.

A TKEBLE TEMPTATION.

CHAPTER IV.

Five weeks after this, the bells of Tuppennie Bussit
Church rang out a merry peal. The ringershad prac-
tised triple boh majors, two hobs, bobs and tizzies, bobs
and benders, and other varieties of the ringer's art,
until they were perfect in the first two bars of the Dead
March in Saul. This once mastered, they gave way
with a will.

Then came ten outriders, ushered by six hussars, each
bearing a banner with a motto, and followed by a van
covered with pictures of celebrated fat women, the Giant
of Norfolk, the Lion Tamer, and the Battle of Trafalgar
in oils and distemper.

Then there was a loud cheer from the steeple, which,
getting quite shaky with excitement, tried to come
down, and join the throng. Presently several Spiritual-
istic Mediums, specially engaged for the occasion, floated
about the top of Bussit House, waving flags. _ Mur-
murs. Cheers. Tears. Horses heard in the distance.
More distance, more horses. Bussit gates flung open,
and keepers, grooms, peasants, cooks, housekeepers,
butlers, footmen, and pages, all clustering about on
each other's shoulders, and hanging in festoons from
the heights of the ancient portals.

Then more outriders, riding outside their horses,
boldly. Then a troop of less daring horsemen, who,
fearing the shouts of the crowd, had got inside, and
pulled the blinds down. Then came the carriage itself,
drawn by twenty wild horses in front, and pushed up
behind by as many more of the same breed. The drag
was down, but they dashed through the little village,
amid roars of delight from the millions that had con-
gregated to witness this great event.

The carriage was open, and in it sat Sir Charles
and Isedora : she quite blinded the sun's rays with her
beauty, so much so that some elderly people, more
knowing than the rest, got out smoked glasses to look
at her, and others, not so learned, thought the whole
affair was an eclipse, and went home to write to the local
papers.

" May I r" she said.

Her husband smiled assent, and, rising from her seat,
she leapt on to the nearest horse's back, and performed
several feats of horsemanship, which raised the enthu-
siasm of the spectators to an unprecedented pitch.

Robert Bussit saw, and the sight thrilled him.
Catching his eye, she quivered for an instant, but in
another second she was back, at a single bound, clearing
flfty-five feet upwards, and downwards, and into her
husband's carriage, scattering largesse to the crowd
around.

Then they swept into the Mansion, smiling, capering,
laughing, screaming, through files of retainers in every
sort of varied costume, radiant with squibs, crackers,
and Catherine-wheels in their button-holes, with which
they made a fine display, and Isidora thought no more
of Robert Bessit, than a bright Bird of Paradise thinks
of last year's boots.

But Birds of Paradise can't be always thinking of
boots ; and boots, with something living in them, may
rise up, thick-soled, and kick, until the Bright Creature
feels the pain, shudders, droops, and falls into the dust.

{End of Chapter the Fourth.)

INDESTRUCTIBLE ROSES.

A contemporary states that the railings of the Vic-
toria Embankment are being coated with a pigment
called " indestructible paint, manufactured by a Com-
pany ready to supply any amount of it, and that the
same description of paint was used on the Holborn Via-
duct. Perhaps this paint is producible in all colours;
Jezebel's " bloom " among them. If so, a single appli-
cation would impart a permanent crimson to the nume-
rous cheeks which now exhibit a temporary patch of
redness resembling the flush of indigestion; and the
present of a small pot of it might be taken as a delicate
attention by many a young lady.

THE WEIRD SISTERS

HOMCEOPATHISTS IN HAMPSHIRE?

The City of Winchester is one which has the reputation of being stationary
in most respects, and especially in sanitary arrangements. It might, however,
from the subjoined letter to the Hampshire Independent, be imagined to enjoy
the advantage of possessing a body of wise men, whose opinion on a question
of medical science is preferred by their fellow-townsmen to that of the Colleges
of Physicians and Surgeons, to say nothing of the Apothecaries' Company, who
sell drugs, and might be interested parties :—

HOMCEOPATHY.
To the Editor.

Sir,—The "Winchester Board of Guardians have for ten years and upwards given the
poor of "Winchester the benefit of Homoeopathic treatment, so that, after such experience,
Southampton need not fear to follow in the footsteps of the old city. I am unknown to
Dr. Archer, but there is no doubt that under Homoeopathy the poor recover from illness
quicker than under Allopathy, and the sooner the old system gives way to the new the
better it will be for society. j am gjrj &c_

Sept. 7, 1871. A Winchester Guardian.

But are the great majority of the Winchester people aware of the medical
wisdom which, according to the writer of the foregoing letter, they have had
"for ten years and upwards" in their midst? If A Winchester Guardian"
bears true witness of his colleagues, their aspirations must be considerably
higher than those of the Marylebone Vestry ever were in its palmiest days.
That celebrated parochial assembly did sometimes affect to discharge the func-
tions of Parliament; but it never took upon itself to supersede the medical
Faculty. It might be said that the ascent to that height of self-confidence was
reserved for the Wittenagemote of Winchester Guardians. But the statement
that they have officially recognised and established Homoeopathy at least requires
confirmation.

On the assumption, however, that Homoeopathy is all true, there is a point
of view in which it must certainly commend itself to the majority of Poor Law
Guardians. If Union Medical Officers, supplying the poor with attendance and
medicine, were permitted to furnish the latter in infinitesimal doses, the rate
of remuneration which they generally receive would be, in a measure, corre-
sponding to economy in drugs, materially less inadequate than it is at present.

A Nice Place in Hot Weather.—Fountains Abbey.