Punch (63.1872)

September 28, 1872.]

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

133

been bed-ridden for the last fifteen years on a parish
SCANDALOUS OLD SOLDIERS allowance of 2s. 6d. a week. Can earn but small wages,

and is in daily expectation of getting past work. Is, on
the testimony of the Rev. C. Knipe, Vicar of Terring-
ton, thoroughly respectable and industrious, and a most
necessitous and wortby object of charity.

Disgrace No. 2.—James Holmes. Served at Waterloo
in a regiment of Horse Artillery. Dismissed^ >at the
rct 7- / ffj) i reduction of the Army in 1816, too early for him to be

1 , // » \ j V ■y~'-K~ •', fK^'.^Sm SS~\\ i n~Ud entitled to a pension. Is now in his eighty-first year,











jo n n n





rUaarmRi hi ii :



_____ .__ ._. /^"-t-3- and, from failing health, unable to earn any more than

K^v ? I II I rs <r~~\ f~\ $ i4anllWk. t~\ r~^Jr~> rT\ a few pence at a time. Has no relations to_ assist him,

so that, in the words of the Rev. Henry Pare, Vicar
I U— of Yoxford, Suffolk, "the much-dreaded workhouse

i threatens to be his home."
JS l It is highly probable that public subscriptions will

WEAlTH, k^^i^T^^^ ffi^^illl^^t' '! \^ I \ very soon practically redeem these two Waterloo Veter-

ans from the beggarly position of being Disgraces to
their Country. But whilst such meritorious old Cocks
remain unprovided for, they will always constitute
Disgraces to their Country's Government.

- iT \\-lip^Sl' \ ^ triumph °f Spiritualism.

The London Correspondent of a respectable country
paper states that "it is rumoured that Mn. Ayrton
has turned Spiritualist." We are not only in a position
to confirm this report, but further to add that the Chief
^-j7 Commissioner of Works has, as the American Spiritualists
express themselves, "developed right away" into a

hex a Waterloo Veteran is a gentleman, in the enioyment of a
handsome pension, in addition, perhaps, to a private fortune, Medmm From a source which is perfectly,, as they also
he is an ornament to the land which has given him birth,\»&\ reliable, we have moreover ascertained that the
and given him not only that, but also a reward for his ser- | P*ht Honourable Gentleman has, whilst under spiritual
vices. But a Waterloo Veteran, who fought at the battle of that name as a ! ^fiuence, laid out a market-garden, carved a statuette,
common soldier, and still exists in the condition of a labourer forced to earn a Panted a picture, made a copy of verses and dictated (m
scanty living, at an advanced age, is a Disgrace to his Country. Only, that he the trance"state) a c™rteous tifficial letter-
is so is his country's fault.

The Times of Wednesday last week contained two letters from two several
clergymen, each proclaiming the existence of a Disgrace to his Country in the
person of an aged Waterloo Veteran.

Disgbace No. 1.— Samxtel Sportin, Waterloo Veteran, aged seventy-nine.
Resides in the parish of Terrington, Lynn, Norfolk. Has a daughter who has

feeling remark.

"Happy is the country that has no history," as the
Schoolboy said on being flogged for the third time for
not knowing who was Henry the Sixth's wife.

t tti?tj mrTD1? cnruMrn? tt^ "^c^ *m ^' ^e ca^c^es the earliest glimpse of the glorious inspira-

LllLKAl URL, oClENCE, AND ART. tion which is hereafter to augment his fame and increase the annual

T . . i i - v i i i • i .. , n revenue of the Royal Academy: and the first to applaud the patient

In the interval which has elapsed since last we invited our readers ; investigation of the philosopher, when he discovers another lustrous
to wander hand m hand with us adown the flowery slopes of Litera- ! metal another iridescent dye, or teaches persons with small incomes
tare Science, and Art which for convenience, will in future be and large families how to economise fuel in open grates,
cited as L., S and A., if the abbreviation does not too much savour Ag au earnest and foretaste of what we raean to do weather
of Railways Literature has been resting on its oars, and Art repo- permitting, we had hoped to have been able to give some authentic
smg on its laurels Science alone has been making great strides, ' and final information respecting the Sea Serpent, his dimensions,
wending to fresh woods and pastures new" (Milton, Lycidas, diet amusements, &c, but be has again eluded our grasp; and as
line 193) at Brighton and Social Science wandering as far as season is now drawing to a close when he finds it most convenient
Plymouth and Devonport. to appear ^ American5 IrisQf and Scottish waters, another

The time, however, has now arrived when shortening days and
falling leaves and failing purses will bring the slaves of the pen
and the votaries of the paintbrush back, by the ordinary modes of
conveyance, to their haunts and homes; when the study and the
studio will teem with bright creations of the fertile brain and
nimble hand, " Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In
Vallombrosa" (Milton, Paradise Lost, book i., line 302) ; and the

year

will probably be ushered in with the usual bell-ringing before the
Zoological Gardens are able to advertise the great Ophidian as
amongst their more recent additions. Meanwhile, it might be
desirable that funds should be collected and an expedition organised
and equipped to proceed in search of this and other creatures—the
mermaid, phoenix, unicorn, griffin, &c,—of whose existence the
naturalist and the man of science still entertain some doubt. The
air be full of rumours of new poems, new pictures, and fresh substi- Chancellor of the Exchequer could hardly refuse to aid so
tutes for butchers' meat. important an object with a grant out of any surplus he may happen

A few words as to our own preparations for the hour when L., S., to have, after providing for the payment of three millions in gold
and A. will again wake up to life. We have made arrangements with ', at Washington by September next.

newspaper correspondents who rank " in the foremost files of time" j Speaking of the Zoological Gardens, visitors proceeding to that
(Tennyson, Locksley Hall, near the end), with the office-bearers of ; popular and pleasing resort, and lingering by the way to admire the
all the learned Societies and Academies whose transactions are to j sylvan scenery of the Regent's Park, should not fail on their next
be found on the shelves of the Library of the British Museum, with | visit, or at the very latest their next but one, to make themselves
savans in every corner of the globe, " from China to Peru " (John- j acquainted with the most recent additions to the mammals, marsu-
son, Vanity of Human Wishes, line 2), "or by the lazy Scheld, pials, raptatores, rodents, and quadrumana._

or wandering Po" (Goldsmith, Traveller, line 2), wherever, in The taste for Aquariums is rapidly spreading. No large town can
fact, L., S., and A. are not unknown to fame ; with the leading , possibly remain long without one, if it means to be in the van at the

publishers, the most eminent painters, the greatest chemists and
druggists, to supply us, in the first instance by telegram and then
with fuller details by post, with all that is new and interesting

next Census. We have the pleasure of announcing that the Cor-
poration of London have expressed their readiness to present a live
and lively turtle to any Aquarium Company which will give a

in their respective walks of art and branches of knowledge. Thus, j written guarantee that it shall never be diverted to the pleasures of

our readers will be the first to hear from the ardent astronomer,
when on the watch " in some high lonely tower " (Milton, II Pen-
sieroso, line 86), " a new planet swims into his ken " (Keats, Sonnet
ix.) ; the first to share the ecstasy of the rapt poet enriching his

the table. The animals will be sent down, free of all expense, in
charge of the Sword and Mace Bearers, and for the first year they
will be visited every quarter by an Alderman who has not passed
the chair, to see that they are comfortable and have everything

native dictionary with "thoughts that breathe, and words that burn " , they require.
(Gray, Progress of Poesy, line 110); the first to participate in the i Me. Mountayne Mess is understood to be busily engaged writing
happiness of the painter when with his "mind's eye" {Hamlet, ' his autobiography. It will include some very interesting details of