DOI issue:
January to June, 1845
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16521#0220
224
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
likely, without a feeling of horror at their criminality—tempered, however,
with pleasure in remembering that we in England are free from such
crime ; and that I am not involved, like these countless myriads of human
beings, in the commission of deadly sin.
" Some of these unfortunate creatures believe it is wrong to eat
mutton-chops on a Friday—and the wretched bigots will tell you that
it is ' immoral and indecent and an insult to Heaven and Society' to
do such a thing. Blind and miserable superstition ! You must not
amuse yourself on Suuday with pictures—but as for chops on a Friday,
eat as many of them, my good friend, as you can buy.
" And it is in vain of you to expostulate with that ignorant arrogance of
yours, which you mistake for good sense, but which is only monstrous
pride and self-conceit ; it is in vain for you to say ' if a man thinks it is a
crime to eat chops on a Friday, 1 won't force him to eat them, but in the
name of common sense let me have mine.' If 1 think in common with
of CAMBRIDGE, rRINCE UKURliK, Tills it t", _ n. „ n j t~> ,1
Hereditary Grand Duke and "1s ^^TAL Highness of Cambridge and Baroness bTRUMFEDER that
Duchess of Mecklenburgh Stre-
litz (attended by Mr. Esmond Mild-
may), and the Grand Duchess
Stephanie of Baden, accompanied
by the Marchioness of Douglas,
and attended by the Baroness de
Sthcmfudes," as per Court Circular,
admitted/ „ Yours &c. " No, my worthy friend—let this man lay down the law and be'you
' : contented to believe him. He must be right: he says " he is one of the
MR. PUNCH ON THE FINE ARTS.
two following letters appeared in
the Times last week :—
"Sir,—Can you assist me in the fol-
lowing dilemma ?
" Is a visit to the exhibition of the
Royal Academy a rational, Christianlike,
and proper amusement for the afternoon
of Sunday, after attending divine service
in the morning—ay or no?
"If it be, why am I and my class ex-
cluded on that day ?
" If it be not, why were 'their Royal
Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge, Prince George, the
there is no harm in seeing pictures on Sunday, what man of the people
calJe'l Christians has a right to doom me to perdition for my opinion t
Be you content that another should judge for-you, and take his word for
it. He has disposed of Baroness Strumfeder and the other titled
personages, as you see. Do you think he does not know what is good for,
or what will hereafter happen to, such a poor miserable creature as you ?
people called Christians." If others of the people called Christians give
you different doctrine, don't listen to them. Coals and gridirons ! they
are in fatal error. Be thankful for your chops on a Friday.
u Remember that the rational and beneficent law of the land is that
you are never io enjoy yourself ; that when the Saturday ends your
hard week's labours and the day of rest comes, you have uo right to
interpret your ideas of rest in your own way.
" It might be rest to your weary eyes, that have been bleared all tbe
week over the blue lines in a ledger, to look at such a picture as the
Catharine of Raphael, in the National Gallery, or the Claude that hangs
beside it. It may be that you have a heart to be touched, by their beauty,
and elevated by those representations of purified and ennobled Nature.
I, for my part, have often walked out with Mrs. Punch of a Sabbath
evening, aud looked at the fair landscape and the happy people, and heard
the clinking bell tolling to chapel too; and yet, somehow, stayed in the
fields without. Who knows whether the sight of God's beautiful world
might not awaken as warm feelings of reverence and gratitude as the talk
of the Rev. Mr. Stiggins in-doors, who was howling perdition at me over
his pulpit cushion for not being present sitting under him \ It is very
probable that he thinks his sermon a much finer thing than a fine land-
scape, and can't understand how a picture should move any mortal soul.
" My dear though unknown friend ! But, st°P— why are we poor worms to understand what he doesn't under-
,,T1_ , , . .., , r ,. T , stand, or to inquire about anything which is beyond his Reverence's com-
" I have read your letter with deep feelings oi sympathy. 1 know , i • >
your condition—I know that you live in Chelsea or Camden Town, with " -r, ' ... e . , ,, ,, , , » ,
i , ... Tii ■& , ,» . , e , c " -Be you content, then, my poor friend, to iollow that profound and
four children and a lodger. You work in that little runt ol a garden of , ^ ± f> a -J c , „ „ i v. . u < >
,b i_iri ji-u -ii humble-minded instructor. Depend on it, Stiggins knows best what s
yours for hali-an-hour or so before breakfast : and having hurriedly__, , -n u i j • i u ui ,
- - °- < i good for you. Doesn t he say so, and isn't he an honourable man ?
" Who never leaves business until dusk."
" Sir,—In answer to ' A Clerk,1 applying for the opening of the Royal Academy on
the Sunday, I would observe, that the titled personages whom he names (if they were
admitted on that day) violated their duty to God and society by going, but in no way
justified an act immoral and indecent in itself; and that if once this barrier should be
broken, there can be no reason why every public exhibition in the country, and the
theatres at night, should not equally be open aluo, ;isin Paris.
"I am, Sir, yours obediently,
"One of the People called Christians."
These documents were attentively read by our exalted chief, and were
observed to affect the venerable Mr. Punch in a most extraordinary
manner. The latter letter especially excited him ; and he was awake all
night after it had appeared, tossing about in his bed in a fury, and
exclaiming, " Stiggins—it's Stiggins—I know it is—the rascal! to say the
Royal Family is immoral and indecent, and insult the Grand Duchess
Stephanie, and the Baroness de Strumfeder."
The next morning he arose quite calm, and calling for pens and paper,
addressed the following ironic letter to the clerk, who wrote to the
Times.
swallowed your meal, in company with Mrs. Clerk, and the family, and
having kissed the four pair of red cheeks, all shining with bread and
butter, trudge off for a three-mile walk to business in the city, where nine
o'clock finds you at your desk over the ledger. At seven or eight you are
back to that little dingy cottage of yours, and must be glad to get to bed
early in order to be ready for the next day's labours.
" How can you have leisure to improve your mind under these circum-
stances 1 My dear, worthy fellow, you must be in a state of lamentable
ignorance—ignorance, indeed ! 0, you poor miserable sinner, not to know
how ignorant you are : and to dare for to go for to make such an auda-
cious proposition as that about being allowed to see pictures on a Sunday !
" To look at pictures on Sunday is a ' violation of your duty to Heaven
and society.' It is an act ' immoral and indecent.' ' One of the people
called Christians' has let you into that secret, in a neat and temperate
letter, in reply to yours, which the Times publishes—and a very liberal
and kind Christian he must be who warns you.
* It is a mistake to. fancy that an examination of works of art, though
they may ennoble and improve your mind on Saturday, is not an odious
and wicked action on Sunday. Baroness Strumfeder may do as her
ladyship likes. As tor the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden, her
Royal Highness is a Frenchwoman by birth, and a Princess living in a
country where sad errors prevail—this dreadful one among others :—of
admitting the public to recreation after the hours of devotion on the
Sabbath, and flinging the galleries and museums open to the poor who can
see them on no other day.
" Make up your mind, my lad, and console yourself for living in the only
country in Europe where you are debarred from such godless enjoyments.
Suppose that it has been the custom of all Christendom (and of England,
until pious Oliver Cromwell came and put an end to the diabolical
superstition) to recognise Art as not incompatible with Religion, and to
believe that harmless happiness was intended and designed to be a part of
the weekly holiday. We are right, depend upon it—and all the world
for ages and ages is wrong. Wo betide the unfortunate sinners ! I can't
think of a company of French or German peasants (I have seen many
Buch) dancing under an elm-tree, with Monsieur le Cure looking on, very
Never mind all Europe, but stick to Stiggins. Remember your lot in
life, and be resigned thereunto ; no more aspiring to see pictures on
Sunday, than to enjoy pine-apples and champagne on the other days of
the week. And if doubts and repinings will cross your abominable mind,
read over his letter, and after you see how he has disposed of poor
Strumfeder, thank your stars that picture-gallery doors are shut against
you on Sundays, and that you are the clerk you are.
" P.S. By the way there is one point in Stiggins's admirable letter
which is not altogether supported by his usual logic. ' There's no
reason,' he says, ' if the Royal Academy were opened, why every public
exhibition through the country and the theatres at night should not be
opened too ? ' To this it must certaiuly be answered, that if the museums
in Birmingham, Manchester, &c, were open on Sunday afternoons, they
would no doubt occasion in the provinces the dreadful depravity against
which Stigg. protests in London.
" But because an Exhibition was open ou Sunday afternoon, it does not
therefore follow that a theatre should be open on Sunday night. No,
dear Stiggins, that is not put with your usual mildness of argument. The
garden of St. James's Park is open till dusk, and the ungodly walk there
—but it is not therefore open all night. You might go out for a walk of
an afternoon, but it does not follow that you should stay out all night.
No, Stiggy, I would not allow any one to say that of you. And our
admirable legislature has provided that only the gin-shops should be
opened on Sunday—not the wicked theatres."
A GOOD REASON.
Everybody is astonished at the little progress made by the railway
committees. In this, however, there will appear not much to wonder at,
when it is considered that railways must be made in right lines, and that
the House is little accustomed to straightforward proceedings.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
likely, without a feeling of horror at their criminality—tempered, however,
with pleasure in remembering that we in England are free from such
crime ; and that I am not involved, like these countless myriads of human
beings, in the commission of deadly sin.
" Some of these unfortunate creatures believe it is wrong to eat
mutton-chops on a Friday—and the wretched bigots will tell you that
it is ' immoral and indecent and an insult to Heaven and Society' to
do such a thing. Blind and miserable superstition ! You must not
amuse yourself on Suuday with pictures—but as for chops on a Friday,
eat as many of them, my good friend, as you can buy.
" And it is in vain of you to expostulate with that ignorant arrogance of
yours, which you mistake for good sense, but which is only monstrous
pride and self-conceit ; it is in vain for you to say ' if a man thinks it is a
crime to eat chops on a Friday, 1 won't force him to eat them, but in the
name of common sense let me have mine.' If 1 think in common with
of CAMBRIDGE, rRINCE UKURliK, Tills it t", _ n. „ n j t~> ,1
Hereditary Grand Duke and "1s ^^TAL Highness of Cambridge and Baroness bTRUMFEDER that
Duchess of Mecklenburgh Stre-
litz (attended by Mr. Esmond Mild-
may), and the Grand Duchess
Stephanie of Baden, accompanied
by the Marchioness of Douglas,
and attended by the Baroness de
Sthcmfudes," as per Court Circular,
admitted/ „ Yours &c. " No, my worthy friend—let this man lay down the law and be'you
' : contented to believe him. He must be right: he says " he is one of the
MR. PUNCH ON THE FINE ARTS.
two following letters appeared in
the Times last week :—
"Sir,—Can you assist me in the fol-
lowing dilemma ?
" Is a visit to the exhibition of the
Royal Academy a rational, Christianlike,
and proper amusement for the afternoon
of Sunday, after attending divine service
in the morning—ay or no?
"If it be, why am I and my class ex-
cluded on that day ?
" If it be not, why were 'their Royal
Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge, Prince George, the
there is no harm in seeing pictures on Sunday, what man of the people
calJe'l Christians has a right to doom me to perdition for my opinion t
Be you content that another should judge for-you, and take his word for
it. He has disposed of Baroness Strumfeder and the other titled
personages, as you see. Do you think he does not know what is good for,
or what will hereafter happen to, such a poor miserable creature as you ?
people called Christians." If others of the people called Christians give
you different doctrine, don't listen to them. Coals and gridirons ! they
are in fatal error. Be thankful for your chops on a Friday.
u Remember that the rational and beneficent law of the land is that
you are never io enjoy yourself ; that when the Saturday ends your
hard week's labours and the day of rest comes, you have uo right to
interpret your ideas of rest in your own way.
" It might be rest to your weary eyes, that have been bleared all tbe
week over the blue lines in a ledger, to look at such a picture as the
Catharine of Raphael, in the National Gallery, or the Claude that hangs
beside it. It may be that you have a heart to be touched, by their beauty,
and elevated by those representations of purified and ennobled Nature.
I, for my part, have often walked out with Mrs. Punch of a Sabbath
evening, aud looked at the fair landscape and the happy people, and heard
the clinking bell tolling to chapel too; and yet, somehow, stayed in the
fields without. Who knows whether the sight of God's beautiful world
might not awaken as warm feelings of reverence and gratitude as the talk
of the Rev. Mr. Stiggins in-doors, who was howling perdition at me over
his pulpit cushion for not being present sitting under him \ It is very
probable that he thinks his sermon a much finer thing than a fine land-
scape, and can't understand how a picture should move any mortal soul.
" My dear though unknown friend ! But, st°P— why are we poor worms to understand what he doesn't under-
,,T1_ , , . .., , r ,. T , stand, or to inquire about anything which is beyond his Reverence's com-
" I have read your letter with deep feelings oi sympathy. 1 know , i • >
your condition—I know that you live in Chelsea or Camden Town, with " -r, ' ... e . , ,, ,, , , » ,
i , ... Tii ■& , ,» . , e , c " -Be you content, then, my poor friend, to iollow that profound and
four children and a lodger. You work in that little runt ol a garden of , ^ ± f> a -J c , „ „ i v. . u < >
,b i_iri ji-u -ii humble-minded instructor. Depend on it, Stiggins knows best what s
yours for hali-an-hour or so before breakfast : and having hurriedly__, , -n u i j • i u ui ,
- - °- < i good for you. Doesn t he say so, and isn't he an honourable man ?
" Who never leaves business until dusk."
" Sir,—In answer to ' A Clerk,1 applying for the opening of the Royal Academy on
the Sunday, I would observe, that the titled personages whom he names (if they were
admitted on that day) violated their duty to God and society by going, but in no way
justified an act immoral and indecent in itself; and that if once this barrier should be
broken, there can be no reason why every public exhibition in the country, and the
theatres at night, should not equally be open aluo, ;isin Paris.
"I am, Sir, yours obediently,
"One of the People called Christians."
These documents were attentively read by our exalted chief, and were
observed to affect the venerable Mr. Punch in a most extraordinary
manner. The latter letter especially excited him ; and he was awake all
night after it had appeared, tossing about in his bed in a fury, and
exclaiming, " Stiggins—it's Stiggins—I know it is—the rascal! to say the
Royal Family is immoral and indecent, and insult the Grand Duchess
Stephanie, and the Baroness de Strumfeder."
The next morning he arose quite calm, and calling for pens and paper,
addressed the following ironic letter to the clerk, who wrote to the
Times.
swallowed your meal, in company with Mrs. Clerk, and the family, and
having kissed the four pair of red cheeks, all shining with bread and
butter, trudge off for a three-mile walk to business in the city, where nine
o'clock finds you at your desk over the ledger. At seven or eight you are
back to that little dingy cottage of yours, and must be glad to get to bed
early in order to be ready for the next day's labours.
" How can you have leisure to improve your mind under these circum-
stances 1 My dear, worthy fellow, you must be in a state of lamentable
ignorance—ignorance, indeed ! 0, you poor miserable sinner, not to know
how ignorant you are : and to dare for to go for to make such an auda-
cious proposition as that about being allowed to see pictures on a Sunday !
" To look at pictures on Sunday is a ' violation of your duty to Heaven
and society.' It is an act ' immoral and indecent.' ' One of the people
called Christians' has let you into that secret, in a neat and temperate
letter, in reply to yours, which the Times publishes—and a very liberal
and kind Christian he must be who warns you.
* It is a mistake to. fancy that an examination of works of art, though
they may ennoble and improve your mind on Saturday, is not an odious
and wicked action on Sunday. Baroness Strumfeder may do as her
ladyship likes. As tor the Grand Duchess Stephanie of Baden, her
Royal Highness is a Frenchwoman by birth, and a Princess living in a
country where sad errors prevail—this dreadful one among others :—of
admitting the public to recreation after the hours of devotion on the
Sabbath, and flinging the galleries and museums open to the poor who can
see them on no other day.
" Make up your mind, my lad, and console yourself for living in the only
country in Europe where you are debarred from such godless enjoyments.
Suppose that it has been the custom of all Christendom (and of England,
until pious Oliver Cromwell came and put an end to the diabolical
superstition) to recognise Art as not incompatible with Religion, and to
believe that harmless happiness was intended and designed to be a part of
the weekly holiday. We are right, depend upon it—and all the world
for ages and ages is wrong. Wo betide the unfortunate sinners ! I can't
think of a company of French or German peasants (I have seen many
Buch) dancing under an elm-tree, with Monsieur le Cure looking on, very
Never mind all Europe, but stick to Stiggins. Remember your lot in
life, and be resigned thereunto ; no more aspiring to see pictures on
Sunday, than to enjoy pine-apples and champagne on the other days of
the week. And if doubts and repinings will cross your abominable mind,
read over his letter, and after you see how he has disposed of poor
Strumfeder, thank your stars that picture-gallery doors are shut against
you on Sundays, and that you are the clerk you are.
" P.S. By the way there is one point in Stiggins's admirable letter
which is not altogether supported by his usual logic. ' There's no
reason,' he says, ' if the Royal Academy were opened, why every public
exhibition through the country and the theatres at night should not be
opened too ? ' To this it must certaiuly be answered, that if the museums
in Birmingham, Manchester, &c, were open on Sunday afternoons, they
would no doubt occasion in the provinces the dreadful depravity against
which Stigg. protests in London.
" But because an Exhibition was open ou Sunday afternoon, it does not
therefore follow that a theatre should be open on Sunday night. No,
dear Stiggins, that is not put with your usual mildness of argument. The
garden of St. James's Park is open till dusk, and the ungodly walk there
—but it is not therefore open all night. You might go out for a walk of
an afternoon, but it does not follow that you should stay out all night.
No, Stiggy, I would not allow any one to say that of you. And our
admirable legislature has provided that only the gin-shops should be
opened on Sunday—not the wicked theatres."
A GOOD REASON.
Everybody is astonished at the little progress made by the railway
committees. In this, however, there will appear not much to wonder at,
when it is considered that railways must be made in right lines, and that
the House is little accustomed to straightforward proceedings.