DOI issue:
July to December, 1847
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16545#0141
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 129
ILament of Islington <£reen.
They 're about to inclose me;
No more shall be seen
The turf that now owes me
Its harshly-used green!
No more upon Broad-way
My sweets I '11 bestow,
On Rosamond's Road-way,
And high Hedges Row.
When, with paling and wicket,
They've shut me in tight,
What becomes of my cricket,
My trap-ball and kite ?
True, those who have won keys
By dwelling around,
May, p'rhaps, come—but the donkeys
No more will be found !
I was kind to each neighbour,
And always could spare,
To throats parched with labour,
A mouthful of air;
Now, dress-makers and bakers
Will sigh as they pass,
Who learnt from my acres
The colour of grass.
Though scant was my clover,
And scrubby my gorse,
Thoughts of country would hover
About them, perforce;
Toil's pale sons and daughters,
From squalor set free,
Saw the woods and the waters
Of their childhood in me.
They say Pitch-and-toss sinfid
Resorts to my ground ;
That here sots, with a skinful,
Reclining are found.
If rogues seek me to lleece men,
Or topers to sleep,
All I want's two policemen,
My confines to keep.
Though a small lung of London,
1 still am a lung;
So, before I am undone,
My plaint I have sung.
There are friends who must know, sure,
How useful I've been;
Let them save from inclosure
Their Islington Green!
PROTECTIONIST STRIKE.
Several of the young men in the employ of Lord George Bentinck
'have struck for higher wages, as they say it is impossible for them to
■get_ through their work, which is not any of the most agreeable, upon
their present low rate of remuneration. Accordingly, the Pigure-workers
and Hansard-sifters have turned out, and are expected to be followed
■shortly by the Speech-refiners. If the latter go, it is expected that the
firm of Bentinck and Co. must suspend its debates next year, and no
little alarm is spread in the neighbourhood of Tattersall's in con-
sequence. The reason assigned by these misguided young men for their
behaviour is, that they begin to feel the effects of their work dreadfully,
and that they are determined to have the best price for it as long as
their mental faculties allow them to remain at it, especially as they
nave the dreadful fate of the Member for Shrewsbury before their
eyes, which warns them not to—
" Work, work, work.
Until the brain grows Dizzy and dim."
It is said that Lord George has sent to Birmingham a large order
for a set of calculating machines.
" An Insult to any Gentleman."
The Poet Bunn, in his Surrey manifesto, hath these words :—
" The Free List will be altogether done away with, as it would be an insult to make
any gentleman a present of 2s. to the Boxes, Is. to the Pit, and 6d. to the Gallery."
The Poet Bunn is a gentleman. Well, upon his own showing, can
anybody think of insulting him by making Mm " a present of 2s. to the
Boxes, 1*. to the Pit, and &d. to the Gallery?"
JUVENILE ADVERTISERS.
Something new" in the way of an adver-
tising medium is greatly required. We have
piled up advertising-vans nearly to the height
of St. Paul's; we have sent out revolving
hats of monster dimensions, drawn by a spa-
vined horse; we have dressed up human
beings in all sorts of fantastic attire ; we have
sent wax figures jolting through our streets,
in pattern paletots, and in registered wrap-
rascals ; but no one has yet thought of turning
our juveniles to account, by putting them
into pictorial pinafores. This plan might be
adopted with effect, by giving the garment
gratis to the child by whom it is worn; and
the advertisement would have more than the
usual effect, from its being conveyed to us
through the agency of unconscious innocence.
We reject the mercenary and mercan-
tile efforts made to attract our attention
by advertising-vans and huge placards;
but who could refuse an entreaty to buy
his boots at 899, Holborn, if it came before
him in the artless guise of childish sim-
plicity ? The urchin,
playfully trundling his
hoop, seems too primi-
tive to be the medium of
a swindle or a take-in,
and wc naturally trust
him more readily than
we would place confi-
dence in a set advertisement. The girl, too,
passing through the public way with a recom-
mendation of the cheap teas of some grocery
establishment imprinted on her side, must have a
far more convincing aspect than all the golden
tea-pots, silver tea-urns, or Chinese Mandarins,
that Eakein and Company, or any other magnates of the tea world,
are in the habit of exhibiting.
RESPECTABILITY BY THE WATCH.
Respectability is a very pleasant matter; but, like other luxuries,
it is continually bringing losses upon those who will enjoy it. Now many
a man has been ruined by his respectability! "Be respectable," says the
fiend, and the man who listens is lost. Take a recent case. Here is
one William Harvey, made respectable by the grace of a gold watch.
His narrative is to be found in the police chronicles of the Mansion-
House, and is no more than a few days old. Mr. Harvey goes to the
King's Head public-house, (were Punch king, he would make it high
treason to fill his head with such company as Harvey met at the
hostelry,) and contemplates a game of skittles. Now skittles have a
high moral purpose, that is, morally considered. Indeed, at the present
money crisis, skittles are the most significant of teachers ; for when one
skittle falls, there is no knowing how many skittles it may knock down
in its descent. At the present time, nine-pins do somehow fearfully
typify the commercial interest; and it is possible that Mr. Harvey
may have watched them with an eye to this truth; and it is equallv
possible that, he may not.*
[Harvey speaks].—" Well, Mr. Gill, who was my partner, said to me, ' If you are
sat sfled with vour band I'll go you halves.' I said I had no money ; but Mk. Gill said,
' You can put down ) our watch on the table to show that you are respectable.' "
Unfortunate Harvey ! He is respectable: he lays down his watch :
his respectability is ticking upon the table. But for a moment. One
Cresswell wins the trick, and with a thought pockets Harvey's
respectability. Mr. Harvey's respectability went, no doubt, upon a
diamond: but this is certain, it went away in Cresswell's pocket; and
was not forthcoming at the Mansion-House. In a word, Harvey was
gulled of his watch.
Moral.—When you fall into the company of knaves, never lay your
" respectabdity " upon the table.
Security of France.
Old Marshal Soult, in his retirement from the Ministry, has
written Louis-Philippe a somewhat waggish letter. The Duke has
made his exit with a laugh. He says to the King—"I will enjoy that
repose amidst that general security which the exalted wisdom of your
Majesty has procured for Prance." Such repose reminds us of the
serenity of the Dutchman, who smoked his pipe over a barrel of gun-
powder, innocently believing it to be so much onion-seed. _
* After skittles, cards were introduced, in " a harmless way," by a Mk. Gill.
Vol. 13.
ILament of Islington <£reen.
They 're about to inclose me;
No more shall be seen
The turf that now owes me
Its harshly-used green!
No more upon Broad-way
My sweets I '11 bestow,
On Rosamond's Road-way,
And high Hedges Row.
When, with paling and wicket,
They've shut me in tight,
What becomes of my cricket,
My trap-ball and kite ?
True, those who have won keys
By dwelling around,
May, p'rhaps, come—but the donkeys
No more will be found !
I was kind to each neighbour,
And always could spare,
To throats parched with labour,
A mouthful of air;
Now, dress-makers and bakers
Will sigh as they pass,
Who learnt from my acres
The colour of grass.
Though scant was my clover,
And scrubby my gorse,
Thoughts of country would hover
About them, perforce;
Toil's pale sons and daughters,
From squalor set free,
Saw the woods and the waters
Of their childhood in me.
They say Pitch-and-toss sinfid
Resorts to my ground ;
That here sots, with a skinful,
Reclining are found.
If rogues seek me to lleece men,
Or topers to sleep,
All I want's two policemen,
My confines to keep.
Though a small lung of London,
1 still am a lung;
So, before I am undone,
My plaint I have sung.
There are friends who must know, sure,
How useful I've been;
Let them save from inclosure
Their Islington Green!
PROTECTIONIST STRIKE.
Several of the young men in the employ of Lord George Bentinck
'have struck for higher wages, as they say it is impossible for them to
■get_ through their work, which is not any of the most agreeable, upon
their present low rate of remuneration. Accordingly, the Pigure-workers
and Hansard-sifters have turned out, and are expected to be followed
■shortly by the Speech-refiners. If the latter go, it is expected that the
firm of Bentinck and Co. must suspend its debates next year, and no
little alarm is spread in the neighbourhood of Tattersall's in con-
sequence. The reason assigned by these misguided young men for their
behaviour is, that they begin to feel the effects of their work dreadfully,
and that they are determined to have the best price for it as long as
their mental faculties allow them to remain at it, especially as they
nave the dreadful fate of the Member for Shrewsbury before their
eyes, which warns them not to—
" Work, work, work.
Until the brain grows Dizzy and dim."
It is said that Lord George has sent to Birmingham a large order
for a set of calculating machines.
" An Insult to any Gentleman."
The Poet Bunn, in his Surrey manifesto, hath these words :—
" The Free List will be altogether done away with, as it would be an insult to make
any gentleman a present of 2s. to the Boxes, Is. to the Pit, and 6d. to the Gallery."
The Poet Bunn is a gentleman. Well, upon his own showing, can
anybody think of insulting him by making Mm " a present of 2s. to the
Boxes, 1*. to the Pit, and &d. to the Gallery?"
JUVENILE ADVERTISERS.
Something new" in the way of an adver-
tising medium is greatly required. We have
piled up advertising-vans nearly to the height
of St. Paul's; we have sent out revolving
hats of monster dimensions, drawn by a spa-
vined horse; we have dressed up human
beings in all sorts of fantastic attire ; we have
sent wax figures jolting through our streets,
in pattern paletots, and in registered wrap-
rascals ; but no one has yet thought of turning
our juveniles to account, by putting them
into pictorial pinafores. This plan might be
adopted with effect, by giving the garment
gratis to the child by whom it is worn; and
the advertisement would have more than the
usual effect, from its being conveyed to us
through the agency of unconscious innocence.
We reject the mercenary and mercan-
tile efforts made to attract our attention
by advertising-vans and huge placards;
but who could refuse an entreaty to buy
his boots at 899, Holborn, if it came before
him in the artless guise of childish sim-
plicity ? The urchin,
playfully trundling his
hoop, seems too primi-
tive to be the medium of
a swindle or a take-in,
and wc naturally trust
him more readily than
we would place confi-
dence in a set advertisement. The girl, too,
passing through the public way with a recom-
mendation of the cheap teas of some grocery
establishment imprinted on her side, must have a
far more convincing aspect than all the golden
tea-pots, silver tea-urns, or Chinese Mandarins,
that Eakein and Company, or any other magnates of the tea world,
are in the habit of exhibiting.
RESPECTABILITY BY THE WATCH.
Respectability is a very pleasant matter; but, like other luxuries,
it is continually bringing losses upon those who will enjoy it. Now many
a man has been ruined by his respectability! "Be respectable," says the
fiend, and the man who listens is lost. Take a recent case. Here is
one William Harvey, made respectable by the grace of a gold watch.
His narrative is to be found in the police chronicles of the Mansion-
House, and is no more than a few days old. Mr. Harvey goes to the
King's Head public-house, (were Punch king, he would make it high
treason to fill his head with such company as Harvey met at the
hostelry,) and contemplates a game of skittles. Now skittles have a
high moral purpose, that is, morally considered. Indeed, at the present
money crisis, skittles are the most significant of teachers ; for when one
skittle falls, there is no knowing how many skittles it may knock down
in its descent. At the present time, nine-pins do somehow fearfully
typify the commercial interest; and it is possible that Mr. Harvey
may have watched them with an eye to this truth; and it is equallv
possible that, he may not.*
[Harvey speaks].—" Well, Mr. Gill, who was my partner, said to me, ' If you are
sat sfled with vour band I'll go you halves.' I said I had no money ; but Mk. Gill said,
' You can put down ) our watch on the table to show that you are respectable.' "
Unfortunate Harvey ! He is respectable: he lays down his watch :
his respectability is ticking upon the table. But for a moment. One
Cresswell wins the trick, and with a thought pockets Harvey's
respectability. Mr. Harvey's respectability went, no doubt, upon a
diamond: but this is certain, it went away in Cresswell's pocket; and
was not forthcoming at the Mansion-House. In a word, Harvey was
gulled of his watch.
Moral.—When you fall into the company of knaves, never lay your
" respectabdity " upon the table.
Security of France.
Old Marshal Soult, in his retirement from the Ministry, has
written Louis-Philippe a somewhat waggish letter. The Duke has
made his exit with a laugh. He says to the King—"I will enjoy that
repose amidst that general security which the exalted wisdom of your
Majesty has procured for Prance." Such repose reminds us of the
serenity of the Dutchman, who smoked his pipe over a barrel of gun-
powder, innocently believing it to be so much onion-seed. _
* After skittles, cards were introduced, in " a harmless way," by a Mk. Gill.
Vol. 13.