Punch (13.1847)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

A SPORTING NATION.

We are decidedly a
sporting nation, for
when we cannot
enjoy the sport we
wear the costume
appropriate thereto,
as the boy stood over
. the cook s-shop win-
dow to inhale the
steam when.he could not afford to pay for fhe dinner. Every tailor in
the Strand has in his window, or at his door, a quantity of " Gent's
Shooting-coats," from 8s. 6d., and nearly every attorney's clerk m
London wears one of those shooting-coats, though he never handled
a gun in his life, or ever was further from London than Greenwich.
To see the number of fishing-jackets exposed for sale near Chancery
Lane, one would imagine that there was a trout stream in the vicinity
of the Judges' Chambers, or that there was capital_ angling at the
back of the masters' offices. The demand for shooting-coats in the
Temple must be extensive indeed, if we are to judge by the supply;
and we sometimes think that the barristers are under the delusion
that the famous hare which gives its name to Hare Court may be
still lurking about the legal precincts. We should be prlacl to know
where some of the game is to be found, whose abundance is made
manifest by the tremendous sale of sporting costume that appears to
take place in the Temple, Chancery Lane, and parts adjacent. Enter
whatever chambers you may, you will ten to one find the learned occu-
pant in a shooting, fishing, or hunting-jacket. We recommend the
establishment of a meet in Pump Court; or perhaps some spirited
Queen's Counsel will either start a pack of Paper Buildings' hounds, or
get up a few Fig-tree beagles. M~r. Briefless will, we are sure,
officiate as wrhipper-in, if properly solicited.

MUSICAL NOVELTY.

The spread of music in the metropolitan thoroughfares has become

SO general, that a f>~~"™™" 10 T,'° l-^hpvp .nn ihp nnint. nf formation,

with the view of = he
streets, squares, an
The company is \
that the organisat_
will be a reserve fu -
for special purpoa
instruments—not J_
promissory notes- =—
trombones. Frencl —

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the neighbourhood_
employed, and will ^ 5
regular superintend
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on alternate evenit — co
with the Company, —
or double service! —

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the
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charge will, of course, be proportionate. In the more humble neigh-
bourhoods it is proposed that a lower class of_ Professors sha'l do the
musical duty; and for this purpose the staff of itinerant organists must
be exceedingly large, as the demand is very extensive in the lesa
wealthy localities.

Arrangements have already been made to adapt "Marble Halls" to
one hundred instruments, so that the inmates of two, three, or even
four-pair backs or fronts, may have an opportunity of at once dreaming
1 hat they "dwell in marble halls," and are loved "all the same," not-
withstanding the dinginess of their apartments, and the diminutiveness
of their incomes. Shoidd the scheme succeed, as far as we are justified
in announcing it at present, a vocal concert will be added for laying on
a continued series of popular songs throughout the entire metropolis.
The Poet of Cremornc will be placed at the head of the lyrical depart-
ment, vice Bxjnn extinguished.

THE FATALITY OT TAGGING.

It is all very well to talk of our bloodless revolutions; but the truth
is,that they are not bloodless. We never think about reforming any of our
glorious institutions till they have killed somebody, and never actually
reform them fill they have killed several people. We are just beginning
to abuse our Smithfield and our sewerage, and when they shall have
occasioned a sufficiency of deaths, we shall perhaps rectify the one and
remove the other. It is rumoured that a boy has nearly lost his life in
consequence (f having been over-fagged at Winchester College; and
should a large number of young gentlemen in a short time be actually
lagged to dealh, the system of fagging at public schools may be
abolished. But first, w e must have an abundance of inouests. Masters
who deny the possibility of puffing down fagging, will discover it by
the help of coroners' juries.

Fagging, in ihe meantime, as well as Smithfield and the sinks, has ifs
apologists. The alleged occurrence at Winchester College has brought
Dr. Moberly, Head Master of the School, into the lists; that is to
say, in1o the columns of the Times, to break a pen with "Htjmanitas
et Veritas." The Doctor, however, has not only broken a pen, but
various rules of logic—the head of Aristotle, if not that of Prjscian.
One of his arguments in defence of fagging is thus stated :—

" Where a large number of boy*5, from 10 to 18 years old, are assembled together, there
is, independently of all institutions, a great danger that strength will often overrule aid
tyrannise over weakr.ees."

The wrong, then, according to Dr. Moberly, that cannot be pre-
vented, should be legalised. Let us give his argument a corollary:—

" Where a large number of people, from years of discretion upwards, coexist, there is,
independently of all institutions, great danger that ruffianism ai d dishonesty will c< m-
mit outrages and crimes."

Murder and theft; are inevitable; therefore allow assault, battery,
and swindling. " What can't be cured," says the proverb, "must be
endured." Dr. Moberly goes beyond the adage; his maxim is, that
what can't be checked should, to a cerfain extent, be encouraged.

With these remarks we dismiss, for the present, the subject of
fagging ; a practice of which, we hope, we have arrived at the fag-end.

a site to make angels weep.

Trafalgar Square, which could boast, some five years ago, of having
" the finest site in Europe," is so ashamed now of having its site
disfigured, and being a public eyesore, that it intends to petition Parlia-
ment to put it out of its misery at once, and to make it a blind alley.