Punch (16.1849)

190

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

PLEASURES OF HOUSEKEEPING—TH E LOOSE SLATE.

just to sm*w ]io\v ode thing leads to another — Mr. BRIGGS (who has come out on the leads while the men are

gone to Dinner.) is shown by the Builder how it would be the easiest thing in the world to "throw" nis Passage into
his Dining-room, and Build a new Entrance Hall with a slight Conservatory over it.—To the right or the Cartoon

is MBS. BRIGGS (!) who thinks Mr. B. has taken leave of his senses.

STRANGE ORIGINALITY.

There is an individual giving entertainments in London and the
provinces, who seeks to attract audiences by advertising himself as the
4i Original Bones." One would think that he was a being formed
out of some fossil remains, for upon no other supposition can we account
for his laying claim to that originality of bone in which his hold upon
public patronage seems to consist. He surely cannot mean to assume
a peculiarity of osseous structure over all his fellow-creatures, or to con-
tend that upon a writ of inquiry into the respective merits of himself
and a rival, there ought to be a return of nulla bona in the case of his
competitor, and that the latter is not worth having any bones made
about him at all.

We cannot comprehend why greater stress should be laid upon
original bones than upon original muscles, or original sinews, and
indeed the last of the three would appear best adapted for insinewating
themselves into the favour of the public. We protest against the as-
sumption of any set of bones being more original than any other set of
bones, and we are averse to see any bones attempting to dislocate
themsel ves by getting out of their proper position.

Clerical Delinquency.

The ofner day we met with a paragraph in a newspaper, headed
"Alleged Murder for the sake of Burial Bees." The case
turned out to be that of a woman supposed to have poisoned her hus-
band and children in order to obtain funeral-money from a benefit club.
We expected to find the murder for the sake of burial fees was the
wholesale destruction of human life which is caused by intra-mural
interment.

NON-UBIQUITY OE COUNSEL.

Considerable inconvenience continues to be felt in the Courts of
Law, on account of the inability counsel feel themselves under, to
appear—like a favourite actor—in two pieces ; or, in legal phraseology—
to effect a severance of their own bodies, and convert a corporation
sole into divided moieties of one individual.

The difficulty of catching a favourite counsel ha^ extended even so
low as the Insolvent Court, where a single practitioner is attempting to
keep up a sort of professional monopolylogue : by running in and out of
the different, tribunals, and by dropping a few sentences here, a remnant
of an argument there, and a little bit of cross-examination in the third
tribunal, he manages to keep his triple practice going,—to his own
profit, though at the loss of the public time, and to the detriment of
suitors. If this system is to be continued, it would be better to try
the effect of legal ventriloquism, allowing the barrister to have a lay
(igure of himself in each of the three Courts; and by placing himself
in a position commanding a view of the whole, he might distribute his
eloquence pretty fairly among his three representatives. Perhaps it
would be advisable to allow the favoured counsel a seat in the central
dome of a building containing several Courts, and from this exalted posi-
tion in his profession, he might look down upon his less fortunate brethren,
and keep together his own tripartite connection without inconvenierce
to any one.

Genuine Belly Timber.

According to the Lancet, Dr. Percy of Birmingham recommends,
in certain cases, the use of bread made of wood. Superficial persons
may deride the notion of wooden bread ; but, when they come to think,
they must see that it is the fittest of all materials to make the staff
of life with.