Punch: Punch (17.1849)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

103

A BRITISH BULL-TIGHT.

The Buli-fight is no longer peculiar to Spain, for the sport has com-
menced in the very heart of London by a Smithfield bullock; who,
taking alarm at the corner of a street, began playing off some of those
pranks which are usually exhibited before a Spanish multitude. |
The brute mistaking an unhappy charity boy for a Toreador, pursued
him into a house, trampling under foot as though it had been a regular
Matador the unoffending door-mat. The drovers acting the^ pari, of'
Picadores, proceeded to pick at the infuriated brute with their pikes,
when an old woman flying away with her shawl extended in the air,
involuntarily supplied a substitute for the banderillos or handkerchiefs
used for throwing over the eyes of the brut e to increase his ferocity.

Bull-fights are now becoming so common on Smithfield market days,
that there are some thoughts of erecting an arena expressly for the
exhibition of the exciting pastime. Gray's Inn Lane is a sort of
miniature Madrid once or twice a week ; and Coldbath Fields are in a
cold perspiration continually with dread at the approach of every
market day.

A bull with a facetious turn rushed a few days ago into the office of j
the Standard, and tossed off a two-column leader into "pie" before the j
compositors had time to compose themselves. The skittish animal then
made for the share list, and with a truly Bullish determination to
operate for a rise, elevated the price of stocks to such an extraordinary
height, 1 hat it came down again with a smash that precluded all hope of
settling day passing over very easily.

THEY MANAGE THESE THINGS MUCH BE'ITER IN SPAIN.

FATHER MATHEW AND SLAVERY.
{To Massa Punch.)

"Sar,

" Him see by de Times Correspondent at New York, dat some
gentmen, members ob de Massachusetts anti-slabery Society wait on
Fader Mathew in Boston, and ask him to 'tend annibersary in cele-
brashun ob de abolishun of slabery in de British West^ Ingis. De very
rebberend Eader say no. 'Cause wv ? Perhaps you tink him at work
at, him Pledge and him Pump. Not, a bit ob it, Massa. Dis de way
him trow him cold water on Abolishun :—

" ' He abruptly declined the invitation, observing to tbe Committee that he was not
aware of any passage in Scripture forbidding the existence of slavery.'

" Beggin pardon ob Massa Mathew de great Divine, me tink dere
am passidge somewher dat tell you " whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them." How Fader Mathew him
like to be slabe ? Whose niggar, tink you, him wish to be ?

" Your humble, serbent, Massa Punch,

" Sambo,"

A Snug Party.

We read somewhere the other day, in a list of visitors to some public
entertainment, the announcement of the presence of " Mb, Anstey and
party." We always understood that Mb,. Anstey had no party at all,
and if he has, it must be a very small one, consisting at the outside, of
himself and Ma. Ukqtjhabt. In vulgar parlance, the term " party " is
often applied to a single individual, and this may have been the case in
the present instance. Ma. Urquhart having been probably the "party "
that the reporter alluded to.

HIBERNIA TO VICTORIA.

being an omitted passage in the royal irish pbogres^

It was Cead mille failtha,—Victoria asthore,
Was the saddest of sounds that ye heard round my shore;
Though some boiled the last pratee, and burned the last peat,
For a feast and a bonfire your visit to greet.

Sure the papers has told all the wondthers you've seen,
Erom the famed Cove of Cork to renowned Stephen's Green;
Wid the arches and speeches, and flags and goodwill,
The lights in the windies, the blaze on the lull.

Ye saw a whole nation, that smiled for to meet you,
Ye heard a whole nation, that cheered for to greet you ;
Black faction was peaceful, conspiracy tame,
Wid the light of your presence, the charm of your name.

They've talked mighty big of the good that will come,
From your kindly look in on poor Pat in his home,
How 'twill heal up old wounds, and new friendships cement,
When in cool neutral tone, Green and Orange are blent.

Sure, it wasn't Repealers alone, dear, but more,
That turned their ould coats, wid the best side before ;
So list while I tell, what's less pleasant than thrue,
What sights ye ne'er saw, what yer visit can't do.

Ye saw me, asthore, in my moment of mirth,
Not crouched in my dwellin' of darkness and dearth ;
Ye heard the loud cheers of my young and my ould,
Not their moans for the hunger, their cry for the could.

Ye walked in my palaces, cushla macree,
But divil a cabin, at all, did ye see ;
Ye took bite and sup from my aldermen's dish,
But not the black roots from my cottier's kish*

Oh, it's not by my face that my feelins' I'd show ;
Too deep in my heart is the roots of my woe.
When ye bowed to my welcome, ye heard not the cry
That came hard on the shout, as yer glory went by.

Ye could toss the poor beggar a morsel of mate,
But ye can't lift the pauper to man's true estate ;
Ye could smile on my sons, but not teach them to know
The sins that they do, and the duties they owe.

Sure, it's sorry I'd be, dear, for aught upon earth,
To dash wid a sorrow the light of your mirth;
'Tis love true and loyal, that thus brings to view,
What sights ye ne'er saw,—what yer visit can't do.

INFANT UNDER-GRADUATES.

The plea of Infancy having lately been set up in an action against
an Under-graduate, it became a nice question with the Judge of the
County Court to determine what are, and what are not, necessaries for
an Infant at, the University. The bill consisted of a series of charges
for horses, including a hunter and hack to Boulter's farm, with hacks
on 19 different days ; and the Judge very properly ruled that unless the
Infant happened to be an invalid requiring the frequent, use of a hack—
the horse-dealer would not be entitled to recover, as the debtor would
have nothing to recover from.

It was eventually decided that an under-graduate has no absolute
necessity for a horse, and indeed his grand achievement being the
passage of the pons asinorum, it would seem that another animal would,
in ordinary cases, be required; but our view of the case is, that the
University infant, like every other infant, if he needs a horse at all,
requires nothing more expensive than tiie article indicated in the old
nursery ballad, of

" Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross;

and that for no other horse has a livery-stable keeper the right of
recovery. We like to see the saddle put upon the right horse, and
we were gratified therefore to observe that the party saddled with the
costs was properly subjected to the burden.

a good riddance.

We learn from Galignani that the national haras at Versailles is to be
disposed of. No doubt France should be glad to get rid of her national
haras (s) at any price.

* The Irish basket.