Punch: Punch (17.1849)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

163

OUR LITTLE BIRD.

Hear the cock cro.v at this. " One's rage rises at the intense wicked-
ness ! " Again. " If the author of these two lines were put upon his
trial before an imparlial judge and jury, he would be happy to escape
with nothing worse than transportation for life! " Happy ! he would
a guy fawkes "Wanted. daD.ce his gratitude in a hornpipe of fetters. But, no ; impartiality could

. , t not so part with him. He would be hung, decapitated, quartered. And,

ossiely it has no, it cannot have escaped Qf coursej his four quarters—with the royal compliments, in hampers
t he melanclioly conviction of the real friends under the royal seal to four loval journalists—would adorn the outer
of the British Constitution that, tor years waUg 0f eltJl;r omce. Such a'display would make the fortune of any
past there has been an alarming decrease :ourDal 1o (he utter discomfiture of the small peddling folks who only
of the number of Guy hAWKESES on the deal k art.niurderj and with dullest flavour, render homicide on wood,
solemn Fifth of November. 11ns down- «It wag Satan," cries tbe aforesaid, cock, "who aimed at 'a more
ward tendency is, of course, the result ot eniphatlc posi,iOE) » when he struck the Dei Ghatia out of the florin."
ascendant Popery We are a commercial ^ a hard Uow at the divine right of s1|ver But it is evident> the
people of the most wonderful oigamsation eyll principle resides in the Master of tiie Mint- and if, as Englishmen,
touched to the niiest issues. M^e we venerate our Queen, and love our homes, and worship our sixpences,
pocket is marvellously developed m English- it behoves us t0 exhlblt and burn tbe effi?ies of Bichard Lalor Sheil
men. I he pockets of other people are, for as the areh_conspirator, the Guy Fawkes of 1849.
the most part, mere holes ; lateral bags; We call upon e loyal householder to contribute something
V> dumb insensible pouches. Wow the pocket ot an towards the exhibition and'the closing conflagration. Old hats, old

Englishman has wondrous sensibility it may seem CQatSj old rusb.bottomed chairs. The masquerade shops in then-
no whit better than cotton or brown holland ; never- lty wjU; doubtless, furnish masks at cost price. Everybody—the
theless every thread of it is a nerve ot most exquisite humblest—can give something. Even beggary may manifest the
irritabi hty ; harmonising or jangling witu the pineal brig]ltness of its zeal in a brimstone match.

gland that is the crown and sovereign top of man s ^ j & cheermg opportunity presents itself to those members of
regal nature This development, we say, has a special the monied interest, who see in the florin an instrument of Popery,
delicacy m the case ot an Englishman. And it is to BankerSi stockbrokers, merchants, and others, most intimate with the
this acute organisation of the pocket membrane that CQm of f he rea|nij m v0)unleer as chairmen to carrv about the effigies
of late years we have had an alarming decrease ot of the Mmt GxJY; and eather moneVj to be afterwards in blankets, coals,
thenun.oerof GuY iAWKESKS. and candles, duly distributed. We have an earnest hope to see Guy

The prime cause is tragically obvious. We have Sheii k Lombard Street—to meet him upon 'Change ! The closing
a Papist Master of the Mint! bonfire must be ]ighted on Tower Hill; and we call upon the authorities

Is it too much to believe that every unit of the of the Bank of England to suoply a sufficient quantity of fuel in con-
miliions of pieces.of com struck under the baleful demned Bank no'es

influence of the Papist _ Master carries.with it an ( KowLAlfI) HlLL as another, and doubtless greater conspirator
enervating influence, immediately felt m the & mjt the and happiness of the kingdom W,U be very notorious
pocket of the receiver, and almost electrically con- Qn thg Mtk En?lishmen will shamefully fail if they do not club
veyed to the seat of his understanding ? Is this too j together to send a Rowland Hill into every street. And when we
much to believe? By no means : it s very little read the speeches, and letters, and advertisements of certain men and
indeed to accept; and with a docile will, remarkably ; bodies Qf magnanimously bound together not to believe-to make
easy of credence Not a single threepeimy piece i a heroism of distrust m pkm meaning, put m plain words-when we
issued under the Mastership>ot Richard Shell, that reflect upon i hese champions of the False and the Obscure, we feel
is not a blow struck at, Protestant ascendancy. 1 he, confident that even among the " most respectable " will be found volun-
principles of the pocket tampered w h, and farewell, teerg tq car guy bowland Hill from door to door, and chant the
to the judgment And thus, gradually nan, n his i desecration he never proposed-the wickedness he will not perpetrate,
unholy greed of hall-crowns, has wickedly neglected And further tQ illust£te tllfi no-meaning of the apocryphal wrong, let
^\iGV!lt™?\^ ™w. am^. !Gi.yPawkes Hill carry a lighted lamp, fiUetted by charitable zeal with

However, even through the present darkness,
there breaks one star-like point of light. It is not
too late to appeal to the remorse of Englishmen

this inscription—" Good Christian people; this is not a flaming lamp,
but a black dark lanthorn." And further, the "Minute submitted to
the Post-Master-General" by Guy Hill, shall be hung topsy-lurvy

through the blessed influence of a Fifth of November about fhe neck _asJ read UpSlde-down by pious wilfulness

close at the threshold. Let us be stirring. Let us aft pi]bHc meetingS. And, at the close of the Glorious Fifth, hundreds

of effigies of Guy Rowland Hill shall be consumed in St. Martin's-ie-
Grand, the Bishop of London kindly lighting the first fire, and with his
apron fanning the early blaze.

Lord John Russell, as the third abetting culprit, merits special
ignominy. Because a knot of righteous men will not take his word;
because they ring every syllable of his lordship suspiciously, as though
every syllable were a bad shilling, when the Premier has never yet been
known to utter counterfeits; because they insist upon twisting his
truth to their false interpretation ;—because of this, and more than this,
Lord John's effigy must be chaired in highways and .bye-ways, on the
coming Fifth, as Loud Guy Fawkes John, and his entrails of straw con-
sumed by fire in Palace Yard to slow music.

We earnestly beseech all men of great speech and little thought—
men of much zeal and small charity—men of large failh in themselves
and of no belief in others,—to be up and doing against the Glorious Fifth.

Let committees be lormed in every parish to receive old clothes, old
chairs, and every wherewithal to manufacture Guy Fawkes Sheil, Guy
Fawk.es Hill, and Guy Fawkes Russell.

And let influential men—of the classes above recited—who are
desirous of carrying and attending the Guy from door to door,—give in
their names without delay. Let the Fiflh of November, 1849, burn,
like an enduring blue-light, down through all posterity.

Let not the women of England be behind in their subscriptions for
the national bonfire. All can give something. The smallest lucifer
gratefully received. A Little Bird.

have a Guy Fawkes in every street, in every lane,
in every court, in every alley. Let the walls of
London resound with a carol, specially made for the
eventful purpose: a carol, ringing like a chime of
bells, through every homestead.

There is a choice of Guy Fawkeses. The British
Constitution is again to be destroyed—supposing
and hoping at the time we write that, it has not
already ceased to be—by three known conspirators.
There may be thirty, or three hundred; but—we are
pushed for room—we must be content with three.

Richard Lalor Sheil—Rowland Hill—Lord
John Russell !

Here is a pleasing, and withal perplexing choice
of culprits. Nevertheless, with our amount of
population, and with the bonfire of zeal that this
small sheet of paper will light up in the heart of
every true Englishman, we may fairly promise our-
selves the pleasure of seeing ad the three a thou-
sand times multiplied on the Glorious Fifth—may meet them at every
step, and hear their attributes roared and bellowed at every corner.

Richard Lalor Sheil has powerful claims on the indignation and
hatred of every monied Briton. Not an Englishman with a single tester m
his nervous pocket that has not sixpenn'onh of wrong against the Master
of the Mint. For that Englishman's principles of religion and loyalty have
been tampered with in their extreme weakness. Tney have been subtly
played with by the coined agents of the sorcerer, and—to crown the
iniquity—they have, within a few weeks, been made unconscious traitors
to the Queen : become accessories to the horrible fact of depriving her of
her dearest privileges. For further particulars, see the new florin. The
Herald of the morn—the cock that, emulating meaner poultry, always
saves the British Capitol—denounces the defrauded florin, and calls for
vengeance upon the wretch, who attributes to Majesty itself the omission
of Dei Gratia as it " would give the coin a more emphatic character."

How Government is Supported.

There is a talk of building a new Stamp Office. As the Stamp Office
is supported in a great measure by the sale of quack medicines, the
Government, we are informed, in gracious return for the three-halfpence
it levies upon every box of pills which is sold, will allow portraits of
Holloway, Morrison, and Parr to be introduced amongst the
principal piil-ars of that establishment.