DOI issue:
January to June, 1850
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16605#0206
198
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
Look, 0, man, at the vanity of the objects you pursue, and of your-
self who pursue them!
But on the one hand, if there is an alloy in all success, is there not
a something wholesome in all disappointment ? To endeavour to re-
gard them both benevolently is the task of a philosopher ; and he who
can do so is a very lucky Fogy.
FEARFUL FALL AND DECLINE OF THE LAW.
our letters we find
that the Lawyers
are crying out
most piteously a-
gainst the reduc-
tions that are made
every Session in
the profits of the
Law. If that sys-
tem continue, they
declare the pro-
fession will be made
so contemptible,
that no gentleman
will think of follow-
ing it. A Chancery
Suit will be a poor,
miserable affair,
that will be over
in a couple of
weeks, and a Bank-
ruptcy Commission
will scarcely enable
the poor practi-
tioner to keep his
carriage. These
will be dreadful
times for the Law-
yers, who will be
compelled, for a
livelihood, to issue
writs against one another. The Insolvents' Court will be rilled with
most heart-rending cases of legal destitution, and Basinghall Street will
be occupied from day to day with winding up the accounts of Chancery
Lane. The Inns will follow, and the Law will become such a Pariah,
of a profession, that it will be universally shunned, excepting by the
most reckless, or the very poorest. Recruiting-parties will have_ to
beat up the most wretched neighbourhoods, in the hopes of finding
some torlorn youth whose misery may drive him, as a last extremity,
to "follow the Law," and disobedient sons and unruly apprentices
will be packed off to Lincoln's inn, as they formerly were sent to
sea, to be reclaimed by its trials and hardships. Who knows but the
Bar, also, may be reduced to a state of such abject penury, that
we may see a Joseph Ady sitting on the woolsack, sending out
letters to all clients, to the effect that, if they have their causes
tried before him, and will send him a sovereign, they may probably
" hear of something to their advantage."
The following has been confidentially sent to us by one of the most
respectable practitioners in Carey Street, as the copy of a Bill of Costs,
for a trifling Wrif, as it will be in 1852 :—
smith v. jones. s. a.
Writing Letter for payment of Debt......0 6
Instructions for Writ..........10
Writ.......... . . .0 1}
Copy to Serve and Service........0 9
Affidavit of Service..........0 5$
Attending to Swear, and paid Swearing . . . . ..12
Searching for Appearance ........0 6
Instructions for Declaration......t • ' i-0 8
Drawing Declaration, 12 folios (at per folio) . . . . j
5 2
The Bill is much longer, but we have given sufficient to prove the
extreme lowness of the charges. The worst is, the poor Lawyers receive
no pity. Every one laughs at them. Their misery seems to be a joke
universally enjoyed. Perhaps the retribution is but just. Those who
proverbially have had no pity for others in distress, are properly punished
if they receive none, now that they are distressed themselves.
Removals and Promotions,
PATHOLOGICAL EXHIBITION AT THE ROYAL
ACADEMY.
(Noticed by our Surgical Adviser.)
The Painter has hitherto done little for Medicine but hold its pro-
fessors up to ridicule. Ti'is year, however, our science has received a
tribute in the picture No. 518, at the Royal Academy's Exhibition.
The interest of this work is purely pathological; the figures in it being
simply illustrations of the scrofulous or strumous diathesis. Their
emaciated bodies, their shrunken legs, and tumid ancles, are the well-
known characteristics of that morbid state of system. The incipient
oedema of the lower extremities is faithfully portrayed; though, in con-
nection with this symptom, which indicates far-gone disease, the
abdominal tension might have been more strongly marked. The boy,
advancing with the bowl of water, exemplifies a splendid case of rhachitis,
or rickets ; and the osteological distortions of his frame have been cor-
rectly copied from Ihe skeleton. The child in the centre is expressively
represented with the red hair, light eyebrows, and mottled complexion,
which betoken the extreme of struma. The female figure kissing it,
apparently its mother, is endowed by the artist with the same pecu-
liarities, in accordance with the law of hereditary transmission. With
a nice discernment, too, the squalid filth for which the whole group is
remarkable, is associated with a disorder notoriously connected with dirt.
The drawing of the figures evinces minute study in the demonstration-
room.
To render the phenomena of morbid anatomy is clearly the speciality
of the artist. His talent for exact imitation, properly applied, might
preserve for us many specimens which we vainly endeavour to keep in-
spirits. The productions of his pencil, thus directed, would eciipse
everything in Bailliere's shop-window; but he should limit himself
to the strictly human subject. No. 518 has no title ; but subjoined
to it there is a text suggesting that it is meant for the Holy Family.
Now the persons depic ed in it seem to be mere portraits, taken from
life at the Orthopcedic Institution. Though iuteresting to the eye of
medicine, to the non-professional beholder they are unpleasant—not to-
ssy, revolting. They appear to savour, as has been intimated, of an
unacquaintance with soap and water much at variance with the maxim
which adjoins cleanliness to sanctity. Scrofula, moreover, is a Northern
disease; and its antecedents, besides nastiness, are irregularities in
living. The figures in question are so many examples of the conse-
quences of transgressing the laws of health. The genius requisite tor
" High Art " should include some creative power, sense of beauty, and
perception of congruities and incongruities. It will be a pity if this
gentleman does not turn his abilities—which, in the mechanical way,,
are great—to the illustration of Cooeer's Surgical Dictionary; and
leave the Testament alone.
The Central Protection Society : to the Chartist Hall, St. John's
Street.
To Van Dietnen's Land: — Chowler, Esq., vice Cuefey, pardoned.
THE ANTI-EDUCATION LEAGUE SUBSCRIPTION.
Mb. Punch presents his compliments to Sir Robert Harry Inglis,
and begs to ask whether the Honourable Member for Oxford, Enlighten-
ment, and Toleration, has any idea of the number of those persons,
Churchmen and Dissenters, who share his views on the subject of
education ? Because, in the first place, by insisting on religious ins) ruc-
tion as an indispensable accompaniment to secular education, whilst
differing among themselves as to what religion to teach, they combine
to keep some eight or nine millions of Her Majesty's subjects in
ignorance. Secondly, inasmuch as it has occurred to Mr. Punch that
possibly they might be numerous enough to subscribe, between them,
the trifling sum of £2,000 a day, in which they are morally, if not legally,
indebted to the nation. Precisely this amount, according to the Times,
does Government spend upon the " maintenance, supervision, and cor-
rection " of convicts, or for " Prison and Convict services." Hereunto
might be added the further expense involved in the prosecution of
offenders; however, Mr. Punch does not wish to be too hard on Sir
Robert Harry Inglis and his confederates. But it is ruled inforo
conscientice by Mr. Justice Punch, that they whose mystical polemics
prevent the multitude from being taught plain morals are bound to
defray some part of the damage accruing from their obstinate bigotry.
Mr. Punch, therefore, proposes to trouble the honourable Baronet, and
all who side with him on the Education Question, for that same £2,000
per diem, in order to pay for the Prison and Convict services necessitated
by the want of schooling.
political RTTitOUBS.
Mr. Disraeli passed Buckingham Palace yesterday, and looked up
at the drawing-room-windows three times. On his way home, he
looked in at Apsley House, for the street door happened to be open at
the time he was passing. The ministerial papers made no mention of
these facts.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
Look, 0, man, at the vanity of the objects you pursue, and of your-
self who pursue them!
But on the one hand, if there is an alloy in all success, is there not
a something wholesome in all disappointment ? To endeavour to re-
gard them both benevolently is the task of a philosopher ; and he who
can do so is a very lucky Fogy.
FEARFUL FALL AND DECLINE OF THE LAW.
our letters we find
that the Lawyers
are crying out
most piteously a-
gainst the reduc-
tions that are made
every Session in
the profits of the
Law. If that sys-
tem continue, they
declare the pro-
fession will be made
so contemptible,
that no gentleman
will think of follow-
ing it. A Chancery
Suit will be a poor,
miserable affair,
that will be over
in a couple of
weeks, and a Bank-
ruptcy Commission
will scarcely enable
the poor practi-
tioner to keep his
carriage. These
will be dreadful
times for the Law-
yers, who will be
compelled, for a
livelihood, to issue
writs against one another. The Insolvents' Court will be rilled with
most heart-rending cases of legal destitution, and Basinghall Street will
be occupied from day to day with winding up the accounts of Chancery
Lane. The Inns will follow, and the Law will become such a Pariah,
of a profession, that it will be universally shunned, excepting by the
most reckless, or the very poorest. Recruiting-parties will have_ to
beat up the most wretched neighbourhoods, in the hopes of finding
some torlorn youth whose misery may drive him, as a last extremity,
to "follow the Law," and disobedient sons and unruly apprentices
will be packed off to Lincoln's inn, as they formerly were sent to
sea, to be reclaimed by its trials and hardships. Who knows but the
Bar, also, may be reduced to a state of such abject penury, that
we may see a Joseph Ady sitting on the woolsack, sending out
letters to all clients, to the effect that, if they have their causes
tried before him, and will send him a sovereign, they may probably
" hear of something to their advantage."
The following has been confidentially sent to us by one of the most
respectable practitioners in Carey Street, as the copy of a Bill of Costs,
for a trifling Wrif, as it will be in 1852 :—
smith v. jones. s. a.
Writing Letter for payment of Debt......0 6
Instructions for Writ..........10
Writ.......... . . .0 1}
Copy to Serve and Service........0 9
Affidavit of Service..........0 5$
Attending to Swear, and paid Swearing . . . . ..12
Searching for Appearance ........0 6
Instructions for Declaration......t • ' i-0 8
Drawing Declaration, 12 folios (at per folio) . . . . j
5 2
The Bill is much longer, but we have given sufficient to prove the
extreme lowness of the charges. The worst is, the poor Lawyers receive
no pity. Every one laughs at them. Their misery seems to be a joke
universally enjoyed. Perhaps the retribution is but just. Those who
proverbially have had no pity for others in distress, are properly punished
if they receive none, now that they are distressed themselves.
Removals and Promotions,
PATHOLOGICAL EXHIBITION AT THE ROYAL
ACADEMY.
(Noticed by our Surgical Adviser.)
The Painter has hitherto done little for Medicine but hold its pro-
fessors up to ridicule. Ti'is year, however, our science has received a
tribute in the picture No. 518, at the Royal Academy's Exhibition.
The interest of this work is purely pathological; the figures in it being
simply illustrations of the scrofulous or strumous diathesis. Their
emaciated bodies, their shrunken legs, and tumid ancles, are the well-
known characteristics of that morbid state of system. The incipient
oedema of the lower extremities is faithfully portrayed; though, in con-
nection with this symptom, which indicates far-gone disease, the
abdominal tension might have been more strongly marked. The boy,
advancing with the bowl of water, exemplifies a splendid case of rhachitis,
or rickets ; and the osteological distortions of his frame have been cor-
rectly copied from Ihe skeleton. The child in the centre is expressively
represented with the red hair, light eyebrows, and mottled complexion,
which betoken the extreme of struma. The female figure kissing it,
apparently its mother, is endowed by the artist with the same pecu-
liarities, in accordance with the law of hereditary transmission. With
a nice discernment, too, the squalid filth for which the whole group is
remarkable, is associated with a disorder notoriously connected with dirt.
The drawing of the figures evinces minute study in the demonstration-
room.
To render the phenomena of morbid anatomy is clearly the speciality
of the artist. His talent for exact imitation, properly applied, might
preserve for us many specimens which we vainly endeavour to keep in-
spirits. The productions of his pencil, thus directed, would eciipse
everything in Bailliere's shop-window; but he should limit himself
to the strictly human subject. No. 518 has no title ; but subjoined
to it there is a text suggesting that it is meant for the Holy Family.
Now the persons depic ed in it seem to be mere portraits, taken from
life at the Orthopcedic Institution. Though iuteresting to the eye of
medicine, to the non-professional beholder they are unpleasant—not to-
ssy, revolting. They appear to savour, as has been intimated, of an
unacquaintance with soap and water much at variance with the maxim
which adjoins cleanliness to sanctity. Scrofula, moreover, is a Northern
disease; and its antecedents, besides nastiness, are irregularities in
living. The figures in question are so many examples of the conse-
quences of transgressing the laws of health. The genius requisite tor
" High Art " should include some creative power, sense of beauty, and
perception of congruities and incongruities. It will be a pity if this
gentleman does not turn his abilities—which, in the mechanical way,,
are great—to the illustration of Cooeer's Surgical Dictionary; and
leave the Testament alone.
The Central Protection Society : to the Chartist Hall, St. John's
Street.
To Van Dietnen's Land: — Chowler, Esq., vice Cuefey, pardoned.
THE ANTI-EDUCATION LEAGUE SUBSCRIPTION.
Mb. Punch presents his compliments to Sir Robert Harry Inglis,
and begs to ask whether the Honourable Member for Oxford, Enlighten-
ment, and Toleration, has any idea of the number of those persons,
Churchmen and Dissenters, who share his views on the subject of
education ? Because, in the first place, by insisting on religious ins) ruc-
tion as an indispensable accompaniment to secular education, whilst
differing among themselves as to what religion to teach, they combine
to keep some eight or nine millions of Her Majesty's subjects in
ignorance. Secondly, inasmuch as it has occurred to Mr. Punch that
possibly they might be numerous enough to subscribe, between them,
the trifling sum of £2,000 a day, in which they are morally, if not legally,
indebted to the nation. Precisely this amount, according to the Times,
does Government spend upon the " maintenance, supervision, and cor-
rection " of convicts, or for " Prison and Convict services." Hereunto
might be added the further expense involved in the prosecution of
offenders; however, Mr. Punch does not wish to be too hard on Sir
Robert Harry Inglis and his confederates. But it is ruled inforo
conscientice by Mr. Justice Punch, that they whose mystical polemics
prevent the multitude from being taught plain morals are bound to
defray some part of the damage accruing from their obstinate bigotry.
Mr. Punch, therefore, proposes to trouble the honourable Baronet, and
all who side with him on the Education Question, for that same £2,000
per diem, in order to pay for the Prison and Convict services necessitated
by the want of schooling.
political RTTitOUBS.
Mr. Disraeli passed Buckingham Palace yesterday, and looked up
at the drawing-room-windows three times. On his way home, he
looked in at Apsley House, for the street door happened to be open at
the time he was passing. The ministerial papers made no mention of
these facts.