DOI issue:
July to December, 1850
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16606#0012
4
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
" MUSIC HAS
" Highbury, June 21,1850.
"My dear Mb. Punch,
" In my very jovfulness of heart, I cannot resist writing1 to
you a few lines. You will sympathise with me, I know. Yes ! He
has left at last. He has returned to the country. He has gone home
to his friends, and I am free. Oh, my dear Sir ! how can I describe
the delightful feeling of relief, the—the sensation of almost (if I may
ose such a term) rollicking quiet that I experience, after the
tortures I have endured for this month past ? You may tliink me mad
for writing in this strain to a perfect stranger, (indeed I am perfectly
acquainted with your admirable works) : but no - whatever my mental
disturbance may have been, I believe my mind to be in a tolerably
healthy state now. I feel at peace with all mankind—I can open my
window—I can sit at it. I can go through my accounts ; transact my
business : and—what bliss !—in quiet. Why, Sib,, He would be at
it eor Hours together. Regardless of the feelings of his neigh-
bours he would go from tune to tune, (he never had the perseverance
CHARMS." (?)
to learn one throughout); he would make the poor instrument
gasp, grunt, squeak, puff—and what not; and sometimes — evi-
dently made impatient by Iris own ridiculous incapacity—finish off an
attempted sentimental air with such a flourish of his own composing,
that I positively shudder when I think of it. Well, Sir, all this I have
endured ; and, I flatter myself, like a martyr: and now I am rewarded.
He is gone; and with him, his very unpleasant Cornet-a-piston.
Excuse me, my very dear Sir, for the liberty I have taken in addressing
you ; and believe me ever,
" Your constant, and now happy Subscriber,
" To Punch, Esq., fyc, Sfc, SfC " Frederick Islington."
PROTEST.
"We—Robert Keeley and Edward Wright—find in the Times
the subjoined paragraph in reference to the motion of Lord Brougham
fo turn M. B onsen, the Prussian Minister, out of the Peeresses'
Gallery of the House of Lords.
"' Our brief report of Lord Brougham's speech can give but a faint idea of the
scene. Imagine Wright at the Adelphi, or Keeley uttering a tissue of coarse drolleries,
and giving effect to every point by contortions of face and figure ; and still the image
will fall short of the reality. The gaunt figure of the noble and learned lord, as with
His strong Border "burr" he delivered his points, must be brought before the
imagination.'
" Whereas the above-drawn parallel, in which it is attempted to place
us in the same point of view, as professional comedians, with Henry
Lord Brougham, amateur low comedy man to the House of Lords, is
ldghly detrimental to our professional character as actors, and singularly
unpleasant to our feelings as men, we protest against the repetition of
any such parallel as untrue to the purpose intended, and cruelly unjust
to ourselves. And for these, among other especial reasons :—
"We materially differ from Lord Brougham, inasmuch as we consci-
entiously keep to our own hue of business, never interfering with the
characters of others.
"We only say what is set down for us; and therefore are not, like
Lord Brougham, answerable for all the nonsense that may come out
of our mouths.
"We do not waste the time of the public; but, on the contrary,
improve it, to the public profit and amusement.
" Moreover, we endeavour to hold the mirror up to Nature ; and are
not best satisfied, when we are cutting the most extravagant capers, and
making the ugliest faces at her.
" Finally, if we do chance occasionally to make zanies of ourselves,
we play the fool at a moderate cost, receiving very much less than
£5000 per annum pension for the extravagance.
"(Si°-ned) [Robert Keeley, Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
° 1 Edward Wright, Royal Adelphi."
THE NEW ROYAL GAME OF GOOSE.
This amusement derives its title partly from the circumstance that
the scene of it is one of the Royal Parks, partly from its- fun consisting
in making fools or geese of the British Public The present long
evenings afford great facilities for the diversion under notice ; which is
got up by the gate-keepers of the Green-Park, for the delight of the
rabble. The game is played hi the manner following :—As many pas-
sengers as may present themselves are let into the Green-Park at Hyde-
Park Corner up to 10' o'clock. At 10 precisely the gates are closed,
and the gate-keepers take then departure. The Park remains shut
until 12, when a gate is opened to relieve guard, and the imprisoned
Public may take the opportunity of obtaining relief at the same time.
In the meanwhile' they are confined like birds in a cage, and some
antiquarian in after times will perhaps discover that Birdcage Walk was
so called from its affording a promenade to the ragamuffins collected of
an evening to enjoy the vexation and annoyance of the unlucky persons
caged in the Park adjoining, and gesticulating and vociferating on the
other side of the railings, or making ludicrous efforts to clamber over
them amid the derision and execrations of the beholders.
Mr. Campkin, the Librarian to the Reform Club, who called attention
the other day to this waggery of the Woods and Forests in the Times,
well remarks that " written notices seven or eight feet high are not
very legible at dusk." We may add, that if the notices stating the
hours of closing the Parks were ever so conspicuous, it is not everybody
that runs who could, read them in the present state of popular education.
The New Royal Game of Goose may be very droll; but surely the
Woods and Forests,, and the Gatekeepers, and the Ranger, might
devise some practical joke more harmless than that of cooping people
up in the night air from 10 to 12, in this country of bronchitis and
consumption.
the city article.
A well-known Alderman was taken to see the Hippopotamus.
He looked at it intently for a quarter of an hour, and then burst out of
his reverie with the following remark :—" I wonder what sort of soup
it would make ! "
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
" MUSIC HAS
" Highbury, June 21,1850.
"My dear Mb. Punch,
" In my very jovfulness of heart, I cannot resist writing1 to
you a few lines. You will sympathise with me, I know. Yes ! He
has left at last. He has returned to the country. He has gone home
to his friends, and I am free. Oh, my dear Sir ! how can I describe
the delightful feeling of relief, the—the sensation of almost (if I may
ose such a term) rollicking quiet that I experience, after the
tortures I have endured for this month past ? You may tliink me mad
for writing in this strain to a perfect stranger, (indeed I am perfectly
acquainted with your admirable works) : but no - whatever my mental
disturbance may have been, I believe my mind to be in a tolerably
healthy state now. I feel at peace with all mankind—I can open my
window—I can sit at it. I can go through my accounts ; transact my
business : and—what bliss !—in quiet. Why, Sib,, He would be at
it eor Hours together. Regardless of the feelings of his neigh-
bours he would go from tune to tune, (he never had the perseverance
CHARMS." (?)
to learn one throughout); he would make the poor instrument
gasp, grunt, squeak, puff—and what not; and sometimes — evi-
dently made impatient by Iris own ridiculous incapacity—finish off an
attempted sentimental air with such a flourish of his own composing,
that I positively shudder when I think of it. Well, Sir, all this I have
endured ; and, I flatter myself, like a martyr: and now I am rewarded.
He is gone; and with him, his very unpleasant Cornet-a-piston.
Excuse me, my very dear Sir, for the liberty I have taken in addressing
you ; and believe me ever,
" Your constant, and now happy Subscriber,
" To Punch, Esq., fyc, Sfc, SfC " Frederick Islington."
PROTEST.
"We—Robert Keeley and Edward Wright—find in the Times
the subjoined paragraph in reference to the motion of Lord Brougham
fo turn M. B onsen, the Prussian Minister, out of the Peeresses'
Gallery of the House of Lords.
"' Our brief report of Lord Brougham's speech can give but a faint idea of the
scene. Imagine Wright at the Adelphi, or Keeley uttering a tissue of coarse drolleries,
and giving effect to every point by contortions of face and figure ; and still the image
will fall short of the reality. The gaunt figure of the noble and learned lord, as with
His strong Border "burr" he delivered his points, must be brought before the
imagination.'
" Whereas the above-drawn parallel, in which it is attempted to place
us in the same point of view, as professional comedians, with Henry
Lord Brougham, amateur low comedy man to the House of Lords, is
ldghly detrimental to our professional character as actors, and singularly
unpleasant to our feelings as men, we protest against the repetition of
any such parallel as untrue to the purpose intended, and cruelly unjust
to ourselves. And for these, among other especial reasons :—
"We materially differ from Lord Brougham, inasmuch as we consci-
entiously keep to our own hue of business, never interfering with the
characters of others.
"We only say what is set down for us; and therefore are not, like
Lord Brougham, answerable for all the nonsense that may come out
of our mouths.
"We do not waste the time of the public; but, on the contrary,
improve it, to the public profit and amusement.
" Moreover, we endeavour to hold the mirror up to Nature ; and are
not best satisfied, when we are cutting the most extravagant capers, and
making the ugliest faces at her.
" Finally, if we do chance occasionally to make zanies of ourselves,
we play the fool at a moderate cost, receiving very much less than
£5000 per annum pension for the extravagance.
"(Si°-ned) [Robert Keeley, Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
° 1 Edward Wright, Royal Adelphi."
THE NEW ROYAL GAME OF GOOSE.
This amusement derives its title partly from the circumstance that
the scene of it is one of the Royal Parks, partly from its- fun consisting
in making fools or geese of the British Public The present long
evenings afford great facilities for the diversion under notice ; which is
got up by the gate-keepers of the Green-Park, for the delight of the
rabble. The game is played hi the manner following :—As many pas-
sengers as may present themselves are let into the Green-Park at Hyde-
Park Corner up to 10' o'clock. At 10 precisely the gates are closed,
and the gate-keepers take then departure. The Park remains shut
until 12, when a gate is opened to relieve guard, and the imprisoned
Public may take the opportunity of obtaining relief at the same time.
In the meanwhile' they are confined like birds in a cage, and some
antiquarian in after times will perhaps discover that Birdcage Walk was
so called from its affording a promenade to the ragamuffins collected of
an evening to enjoy the vexation and annoyance of the unlucky persons
caged in the Park adjoining, and gesticulating and vociferating on the
other side of the railings, or making ludicrous efforts to clamber over
them amid the derision and execrations of the beholders.
Mr. Campkin, the Librarian to the Reform Club, who called attention
the other day to this waggery of the Woods and Forests in the Times,
well remarks that " written notices seven or eight feet high are not
very legible at dusk." We may add, that if the notices stating the
hours of closing the Parks were ever so conspicuous, it is not everybody
that runs who could, read them in the present state of popular education.
The New Royal Game of Goose may be very droll; but surely the
Woods and Forests,, and the Gatekeepers, and the Ranger, might
devise some practical joke more harmless than that of cooping people
up in the night air from 10 to 12, in this country of bronchitis and
consumption.
the city article.
A well-known Alderman was taken to see the Hippopotamus.
He looked at it intently for a quarter of an hour, and then burst out of
his reverie with the following remark :—" I wonder what sort of soup
it would make ! "