DOI Heft:
July to December, 1854
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16614#0089
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHAEIVARI.
81
Elgin had left no stone unturned, and had consequently obtained a
right to turn an honest penny.
The Government of that day, like the Government of almost every
other day, refused to contribute anything to the advancement of art as
a national object—a matter in which Governments seldom interfere,
except to be alternately penny wise and pound foolish. Lord Elgin
was therefore left to prosecute his task at his own cost, and to save
these marbles from the Turks, who were in the habit of amusing them-
selves by taking shots at the figures, which would probably have ended
in macadamising the streets of Athens, if they had not been pre-
served to pave the way to a new and improved standard of taste in
England.
These marbles tell their own story so well, that we shall not insult
the sculptor Phidias by pointing to the procession on the frieze, and
saying, "those figures are men on horseback," or "that article is
intended for a helmet,"—a style of description which is justified by
nothing but the failure of the artist to express his own meaning.
No. 187 represents Niobe, whose boast, like that of _ a witness
in a police court, was to be " the mother of a large family." Tnis
reiteration of the rather doubtful merit of extensive maternity, rendered
Niobe such a nuisance, that one day when bursting out in her favourite
character of the " mother of fourteen children,5^ she insulted Laiona,
who happened to come in her way, by throwing in the face of the latter
the whole of their aggregate families. Latona's irritation induced her
to complain to her own offspring, Apollo and Diana., who at cnce
abated the Niobe nuisance by destroying the Niobe children. One
only was spared, a daughter, named Chlobis, who is represented in the
Crystal Palace as attending on Niobe herself, who having been formerly
all fire and fury, became all water and slop, for she took to perpetual
tears, and after having been nearly all her life a roaring termagant, she
ended her days as a crying evil. The group has been assigned to
Praxiteles, though in some parts the critics pretend to trace an
inferior chisel.
No. 198 will be easily recognised as the renowned Venus de
Medicis, of which the original may be seen at Florence. This statue
has been more written on perhaps than any statue in the world, though
after all that has been said, it tells its own story best in a few lines of
beauty. The moderns have had a hand—indeed two hands—in this
work of art, for the arms are both of them "restorations."
Without descending from the pedestal of the writer to the rostrum
of the auctioneer, it would be impossible to enumerate all the objects of
interest in the Greek Court of the Crystal Palace. In a mere Catalogue
they number 217 Lots, scarcely one of which can be said to fall under
the common lot, for genius has given to nearly every one a sort of
immortality. _ Were we to attempt to do justice to each and all of the
numerous objects that claim our admiration, we should be compelled to
anticipate a very important addition to the Greek Court, for we should
be occupied till the arrival of the Greek Kalends.
JOLLY COMPANIONS.
We do not object to the
moderate use of gene-
rous liquor: we only
condemn the abuse
of it. Drunkenness
is bad enough in a
man, but in a multi-
tude it is terrible.
What, then, will the
readers of Punch
think of the conduct
described in the fol-
lowing extracts taken
from a contempo-
rary, without any
alteration or addition
in as far as the nar-
rative relates to acts
and deeds ?—
" Great Bacchana-
lian Demonstration.—
Several thousands of
topers congregated yester-
day morning in Russell
Square, for the purpose
ot paying their fourth
annual visit to the Surrey
Zoological Gardens."
A very suitable
place of resort, you
would say, for those
who make beasts of
themselves.
" Every part of London and its suburbs contributed its quota to the general mass; and by the time the pro-
cession was ready to start, it was found that Russell Square, capacious as it is, would not hold it, and large bodies
of persons had to move down the adjoining streets in order to give the leaders an opportunity of making a dignified
exit. Every description of vehicle which could be begged or borrowed was brought into requisition to convey
the enthusiastic votaries of Bacchus, and the procession was made of omnibuses, cabs, clarences, broughams,
gigs, &c, headed by bands of music, the vigour of which must have taken the aristocratic residents of Russell
Square and its neighbourhood not a little by surprise."
This must have been a slight nuisance—particularly to any inhabitant of the vicinity troubled
with a headache. Those who ought to know what "that suffering is might have been more
considerate. Besides, how could they tell that they were not disturbing somebody's last
moments, or the first moments of somebody else—and the repose of somebody else's mamma ?
■' Shortly after 11 o'clock the procession made a start, amid the deafening cheers of the persons who composed
it, some hundreds ot whom were children, designated the ' Band of Hops,' who are bound by a solemn league
and covenant never to drink water themselves, and to discourage the practice in others."
As if children were capable of being bound—except by their sponsors —to any league or
covenant whaiever; whether solemn or absurd: whether to drink water or brandy. Such
children must be very precocious; but an unhealthy precocity is one of the results of gin:
and children who vow to discourage any practice on the part of others, but that of doing
mischief or of eating trash, must have been previously seduced into an extreme state of liquor.
" Mr. Hough, the well known Bacchanalian singer, whose sudden and remarkable transition from teetotalism
to habitual inebriety is well known, headed the procession which moved along Tottenham Court Road, Oxford
Street, Regent Street, Pall-Mail, Whitehall, Parliament Street, over "Westminster Bridge, down the York Road
to Blackfriars Road, and thence through Walworth to the Surrey Gardens, where a grand fite took place."
What an intolerable obstruction in the streets they must have created!
" On entering the Gardens, there was a gathering by the Band of Hops, when each member was presented by THROWING away the SWOrd, and keeping the
Me. Hough with his ' Address to the Young.' Afterwards there was a meeting on the lawn, at which Mr. Hough, Scabbard.
Mr. Gormond, and other gentlemen spoke on the subject
of drinking. Later in the day there were salutes of
cannon, and musical performances by various professionals.
In the evening there was a display of fireworks, and other
representations for which the Surrey Gardens are so re-
markable. The whole of the proceedings, which were
very well managed, were under the direction of the London
Bacchanalian League."
Here were rare orgies ! Here was a jolly row S
A mob choking the thoroughfares, parading the
streets with bands of music, shouting, bellowing,
vociferating, for no reason whatever, and utter-
ing " deafening cheers" to the annoyance, if
not injury, of everybody except the aurists, and
Messrs. Solomons—what are we to think of
such a concourse but that it was a most tipsy
rabble? What is such outrageous conduct as
this indicative of but of being half-seas-over,
three sheets in the wind, bosky, beery, screwed,
the worse for liquor—much the worse—so much
the worse as to be literally roaring drunk. We
naturally ask what these roysterers had beer*
having, and what they had been giving the un-
happy infants whom they encouraged to imitate
their own noisy and riotous behaviour ?
But we are going too fast—like the people
whose extravagances are above related. There
are a few corrections to be made in the foregoing
quotations from the Times. Eor "Bacchanalian"
read "Temperance," and carry out the same
principle of emendation to the end. Substitute
"Band of Hope " for "Band of Hops," and alter
"Bacchanalian singer" into "Temperance ora-
tor," call the gentleman alluded to Gough,
instead of Hough, and reverse the statement
made respecting his change of habits. With
such exceptions as these, however, we have
faithfully transcribed our contemporary's report
of the "Great Temperance Demonstration."
The uproar, the obstruction, the wild excitement,
the tumultuous disorderly behaviour on which
we have commented, are facts. Only they were
not, at least they professedly were not, the
results of intoxicating drink. They were meant
for manifestations of total abstinence; on behalf
of which system they afford just this argument,
that the great mass of teetotallers can make
as great fools of themselves on water as other
people can be made by alcoholic fluids, and
get as tipsy on tea, or on nothing, as ordinary
individuals can on wine and grog. Thus a tee-
totaller might be considered to be a person
who abstains from fermented liquors because
he can be sufficiently drank without them.
Aberdeen's system of warfare.
81
Elgin had left no stone unturned, and had consequently obtained a
right to turn an honest penny.
The Government of that day, like the Government of almost every
other day, refused to contribute anything to the advancement of art as
a national object—a matter in which Governments seldom interfere,
except to be alternately penny wise and pound foolish. Lord Elgin
was therefore left to prosecute his task at his own cost, and to save
these marbles from the Turks, who were in the habit of amusing them-
selves by taking shots at the figures, which would probably have ended
in macadamising the streets of Athens, if they had not been pre-
served to pave the way to a new and improved standard of taste in
England.
These marbles tell their own story so well, that we shall not insult
the sculptor Phidias by pointing to the procession on the frieze, and
saying, "those figures are men on horseback," or "that article is
intended for a helmet,"—a style of description which is justified by
nothing but the failure of the artist to express his own meaning.
No. 187 represents Niobe, whose boast, like that of _ a witness
in a police court, was to be " the mother of a large family." Tnis
reiteration of the rather doubtful merit of extensive maternity, rendered
Niobe such a nuisance, that one day when bursting out in her favourite
character of the " mother of fourteen children,5^ she insulted Laiona,
who happened to come in her way, by throwing in the face of the latter
the whole of their aggregate families. Latona's irritation induced her
to complain to her own offspring, Apollo and Diana., who at cnce
abated the Niobe nuisance by destroying the Niobe children. One
only was spared, a daughter, named Chlobis, who is represented in the
Crystal Palace as attending on Niobe herself, who having been formerly
all fire and fury, became all water and slop, for she took to perpetual
tears, and after having been nearly all her life a roaring termagant, she
ended her days as a crying evil. The group has been assigned to
Praxiteles, though in some parts the critics pretend to trace an
inferior chisel.
No. 198 will be easily recognised as the renowned Venus de
Medicis, of which the original may be seen at Florence. This statue
has been more written on perhaps than any statue in the world, though
after all that has been said, it tells its own story best in a few lines of
beauty. The moderns have had a hand—indeed two hands—in this
work of art, for the arms are both of them "restorations."
Without descending from the pedestal of the writer to the rostrum
of the auctioneer, it would be impossible to enumerate all the objects of
interest in the Greek Court of the Crystal Palace. In a mere Catalogue
they number 217 Lots, scarcely one of which can be said to fall under
the common lot, for genius has given to nearly every one a sort of
immortality. _ Were we to attempt to do justice to each and all of the
numerous objects that claim our admiration, we should be compelled to
anticipate a very important addition to the Greek Court, for we should
be occupied till the arrival of the Greek Kalends.
JOLLY COMPANIONS.
We do not object to the
moderate use of gene-
rous liquor: we only
condemn the abuse
of it. Drunkenness
is bad enough in a
man, but in a multi-
tude it is terrible.
What, then, will the
readers of Punch
think of the conduct
described in the fol-
lowing extracts taken
from a contempo-
rary, without any
alteration or addition
in as far as the nar-
rative relates to acts
and deeds ?—
" Great Bacchana-
lian Demonstration.—
Several thousands of
topers congregated yester-
day morning in Russell
Square, for the purpose
ot paying their fourth
annual visit to the Surrey
Zoological Gardens."
A very suitable
place of resort, you
would say, for those
who make beasts of
themselves.
" Every part of London and its suburbs contributed its quota to the general mass; and by the time the pro-
cession was ready to start, it was found that Russell Square, capacious as it is, would not hold it, and large bodies
of persons had to move down the adjoining streets in order to give the leaders an opportunity of making a dignified
exit. Every description of vehicle which could be begged or borrowed was brought into requisition to convey
the enthusiastic votaries of Bacchus, and the procession was made of omnibuses, cabs, clarences, broughams,
gigs, &c, headed by bands of music, the vigour of which must have taken the aristocratic residents of Russell
Square and its neighbourhood not a little by surprise."
This must have been a slight nuisance—particularly to any inhabitant of the vicinity troubled
with a headache. Those who ought to know what "that suffering is might have been more
considerate. Besides, how could they tell that they were not disturbing somebody's last
moments, or the first moments of somebody else—and the repose of somebody else's mamma ?
■' Shortly after 11 o'clock the procession made a start, amid the deafening cheers of the persons who composed
it, some hundreds ot whom were children, designated the ' Band of Hops,' who are bound by a solemn league
and covenant never to drink water themselves, and to discourage the practice in others."
As if children were capable of being bound—except by their sponsors —to any league or
covenant whaiever; whether solemn or absurd: whether to drink water or brandy. Such
children must be very precocious; but an unhealthy precocity is one of the results of gin:
and children who vow to discourage any practice on the part of others, but that of doing
mischief or of eating trash, must have been previously seduced into an extreme state of liquor.
" Mr. Hough, the well known Bacchanalian singer, whose sudden and remarkable transition from teetotalism
to habitual inebriety is well known, headed the procession which moved along Tottenham Court Road, Oxford
Street, Regent Street, Pall-Mail, Whitehall, Parliament Street, over "Westminster Bridge, down the York Road
to Blackfriars Road, and thence through Walworth to the Surrey Gardens, where a grand fite took place."
What an intolerable obstruction in the streets they must have created!
" On entering the Gardens, there was a gathering by the Band of Hops, when each member was presented by THROWING away the SWOrd, and keeping the
Me. Hough with his ' Address to the Young.' Afterwards there was a meeting on the lawn, at which Mr. Hough, Scabbard.
Mr. Gormond, and other gentlemen spoke on the subject
of drinking. Later in the day there were salutes of
cannon, and musical performances by various professionals.
In the evening there was a display of fireworks, and other
representations for which the Surrey Gardens are so re-
markable. The whole of the proceedings, which were
very well managed, were under the direction of the London
Bacchanalian League."
Here were rare orgies ! Here was a jolly row S
A mob choking the thoroughfares, parading the
streets with bands of music, shouting, bellowing,
vociferating, for no reason whatever, and utter-
ing " deafening cheers" to the annoyance, if
not injury, of everybody except the aurists, and
Messrs. Solomons—what are we to think of
such a concourse but that it was a most tipsy
rabble? What is such outrageous conduct as
this indicative of but of being half-seas-over,
three sheets in the wind, bosky, beery, screwed,
the worse for liquor—much the worse—so much
the worse as to be literally roaring drunk. We
naturally ask what these roysterers had beer*
having, and what they had been giving the un-
happy infants whom they encouraged to imitate
their own noisy and riotous behaviour ?
But we are going too fast—like the people
whose extravagances are above related. There
are a few corrections to be made in the foregoing
quotations from the Times. Eor "Bacchanalian"
read "Temperance," and carry out the same
principle of emendation to the end. Substitute
"Band of Hope " for "Band of Hops," and alter
"Bacchanalian singer" into "Temperance ora-
tor," call the gentleman alluded to Gough,
instead of Hough, and reverse the statement
made respecting his change of habits. With
such exceptions as these, however, we have
faithfully transcribed our contemporary's report
of the "Great Temperance Demonstration."
The uproar, the obstruction, the wild excitement,
the tumultuous disorderly behaviour on which
we have commented, are facts. Only they were
not, at least they professedly were not, the
results of intoxicating drink. They were meant
for manifestations of total abstinence; on behalf
of which system they afford just this argument,
that the great mass of teetotallers can make
as great fools of themselves on water as other
people can be made by alcoholic fluids, and
get as tipsy on tea, or on nothing, as ordinary
individuals can on wine and grog. Thus a tee-
totaller might be considered to be a person
who abstains from fermented liquors because
he can be sufficiently drank without them.
Aberdeen's system of warfare.