DOI Heft:
September 15, 1855
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16616#0124
112
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[September 15, 1855.
X
PUNCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHAKSPEARE.
" And breathe short-winded accents of new BROILS."
Henry TV. Part 1, Act i., Scene 1.
SUICIDE BY STATUTE.
The new Health of Towns Act is a capital Act, but one
of its clauses seems to contemplate the infliction of capital
punishment. In speaking of a place pronounced to De
injurious to health, the legislature has declared it shall be
''unlawful to live in it," and therefore the only legal
course will be to die in it as soon as po-sible. We should
be glad to have the opinion of the law officers of the Crown
on the point, whether in a place where it is "unlawful to
live," and consequently obligatory—under the Act of Par-
liament—to die, suicide will cease to be a crime, and
become simply permissive, or actually imperative? We
should be gratified, also, to be informed, whether all persons
whose existence is declared unlawful, are to be liable to be
executed according to law; or whether in the event of
their not perishing by their own hands, when it becomes
" unlawful to live," they may appoint their own executors
or executioners. We presume that, although there may be
some places in which it will be " unlawful to live," it will
always be lawful to " hang out," in a sense more literal
than agreeable.
ALEXANDER'S MASKED BALL.
The Czar is said to have commanded a series of mas-
querades, in order to recruit the spirits of his subjects, by
way of compensation for the recruits which they are daily
compelled to afford his army. We have not been furnished
with a programme of any one of the entertainments; but
we suppose that the celebrated Lance of Death, arranged
upon the model of Holbein's work, would be a principal
feature of them. The masquerade, to be complete and
characteristic, should include a masked battery, which,
accompanying the fiddles, might play upon his Russian
Majesty's own people. A Flag of Truce Dance should be
composed for the occasion, to be performed by Dol-
gorouski and Gortschakoef, with all the flower of Russian
chivalry, in the character and costume of Ojibbeway Indians.
These masquerades will not deceive Europe. Russia threw
off the mask when she invaded the Principalities, and will
get no good by resuming it now.
Procrastination.—It is with our good intentions as with
our dishes—to-morrow is but too often the hash of to-day.
"THAT FELL SERJEANT," ADAMS!
A great compliment has, all unwillingly, all unconsciously, been paid
to the undaunted, unbending integrity of Sebjeant Adams. To be
sure, the eulogist does not hold a very high position in the world : and
—the pillory being abolished—may never achieve the elevation that, in
other times, might have rewarded him. In a word, John Jacobs, the
eulogist of the Serjeant is, in the stern English of the police-reporter,
" a well-known Jew thief and burglar." Nevertheless, even a Jew thief
may be capable of fine appreciation of character, and truth—to his own
astonishment—may break out from the lips of a burglar.
Mr. Ingham, the magistrate, proposed to send John Jacobs to
Clerkenwell to be tried. John Jacobs had strong objections to such a
movement. The earnest burglar observed, "I would rather not go
before Serjeant Adams." He repeated his objection; and at last
emphatically declared, that "old Adams would convict his own
mother."
Surely " this is more than Greek, and more than Roman fame !" We
have had Brutus condemning his own son ; and we know—especially
at college—how very stoically sons do sometimes sacrifice their own
fathers; but for a Serjeant to suppress within him all filial risings, to
put down the hysterica passio, and convict his maternal parent, is the
very martyrdom of duty !
We earnestly propose the subject to Academician Ward. It would
make a fine fresco, and would be an illustrative and enduring memorial
of the judicial inflexibility of Serjeant Adams as avouched by burglar
Jacobs. We leave the treatment of the subject in the hands of the
painter, merely stipulating for the introduction, in some corner, of
Jacobs himself, looking straight at the Serjeant—straight as the crow-
bar flies._ This is due to the thief and housebreaker as the proposer of
the subject. We are all familiar with the deluxe—Chief-Justice
Gascoigne commits the Prince of Wales; but, how poor the theme to
that of—Mr. Serjeant Adams convicts his own Mother ; Mr. John Hum-
phreys Parry, with all his horse-hair on end, vainly striving to move
In arrest of judgment!
"THEN MUST THE JEW BE MERCIFUL."
The " cruel Jew" was an old phrase, dear to persecutors, but one
did not expect to find it justified in the present day. It appear.-, how-
ever, that the Animals' Friend Society have discovered that the mode
in which the Jews put to death the creatures they eat is especially bar-
barous, and the law is invoked to put a stop to the system, under which
it is alleged that a poor ox is a quarter of an hour in dying. Time has
been given to the Jews to get up their defence, their advocate intimating
that "their religious liberties might be involved in the question." We
trust it will be found that they are not, and that a Jew may be as free
as possible, without the necessity of his torturing beasts to show his
liberty. Anyhow, such practices must be abandoned, the rabbi must
be merciful to the rabbit", and however little else a Jew may stick at,
he must stick at a sheep with humane promptitude. Surely those who
were divinely forbidden even to " muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn," must misread any order which they imagine directs them to kill
him by inches. " We all expect a gentle answer, gentlemen of the
Hebrew persuasion."__
Sadly Flippant.
A local newspaper says,
" a marriage was solemnised at Darton on Monday, which excited much interest in
that locality. In the procession were seven asses, gaily decked out."
A heartless and disrespectful wretch, whom Mr. Fundi mstantlr
kicked out of his office, remarked, on reading the paragraph, " What a
fuss to make about five more than ordinary."
Our Foreign Relations.
England and France have turned pawnbrokers in favour of Turkev,
offering to lend it so many millions upon such and such security. In
honour of this monetary alliance, we should not be at all astonished, if,
for the future, every Mont de Piete in Paris, and every pawnbroker's in
London, were to take for its sign,—La Tante Cordiale.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[September 15, 1855.
X
PUNCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHAKSPEARE.
" And breathe short-winded accents of new BROILS."
Henry TV. Part 1, Act i., Scene 1.
SUICIDE BY STATUTE.
The new Health of Towns Act is a capital Act, but one
of its clauses seems to contemplate the infliction of capital
punishment. In speaking of a place pronounced to De
injurious to health, the legislature has declared it shall be
''unlawful to live in it," and therefore the only legal
course will be to die in it as soon as po-sible. We should
be glad to have the opinion of the law officers of the Crown
on the point, whether in a place where it is "unlawful to
live," and consequently obligatory—under the Act of Par-
liament—to die, suicide will cease to be a crime, and
become simply permissive, or actually imperative? We
should be gratified, also, to be informed, whether all persons
whose existence is declared unlawful, are to be liable to be
executed according to law; or whether in the event of
their not perishing by their own hands, when it becomes
" unlawful to live," they may appoint their own executors
or executioners. We presume that, although there may be
some places in which it will be " unlawful to live," it will
always be lawful to " hang out," in a sense more literal
than agreeable.
ALEXANDER'S MASKED BALL.
The Czar is said to have commanded a series of mas-
querades, in order to recruit the spirits of his subjects, by
way of compensation for the recruits which they are daily
compelled to afford his army. We have not been furnished
with a programme of any one of the entertainments; but
we suppose that the celebrated Lance of Death, arranged
upon the model of Holbein's work, would be a principal
feature of them. The masquerade, to be complete and
characteristic, should include a masked battery, which,
accompanying the fiddles, might play upon his Russian
Majesty's own people. A Flag of Truce Dance should be
composed for the occasion, to be performed by Dol-
gorouski and Gortschakoef, with all the flower of Russian
chivalry, in the character and costume of Ojibbeway Indians.
These masquerades will not deceive Europe. Russia threw
off the mask when she invaded the Principalities, and will
get no good by resuming it now.
Procrastination.—It is with our good intentions as with
our dishes—to-morrow is but too often the hash of to-day.
"THAT FELL SERJEANT," ADAMS!
A great compliment has, all unwillingly, all unconsciously, been paid
to the undaunted, unbending integrity of Sebjeant Adams. To be
sure, the eulogist does not hold a very high position in the world : and
—the pillory being abolished—may never achieve the elevation that, in
other times, might have rewarded him. In a word, John Jacobs, the
eulogist of the Serjeant is, in the stern English of the police-reporter,
" a well-known Jew thief and burglar." Nevertheless, even a Jew thief
may be capable of fine appreciation of character, and truth—to his own
astonishment—may break out from the lips of a burglar.
Mr. Ingham, the magistrate, proposed to send John Jacobs to
Clerkenwell to be tried. John Jacobs had strong objections to such a
movement. The earnest burglar observed, "I would rather not go
before Serjeant Adams." He repeated his objection; and at last
emphatically declared, that "old Adams would convict his own
mother."
Surely " this is more than Greek, and more than Roman fame !" We
have had Brutus condemning his own son ; and we know—especially
at college—how very stoically sons do sometimes sacrifice their own
fathers; but for a Serjeant to suppress within him all filial risings, to
put down the hysterica passio, and convict his maternal parent, is the
very martyrdom of duty !
We earnestly propose the subject to Academician Ward. It would
make a fine fresco, and would be an illustrative and enduring memorial
of the judicial inflexibility of Serjeant Adams as avouched by burglar
Jacobs. We leave the treatment of the subject in the hands of the
painter, merely stipulating for the introduction, in some corner, of
Jacobs himself, looking straight at the Serjeant—straight as the crow-
bar flies._ This is due to the thief and housebreaker as the proposer of
the subject. We are all familiar with the deluxe—Chief-Justice
Gascoigne commits the Prince of Wales; but, how poor the theme to
that of—Mr. Serjeant Adams convicts his own Mother ; Mr. John Hum-
phreys Parry, with all his horse-hair on end, vainly striving to move
In arrest of judgment!
"THEN MUST THE JEW BE MERCIFUL."
The " cruel Jew" was an old phrase, dear to persecutors, but one
did not expect to find it justified in the present day. It appear.-, how-
ever, that the Animals' Friend Society have discovered that the mode
in which the Jews put to death the creatures they eat is especially bar-
barous, and the law is invoked to put a stop to the system, under which
it is alleged that a poor ox is a quarter of an hour in dying. Time has
been given to the Jews to get up their defence, their advocate intimating
that "their religious liberties might be involved in the question." We
trust it will be found that they are not, and that a Jew may be as free
as possible, without the necessity of his torturing beasts to show his
liberty. Anyhow, such practices must be abandoned, the rabbi must
be merciful to the rabbit", and however little else a Jew may stick at,
he must stick at a sheep with humane promptitude. Surely those who
were divinely forbidden even to " muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn," must misread any order which they imagine directs them to kill
him by inches. " We all expect a gentle answer, gentlemen of the
Hebrew persuasion."__
Sadly Flippant.
A local newspaper says,
" a marriage was solemnised at Darton on Monday, which excited much interest in
that locality. In the procession were seven asses, gaily decked out."
A heartless and disrespectful wretch, whom Mr. Fundi mstantlr
kicked out of his office, remarked, on reading the paragraph, " What a
fuss to make about five more than ordinary."
Our Foreign Relations.
England and France have turned pawnbrokers in favour of Turkev,
offering to lend it so many millions upon such and such security. In
honour of this monetary alliance, we should not be at all astonished, if,
for the future, every Mont de Piete in Paris, and every pawnbroker's in
London, were to take for its sign,—La Tante Cordiale.