Punch (29.1855)

212

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[November 24, 1855.

PUHCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SH-AKSPEAB.E.

Enter Maria and Clown.
Maria. " Put on this gown and this beard ; make him believe thou art Sir Topas the curate."

Twelfth Night, Act iv., Scene 2.

JONATHAN A PEACE-MAKER.

It is avouched in the New York Herald, that
an ambassador from Russia will soon arrive at
Washington to a.k "the United States to
mediate between Russia and the Allies." We are
afraid that this mediation would be very like
playing train-oil on a house on fire. Again,
Jonathan cares not to interfere for the mere
unprofitable love of peace-making; being very
much of the philosophic mind of the poet, as
rendered years ago by Caelyle :

" This is neither ray bread, nor my cake,

Why mix myself with other folks charges ;
The fibh all swim at peace in the lake,
And take no heed of the boats and the barges."

Now Uncle Sam is much of this opinion. His
own johnny-cakes are preferred to cabinet-pud-
dings ; and his own bread to any other loaf,—his
chief care to have it very thickly buttered.

Fit Locality.

We beg to congratulate Lord John Russell
upon the selection of the platform from which
he delivered his Lecture upon the "Obstacles
whichhave retarded Moral and Political Liberty:"
The zeal that Exeter Hall has always shown in
advocating and advancing every kind of liberty,
moral and political as well as religious, is so well
known, that a better locality could not possibly
have been selected for the purpose. If there is
a building in London that has, throughout the
whole of its long tolerant career, been less of an
obstacle in the way particularised, we should
say it was decidedly Exeter Hall. It is quite a
Temple of Liberty, and Lord John is in every
sense worthy to be its Prophet!

THE LORDLING'S LECTURE MANIA.

An interesting Lecture was delivered yesterday at the Pumpwater
Young Men's Mutual Instruction Society by Lord Pitz-Mountebank,
on the subject of Entomology.

The noble lord prefaced his observations on the subject-matter of his
discourse by the expression of his sense of inadequacy to the task
which he had undertaken. The term Entomology was derived from the
Greek, and meant "talk about insects." It might be said that insects
were small things; but it was no small thing to talk about them.
■ Insects, from the remotest times, had attracted the attention of phi-
| losophers. Aristotle had penned some valuable observations on them
which were unfortunately lost. There were good grounds also for
believing that Pliny the Elder had written much that was highly
important on the subject of insects. Insects were well known to the
Egyptians; the beetle was an insect, and the Egyptians worshipped
beetles. To worship a black beetle was ridiculous; but was it not
quite as absurd to worship Mammon ? Those who lived in glass-bouses
should not throw stones, although it was to be admitted that the
Crystal Palace at Sydenham was a marvellous edifice. The web of the
spider was a wonderful contrivance, and its meshes were, to the con-
templative mind, suggestive of the arts of diplomacy. No one could
look at an ant's nest without having suggested to him the idea of an in-
dustrious community, and a community not only industrious but sober.
Now let them compare the ant with the fly. The fly was always
getting into liquor, and the consequence, a premature termination of
his career. The blue-bottle was a warning • the bee an example.
The early bird picked up the worm. The tardy locomotion of the snail
and the slug might remind them of the old coa-ches, though they might
also, perhaps, be suggestive of Parliamentary trains, and possibly of
Parliamentary proceedings. A species of caterpillar produced silk, in
the state of raw material, and, so far, resembling a leg of mutton as
delivered by the butcher. The earwig was an insect to which might be
applied the proverb current respecting dogs—" give a dog an ill-name
and hang him." The earwig did not, as the vnlgar belief was, crawl
through people's ears into their brains. This, if he might be pardoned
the observation, was a maggot. The chirp of the cricket on the hearth
had been described as singularly pleasing, and he dared say it was, but,
in the position which it was his lot to occupy, that music was seldom
heard. No station, however, could exempt any man from the attacks
of insects, the names of which it were best to pass over in. silence f jet

thus much he would say, that he hoped our enemies the Russians,
besides the infestations to which they were habituated, would, each of
them, at the conclusion of the stupendous contest in which they are
engaged with us, find himself with what is popularly termed "a flea in
his ear." The Noble Lord, on resuming his seat, was loudly cheered.

SONG OE THE TICKET-OP-LEAVE MAN.

Mid prisons and colonies though we may roam,

Ven you've served out your time, vy ! there's no place like home.
The patter of pals makes a jollity there,

Vich seek through the vorld is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home ! Home ! &c.

An exile from home, freedom dazzles in vain ;

Oh, give me my Pentonwille quarters again.
The gaol birds who come at the Governor's call,

Give me them with that ticket-o'-leave dearer than all.
Home! Home ! &c.

A Villanous Name.

In the Prench news of one of the daily journals, lately, we were
astonished by reading that—

" The Emperor yesterday received at the Palace of St. Cloud, Count Vilain the
Fourteenth, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs."

Vila in the Eotjbteenth ! — fourteen Vilains—a long line of
Vilains, truly; illustrious perhaps for their actions; but certainly of
rather ill name. A Vilain, however, should be a good ambassador,
according to the time-honoured definition of one—" a man sent abroad
to lie for the good of the state."

fine nap sor napiee.

Certain working hatters have presented a gold-bound Admiral's hat
of the very finest nap to Sib Charles Nabieb! It is said Charley
is determined to present the hat at full cock in the face of Sir James
Graham.