DOI Heft:
July 4, 1857
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16620#0014
2
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[July 4, 1857.
man's resume of improprieties, the speech was indulgently listened to
by the Lords. THE STAK OF VALOUR.
The Commons passed the Oaths Bill, after Loud Blandeord had
delivered a dull, and Mr. Drummond a diverting speech against it,
and Mr. O'Donoghue (if this Irish party thinks The Punch is going
to recognise O'D.'s ridiculous assumption of the definite article, as if
there were only one O'D. in the world, whereas there are a dozen in
any court in St. Giles's, Mr. O'Donoghtje makes another blunder) had
objected to it because it was a Ministerial job, intended as a mere sop
to certain Liberals, and because it did not relieve the Papists. A
great manv of the latter voted against the Bill, and the final majority
was but 291 to 168.
An Education Debate, and a still more sensible thing, an Educational
Vote of £361,233, did some credit to the sitting. Bernal Osborne
took an opportunity of saying an agreeable thing to Colonel French,
who had observed upon the attendance of the 79th at the Victoria
Cross distribution. Mr. Osborne said that they would be present
because they were on their way to Dublin, and not on account of their
dress, " a reason that no one but a Militia officer would have dreamed
of." Doubtless Bernal feels towards the Militia the lofty contempt
of an ex-captain in the real Army, but he should not be so rude.
Friday. India was talked of in the Lords, but the Telegraph mes-
sage was still a few hours off, or the tone of the speakers would have
been graver. The chief topic in the Commons was the Wills Bill,
against which divers members emitted the growls of the Proctors,
those of lork especially, selecting as their organ Mr. George Hudson,
formerly Monarch of Railways, but discrowned long ago, for deficient
amounts and cooked accounts, and all that sort of thing, you know.
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
N certain, if not on all railways, an
economy is practised in an article wherein
a rather more liberal expenditure is de-
sirable, which might be incurred without
any appreciable detriment to dividends.
We allude to the parsimony of speech
and pronunciation evinced by those ser-
vants of the various companies, whose
duty it is to shout out the names of
the several stations at which the trains
stop. Many passengers in a long train
are so situated that they cannot see the
station-board, and are accordingly de-
pendent for the knowledge of their
whereabout on the cries of those officials.
Now these cries often consist of abbre-
viations which are quite unintelligible.
On the South Eastern line, the other day,
our ears, at one station, were greeted with
the monosyllabic exclamations of " 'Oss !
'Oss ! " A little farther on, they were
saluted with the equally compendious
vociferations of " N'am! N'am! " These
semi-articulate sounds, we found, on in-
DISTRIBUTED BY THE QUEEN'S OWN HAND,
June 26, 1857.
A rift is made in that dark shade
Which o'er our soldiers flung its blight,
And through the shroud of its cold cloud,
The Star of Valour throws a light.
Low-born and noble, side by side,
Colonel and private, stand to-day:
Their comrades' boast, their country's pride,
Where all were brave, the bravest they!
The fount of Honour, sealed till now
To all save claims of rank and birth,
Makes green the laurel on the brow,
Ennobled but by soldier's worth.
The Queen's own hand, on each brave breast—
Beat it 'neath serge or superfine—
Hangs the plain cross, whose bronze, so prest,
Beameth with more than diamond's shine.
That bronze, cast from the steadfast guns,
Which blazed along the red Redan,
Whose maddening music, while it stuns
The coward, only wakes the man.
From whose hot muzzles was plucked forth,
The fame, their metal now rewards
In these plumed warriors of the North,
These Sailors, Rifles, Linesmen, Guards.
These Heavy Horsemen who rode out,
Stern and sedate, though one to ten:
Then, through the Russian bne in rout,
Stern and sedate, rode back again.
And these Light Horse—of deathless name,
Who charged, unquestioning of their doom,
Through those long miles all fire and flame,
And at the end, a soldier's tomb !
Of these the bravest and the best
Who 'scaped the chance of shot and sword,
England doth, by her Queen, invest
With Valour's Cross—their great reward!
Marking her sense of something, still,
A central nobleness, that lies
Deeper than rank which royal will,
Or birth, or chance, or wealth supplies.
Knighthood that girds all valiant hearts,
Knighthood that crowns each fearless brow;
That Knighthood this bronze cross imparts—
semi-articuiaie sounas we ouna, on m- Let ple and Bat] and Garter bow ,
quiry, to mean JNew Cross and !>yd- j
cnham." Neither of those places hap-'
pened to be our destination; but if we
had been bound for either, we should
certainly have been conveyed beyond it,
save for the vigilance and alertness which
we are happily endowed with, and which we exhibit on all occasions.
How Estimates Grow '
The estimate for the proposed expenditure of the Public Offices is
£5,000,000. The sum originally proposed for building the Houses of
Parliament was £250,000. According to Mr. Wise, this sum has since
grown into an outlay of not less than £2,500,000—that is to say, a modest
excess of precisely ten times the original estimate. Now, if the esti-
mate for the Public Offices is to expand in the like moderate propor-
tion, the ultimate outlay, far from being £5,000,000, will be some
£50,000,000; and as the money goes, we may consider ourselves
extremely lucky, if we get off as cheaply as that! Parliament is sup-
posed to legislate for the million ; and it must be for the million, for it
is but too evident thev take no care of the millions.
WINDOW-GARDENING.
We have seen a wonderful specimen of window-gardening. This
bright specimen may be seen in Regent Street any day, from daylight
until dark, at the Junior United Service Club. You must look up to
the drawing-room window, and there you will behold it in all its efful-
gent beauty. The effect is exceedingly simple, but positively startling
from its excess of simplicity. We have rarely seen an effect so strong pro-
duced by means so limited. You must fancy a wooden box about the
length of your walking-stick and not wider than your bootjack. This
box is painted green-but the bright green of a lady's parasol—a
million times greener than any penny Pickwick ! Well, inside this box
may be distinctly seen a profusion of Mignonette ! It is evidently of
the very best. The stalks tower up to the first sash at least of the
handsome sheet of plate glass that frames it in behind. The leaves
cluster socially together, as thick as policemen at night. First you
have the stone window-sill—on that rests the green box—and soaring
high over them both, you see the Mignonette ! The effect to be appre-
ciated must be seen. In the afternoon, it is seen, perhaps, to the
greatest advantage. When the sun is shining on Mr. Bellew's side of
the street, we have counted as many as ten noses—Roman, Grecian,
, and every nasal order of architecture—leaning lovingly at the same
new definition. j ^me over that simple little box! It is seemingly the members' pride,
A Lady : a Sensitive Plant, that thrives only in the centre of a ■ their joy, their floricultural plaything, their beloved Picciola, the
large Crinoline fence. Rarely seen, excepting by the most practised I veterans' one pet blooming child! The admirals take it in turn to
eye. 1 water it.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[July 4, 1857.
man's resume of improprieties, the speech was indulgently listened to
by the Lords. THE STAK OF VALOUR.
The Commons passed the Oaths Bill, after Loud Blandeord had
delivered a dull, and Mr. Drummond a diverting speech against it,
and Mr. O'Donoghue (if this Irish party thinks The Punch is going
to recognise O'D.'s ridiculous assumption of the definite article, as if
there were only one O'D. in the world, whereas there are a dozen in
any court in St. Giles's, Mr. O'Donoghtje makes another blunder) had
objected to it because it was a Ministerial job, intended as a mere sop
to certain Liberals, and because it did not relieve the Papists. A
great manv of the latter voted against the Bill, and the final majority
was but 291 to 168.
An Education Debate, and a still more sensible thing, an Educational
Vote of £361,233, did some credit to the sitting. Bernal Osborne
took an opportunity of saying an agreeable thing to Colonel French,
who had observed upon the attendance of the 79th at the Victoria
Cross distribution. Mr. Osborne said that they would be present
because they were on their way to Dublin, and not on account of their
dress, " a reason that no one but a Militia officer would have dreamed
of." Doubtless Bernal feels towards the Militia the lofty contempt
of an ex-captain in the real Army, but he should not be so rude.
Friday. India was talked of in the Lords, but the Telegraph mes-
sage was still a few hours off, or the tone of the speakers would have
been graver. The chief topic in the Commons was the Wills Bill,
against which divers members emitted the growls of the Proctors,
those of lork especially, selecting as their organ Mr. George Hudson,
formerly Monarch of Railways, but discrowned long ago, for deficient
amounts and cooked accounts, and all that sort of thing, you know.
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
N certain, if not on all railways, an
economy is practised in an article wherein
a rather more liberal expenditure is de-
sirable, which might be incurred without
any appreciable detriment to dividends.
We allude to the parsimony of speech
and pronunciation evinced by those ser-
vants of the various companies, whose
duty it is to shout out the names of
the several stations at which the trains
stop. Many passengers in a long train
are so situated that they cannot see the
station-board, and are accordingly de-
pendent for the knowledge of their
whereabout on the cries of those officials.
Now these cries often consist of abbre-
viations which are quite unintelligible.
On the South Eastern line, the other day,
our ears, at one station, were greeted with
the monosyllabic exclamations of " 'Oss !
'Oss ! " A little farther on, they were
saluted with the equally compendious
vociferations of " N'am! N'am! " These
semi-articulate sounds, we found, on in-
DISTRIBUTED BY THE QUEEN'S OWN HAND,
June 26, 1857.
A rift is made in that dark shade
Which o'er our soldiers flung its blight,
And through the shroud of its cold cloud,
The Star of Valour throws a light.
Low-born and noble, side by side,
Colonel and private, stand to-day:
Their comrades' boast, their country's pride,
Where all were brave, the bravest they!
The fount of Honour, sealed till now
To all save claims of rank and birth,
Makes green the laurel on the brow,
Ennobled but by soldier's worth.
The Queen's own hand, on each brave breast—
Beat it 'neath serge or superfine—
Hangs the plain cross, whose bronze, so prest,
Beameth with more than diamond's shine.
That bronze, cast from the steadfast guns,
Which blazed along the red Redan,
Whose maddening music, while it stuns
The coward, only wakes the man.
From whose hot muzzles was plucked forth,
The fame, their metal now rewards
In these plumed warriors of the North,
These Sailors, Rifles, Linesmen, Guards.
These Heavy Horsemen who rode out,
Stern and sedate, though one to ten:
Then, through the Russian bne in rout,
Stern and sedate, rode back again.
And these Light Horse—of deathless name,
Who charged, unquestioning of their doom,
Through those long miles all fire and flame,
And at the end, a soldier's tomb !
Of these the bravest and the best
Who 'scaped the chance of shot and sword,
England doth, by her Queen, invest
With Valour's Cross—their great reward!
Marking her sense of something, still,
A central nobleness, that lies
Deeper than rank which royal will,
Or birth, or chance, or wealth supplies.
Knighthood that girds all valiant hearts,
Knighthood that crowns each fearless brow;
That Knighthood this bronze cross imparts—
semi-articuiaie sounas we ouna, on m- Let ple and Bat] and Garter bow ,
quiry, to mean JNew Cross and !>yd- j
cnham." Neither of those places hap-'
pened to be our destination; but if we
had been bound for either, we should
certainly have been conveyed beyond it,
save for the vigilance and alertness which
we are happily endowed with, and which we exhibit on all occasions.
How Estimates Grow '
The estimate for the proposed expenditure of the Public Offices is
£5,000,000. The sum originally proposed for building the Houses of
Parliament was £250,000. According to Mr. Wise, this sum has since
grown into an outlay of not less than £2,500,000—that is to say, a modest
excess of precisely ten times the original estimate. Now, if the esti-
mate for the Public Offices is to expand in the like moderate propor-
tion, the ultimate outlay, far from being £5,000,000, will be some
£50,000,000; and as the money goes, we may consider ourselves
extremely lucky, if we get off as cheaply as that! Parliament is sup-
posed to legislate for the million ; and it must be for the million, for it
is but too evident thev take no care of the millions.
WINDOW-GARDENING.
We have seen a wonderful specimen of window-gardening. This
bright specimen may be seen in Regent Street any day, from daylight
until dark, at the Junior United Service Club. You must look up to
the drawing-room window, and there you will behold it in all its efful-
gent beauty. The effect is exceedingly simple, but positively startling
from its excess of simplicity. We have rarely seen an effect so strong pro-
duced by means so limited. You must fancy a wooden box about the
length of your walking-stick and not wider than your bootjack. This
box is painted green-but the bright green of a lady's parasol—a
million times greener than any penny Pickwick ! Well, inside this box
may be distinctly seen a profusion of Mignonette ! It is evidently of
the very best. The stalks tower up to the first sash at least of the
handsome sheet of plate glass that frames it in behind. The leaves
cluster socially together, as thick as policemen at night. First you
have the stone window-sill—on that rests the green box—and soaring
high over them both, you see the Mignonette ! The effect to be appre-
ciated must be seen. In the afternoon, it is seen, perhaps, to the
greatest advantage. When the sun is shining on Mr. Bellew's side of
the street, we have counted as many as ten noses—Roman, Grecian,
, and every nasal order of architecture—leaning lovingly at the same
new definition. j ^me over that simple little box! It is seemingly the members' pride,
A Lady : a Sensitive Plant, that thrives only in the centre of a ■ their joy, their floricultural plaything, their beloved Picciola, the
large Crinoline fence. Rarely seen, excepting by the most practised I veterans' one pet blooming child! The admirals take it in turn to
eye. 1 water it.