DOI Heft:
November 20, 1858
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16622#0211
204
PROPHECY AND PUFFERY,
The reader of worldly Newspapers
only has perhaps no idea of
the high character and re-
spectability which distinguish
t he specifically religious Press.
Roman Catholic or Protestant,
High Church, Low Church,
or Dissenting, it is all one for
those matters. Forbearance,
courtesy, candour, charitable
allowance and consideration,
are the qualities by which the
organs of the various theolo-
gical parties are differenced
from common journals. Calm
and temperate logic, and per-
suasion exclusively addressed
to the higher sentiments, are
their specialities. Of these
liberality also is a very re-
markable one. Perhaps this
excellence is more strongly
shown in the latitude which
they allow advertisers than in
any other way. The English
Churchman, a short time ago,
advertised a translation of
La Dame avx Camellias- the
tale on which La Traviata is
founded—a fact mentioned at the time by the Ghost of Departed Wit, as we understand
the English Churchman to have subsequently described Punch.
Medical advertisements (by unqualified medical practitioners) not seldom figure in the
columns of some of our sacred contemporaries, which also abound in what are familiarly
termed the puffs of tradesmen. Mammon is not denied his corner of their valuable space.
But then Mammon must behave as such, and fork out—which he does not always satis-
faetorily do, if we may judge from a case which occurred the other day in the Court_ of
Common Pleas—the Proprietor of the Prophetical Review v. the Keeper of a Mourning
Warehouse in Regent Street. The plaintiff claimed £54, the defendant offered_£4 10s.—so
that there was some difference between them: though also the former, rejoicing in the
prefix of Dk. is, we may presume, a cut above a
haberdasher, and is the Editor as well as Pro-
prietor of the above-named periodical work on
the awful subject of Prophecy.
The title, the Prophetical Review, seems to have
puzzled Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and
Mb. Justice Wilxes; until Mr. Edwin James
mentioned that the first article in it was upon
the " Children of Israel."
Whereupon ensued the following conversation
—mutato nomine: —
" The Lord Chief Justice. Oh ! i see, then it is a
religious book. i had not heard of it.
•' Mr. James. Yes. Another article might have some
connection with Mr. Magpie's business, the mourning
trade; it was 'The State after Death.' {LavjgliUr.) The
advertisement in the Review could not have been worth
£4 10s. a time, for it had but a small circulation.
" Mr. Justice Willes. But the circulation was among
persons who bore some analogy to Mr. Magpie's trade.
"Mr. James. No doubt they were of a 'serious' turn
of mind."
There is much force in the remark of Mr.
Justice Willes ; and, as Mr. James observed,
no doubt the readers of the Prophetical Review
are persons of a serious turn of mind. Such a
turn of mind is precisely that which is likewise
taken with drapers' advertisements. Faith in
periodical interpreters of Prophecy is doubtless
exactly the same virtue as belief in puffs and
puffing advertisers.
Beggars Paid in their own Coin.
" When a beggar asks me whiningly for
charity (says a City Magistrate), I always give
it him, either in the shape of advice, or a moral
precept, or a bit of consolation; but never in
the shape of money. I always pay beggars in
their own coin—words—and it is singular how
they dislike that form of payment!"
ADVERTISING SPORTSMEN.
The Times copies this from a provincial paper :—
" Shooting Match.—An exciting match at partridge shooting cme off between
Captain A--and Captain C-, upon Gkneral H-'s estate on Saturday
last. The terms were that Captain O-should stake £75 to Captain A-'s
£50, to kill the greatest number of partridges, in walking turnip-fields, fn m 10
o'clock till 4. It was agreed that they f-hould walk 50 yards arart, the one not to
kill the bird flying in a direction to the other, and all birds falling out of the field
not to be counted. The birds were very wild and difficult to get, at. Captain C-
killed 67 in fir?t-rate style ; Caftain A--killed 89 only. We understand that a
similar match is in contemplation beiwten Captain C-and a nobleman, for
£500 a-side."
We have no right or wish to interfere with the amusements of
Captains A. and C, or any other of our military partridge-shooting
heroes. Chacun a son gout: and if they find pleasure in shooting one
another for £500 a-side, we are not of those who would prevent their
doing so. For ourselves, we must confess, our tastes are less expensive.
Our appetite for shooting, pur et simple, is so keen that we never feel
a need of any stimulant to whet it. Gluttons as we are of it, we really
seem to hunger for it more the more we get of it. If we had it to
excess, it might pall upon our palate; but this is a contingency too
remote to dream of. Our fancy fails to nurture so incredible a thought,
as that we ever could be brought to feel we had a glut of shooting. If
we lived to be a hundred, and shot a million birds a-year, we believe
that we should still be greedy of the sport, and should relish it au
nature/, without its being seasoned with a hundred pound Bank-note
spice.
But as we said before, chacun a son gout. Gourmands as they sre,
Captains A. and C. may vote that shooting is insipid, and needs
serving up with Mint sauce. Well, chacun a son gout. We may call
this want of taste, but we cannot well complain of it. What we com-
plain of is, that Captains A. and C, and other blase sportsmen, should
think it worth their while to advertise their turnip-field achievements.
They will tell us that they don't. Well, strictly, doubtless they do
not; but they allow them to be advertised, and that is just as bad.
Sub-editors grow desperate when Parliament is up. In the dull season
the smallest of small beer is chronicled. When a brace of noble
sportsmen settle to have a shooting-match, the particulars are pounced
on by the hungry penny-a-liner. John Thomas hears them as ke clears
away the cloth; and through the Servants' Hall there is a facilis
ascensus to the printing-office. The shooting-match next week is
paraded by the Press, and a Newspaper notoriety is conferred upon
the shooters. Well, they can't help that; somebody will say. Opinions
generally differ. We say we think they can. Half a dozen words to
the Editor would do it, begging that in future such small beer be
unchronicled. As being private matters, shooting-matches properly
should not be dragged before the public, excepting by permission of
the persons who are interested. If it please gallant Captains to see
their names in print, we can only shrug our shoulders and say, chacun
a son gout. But don't let them complain that they have not the
power to stop it.
That the practice will be stopped we have very little doubt, for
whatever Punch complains of is always put an end to. Perhaps the
best mode of prevention would be to stop the matches ; and we admit
we think that this would be the preferable course. Even granting it
be sportsmanlike to shoot partridges for wagers, we deny that it be
gentlemanly to let the bets be advertised. In our eyes partridge-
shooting is by far too good a sport to have anything like gambling in
any way mixed up with it. If the mania be not checked we shall soon
hear of partridges being shot from traps. Now, pigeons are quite
good enough for betting-men to blaze at. Partridges are birds that
should be shot for love, not money. Have your shooting-matches,
gallant Captains, an ye list: but have them down at Battersea, an ye
would please Punch. There are fitter fields of action for you there
than are the turnip-fields.
SHIELD US FROM OUR SHIELDS!
The dead cry of "Protection" is being'revived at Shields. The
shipowners have there been issuing an Address, putting forth the
grievances they suffer from free shipping. They will be ruined (as
the farmers were), if laws be not kept up to protect them from the
foreigner. "Give sorrow words," says Shakspeare, and _ certainly
the shipowners have taken the advice. In close type their lament
fills three whole columns of the Times. It_ is obviously, therefore,
inadmissible in Punch. Our sympathy we give them, but we cannot
give our space. We must remark, however, that to bring to them
Protection seems not unlike the carrying of coals unto Newcastle.
Men who are so " far North " surely can protect themselves. _ If there
is anything in a name, it sounds strange to hear the Shields men
saying they want shielding.
PROPHECY AND PUFFERY,
The reader of worldly Newspapers
only has perhaps no idea of
the high character and re-
spectability which distinguish
t he specifically religious Press.
Roman Catholic or Protestant,
High Church, Low Church,
or Dissenting, it is all one for
those matters. Forbearance,
courtesy, candour, charitable
allowance and consideration,
are the qualities by which the
organs of the various theolo-
gical parties are differenced
from common journals. Calm
and temperate logic, and per-
suasion exclusively addressed
to the higher sentiments, are
their specialities. Of these
liberality also is a very re-
markable one. Perhaps this
excellence is more strongly
shown in the latitude which
they allow advertisers than in
any other way. The English
Churchman, a short time ago,
advertised a translation of
La Dame avx Camellias- the
tale on which La Traviata is
founded—a fact mentioned at the time by the Ghost of Departed Wit, as we understand
the English Churchman to have subsequently described Punch.
Medical advertisements (by unqualified medical practitioners) not seldom figure in the
columns of some of our sacred contemporaries, which also abound in what are familiarly
termed the puffs of tradesmen. Mammon is not denied his corner of their valuable space.
But then Mammon must behave as such, and fork out—which he does not always satis-
faetorily do, if we may judge from a case which occurred the other day in the Court_ of
Common Pleas—the Proprietor of the Prophetical Review v. the Keeper of a Mourning
Warehouse in Regent Street. The plaintiff claimed £54, the defendant offered_£4 10s.—so
that there was some difference between them: though also the former, rejoicing in the
prefix of Dk. is, we may presume, a cut above a
haberdasher, and is the Editor as well as Pro-
prietor of the above-named periodical work on
the awful subject of Prophecy.
The title, the Prophetical Review, seems to have
puzzled Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and
Mb. Justice Wilxes; until Mr. Edwin James
mentioned that the first article in it was upon
the " Children of Israel."
Whereupon ensued the following conversation
—mutato nomine: —
" The Lord Chief Justice. Oh ! i see, then it is a
religious book. i had not heard of it.
•' Mr. James. Yes. Another article might have some
connection with Mr. Magpie's business, the mourning
trade; it was 'The State after Death.' {LavjgliUr.) The
advertisement in the Review could not have been worth
£4 10s. a time, for it had but a small circulation.
" Mr. Justice Willes. But the circulation was among
persons who bore some analogy to Mr. Magpie's trade.
"Mr. James. No doubt they were of a 'serious' turn
of mind."
There is much force in the remark of Mr.
Justice Willes ; and, as Mr. James observed,
no doubt the readers of the Prophetical Review
are persons of a serious turn of mind. Such a
turn of mind is precisely that which is likewise
taken with drapers' advertisements. Faith in
periodical interpreters of Prophecy is doubtless
exactly the same virtue as belief in puffs and
puffing advertisers.
Beggars Paid in their own Coin.
" When a beggar asks me whiningly for
charity (says a City Magistrate), I always give
it him, either in the shape of advice, or a moral
precept, or a bit of consolation; but never in
the shape of money. I always pay beggars in
their own coin—words—and it is singular how
they dislike that form of payment!"
ADVERTISING SPORTSMEN.
The Times copies this from a provincial paper :—
" Shooting Match.—An exciting match at partridge shooting cme off between
Captain A--and Captain C-, upon Gkneral H-'s estate on Saturday
last. The terms were that Captain O-should stake £75 to Captain A-'s
£50, to kill the greatest number of partridges, in walking turnip-fields, fn m 10
o'clock till 4. It was agreed that they f-hould walk 50 yards arart, the one not to
kill the bird flying in a direction to the other, and all birds falling out of the field
not to be counted. The birds were very wild and difficult to get, at. Captain C-
killed 67 in fir?t-rate style ; Caftain A--killed 89 only. We understand that a
similar match is in contemplation beiwten Captain C-and a nobleman, for
£500 a-side."
We have no right or wish to interfere with the amusements of
Captains A. and C, or any other of our military partridge-shooting
heroes. Chacun a son gout: and if they find pleasure in shooting one
another for £500 a-side, we are not of those who would prevent their
doing so. For ourselves, we must confess, our tastes are less expensive.
Our appetite for shooting, pur et simple, is so keen that we never feel
a need of any stimulant to whet it. Gluttons as we are of it, we really
seem to hunger for it more the more we get of it. If we had it to
excess, it might pall upon our palate; but this is a contingency too
remote to dream of. Our fancy fails to nurture so incredible a thought,
as that we ever could be brought to feel we had a glut of shooting. If
we lived to be a hundred, and shot a million birds a-year, we believe
that we should still be greedy of the sport, and should relish it au
nature/, without its being seasoned with a hundred pound Bank-note
spice.
But as we said before, chacun a son gout. Gourmands as they sre,
Captains A. and C. may vote that shooting is insipid, and needs
serving up with Mint sauce. Well, chacun a son gout. We may call
this want of taste, but we cannot well complain of it. What we com-
plain of is, that Captains A. and C, and other blase sportsmen, should
think it worth their while to advertise their turnip-field achievements.
They will tell us that they don't. Well, strictly, doubtless they do
not; but they allow them to be advertised, and that is just as bad.
Sub-editors grow desperate when Parliament is up. In the dull season
the smallest of small beer is chronicled. When a brace of noble
sportsmen settle to have a shooting-match, the particulars are pounced
on by the hungry penny-a-liner. John Thomas hears them as ke clears
away the cloth; and through the Servants' Hall there is a facilis
ascensus to the printing-office. The shooting-match next week is
paraded by the Press, and a Newspaper notoriety is conferred upon
the shooters. Well, they can't help that; somebody will say. Opinions
generally differ. We say we think they can. Half a dozen words to
the Editor would do it, begging that in future such small beer be
unchronicled. As being private matters, shooting-matches properly
should not be dragged before the public, excepting by permission of
the persons who are interested. If it please gallant Captains to see
their names in print, we can only shrug our shoulders and say, chacun
a son gout. But don't let them complain that they have not the
power to stop it.
That the practice will be stopped we have very little doubt, for
whatever Punch complains of is always put an end to. Perhaps the
best mode of prevention would be to stop the matches ; and we admit
we think that this would be the preferable course. Even granting it
be sportsmanlike to shoot partridges for wagers, we deny that it be
gentlemanly to let the bets be advertised. In our eyes partridge-
shooting is by far too good a sport to have anything like gambling in
any way mixed up with it. If the mania be not checked we shall soon
hear of partridges being shot from traps. Now, pigeons are quite
good enough for betting-men to blaze at. Partridges are birds that
should be shot for love, not money. Have your shooting-matches,
gallant Captains, an ye list: but have them down at Battersea, an ye
would please Punch. There are fitter fields of action for you there
than are the turnip-fields.
SHIELD US FROM OUR SHIELDS!
The dead cry of "Protection" is being'revived at Shields. The
shipowners have there been issuing an Address, putting forth the
grievances they suffer from free shipping. They will be ruined (as
the farmers were), if laws be not kept up to protect them from the
foreigner. "Give sorrow words," says Shakspeare, and _ certainly
the shipowners have taken the advice. In close type their lament
fills three whole columns of the Times. It_ is obviously, therefore,
inadmissible in Punch. Our sympathy we give them, but we cannot
give our space. We must remark, however, that to bring to them
Protection seems not unlike the carrying of coals unto Newcastle.
Men who are so " far North " surely can protect themselves. _ If there
is anything in a name, it sounds strange to hear the Shields men
saying they want shielding.