DOI issue:
February 11, 1860
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16865#0070
62
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[February 11, 1860.
EIGHTEEN PENN'ORTH OE SNUFE.
The following advertisement lately appeared in the Halesworth
Times:—
PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT.—Persons in search of employment,
L either as a source of income or to fill up their leisure hours, may hear of such,
by which means £2 to £4 a week may be realised in town or country by either sex,
station iD life immaterial, by applying to Mr. H. Harvev, 35, Upper Belgrave Place.
Pimlico, London, enclosing eighteen postage stamps, with a stamped directed
envelope for reply.”
This notification was given to the reporters by the Magistrate of
the Westminster Police Court, Me. Paynter, to whom it had been
sent by a gentleman who had tried the experiment of writing to Me.
Harvey and enclosing a fee of eighteen postage stamps,to see whatwould
come of it. Nothing came; no reply to the first letter, nor any to two
others afterwards written. Me. Superintendent Gibbs, B, sent by
Me. Payntee to look after Me. Haevey, of course discovered that
“no such person as Me. Haevey resided at 35, Upper Belgrave
Place, Pimlico.” The Superintendent was, however, informed that
letters addressed to that gentleman “were regularly fetched away by
a man well known as one of a gang of persons who had for a length of
time been carrying on a system” described as “of this sort;” which
may perhaps be supposed to mean a system of obtaining money under
false pretences.
Mr. Haevey, of somewhere else than 35, Upper Belgrave Place,
Pimlico, and rejoicing peradventure in an alias as well as an alibi,
must not be indistinctly pronounced a rogue. He differs, at any
rate, from a common rogue, and though he may be deemed an
uncommon rogue, there is some doubt whether he is exactly a rogue
in law. Those who send him eighteen postage stamps, and receive no
reply are answered by his silence. By saying nothing, he tells them
that he has got the stamps: which would have been returned by the
Post Office, if he had not received them. They are thus instructed
that, if they are seeking a source of income, they may find it in
postage stamps, and that, if they wish to fill up their leisure hours,
they may follow his example, and employ all or part of the time at
their disposal in putting advertisements such as his own in the pro-
vincial papers. Are the pretences on which money is thus obtained
false? We must recollect the lesson inculcated on our youthful minds
by the copy-books, and “ Condemn not hastily.”
PUNCH’S BOOK OF BRITISH COSTUMES,
CHAPTER II.—THE ANCIENT BRITISH PERIOD—(Continued).
S we have said, the Ancient
Britons were fond of wear-
ing paint; in which respect
they have been followed by
some few (say a dozen) of
their feminine descendants.
Whether the ladies then
made use of it to “give
themselves a colour,” and
thought that by so doing
they added to their charms,
is a matter for conjecture
to those who choose to
think about it. If the fact
were really so, and the
gentlemen approved of it,
the paint is doubtless no-
ticed in the love-songs of
the period. For such a
phrase, for instance, as
“ She’s all my fancy
Painted her!” there would then have been a somewhat colourable
pretext ■. and seeing that sky-blue was the colour most in fashion, a
sentimental songster might have written of his mistress :—
“ Marked you her cheek of heavenly blue,
Her nose-tip of cerulean hue.
Her chin of that same colour too ? ”
(t As this blue paint, we are told, was made from a plant called
“woad,” we cannot wonder that the wearers got the epithet of
“ woaden-headed: ” and to quote, with fit disgust, another vile pun of
the period, their public singers, it is said, washed their faces before
singing, lest wags among the audience should bid them not to “holler ”
till they had got clear of the “ woad.”
But it must not be imagined that the clothing of our ancestors con-
sisted only in their colouring, and that their dress-coats were merely
coats of paint. The Romans, it is true, at first inclined to this idea ;
but, like some one or two of the I dees of Napoleon, their idea, as it
turned out, was utterly unfounded. The fact was simply this, that,
feeling fettered by their clothing, our fathers, like their children, often
stripped to fight; and hence Caesar, when he landed, thought the
natives all lived naked. This however, as it proved, was as preposterous
a notion as it would be now to fancy that Tom Sayers hath no toggery,
should one see him stripped for fighting the Benicia Be-hoy. Like
the Cyclops, nudus membra, when he turned out for a scrimmage, the
Ancient Briton when at home received his callers with his clothes on;
and there is very little doubt that the P. R. of the period indulged in
“fancy” dresses, which were gaudy if not neat.
ANCIENT BRITON IN COMPLETE ARMOUR.
While the lower orders dressed in little else than paint and bear
skin (the latter bearing proof that bears abounded then in England;
though, except upon Stock Exchange, there ars none left living now),
the gents and upper classes came out much more extensively, and
were clothed from top to toe in a variety of vestments, which with the
help of the old writers we may venture to describe.
Conmenfanipar le pin, we incline to think their “fins,” like their
faces, were left naked, inasmuch as we can find no mention made of
gloves, and may guess that, like umbrellas, they had not been yet dreamt
of. Nor can we say much about the boots of the Old Bricks,* seeing
that it is doubtful if they’d any boots at all: and for want of our
Balmorals, for ought we know, the dandies may have sported blacked-
up bare feet. Some of the swells, however, wore a kind of shoe, which
being made of neat skin, made their feet perhaps look neat: but
whether their possessors used to put their shoes for “ Boots ” to
clean, outside their bedroom doors, is a point which Hiodo(o)rus lias
ANCIENT BRITISH HIGHLOWS AND BEDROOM DOOR OE THE PERIOD.
said nothing to clear iip. That they wore brace a;, or breeches, is placed
(of course) beyond dispute by the fact that Mr. Martial mentions
that they did; but he quite omits to tell us, whether or no the gentle'
A Celtic synonym for Britons.—Coy,.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[February 11, 1860.
EIGHTEEN PENN'ORTH OE SNUFE.
The following advertisement lately appeared in the Halesworth
Times:—
PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT.—Persons in search of employment,
L either as a source of income or to fill up their leisure hours, may hear of such,
by which means £2 to £4 a week may be realised in town or country by either sex,
station iD life immaterial, by applying to Mr. H. Harvev, 35, Upper Belgrave Place.
Pimlico, London, enclosing eighteen postage stamps, with a stamped directed
envelope for reply.”
This notification was given to the reporters by the Magistrate of
the Westminster Police Court, Me. Paynter, to whom it had been
sent by a gentleman who had tried the experiment of writing to Me.
Harvey and enclosing a fee of eighteen postage stamps,to see whatwould
come of it. Nothing came; no reply to the first letter, nor any to two
others afterwards written. Me. Superintendent Gibbs, B, sent by
Me. Payntee to look after Me. Haevey, of course discovered that
“no such person as Me. Haevey resided at 35, Upper Belgrave
Place, Pimlico.” The Superintendent was, however, informed that
letters addressed to that gentleman “were regularly fetched away by
a man well known as one of a gang of persons who had for a length of
time been carrying on a system” described as “of this sort;” which
may perhaps be supposed to mean a system of obtaining money under
false pretences.
Mr. Haevey, of somewhere else than 35, Upper Belgrave Place,
Pimlico, and rejoicing peradventure in an alias as well as an alibi,
must not be indistinctly pronounced a rogue. He differs, at any
rate, from a common rogue, and though he may be deemed an
uncommon rogue, there is some doubt whether he is exactly a rogue
in law. Those who send him eighteen postage stamps, and receive no
reply are answered by his silence. By saying nothing, he tells them
that he has got the stamps: which would have been returned by the
Post Office, if he had not received them. They are thus instructed
that, if they are seeking a source of income, they may find it in
postage stamps, and that, if they wish to fill up their leisure hours,
they may follow his example, and employ all or part of the time at
their disposal in putting advertisements such as his own in the pro-
vincial papers. Are the pretences on which money is thus obtained
false? We must recollect the lesson inculcated on our youthful minds
by the copy-books, and “ Condemn not hastily.”
PUNCH’S BOOK OF BRITISH COSTUMES,
CHAPTER II.—THE ANCIENT BRITISH PERIOD—(Continued).
S we have said, the Ancient
Britons were fond of wear-
ing paint; in which respect
they have been followed by
some few (say a dozen) of
their feminine descendants.
Whether the ladies then
made use of it to “give
themselves a colour,” and
thought that by so doing
they added to their charms,
is a matter for conjecture
to those who choose to
think about it. If the fact
were really so, and the
gentlemen approved of it,
the paint is doubtless no-
ticed in the love-songs of
the period. For such a
phrase, for instance, as
“ She’s all my fancy
Painted her!” there would then have been a somewhat colourable
pretext ■. and seeing that sky-blue was the colour most in fashion, a
sentimental songster might have written of his mistress :—
“ Marked you her cheek of heavenly blue,
Her nose-tip of cerulean hue.
Her chin of that same colour too ? ”
(t As this blue paint, we are told, was made from a plant called
“woad,” we cannot wonder that the wearers got the epithet of
“ woaden-headed: ” and to quote, with fit disgust, another vile pun of
the period, their public singers, it is said, washed their faces before
singing, lest wags among the audience should bid them not to “holler ”
till they had got clear of the “ woad.”
But it must not be imagined that the clothing of our ancestors con-
sisted only in their colouring, and that their dress-coats were merely
coats of paint. The Romans, it is true, at first inclined to this idea ;
but, like some one or two of the I dees of Napoleon, their idea, as it
turned out, was utterly unfounded. The fact was simply this, that,
feeling fettered by their clothing, our fathers, like their children, often
stripped to fight; and hence Caesar, when he landed, thought the
natives all lived naked. This however, as it proved, was as preposterous
a notion as it would be now to fancy that Tom Sayers hath no toggery,
should one see him stripped for fighting the Benicia Be-hoy. Like
the Cyclops, nudus membra, when he turned out for a scrimmage, the
Ancient Briton when at home received his callers with his clothes on;
and there is very little doubt that the P. R. of the period indulged in
“fancy” dresses, which were gaudy if not neat.
ANCIENT BRITON IN COMPLETE ARMOUR.
While the lower orders dressed in little else than paint and bear
skin (the latter bearing proof that bears abounded then in England;
though, except upon Stock Exchange, there ars none left living now),
the gents and upper classes came out much more extensively, and
were clothed from top to toe in a variety of vestments, which with the
help of the old writers we may venture to describe.
Conmenfanipar le pin, we incline to think their “fins,” like their
faces, were left naked, inasmuch as we can find no mention made of
gloves, and may guess that, like umbrellas, they had not been yet dreamt
of. Nor can we say much about the boots of the Old Bricks,* seeing
that it is doubtful if they’d any boots at all: and for want of our
Balmorals, for ought we know, the dandies may have sported blacked-
up bare feet. Some of the swells, however, wore a kind of shoe, which
being made of neat skin, made their feet perhaps look neat: but
whether their possessors used to put their shoes for “ Boots ” to
clean, outside their bedroom doors, is a point which Hiodo(o)rus lias
ANCIENT BRITISH HIGHLOWS AND BEDROOM DOOR OE THE PERIOD.
said nothing to clear iip. That they wore brace a;, or breeches, is placed
(of course) beyond dispute by the fact that Mr. Martial mentions
that they did; but he quite omits to tell us, whether or no the gentle'
A Celtic synonym for Britons.—Coy,.