DOI issue:
November 16, 1861
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16868#0213
November 16, 1861.1
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
201
WAR-SONG FOR THE WITLERS.
UGGESTED by the
tremendous pro-
ceedings at their
recent dinner,
w/»Mr. Glad-
stone’s impend-
ing tyranny was
denounced in lan-
guage which must
have stirred the
very
water of every
listener:—
O, froth your beer
in your bubbly
can,
My blatant, bla-
thering Publi-
can.
No time to lose.
For your vested
goose
Stern Gladdt will
cook, as he dou-
bly can.
Yes, froth your beer in your bubbly can,
My ungrammatical Publican,
For Gladstone’s prayed
To open the Trade,
And tax the Traffic, my Publican.
So, froth your beer in your bubbly can,
My frothy, wrathy Publican,
For the tyrant stands
With menacing hands,
Like a fierce Timour, or a Kublai Khan.
So froth your beer in your bubbly can, &c.
ARMY PREPARATION.
The assertion has been made that British officers are sometimes
sadly ignorant of English, and can hardly write six words without bad
grammar or bad spelling in them. Whether this be their own fault, or
the fault of their schoolmasters, it would be no easy matter to deter-
mine ; but that their teachers are occasionally careless in their lan-
guage, a glance at the Times newspaper will very often show. Here
for instance is a sample which we extract at random from a score of
such advertisements, which daily are addressed to future Wellingtons
and Napiers, whose education for the army is at present incomplete .—
PREPARATION for the Army, Woolwich, and Sandhurst.—A married
officer, late of Her Majesty’s Royal Artillery, whose pupils have invariably
passed their examinations with very great credit, RECEIVES, as members of his
family, FOUR YOUNG- GENTLEMEN, to prepare for their respective destinations,
and, by a scientific course of instruction, render them efficient officers and eligible
to hold staff appointments. References of the highest respectability and most
satisfactory testimonials are offered. Address R. A., &c.
II “ R. A.” has a dictionary, and will take the trouble to reier to it,
he will discover that “ prepare ” has the letters “ v. a.” put with it,
implying (he knows doubtless) that it is an active verb. Being such,
it requires an accusative case after it, and therefore the word “them”
ought to be supplied. Whether among his testimonials “ R. A.” have
one to testify his knowledge of good English, is a matter for the parents
of his pupils to inquire; but if grammar be embraced in liis “scientific
course,” we really think the less they learn of it from him, the more
eligible will his young gentlemen be for staff appointments ; albeit such
appointments may not require such perfect mastery of English as is
required of men appointed on Mr. Punch's staff.
From the same day’s Times we take another sample of bad language,
in which these military teachers far too frequently indulge:—
ARMY EXAMINATIONS.—A Clergyman, M.A., RECEIVES and
-LV PREPARES CANDIDATES for direct appointments in Her Majesty’s Service.
Lately he has passed many at first trial; several after a few weeks' preparation.
He takes only a few, and teaches all the subjects himself, thus insuring their
passing. Late beginners and those backward in study rapidly and efficiently
advanced. References to noblemen, officers, &c.
From his clumsy style of writing one might fancy that this clergyman
net merely prepared pupils but himself examined them; for he states
that he has lately “ passed many at first trial,” whereas really he has
done no more than help them to be passed. His next sentence is even
still more awkwardly constructed; for when he tells us that he “ teaches
all the subjects himself, thus insuring their passing,” by all the rules
of grammar we are bound to understand that it is tne “subjects”
whose passing he insures, and this is very obviously by no means his
intent.
No doubt it will be urged that no one cares a jot how an advertise-
ment be written, so long as what is meant be comprehensible and plain.
But it is just as easy for an educated man to use good English when he
writes as it is to scribble bad; and when we see such careless slipslop
as that which we have quoted, we are tempted to the inference either
that the writer is ignorant of grammar, or that he is too lazy to write
out his advertisements, and so lets them be concocted by hi* shoe-boy
or his cook.
CHANGE EOR PETER’S PENCE.
His Holiness the Pope, notwithstanding the quantifies of bitterness
which he has continually to swallow, and the lacerations which his
paternal heart is always undergoing, enjoys, nevertheless, no small
consolation in the shape of Peter’s Pence, and the state which those
eleemosynary coppers enable him to maintain. For example, his Holi-
ness, the other day, according to intelligence received from Rome,
went to dine with the Benedictine monks at the monastery of St. Paul,
extra muros, where military honours were rendered him by four companies
of Papal Zouaves and half a battery of artillery, and: —
“ Eight cardinals, three French generals, numbers of ministers, prelates, monks,
colonels of gendarmes and Zouaves, and other ecclesiastical and lay guests, had the
honour of dining with his Holiness, and of listening after the repast, to a hymn in
the Pontiff’s honour, sung by 200 youths, to each of whom the Pope subsequently
gave a silver medal, with his own portrait on one side, and that of the Virgin Mart
on the other.”
The honour winch his Holiness did himself in issuing a medal thus
stamped indicates a feature which pictures of Roman Pontiffs represent
most of them as largely endowed with—cheek. He can afford some
ostentation by means of Peter’s pence changed into silver. He is not
then so badly off. Come, the Pope he does lead a happy life after all.
Far from not knowing where to lay his head or to find a meal, his
Holiness seems to enjoy himself pretty much after the fashion of the
Lord Mayor of London, with the occasional addition of having a
hymn sung in his honour by two hundred choristers, wherein Pio Nono
has the advantage of Cubitt.
It may here be remarked that there exists a certain analogy between
the Civic Monarch and the Sovereign Pontiff. Both are elective sove-
reigns -. but the Lord Mayor is elected by the Livery, who represent
the City of London, whereas the Pope is chosen by the Cardinals, who
represent only the Romish Priesthood. Moreover the Pope not only
rules Rome, but claims to rule the adjoining states now part of the
kingdom of Italy. The Lord Mayor, however, confines his ambition
within the limits of the City, and does not also pretend to reign over
the metropolitan counties.
Undoubtedly the resemblance between the Pope and the Lord Mayor
is infinitely closer than another which has been suggested. Cardinal
Bedini, Archbishop of Yiterbo and Toscanella, recently invested with
red wideawake ana stockings, in a pastoral letter addressed to his
diocesans on the institution amongst them of a Pious Confraternity ot
the obolus of St. Peter, or society for the circumvection of the Triple
Hat, after highly commending the devotion which loads the hat with
the obolus, proceeds to institute that other comparison. In the words
of our informant:—
“ His Eminence goes on to compare these gifts to the offerings of the wise men of
the East to our Redeemer, ‘ whose example is so well followed by his Vicar on
earth,’ and winds up by inviting his flock to follow likewise the faithful star,
which, represented by the pious association, invites them like the Magi, to place
their tribute at the feet of the persecuted Man-God (ai piedi del persegiutato Uom-
Dio.)”
The banquet which the Holy Father enjoyed at the monastery of St.
Paul certainly appears rather to find a parallel in the festival of the
Ninth of November than that of any other memorable day. The like-
ness between the Magi or wise men of the east and the subscribers of
Peter’s pence, alleged by Cardinal Bedini, is also very questionable;
for the latter may be truly said to differ as well from wise men as from
Magi in the essential particular of being no conjurors, inasmuch as they
must necessarily belong to a class of persons who are proverbially said
to be expeditious in parting with their money.
Sarcasm.
In the Cornhill Magazine is an article called A Weetc's Imprisonment
in Sark. A Scotch friend writes to us to say that he can sympathise
with the writer, for his own laundress has stolen all his night-gowns.
Hint to a Peace-Loving Neighbour.—France’s financier may
be Fould, but England will not.
Vol. 41.
7—2
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
201
WAR-SONG FOR THE WITLERS.
UGGESTED by the
tremendous pro-
ceedings at their
recent dinner,
w/»Mr. Glad-
stone’s impend-
ing tyranny was
denounced in lan-
guage which must
have stirred the
very
water of every
listener:—
O, froth your beer
in your bubbly
can,
My blatant, bla-
thering Publi-
can.
No time to lose.
For your vested
goose
Stern Gladdt will
cook, as he dou-
bly can.
Yes, froth your beer in your bubbly can,
My ungrammatical Publican,
For Gladstone’s prayed
To open the Trade,
And tax the Traffic, my Publican.
So, froth your beer in your bubbly can,
My frothy, wrathy Publican,
For the tyrant stands
With menacing hands,
Like a fierce Timour, or a Kublai Khan.
So froth your beer in your bubbly can, &c.
ARMY PREPARATION.
The assertion has been made that British officers are sometimes
sadly ignorant of English, and can hardly write six words without bad
grammar or bad spelling in them. Whether this be their own fault, or
the fault of their schoolmasters, it would be no easy matter to deter-
mine ; but that their teachers are occasionally careless in their lan-
guage, a glance at the Times newspaper will very often show. Here
for instance is a sample which we extract at random from a score of
such advertisements, which daily are addressed to future Wellingtons
and Napiers, whose education for the army is at present incomplete .—
PREPARATION for the Army, Woolwich, and Sandhurst.—A married
officer, late of Her Majesty’s Royal Artillery, whose pupils have invariably
passed their examinations with very great credit, RECEIVES, as members of his
family, FOUR YOUNG- GENTLEMEN, to prepare for their respective destinations,
and, by a scientific course of instruction, render them efficient officers and eligible
to hold staff appointments. References of the highest respectability and most
satisfactory testimonials are offered. Address R. A., &c.
II “ R. A.” has a dictionary, and will take the trouble to reier to it,
he will discover that “ prepare ” has the letters “ v. a.” put with it,
implying (he knows doubtless) that it is an active verb. Being such,
it requires an accusative case after it, and therefore the word “them”
ought to be supplied. Whether among his testimonials “ R. A.” have
one to testify his knowledge of good English, is a matter for the parents
of his pupils to inquire; but if grammar be embraced in liis “scientific
course,” we really think the less they learn of it from him, the more
eligible will his young gentlemen be for staff appointments ; albeit such
appointments may not require such perfect mastery of English as is
required of men appointed on Mr. Punch's staff.
From the same day’s Times we take another sample of bad language,
in which these military teachers far too frequently indulge:—
ARMY EXAMINATIONS.—A Clergyman, M.A., RECEIVES and
-LV PREPARES CANDIDATES for direct appointments in Her Majesty’s Service.
Lately he has passed many at first trial; several after a few weeks' preparation.
He takes only a few, and teaches all the subjects himself, thus insuring their
passing. Late beginners and those backward in study rapidly and efficiently
advanced. References to noblemen, officers, &c.
From his clumsy style of writing one might fancy that this clergyman
net merely prepared pupils but himself examined them; for he states
that he has lately “ passed many at first trial,” whereas really he has
done no more than help them to be passed. His next sentence is even
still more awkwardly constructed; for when he tells us that he “ teaches
all the subjects himself, thus insuring their passing,” by all the rules
of grammar we are bound to understand that it is tne “subjects”
whose passing he insures, and this is very obviously by no means his
intent.
No doubt it will be urged that no one cares a jot how an advertise-
ment be written, so long as what is meant be comprehensible and plain.
But it is just as easy for an educated man to use good English when he
writes as it is to scribble bad; and when we see such careless slipslop
as that which we have quoted, we are tempted to the inference either
that the writer is ignorant of grammar, or that he is too lazy to write
out his advertisements, and so lets them be concocted by hi* shoe-boy
or his cook.
CHANGE EOR PETER’S PENCE.
His Holiness the Pope, notwithstanding the quantifies of bitterness
which he has continually to swallow, and the lacerations which his
paternal heart is always undergoing, enjoys, nevertheless, no small
consolation in the shape of Peter’s Pence, and the state which those
eleemosynary coppers enable him to maintain. For example, his Holi-
ness, the other day, according to intelligence received from Rome,
went to dine with the Benedictine monks at the monastery of St. Paul,
extra muros, where military honours were rendered him by four companies
of Papal Zouaves and half a battery of artillery, and: —
“ Eight cardinals, three French generals, numbers of ministers, prelates, monks,
colonels of gendarmes and Zouaves, and other ecclesiastical and lay guests, had the
honour of dining with his Holiness, and of listening after the repast, to a hymn in
the Pontiff’s honour, sung by 200 youths, to each of whom the Pope subsequently
gave a silver medal, with his own portrait on one side, and that of the Virgin Mart
on the other.”
The honour winch his Holiness did himself in issuing a medal thus
stamped indicates a feature which pictures of Roman Pontiffs represent
most of them as largely endowed with—cheek. He can afford some
ostentation by means of Peter’s pence changed into silver. He is not
then so badly off. Come, the Pope he does lead a happy life after all.
Far from not knowing where to lay his head or to find a meal, his
Holiness seems to enjoy himself pretty much after the fashion of the
Lord Mayor of London, with the occasional addition of having a
hymn sung in his honour by two hundred choristers, wherein Pio Nono
has the advantage of Cubitt.
It may here be remarked that there exists a certain analogy between
the Civic Monarch and the Sovereign Pontiff. Both are elective sove-
reigns -. but the Lord Mayor is elected by the Livery, who represent
the City of London, whereas the Pope is chosen by the Cardinals, who
represent only the Romish Priesthood. Moreover the Pope not only
rules Rome, but claims to rule the adjoining states now part of the
kingdom of Italy. The Lord Mayor, however, confines his ambition
within the limits of the City, and does not also pretend to reign over
the metropolitan counties.
Undoubtedly the resemblance between the Pope and the Lord Mayor
is infinitely closer than another which has been suggested. Cardinal
Bedini, Archbishop of Yiterbo and Toscanella, recently invested with
red wideawake ana stockings, in a pastoral letter addressed to his
diocesans on the institution amongst them of a Pious Confraternity ot
the obolus of St. Peter, or society for the circumvection of the Triple
Hat, after highly commending the devotion which loads the hat with
the obolus, proceeds to institute that other comparison. In the words
of our informant:—
“ His Eminence goes on to compare these gifts to the offerings of the wise men of
the East to our Redeemer, ‘ whose example is so well followed by his Vicar on
earth,’ and winds up by inviting his flock to follow likewise the faithful star,
which, represented by the pious association, invites them like the Magi, to place
their tribute at the feet of the persecuted Man-God (ai piedi del persegiutato Uom-
Dio.)”
The banquet which the Holy Father enjoyed at the monastery of St.
Paul certainly appears rather to find a parallel in the festival of the
Ninth of November than that of any other memorable day. The like-
ness between the Magi or wise men of the east and the subscribers of
Peter’s pence, alleged by Cardinal Bedini, is also very questionable;
for the latter may be truly said to differ as well from wise men as from
Magi in the essential particular of being no conjurors, inasmuch as they
must necessarily belong to a class of persons who are proverbially said
to be expeditious in parting with their money.
Sarcasm.
In the Cornhill Magazine is an article called A Weetc's Imprisonment
in Sark. A Scotch friend writes to us to say that he can sympathise
with the writer, for his own laundress has stolen all his night-gowns.
Hint to a Peace-Loving Neighbour.—France’s financier may
be Fould, but England will not.
Vol. 41.
7—2