DOI issue:
February 1, 1862
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16869#0049
February 1, 1862.J
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
41
Young Sawbones. “ Now, Mother, shall I give you a met of the Dorsal Muscle, or woreld you 'prefer a Slice of the Psoas!"
GOVERNESSES FOR THE IMBECILE.
“ Dear Mr. Punch,
“ From fifteen, to twenty thousand pounds wasted in trying
whether a young man is in his senses or out of his mind! What a
wicked waste! If it is the Law’s fault, I am sure the Law is the
worst lunatic in the case. Either the Law must be very stupid, or the
judgea great F, or the lawyers a set of shocking R’s, to plunder a
poor fellow between them of £20,000. If he is not able to manage his
own affairs, are they fit to manage them for him ?
“ How silly to take so much trouble to find out whether a man is
insane or no in order to decide as to his fitness for managing his
affairs ! As if nobody was unfit to manage his own affairs but a down-
right lunatic. Every wild young man almost is unfit to manage his
affairs, and if he has a fortune, ought to be prevented from throwing it
away. Not that he should be shut up, and prevented from going about
under certain restrictions, but proper people should be appointed to
take care of his estates, lay out his money for him on reasonable things,
and allow him so much a week. He should be made incapable of
running into debt or of marrying without the consent of his guardians.
“ With the consent of his guardians, however, a wild young man
unable to manage his own affairs should not only be allowed, but also
encouraged and persuaded, and even urged to enter into matrimony,
having a suitable match provided for him, and then he would be unable
to make a mesalliance. Many sensible girls would be glad of such a
partner, who might be more agreeable personally than one more steadily
disposed, and being kept from breaking out would make her very happy.
Even if a little weak ol intellect he might prove a very good husband,
as his wife could have her own way with him, and the care of any
helpless object is a pleasing duty to our tender and affectionate
natures. A weak-minded man appears to be intended by Nature for
the mate of a strong-minded woman.
“ On marriage, of course, the management of the incapable young
man’s property should be transferred to his wife, supposing her equal
to the task, and to have no Mamma living. Otherwise to whom could
the care of his estates be better entrusted than to the Mamma p A
double arrangement might be made, making the Mamma Committee of
the Estate—don’t the lawyers call it ?—and the Wife Committee of
the Person. So one would save him from squandering his property,
and the other would keep him from getting into mischief.
“ I have seven of them, Mr. Punch—marriageable daughters I mean,
and not sons of large property and weak intellect. Happy, indeed,
should I be to have seven sons-in-law of that description under the
circumstances above-mentioned! One such, indeed, would be a treasure
that I should embrace with thankfulness as an ample provision for my
eldest, whilst his superfluous means, with my management, would be a
great help for the rest. A husband of that sort who would keep regular-
hours ana dine early, and go to bed betimes, except when his wife had
an evening party, and give no trouble, and do what he was told, would
lead a woman a much more pleasing life than a man of superior in-
tellect, with his likes and dislikes, and pursuits and tastes of one kind
and another, wanting to go to clubs ana come home when he chose, and
bring friends with him, and be master there when he did come. Such
a man might be kind and generous, and all that, but he would not have
the recommendation the other would of not interfering, and not having
a will of his own, and not making a woman alter her domestic arrange-
ments to suit his convenience. Married to a nice good-natured sim-
pleton, she might pass her life comfortably, without excitement except
now and then, in the quiet enjoyment of her ordinary meals. I am,
dear Mr. Punch, your constant borrower, a lady moving in the first
society, and residing in a most fashionable neighbourhood at
“Number One.”
“P.S. Do you know any rich imbecile young man that would suit
my child ? Oh! believe me, the only true Asylum for Idiots is Woman’s
Heart.”
Thanks for the Cue.
“ A fashionable party assembled at Witley Court, on Wednesday evening, to
witness a grand billiard tournament, which the Earl of Dudley had got up.” —
Worcester Paper.
The printing such matters gives Mr. Punch a right to print lus ow n
idea about them, which is that no stroke struck at the billiard “ tour-
nament ” was half so remarkable as the coup made by Lord Dudley
himself, when his Pocket got the five Balls of a i Earl’s coronet. Is
I Witley the right spelling ?
Von. 42
2—2
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
41
Young Sawbones. “ Now, Mother, shall I give you a met of the Dorsal Muscle, or woreld you 'prefer a Slice of the Psoas!"
GOVERNESSES FOR THE IMBECILE.
“ Dear Mr. Punch,
“ From fifteen, to twenty thousand pounds wasted in trying
whether a young man is in his senses or out of his mind! What a
wicked waste! If it is the Law’s fault, I am sure the Law is the
worst lunatic in the case. Either the Law must be very stupid, or the
judgea great F, or the lawyers a set of shocking R’s, to plunder a
poor fellow between them of £20,000. If he is not able to manage his
own affairs, are they fit to manage them for him ?
“ How silly to take so much trouble to find out whether a man is
insane or no in order to decide as to his fitness for managing his
affairs ! As if nobody was unfit to manage his own affairs but a down-
right lunatic. Every wild young man almost is unfit to manage his
affairs, and if he has a fortune, ought to be prevented from throwing it
away. Not that he should be shut up, and prevented from going about
under certain restrictions, but proper people should be appointed to
take care of his estates, lay out his money for him on reasonable things,
and allow him so much a week. He should be made incapable of
running into debt or of marrying without the consent of his guardians.
“ With the consent of his guardians, however, a wild young man
unable to manage his own affairs should not only be allowed, but also
encouraged and persuaded, and even urged to enter into matrimony,
having a suitable match provided for him, and then he would be unable
to make a mesalliance. Many sensible girls would be glad of such a
partner, who might be more agreeable personally than one more steadily
disposed, and being kept from breaking out would make her very happy.
Even if a little weak ol intellect he might prove a very good husband,
as his wife could have her own way with him, and the care of any
helpless object is a pleasing duty to our tender and affectionate
natures. A weak-minded man appears to be intended by Nature for
the mate of a strong-minded woman.
“ On marriage, of course, the management of the incapable young
man’s property should be transferred to his wife, supposing her equal
to the task, and to have no Mamma living. Otherwise to whom could
the care of his estates be better entrusted than to the Mamma p A
double arrangement might be made, making the Mamma Committee of
the Estate—don’t the lawyers call it ?—and the Wife Committee of
the Person. So one would save him from squandering his property,
and the other would keep him from getting into mischief.
“ I have seven of them, Mr. Punch—marriageable daughters I mean,
and not sons of large property and weak intellect. Happy, indeed,
should I be to have seven sons-in-law of that description under the
circumstances above-mentioned! One such, indeed, would be a treasure
that I should embrace with thankfulness as an ample provision for my
eldest, whilst his superfluous means, with my management, would be a
great help for the rest. A husband of that sort who would keep regular-
hours ana dine early, and go to bed betimes, except when his wife had
an evening party, and give no trouble, and do what he was told, would
lead a woman a much more pleasing life than a man of superior in-
tellect, with his likes and dislikes, and pursuits and tastes of one kind
and another, wanting to go to clubs ana come home when he chose, and
bring friends with him, and be master there when he did come. Such
a man might be kind and generous, and all that, but he would not have
the recommendation the other would of not interfering, and not having
a will of his own, and not making a woman alter her domestic arrange-
ments to suit his convenience. Married to a nice good-natured sim-
pleton, she might pass her life comfortably, without excitement except
now and then, in the quiet enjoyment of her ordinary meals. I am,
dear Mr. Punch, your constant borrower, a lady moving in the first
society, and residing in a most fashionable neighbourhood at
“Number One.”
“P.S. Do you know any rich imbecile young man that would suit
my child ? Oh! believe me, the only true Asylum for Idiots is Woman’s
Heart.”
Thanks for the Cue.
“ A fashionable party assembled at Witley Court, on Wednesday evening, to
witness a grand billiard tournament, which the Earl of Dudley had got up.” —
Worcester Paper.
The printing such matters gives Mr. Punch a right to print lus ow n
idea about them, which is that no stroke struck at the billiard “ tour-
nament ” was half so remarkable as the coup made by Lord Dudley
himself, when his Pocket got the five Balls of a i Earl’s coronet. Is
I Witley the right spelling ?
Von. 42
2—2