Punch (45.1863)

IV

PREFACE.

[December 26, 1863.

man of the world, I am one. But there goes reason to roasting of eggs. The monument ought to be on a site which 1
have made memorable, and also where all the world can see it.

Mr. P. Sir, your reasons are sharp and sententious, pleasant without scurrility, audacious without impudency—

Shah. If I remember aright, the Temple is near this place.

Mr. P. Very. So please you, we will finish our tobacco there, or as you say, smoke the Temple with our sacrifices.

Shah. Nay ; sit still, and perpend. Do you know the First Part of Henry the Sixth ?

Mr. P. Sir, I am much deceived but I remember the style. Shall I recite the play ?

Shah. At your peril. But you may recollect that the Fourth Scene of the Second" Act is laid in the Temple Garden,
and that Somerset and Plantagenet and the other nobles pluck the white and red roses, and that I thus set out before
the eyes of the audience the origin of the great war.

Mr. P. Sir, its definement suffereth no perdition in you. The scene is one of the most significant in your volume,
and hath a national interest for every Englishman.

Shah. Then 1 think that it will be hard to find a better site for the Memorial than in the Temple Garden, which is
seen from the river, and will be seen from the embankment.

Mr. P. And thy advice this night I ’ll put in practice, and—as you say—“break into the Press ” with the hint.

Shah. Thank you, in advance, for undertaking the trouble.

Mr. P. The labour we delight in physics pain. And how do you get on in Elysium ?

Shah, (slightly yawning). Well, the yellow meads of asphodel and amaranthine bowers are very delightful places—
couldn’t be more so, I’m sure—but when one has heard everything that everybody has to say—you understand ?

Mr. P. Pone (for bene) intelligo, Domine. Priscian a little scratched—’twill serve. The fact is that for a Party
who exhausted worlds and then imagined new, the Fields may be a limited sphere.

Shah. Put it that way, if you like, or any way, but comprehend that one can’t be always hearing Virgil say over
the PEneid, or be always laughing at Lucian’s Dialogues.

Mr. P. What need the bridge much broader than the flood? I see your drift, Mr. Divine Williams.

Shah. Why then rejoice therefore.

Mr. P. Who’s quoting himself now ? Well, Sir, be you patient, it may be I have that may serve your turn.

Shah. You seem to be getting very drowsy.

Mr. P. A heavy summons—sits—like lead—upon me. I don’t find—it easy to—talk. Speak—yet again, not all
thy—former tale—but this one word—whether thy tale be true.

Shah. Extremely incoherent and irrational. I shall leave you to yourself.

Mr. P. Sit down—and feed—and welcome to—our table. I will show you a chamber and a bed—

Shah. Really, Mr. Punch !

Mr. P. Well—if you must go—sweetest morsel of th’ night—leave unpicked—take this book—and read it—and
it will make your Elysee—Elysium I mean—very happy. Read it, William (weeps), don’t read it for an age but for all
time—and let poor old Virgil see it—and Lucan—not Lord Lucan, you know, we call him Luckun,—and Lucian,

—and Lucullus,—and Lusitanius—and Lucy Neale—and everybody-. Halloo ! Ha! Ho ! Here, somebody !

I’m afire, I’m burning, I’m-(Recovers his senses, and his composure, and smiles.) I’ve dropped that baccy and

burned a hole in my trousers. That’s certain. I must have taken forty winks. I thought Billy Shakspeare was here,
and talking about "his Statue. And that he was bored, and to comfort him I was going to give him—nothing ridiculous
in that, though, indeed a very clever notion, and I ’ll drink my own health and a merry Christmas to myself for it (docs
so.) Good Burgundy that—ha! ha ! I was going to give Master Shakspeare my

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