DOI Heft:
November 14, 1863
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16872#0215
204
[November 14, l«63.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
THE LATEST THING IN IMPUDENCE.
Cook. “I should be sorry to inconwenience you, Mum; and as I shall be late, I’ll take Master’s Latch Key?
IMPENDING SACRILEGE.
It is intended to remove from Westminster Abbey the ashes of the
illustrious dead that rest within the precincts of that venerable edifice,
and re-inter them at Kensal Green.
The foregoing announcement is one which, if there were any truth in
it, wpuld astonish the natives, who owe allegiance to Queen Victoria,
considerably; and would also somewhat amaze foreigners, even those
who account us capable of any brutality.
What, then, will the British Public, and other Publics wherever there
are any, and where there are none, what will Potentates and Princes
say to the annexed statement extracted from the columns of a contem-
porary ? —
“ The Desecration of Bunhill-fields Burial-ground.—This ground formed
one of the three great fields originally belonging to the Manor of Finsbury Farm,
and the lease for 1,000 years, now held by the Corporation, will expire in 1867, when
the property reverts to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The burial-ground, since
the year 1664, has been the great cemetery for Nonconformists, and here rest the
bones of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress ; George Fox, the founder
of the Society of Friends ; Dr. Daniel Williams, founder of the library in Redcross
Street ; Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe; Dr. Isaac Watts ; Joseph
Ritson, the antiquary; Thomas Stothard, R.A. ; Patrick Colquhoun, LL.D.,
author of Our System of Police ; and other well-known literary men, besides those of
the Buxtons, Sollys, Travers, Fullers, Roberts, Mop.leys, Gibsons, Maitlands,
and other great dissenting families. On the ground coming into the possession of
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it is intended to remove the human remains lying
there, and let the ground on building leases.”
It is very likely that all that is mortal of John Bunyan, except a
very small quantity of phosphate of lime, lias evaporated into thin air.
But if any dust is of any consequence, some respect is owing to that of
the most famous Jack the Giant Killer, who conquered Giant Doubt
and Giant Despair, and bequeathed the story of ins victory to ages.
And what less can be said of the relies of that eternal benefactor to boy-
hood who created Robinson Crusoe, and survived the satire of Pope ?
What’s in a name, if the name of Watts, and the Logic which has
memorised it, and the Psalmody which has consecrated it, cannot obtain
consideration for his grave? Is there no sanctity in the tomb of
Stothard, a painter—and not also a plumber and glazier ?
We cannot be sure that the verses inscribed on Shakspeare’s monu-
I
ment, deprecating the disturbance of his bones, aud said to have been
written by himself, were really composed by the parish clerk. There is
reason, therefore, to suppose that the greatest of mankind attached some
importance to the chrysalis-shell whence the butterfly had flown. His
judgment, coinciding with the common sentiment of humanity, should
give us pause in the idea, could we entertain it, of dislodging the residue
of great spirits from Poet’s Corner. The dust of genius, too, has
consecrated the burial-ground of Bunhill Pields.
However, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as such, will not recog-
nise that consecration, which is all that the Dissenters’ cemetery has.
It is for the Dissenters themselves, in the first place, to care for the
conservation of the sepulchres of their fathers. It has been suggested
that they should devote a portion of their large Bicentenary Memorial
Fund to the purchase of the freehold. They will be helped by many
who, regardless of the creed, respect the memory, of the gifted, the
learned, the venerable if quaint and prim, and rather pigheaded old
Nonconformists. Like other intramural cemeteries, let the burial-
ground of Bunhill Fields be converted into a garden, in which the
remembrance of those whose actions “ smeil sweet and blossom in the
dust ” shall bj graced with the suitable emblems of trees aud flowers.
[Advertisement]
T'O THE EMBARRASSED.—There are thousands of Tories who have
long struggled against the force of Liberal opinion, hut few are aware that the
winning seats here and there only means that the Conservative agents have been
cleverer or perhaps less scrupulous than their antagonists, and that a general elec-
tion would replace the Tories in a hole, without their leaders being Gazetted as
Ministers. Money advanced for bribery is thrown away. Nor can a valuable and
popular Minister be slandered out of office, or tripped up by an attorney’s bag. For
further information apply to Mr. Punch, Slasher, or to his dog Toby, 85, Fleet
Street, London, E.C. Protectionists convinced of their folly for threepence, payable
by instalments, if security given. Original advertisement 1841. Decided Asses con-
fidentially conducted into Bride Court and kicked. Verbum sap.
Too Horrible
The other day, a gentleman, without assigning any reason for this act
of sell-martyrdom, entered a cutler’s shop, and put his hands upon two
sharp carving-knives, upon which he had previously fixed his eyes!!
[November 14, l«63.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
THE LATEST THING IN IMPUDENCE.
Cook. “I should be sorry to inconwenience you, Mum; and as I shall be late, I’ll take Master’s Latch Key?
IMPENDING SACRILEGE.
It is intended to remove from Westminster Abbey the ashes of the
illustrious dead that rest within the precincts of that venerable edifice,
and re-inter them at Kensal Green.
The foregoing announcement is one which, if there were any truth in
it, wpuld astonish the natives, who owe allegiance to Queen Victoria,
considerably; and would also somewhat amaze foreigners, even those
who account us capable of any brutality.
What, then, will the British Public, and other Publics wherever there
are any, and where there are none, what will Potentates and Princes
say to the annexed statement extracted from the columns of a contem-
porary ? —
“ The Desecration of Bunhill-fields Burial-ground.—This ground formed
one of the three great fields originally belonging to the Manor of Finsbury Farm,
and the lease for 1,000 years, now held by the Corporation, will expire in 1867, when
the property reverts to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The burial-ground, since
the year 1664, has been the great cemetery for Nonconformists, and here rest the
bones of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress ; George Fox, the founder
of the Society of Friends ; Dr. Daniel Williams, founder of the library in Redcross
Street ; Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe; Dr. Isaac Watts ; Joseph
Ritson, the antiquary; Thomas Stothard, R.A. ; Patrick Colquhoun, LL.D.,
author of Our System of Police ; and other well-known literary men, besides those of
the Buxtons, Sollys, Travers, Fullers, Roberts, Mop.leys, Gibsons, Maitlands,
and other great dissenting families. On the ground coming into the possession of
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it is intended to remove the human remains lying
there, and let the ground on building leases.”
It is very likely that all that is mortal of John Bunyan, except a
very small quantity of phosphate of lime, lias evaporated into thin air.
But if any dust is of any consequence, some respect is owing to that of
the most famous Jack the Giant Killer, who conquered Giant Doubt
and Giant Despair, and bequeathed the story of ins victory to ages.
And what less can be said of the relies of that eternal benefactor to boy-
hood who created Robinson Crusoe, and survived the satire of Pope ?
What’s in a name, if the name of Watts, and the Logic which has
memorised it, and the Psalmody which has consecrated it, cannot obtain
consideration for his grave? Is there no sanctity in the tomb of
Stothard, a painter—and not also a plumber and glazier ?
We cannot be sure that the verses inscribed on Shakspeare’s monu-
I
ment, deprecating the disturbance of his bones, aud said to have been
written by himself, were really composed by the parish clerk. There is
reason, therefore, to suppose that the greatest of mankind attached some
importance to the chrysalis-shell whence the butterfly had flown. His
judgment, coinciding with the common sentiment of humanity, should
give us pause in the idea, could we entertain it, of dislodging the residue
of great spirits from Poet’s Corner. The dust of genius, too, has
consecrated the burial-ground of Bunhill Pields.
However, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as such, will not recog-
nise that consecration, which is all that the Dissenters’ cemetery has.
It is for the Dissenters themselves, in the first place, to care for the
conservation of the sepulchres of their fathers. It has been suggested
that they should devote a portion of their large Bicentenary Memorial
Fund to the purchase of the freehold. They will be helped by many
who, regardless of the creed, respect the memory, of the gifted, the
learned, the venerable if quaint and prim, and rather pigheaded old
Nonconformists. Like other intramural cemeteries, let the burial-
ground of Bunhill Fields be converted into a garden, in which the
remembrance of those whose actions “ smeil sweet and blossom in the
dust ” shall bj graced with the suitable emblems of trees aud flowers.
[Advertisement]
T'O THE EMBARRASSED.—There are thousands of Tories who have
long struggled against the force of Liberal opinion, hut few are aware that the
winning seats here and there only means that the Conservative agents have been
cleverer or perhaps less scrupulous than their antagonists, and that a general elec-
tion would replace the Tories in a hole, without their leaders being Gazetted as
Ministers. Money advanced for bribery is thrown away. Nor can a valuable and
popular Minister be slandered out of office, or tripped up by an attorney’s bag. For
further information apply to Mr. Punch, Slasher, or to his dog Toby, 85, Fleet
Street, London, E.C. Protectionists convinced of their folly for threepence, payable
by instalments, if security given. Original advertisement 1841. Decided Asses con-
fidentially conducted into Bride Court and kicked. Verbum sap.
Too Horrible
The other day, a gentleman, without assigning any reason for this act
of sell-martyrdom, entered a cutler’s shop, and put his hands upon two
sharp carving-knives, upon which he had previously fixed his eyes!!