Punch (50.1866)

May 26, 1866.1

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

217

PUNCH ON THE PEOPLE’S PARKS.

Our Ancestors were content with a
Tallow Candle,

But then the? had no Trees of
this Description.

We, who have a Beautiful and
Brilliant Gas,


READING made easy.

Can you Read at the British Museum P Many to whom this
question is addressed will reply, I have leisure, will, and a ticket, but I
cannot find the books I want. Eager to promote the education of the
Public, which is by no means so well-informed as could be desired,
Mr. Punch begs or rather takes leave to introduce to the aforesaid
Public his friend, and their friend, Mr. Thomas Nichols. The Public
—Mr. Nichols : Mr. Nichols—the Public. Now, Ladies and Gentle-
men, the more you cultivate the acquaintance of your new friend, the
easier will be the cultivation of your own minds. “ How so ? ” you
ask, with a smile, being certain to receive a satisfactory reply. Your
curiosity is natural and laudable, and shall be indulged. If you make
yourselves agreeable to Mr. Nichols, or rather to his and our excellent
friends, Messrs. Longmans (a process which you may accomplish by
an outlay so moderate that it is hardly worth mentioning) you will be
presented with his Handbook for Readers at the Museum. With this
capital little book in your hand, take your seat on one of those comfort-
able chairs, which roll about silently like the tables constructed by
Vulcan for the Immortal Gods, and select the subject on which you

wish to be informed. Mr. Nichols will instantly and frankly tell you
where to obtain the precise volume, or MS., or map, or catalogue, or
•picture, or coin, or medal, or newspaper you would like to see, and
will also assist your judgment in choosing such instruction as will be
most available, whether you want to know about Pickles, or the
metallic history of Nickels, or poems of Tickell’s, or Mickle’s, or the
cure of Prickles, or ancient chariots armed with Sickles, or those
pretty tales of Fanny Eickle’s, or why Knaresborough’s dripping well
Trickles, just look at this admirable little book of Nichols. This is
a puff, and we mean it for one, and a good one too, for it is in favour of
the goodest Handbook that has lately come to our august hands.

An Old Cuss.

Post-office Returns show a vast accession of Letter-Tax income.
It may not be amiss, therefore, to remind Mr. Gladstone, who respects
ecclesiastical facts, that in 1299, from St. Paul’s Cross, Baldock
“ solemnly cursed all who sought a hoard of gold in St. Martin’s-le-
Grand.” No Budget-making out of letters.