Punch (57.1869)

August H, 1869.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

63

"LE FOUNT'S" ADVANCE IN INTELLECT.

Le Follet is evidently improving, if not at Earlswood, yet somewhere
else, apparently, under some course of training calculated to develop
intellect. It states that, amongst the various " Fashions for August:

" Light waterproof cloths in shot colours such as violet and black, or brown
and gold, are much in demand. Costumes in this material should be quite
plain, with a simple hem at the bottom of the snirt, which is short. A small
crinoline of the same material as the dress, will be found very serviceable to
put on in wet weather, as it serves to sustain the skirt, and preserve the
ankles from the damp."

Reasoning ; actual reasoning. That, too, in addition to a very
sensible remark about costumes which are themselves as sensible as
any can be—waterproof, completed with:—

| " Waterproof boots, sewn with the colour of the dress."

Mudplungers for wet weather. These, too, bespeak somewhat of an
understanding, in the upper region, if, more useful than ornamental,
they eclipse one at the lower extremities, of those who have judiciously
taken to wear them.

Then again, Le Follet, with a decided gleam of thought, remarks:—

" Young ladies' dresses should always be simple. Originality of form or
colour need not be excluded, as will be seen from the following descriptions."

Of these one deserves to be quoted, for it certainly does bespeak
the merit of originality :—

" The black confections mostly adopted are the fichu, with a point in front
and behind, completed by a short tunique, with a cascade of coques termi-
nating in a square end behind."

A cascade of coques, for an embellishment of a lady's dress, certainly
does strike one as an original idea. What are the coques ? Shells ?
Egg-shells, associated with " black confections " may agreeably remind
the beholder of omelette au confiture. Or are the coques oyster-shells,
or what else ? And how is the cascade managed ? The uninformed
mind may surmise that watered silk is somehow employed in it.

Not only has Le Follet attained to a degree of intelligence which can
appreciate originality, but it is capable also of exercising somewhat of
a critical faculty in a tone of gentle satire even. For example :—

" Elegant refinement in dress is a gift all ladies do not, unfortunately,
possess ; hence the caricatures we so often meet with. Striking contrasts in
colours and profusion in ornament, either on dress or head, destroy the beau-
tiful effect which might be produced by a careful and graceful adaptation of
• the numerous garnitures now in fashion."

Here is, besides, something like some notion of Art. Le Follet,
| perhaps, has so far advanced at Earlswood as to have been enabled to
| profit by being taken of late occasionally to South Kensington.

JUDGES' JUSTICE.

Ma. Punch was expressing to the wife of his bosom his indignation
at the shamefully inadequate sentence of five years' penal servitude
awarded to the itedhill ruffian who, after breaking his wife's neck by
throwing her down-stairs, stood mocking her with curses and foul
abuse as she lay dying. " Ah, but the man was drunk !" pleaded
Mrs. P. " True," said Mr. Punch, " and the Judge was Melloe."

Is there no appeal from Justice Melloe to Justice Melioe ? Surely,
if ever trial by the Times and the Daily Telegraph, the Sun and the
Star, the Daily News and the Statidard, the Morning Post and the
Morning Tizer, the Pall Mall Gazette and Punch, all together, was
justified, it is in the case of the Judge who, after awarding five years
penal servitude to this beast in human form, and eighteen months'
imprisonment to another only less ruffianly scoundrel, who just missed
taking his wretched wife's life through the bluntness of the knife he
used, on her throat, gave fifteen years penal servitude to a fellow who
administered a threshing with his fists—a savage and unjustifiable one,
it is quite true—to a poor hair-dresser who, a year before, had given
evidence against him.

Are we to infer from the revolting disproportion of these sentences
that, in Justice Melloe's eyes, threshing a witness is three times as
bad as breaking a wife's neck, and nearly ten times as bad as cutting
her throat.?

No Longer a Fault.

_ Ladies who have the privilege of offering their charitable contribu-
tions in the presence of a gracious and charming Princess, may be
pardoned if they feel a little purse-proud on the occasion. (N.B. The
gentlemen who attend them should be slim in figure, not pursy.)

The Ieish Eree Church Question.—Now that we are dises-
tablished and disendowed shall we go on praying for "the High Court
of Parliament ? "

OCCASIONAL SONNETS.

I.—clapham junction.

Behold ! the strident engine with its helm

Of burnished brass, and fiery eyes, is here,

To waft and whirl through Albion's sea-girt realm,

To cliffs and sands, to esplanade and pier,

The summer swarm of travellers who throng

The busy platform in their summer suits,

And, eager as impatient school-boys, long

To taste, for one brief blissful mooD, the fruits

Of months of industry and thrifty ways—

Eresh scenes, fresh air, fresh faces and fresh shrimps,

Where the Savoyard still his organ plays,

And sands are trenched by merry barelegged imps—

Cheerful, though conscious that by shore and bay

The lowliest lodging-house awaits its prey.

ii.—seaville.

Musing I pace the shore, and idly scan
The groups who gossip on the grassy green,
The donkey equipage, and drab machine,
The useful shrimper, and the coastguard man;
Till, resting on a shattered mast, I trace
Upon the sand contiguous to the sea,
The dearest name in all the world to me—
Amelia Steapps, of 16, Shakspeare Place :
Then calling to my faithful hound afar,
I wander home to see the sun go down,
(About his usual time,) behind the town,
And watch the vessels as they cross the bar,
Pleased to observe the moon above the hill—
But not the extras in my weekly bill.

III. —seaville revisited.

Eour Quarter-days have passed since musing here,

I graved her name upon the shifting sand,

And heard the music of the German band

Playing Selections on the crowded pier;

The while I shaped within my joyous heart

The happy course of all my future life,

With her who promised to become my wife,

And wore, for months, a locket with my carte.

The scene's unchanged ; the pier, the prawns, the same ;

But I—my peace, my appetite, is gone,

My figure's shrunk, I've lost at least a stone

Since here I traced that dear perfidious name,

And hoped—But, hark ! gay laughers round the rocks—

Amelia and her husbaud Captain Cox!

A Prince for Punch.

Prince Arthur, on Saturday last, at the farewell banquet given to
him on being about to go and join the B,ifle Brigade in Canada, in
returning thanks for the toast of his health, said a good thing :—-

" In taking my leave of this garrison, for the purpose of proceeding to one
of the English colonies, it is with a sincere hope that I may soon return
again."

Tremendous cheers; but no laughter. Yet the Duke of Cambridge
presided; and the rest of the distinguished officers present were not
all Scotchmen.

Two Chapters of Gladstone's Autobiography.

{As Edited by the Bishop of Tuam.)

" Juventus Mundi." —

" The State in its relations with the Church." 1833.
" Senectus Lmmundi.'"

" The State in no relations with the Church." 1869.

Strength and Weakness.

Mr. Peter Taylor, the other evening, made an assault on the
Government Bill for the completion of our inchoate dockyard defences.
Is not this gentleman a partisan of compulsory abstinence from exhi-
larating liquors ? Perhaps his disapproval of anything strong is so
thorough that he objects even to fortifications.

Oee the Needles.—A Tailor who has made money (some tailors
do), and wishes to measure himself against other rich men, should take
to yachting and get a cutter.