Punch (59.1870)

August 20, 1870.]

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

81

THE JUDGMENTS OF PARIS.

THE YISION OF BABYLON.

ft us hear what other than The dream that caused the Great King sore unrest
insular persons have to say As on. his bed in Babylon he lay—
about the struggle on -which j The image terrible, in brightness drest,
all eyes are fixed. Mr. Punch \ With golden head, and silver arms and breast,
thinks (and for him to think Belly and thighs of brass, and, for a stay,
that he can oblige the world Feet moulded part of iron, part of clay-
is instantly to set about' Do we too dream that dream, that image see to-day ?
doing so) that the- world

may like to know the tone The stone cut without hands do we behold,

of the FrenH! press on re- Smiting the image on its faithless feet,

cent, evenis. From that Till clay and iroD, silver, brass and gold,

most useful and indefati- Are broken into iragments manifold

gable "gatherer of other \ As chaff on threshing-floors blown from the wheat,

men's stuff," Public Opi- And scattered to the winds that fiercely beat

on, Mr. Punch has selected Round that huge wreck of strength areared upon deceit!

Wissembourg is not a defeat . . .La Liberie.
The news is of immense gravity. . . Le Temps.
A check for our arms . . . .La Presse.
To-day we announce a check . . . Ze Pays.

A partial check.....Journal des Debats.

Nothing is lost......Le Pays.

We must act......Le Soir.

Terrible, but not overwhelming news . Za Patrie.

The French have sustained two defeats . LSOpinion Nationale.

The enemy is upon our territory . . Le Constitulionnel'.

We have been defeated . . . . L'Histoire.

It is not only France that is in danger . Le Monde.

the opening sentences ofi c , - ,, . . , ,t , , ah

the Parisian organs. The! Such is the vision Needs no seer to tell

journal he has named has! ™n s interpretation while the Time

obligingly saved him the' Helps our dull brains its lessoiungs to spell;

trouble of translating the ! gow wuh base metals noble mis not well;

passages, and this is con- ^ow homeward comes the curse of craft and crime,

venient, as his Young Man | j° weakea ™lls- as d/kd }¥ s w, , ... ,

■who 'reads and writes1 Ihose iron leet, whereon that image showed sublime !

French with facility " (or | The clay of treachery and broken oaths,

says he does) but cannot Kneaded with blood in midnight murder shed-

speak itv (as Mr. Pmch Wliat iron but ?uch foul admixture ioatus P

What rooted mights of such seed take their growths ?
Where to serve silver arms, or golden head,
Or brazen belly, ne'er so fatly fed,
Ijpon those feet, how firm soe'er they seem to tread ?

knows) has emigrated to
Hampstead for the recess

AN IMP AMONG THE INNOCENTS.

Lo, the stone without hands ! Two nations' wrath :

This—banded to protect its hearths and homes,

One will, one heart, one hand, set on the path

Of the invader, who, like him of Gath,

Exulting in his strength and stature comes,

To sweep them from his road, nor thinks he dooms

His own France to defeat and overthrow, like Rome's

When she assailed those she was wont to call
Barbarians—the sires of them that now
Teach France the lesson to be learnt of all
Whose moods like straw-fires flare as swift as fall,
That 'tis not lust of conquest that can bow,
Their patient wills, their silent strengths can cow,
Whom Faith and Fatherland thu3 with one soul endovr.

And that—the other nation—rising mad

To ask, " What with our legions hast thou done ? '

Along with the Innocents some Imps have been massacred this
time. One of these is the Enclosure Bill dropped for the present. It

may be enacted another day though, if you don't look sharp. It still To clamorous cursing changed from war-songs glad

remains a project, which, according to the Secretary of the Commons' Eor blithesome looks, dark faces, sore and sad,

Preservation Society, proposes to authorise twenty-one enclosures, And set like flinty 'gainst Aim—their Lord—their One—

containing an area of 12,596 acres, 7232 of which are subject to public
allotments, and:—

"From the whole of this only sixty-three and a half acres are reserved for
exercise and recreation, and only eighty-nine acres as allotments f;>r the
labouring poor. Several of the Commons proposed to be enclosed are in the
neighbourhood of large towns, and one of them, embracing the Lizard Point
and Kynance Cove, in Cornwall, comprises scenery of unusual beauty.'''

The credit of slaughtering the imp which threatened to do ths mis

The sole will of their world—the central sun
Round which the ordered stars had but their course to run.

What wonder, if beneath these rending blows,
The foes without, the feller foes within,
The strength of the great image melts, like snows
In thaw, and cracks and rends, with awful throes —
If the clay kneaded in its feet, begin
To work its work of weakness 'neath the skin

chief above indicated, marring English scenery, and conveying (the Whose vain and varnished show the world's respect could win ?

wise call it) public land, is due to Professor Fawcett. If this

goblin of a Bill, for the present quelled, should come to life again, and
affront us with its ugly figure next Session, may the public-spirited
Professor, the Member for Brighton, be again prompt and potent to
knock it on the head, and stamp upon it, and squelch it.

Only their Name Against Them.

" The investment of Strasbourg appears, as far as yet learned, to be con-
ducted chiefly by the Badish troops."

It is not at all improbable that these " Badish " troops may show
themselves to be goodish ones.

The Cover of the Country.

An eye-witness of the Battle of Woerth, describing it in the Nationale,
mentions that "every tree" in the forest of Hagenau "concealed a
Prussian, who took a sure aim," and particularly notices "the terrible
part that the woods, whether at For bach or elsewhere, play in this
war." Guardians of British Crown Lands, please to bear in mind that
our Woods are among the most important of our national defences.

Lo, the great image seen in Babylon,

In King Nebuchadnezzar's slumber deep,

For our good once more in its mould is run:

Again we see the welded strength undone,

Because it lacked Right's base that strength to keep :

Once more he that sowed wind doth whirlwind reap :

Once more we learn God's wrath may stay, but doth not sleep.

Pensive Penning.

Being in a poetic vein, I stood by a child's cradle, and saw the infant
smiling in its sleep. Here," said I to myself, " is Blissful Inno-
cence." "Poor little dear," quoth the nurse, "He's werry much
troubled." It was the wind. " In pain ! " I exclaimed, sadly turning
away. " And a humbug at this early age ! Already he has learnt to
<rrki and bear it." So 1 went to bed.

Ancient and Modern History.—Conscript Fathers once attracted
a large share of attention ; now it is all absorbed by Conscript Sons.