Punch (59.1870)

222

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[November 26, 1370,

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT!"

Habitual Criminal {to Swell Belting-Man). "To See the Lord Mayor!
Ah ! if they Knowed the Lokd Mayor as well as you and I, Bill, they
wouldn't make suck a Fdss about bim ! "

" NOT LOOSE YET."

Some fifteen years since Europe watched
A bloody bout of " Bait the Bear" ;

Baiters and baited were well matched,
And hard the knocks both had to share.

At last the baiters won the fight,

And left the Bear in evil plight.

With fangs knocked out, claws rent away,
And tattered ears and muzzle torn,

Licking his bleeding wounds he lay,

Spent, scarred, and sore, faint and forlorn:

Too weak to struggle, as they past

A rope about his shoulders vast,

And hugged him, a reluctant heap,
In spite of idle snarl and growl,

Up to a stake that, planted deep,
Defied sharp claws and armed jowl,

To tear up, pull down, or gnaw through,

And bound him with a chain thereto.

Since that time Bruin's wounds have healed.
His fangs and claws have grown again ;

The fur, once from red gashes peeled,
Has grown o'er scars that still remain,

Till Bruin feels, with strength renewed,

Old hankerings for the Turkey brood.

But each move on his would-be prey
Reveals the check of post and chain :

In vain he tugs, to wrench away
The post, his tether gnaws in vain.

The stake is strong, the chain is sound,

And Master Bruin firmly bound.

But lo, at last, a chance appears !

The Gallic cock o'er-mastered lies,
On broader wings through wider spheres

His friend the German eagle flies.
Who stays his efforts to be free P
The British Lion ! What is he ?

A poor, old, toothless, fangless brute,
Big-boned still, but no longer strong,

Crippled by sleeping at the root
Of Evil, lazily and long,

Prizing its golden fruitage far

Beyond the dusty palms of war.

"He will not lift his helpless head,

He will not ope his sleepy eye,
To splinters though the post 1 shred,

And make the chain in flinders fly.
Turkey's his friend; but there it ends :
He doesn't fight to save his friends."

So Bruin gave his post a tug,
And Bruin gave his chain a shake,

And roared—from Dnieper unto Bug,—

" Take heed, all? The great Bear's awake !

He doth hereby, ignore his chain,

And doffs it, ne'er to don again ! "

The British Lion heard him roar,

And raised from 'twixt his paws his crest,

And, checking a suspended snore,
His 3leepy bulk to speech addrest,—

"Ignore your chain! 1 wish you joy!

But you've to get it off, my boy.

" And ere you do that, brother Bear,
You'll have to square accounts with me,

As well as with our old friends there,
Eagles of Austria, Italy,

And, last, not least, Dame Turkey here,

Eor whom your love is so sincere,

"That, with your will, you'll never rest
Till she is fast between your paws,

Safe 'neath their shield as in a nest,
If she don't run upon your claws.

If Turkey this don't seem to see,

No wonder it's not clear to me.

" We tied you up to keep her safe,
When your affection waxed too warm ;

Against the chain howe'er you chafe,
That chain is still 'twixt her and harm.

B.emember, pray, howe'er sharp set,

My worthy Bear, you're not loose yet ! "

A SAD DISCLOSURE.

li BISMARCK.—What am 1 to do ? I cannot exist without
you ? "

Such was the passionate, heart-rending appeal which ap-
peared in the Times but a few days ago. There are those who
believe the great German Count to be a Machiavelli: we
fear now there is too much reason to suspect that he is also
a Don Giovanni. We call upon him—a married man, be it
remembered—to satisfy the Great Powers, if he can, that
he has not, in the midst of war, diplomacy, the demands of
Russia, and the unification of Germany, been trifling with
the affections of some young and trusting female. If he
cannot, and it is an Englishwoman, who has thus, through
the medium of a public advertisement, made known her
inability to live without the Chancellor of the German
Confederation, we do not see how our Ambassador can
remain twenty-four hours longer at Berlin, withoutdemand-
ing his passports. We must then send our Eleet into
Prussian waters and submit to an additional Income-tax.

Trie Church in an Uproar.

Lo, Parsons Mackonochie, Purchas, and Voyset,
Ail at once are before the Judicial Committee !

With long theological arguments noisy,
What a hubbub there is in Jerusalem City !

The Real School-Bobed.— The Scholars,