Punch (60.1871)

264

PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[Junk 24, 1871.

PUNCH'S OWN CROSIER. A PHOTOGRAPHIC THIEF-TRAP.

With reference to the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill proposed by the j A respected Contemporary thus enables us to wish success to

Earl of Shaftesbury ,
the Post remarks on the
importance of the question,
"how far Lord Shaftes-
bury's Bill may be im-
proved by carrying out the
Bishop of Winchester's
suggestion to strengthen
the hands of the Bishops
in dealing with the most
painful cases of breaches
by Clergymen of the moral
law." When Bishop Wil-
is erforce desires the
Bishops' hands to be
strengthened, of course he
wishes more power to their
elbows. At present a
Bishop's crosier is no better
than a beadle's staff; it is
simply what Cromwell
called the Speaker's mace.
The painful breaches of
the moral law, of which
some Clergymen are some-
times culpable, would
doubtless in some cases be
most suitably corrected by
the infliction of a corre-
sponding chastisement with
such an instrument as a
Bishop's crosier, wielded by
a Bishop whose hands had
been strengthened suffi-
ciently to enable him to lay
it on with a will. Then
the crosier, ceasing to be a
bauble, would assume the
character of a consecrated
cudgel, which is what it
may be supposed to have
formerly had by those who
consider the manner in
which mediaeval Bishops
are represented in many
contemporary illumina-
tions as holding it, and
compare that with the way
in which another kind of
staff is held by the Hero
of a popular hypsethral
drama. There was, you
know, a certain disci-
pline in primitive times for
the open correction of no-
torious offenders; and if
the hands of Bishops were
so strengthened that a
Bishop could apply his
crosier to that purpose, the
said discipline would effec-
tually be restored again;
" which," not a few people
may now and then be in-
clined to think, "ismuchto
be wished." Booi-too-ooi!

Portable Pillow.

Amongst the particulars
of " Fashions for June," Le
Folletspecifies "Hairrolled
back over acushion." Your
cushion to its right use—
but is that for the head ?
A cushion at the poll in ad-
dition to a chignon would,
one imagines, seriously
augment top - heaviness ;
though, to be sure, it might
serve to break a fall. But a
cushion so situated is a mis-
nomer—call it a pillow.

THE SERVANTS.

Hannah (our New Country Girl, bursting in just after breakfast). " 0, 'M\
please 'M', this 'ere New Tap Master put in yesterday 'll never
do 'M\ it's been a drip-drippin' all night 'M' !" (Produces itI)

Eldest Son (addicted, in a gentlemanly way, to Beer). " By George ! she's-"

[Seizes the Cream-Jug, and bolts like a shot. Fears the worst!

Throws Himself down the Cellar Steps. Tableau ! Too Late—■
there wasn't enough left for his ''Morning" !

"Photography as a De-
tective. — Certain photo-
graphs exist of the ruins of
the Vendome Column, in which
the portraits of a numher of
National Guards, in triumphal
attitudes, are plainly recog-
nisable. Each of those heads,
after having been enlarged,
has now been placed in the
hands of the detective police.
A series of views of the prin-
cipal barricades also were pub-
lished just before the troops
entered Paris, and several
hundred portraits of insur-
gents are given. The like-
nesses will in many cases lead
to the condemnation of the
men so depicted."

Is it not possible to con-
struct a photographic trap
so contrived that, when a
spring connected with it is
trodden on, a screen shall
be raised and lowered after
an interval long enough to
admit the formation of an
image on the camera ?
That image might be the
image of a thief, who,
coming to steal where the
trap had been set, had un-
consciously trodden on the
spring, and so got photo-
graphed. An addition to
this trap, striking a mag-
nesium light simulta-
neously with the rise of
the screen, would render
it available by night as
well as by day, generally
with the advantage of
arresting the thief for a
moment in a striking atti-
tude of terror, before he
made off. Should any in-
genious mechanist reduce
this idea of a Photographic
Thief-trap to a practical
shape, he will contribute
towards furthering the
ends of justice.

Street Literature.

"Literary.—To Authors.—
MSS. of every description can
be forwarded for inspection,
and, if suitable, will be placed
in a Channel for publication."

What a strange place to
deposit manuscript works
in—a channel ! Let us
hope some useful informa-
tion will be picked up.
Matter now and then gets
into print which if it were
left in a gutter and never
published at all, the world
would be gainers rather
than losers.

great saving of labour.

The International Ex-
hibition contains a ma-
chine which will be in-
valuable to stenographers,
penny-a-liners, ladies who
write long letters, and
some of our very produc-
tive novelists—it is called
a " Scribbler."