Punch (64.1873)

262

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[June 21, 1873.

THE PERILS OF THE PARKS. | and in the exnWranee of his delight at

having escaped several hours ot Local taxa-
tion or Courts of Judicature, he betrayed
into an acceleration of pace, an impetuosity
of movement, which might easily be mis-
taken by some vigilant, guardian of public
propriety and decorum for a skip. Would
the offender have to appear at the West-
minster Police Court ? Would he be allowed
to remain at large on bail until the next
morning F

Perhaps other actions, which we have
hitherto looked upon as perfectly harmless
and unobjectionable, are daily exposing us
to all those pains and penalties which an
infringement of Park rules and regulations
sets in motion. Perhaps it is a misde-
meanour to run after a triend in Kensing-
ton Gardens, and endeavour to attract his
attention by calling out his name in a loud
tone of voice ? Perhaps it is petty larceny
to pick up a stone and throw it into the
Round Pond for Oscar s delight and recrea-
tion ? Perhaps it is downright felony to
allow the same moist and intelligent animal
to carrv in his mouth, beyond the Park

of a Police Magistrate. The next time we boundaries, the fragment of stick we have

thoughtlessly abstracted from the grass r
Are the daisies Crown property? Are the
other wild flowers counted every morning
and evening" by the Park Keepers ?

The Parks at the present time are delight-
ful resorts, and we shall forfeit many
agreeable hours by shunning their shady
walks and emerald paths, but, until satis-
factory replies are returned to our questions,
•we cannot, we dare not, venture within such
dangerous precincts. Fortunately, the Mays,
and lilacs, and laburnums are past their
prime.

lainly, to skip in Victoria Park seems to be
a dangerous outburst of animal spirits,
which brings the skippers under the notice
of a Police Magistrate. The next time we
visit Bethnal Green Museum, and take a
turn in the adjacent Park after seeing the
pictures, we *-hall be careful to walk along
its paths wi'h the utmost sedateness and
deliberation.

If such an innocent act as skipping may be followed by fine and, pos&ibly, imprisonment,
we must all mind what we are doing, and when the warm summer weather comes and tempts
us into the Parks, be on our guard not to show our delight at the phenomenon by so much
as a single hop, skip, or jump.

One hardly likes to think of the tremendous consequences of even a momentary forget-
fulness of the etiquette all are expected to observe who ramble in the Parks A Member of
Parliament, Me. Ayrton for instance, going down to Westminster on a sultry after-
noon in July, and finding th-re was No House, might stroll into St. James's Park,

BISMARCK AND BIGOTRY.

An article in the Saturday Review on " The Jesuits," referring to
the antagonism heretofore existing between that Order and the
Bishops of their communion, contains the following passage : —

"Prince Bismakck has done his bust, to nromote a closer alliance between
them in G-erm-my, just as the kinired though far feebler policy of the Eccle-
siastical Titles Act helped to rally all Homan CUtholic ptrhe* in England
under the banners of Ultramomanisin."

THE APPROACH OF SUMMER.

Now Spring hath fled ; but yet, is Winter past ?

With frosty breath he has returned in June
Oft, when trom east aud north a biting blast

Nipped the young flowers, and hushed the song-bird's tune.

And in my grate at times have I been fain

To light a costly fire of precious coals.
Which at one-pound-sixteeu a ton remain ;
So we burn money-bless the colliers' souls !

The berry coupled with the name of " goose,"
Whereto old English cookery added " fool,"

Hath yielded pies and puddings to our use
At Whitsuntide, as due by antique rule.

But Whitsuntide was late, nor can we call
Potatoes early that were premature,

And watery, more than waxy, almost all;
Such lack of sun our gardens did endure.

Exactly so. Only the Ecclesiastical Titles A.ct did no more than
help to narrow all Roman Catholic parties in England to Uitramon-
tanism. Its work remained to be completed by the Vatican Council
in declaring Papal Infallibility. That finished it. The Ecclesias-
tical Titles Act has been wisely repealed. Who would like to give
gratuitous offence to his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects ?

Here and everywhere else in Christendom people are now com-
fortably divided into Protestants and Papists. Roman Catholics
should accept and not resent that denomination. Uitramontanism
is Popery in a simply definitive sense. Protestantism and Popery
are now marked off from each other, by a line which no believer on Deferred, too, was the customary boon

one side can pass, and very few thinking men on the other will. Of young green peas, and men said, " Where are they?"

How many such are likely to commit themselves to all that Popery ■ On old King George's birthday, Fourth of June,

comprehends ? High Anglican parsons appear to have nearly ceased ; They were not yet when it had passed away.

" going over to Rome," in whose eyes thev occupy the same eccle- ; „ . , , .., , , . . . . .

siastieal level with Mr Sptjrgeow. Is not all this just what Pmkce Bx£ see ™J^%^}^^2l^^!^l

Bismarck would rejoice over if he were in Mb. Gladstone's place ?
He would probably not regret the feebleness of the policv which has
helped to obtain such results. The stronger policy which he now
pursues is perhaps necessitated by the excess of holy zeal which
sometimes renders Popish ecclesiastics a little troublesome. When
the Ultramontane Bishops are quiet, Prince Bismarck will doubt-
less know how to deal with them in a spirit of enlightened tolera-
tion. Perhaps he will be happy to concede almost as much to
Uitramontanism as British Statesmen have yielded—as soon as he
can afford it.

novel supper room.

We can imagine few people indifFerejit to an invitation to the
Entertainment to be given at the Gjuildhall to the Shah, but it is
open to a doubt how far guests may like to be included amongst the
ninety who are to sup in "the Court of Sewers."

Comes as the Rising Sun from o'er the seas !
May glorious Summer on his chariot wait,
And bring on our potatoes and our peas.

Competition and Cleverness.

It appears that the Government has found it necessary to issue a
warning to Civil Servants, threatening dismissal as the penalty of
betraying official secrets to the Press. The system of Competitive
Examination was designed to provide the Civil Service with clever
young men. It has provided it with young men so clever that they
are able to obtain appointments on the Press, and then turn their
official knowledge to account in journalism. Thus the Competitive
Examination System has more than succeeded in providing the Civil
Service with young men who are clever. Those young men are too
clever by half. The Government finds that in producing the
Competition Wallah it has driven its pigs to a pretty market.