Punch (71.1876)

154

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[Octobee 7, 1876.

A HUNDRED YEARS BACK.

es, Temporis acti i For the grand Past in fact I
Laudator am I: I Would willingly die.

A SAD MICHAELMAS.

On Wednesday afternoon, September 27, 1876—the exact date
calls for precise record—at a meeting of the Court of Common
Council held at Guildhall, the Loud Mayor presiding-, the City
Lands Committee brought up a report on the subject of the removal
of Temple Bar. Some discussion followed, which ended in a division,
when the report of the Committee, recommending the removal of
the structure, was carried by 69 votes to 45, " and it was referred
back for execution."

After reading this harrowing scene, what man, what Liveryman,
in whose breast there is a spark of proper feeling, can feel surprised
at what follows ?

The Loed Mayoe continues to reside at the Mansion House, but
he is living in the strictest seclusion compatible with his official
duties. The latest bulletin is rather more favourable : it is to the
effect that his Lordship has passed a better night, and is a little
more composed. The blinds are all drawn down. The Footmen
wear crape on their left arm. Everywhere Liverymen may be seen
with some token of mourning. Gog and Magog are draped in black
bombazine. Only mock turtle is served at dinner.

So great was the shock to the Lord Mayor Elect that he turned
White in a single night.

The Sheriffs have never been separated since the meeting of the
Common Council. They felt—and many will sympathise with them
—that they could bear the blow better by being together, than if
they were left to themselves, each a prey to his own gloomy thoughts.
They see no one except their Chaplains and the Under-Sheriffs, who
are naturally much depressed.

The condition of several of the Aldermen, particularly amongst
those who have passed the Chair, is causing considerable anxiety to
their families and friends. They seem to have lost all interest in
what is going on around them, and pass most of their time in deep

Just reverse for a cent'ry -' | thought. The only hopeful sign is that they are able to take

And wit was enjoyed, nourishment.

The wheel of Old Time,
And you'll find the back-entry

To regions sublime.
Your Iladical then

Was Wilkes, yclept Jack :
We outdid your Odgers,
A hundred years back.

With majorities in his string,

Noeth ruled the roast.
And Old England administ'ring, Just a hundred years back

New England lost.
Backed by stout Farmer Geoege, ! Seventeen Seventy-Six

Bore opponents' worst brunt, j Fame in Arts too had won
And let Feanklin and Washing- The Academy lately
Tox Its work had begun.

Come to the front

And they blackballed the
noodles:
And thus the past scene
A supremacy claims,
Since a Lady was Queen

Of the Club of St. James :
Our Saturday scribblers
The girls may attack :
They had ten times their chic,

Ah, he kept the old coach

In its natural track—
For England was True-Blue

For the newspapers Eetnolds

Not caring a souse,
Gave the law to the Forty
At Somerset House :

A hundred years back. ; The Art for the Artists

Mav well cry " Alack! "
Poet Laureate was WHITEHEAD— I It had elder and better,

No rhapsodist glibber
He was blandly invited
To come after Cibbee.
Superbly he'd rhyme,

Of Parnassus a denizen,
And I call him sublime
When weighed against Tenny-
son.

Poets Laureate now!

They deserve—well—their sack.
They were something like poets

A hundred years back.

Then pretty Miss Lioyd
Took possession of Boodle's,*

A hundred years back.

way,

A deed or two clone :
We travel by railway*,

Are sketched by the sun ;
By telegraph hurled

From all regions and climes,
The news of the world

AYe have focussed per Times.
In but one thing that's modern

Old times were more slack,
We hadn't our Punch, Sir,
A hundred Years back.

* "A new assembly or meeting is set up at Boodle's, called 'Lloyd's
Coffee-room,' Miss Lloyd, whom you have seen with Lady Pembroke,
being the sole inventor. They meet every morning, &c, &c. Supper to

Several dinners and other entertainments which were to have been
given by the City Companies have been postponed.

The Chamberlain has already addressed himself to the painful
task of composing a farewell oration, to be delivered on the day
when the ruthless work of demolition commences.

It is a trying time for the Recorder, and a momentous one for the
Secondary.

It may be well imagined that the Remembrancer's remembrances
are sweet yet sad.

The fatal report having been " referred back for execution," the
City Architect is nerving himself for the melancholy duty of super-
intending the preparation of the necessary scaffold.

The Mace-Bearer and the Sword-Bearer, like the Sheriffs, are
inseparable, and cannot bear to be out of each other's sight. They
find the greatest comfort in the syrmpathy and society of the City
Marshal. The Mace is enveloped in crape; the sheath of the Sword
has been painted black.

The Common Crier, faithful to his title, gives way to natural emo-
tion, both for himself and the entire Civic body.

The Water Bailiffs are plunged in grief, and the Bridge Masters
go about their duty on Bridges of Sighs.

Every morning groups of Deputies and Common Councilmen are
(to be seen contemplating the Bar with feelings which may be
Still we have, in our frail j imagined but cannot be described. They can hardly tear them-
selves away from this " ancient landmark," this last great bulwark
of the Constitution and the Corporation ; but they withdraw before
the traffic of the day begins, lest their emotion should be misinter-
preted byT the heartless throng. Their only consolation is that the
North and South walls are not to be touched by the rude hand of the
spoiler.

The usual ceremonies and hospitalities of Michaelmas Day were
observed, that the charter might not be forfeited, but with a heavy
heart. There was a bitter drop in the Loving Cup. A deep gloom
seemed to have settled upon all who had to take part in the day's
proceedings, which they in vain strove to shake off.

It will be a sad Lord Mayor's Day. If the dear old Bar is still
standing, it will be hung with black, and wreathed with cypress and
yew, but it is a question whether the feelings of the Procession will
allow them to pass under it. More probably, the mournful train

be constantly on the table by eleven at night; after supper, they play wm bide their grief on the Embankment. The reception of the new
loo. . . . the Duchess of Bedford and Lord March have been black- Loed Mayor by the Loed Chief Baeon at Westminster is expected

balled."—Malmesbury Correspondence : Mrs. Harris to iter Son.

No, Thank You !

Me. Peice, M.P., writes to the Gloucester Journal to suggest the
erection of the Principalities into a European Kingdom, with the

Golden Horn made a free port. Loud Deeby declines even that At all the great civic Banquets a new toast in future will be given

to be unusually touching. He has written the kindest letter of con-
dolence to the present occupant of the civic chair.

One of the most recentlv-elected Aldermen has been commissioned
to take a series of splendid photographs of the Bar from every point
of view and under every aspect, and at all hours of the day and
night.

Golden Horn of the Eastern dilemma. I-" the Memory of Temple Bar ! "