Punch: Punch (75.1878)

August 31, 1878.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHAEIVAEI. 87

Fine to talk of occupation and serene adminis-
tration,

But the settlers have heen reckoning •without

a stiff-neck'd host,
So thinks the would-be guardian of the peace,

in trepidation,
Remembering Bizzy's benison and Dizzt's

little boast.

Peace with Honour! Vastly line, but this sort
of all-round shine,
Seems a very curious comment on that opti-
mistic phrase,

Peace our pressing invitation appears likely
to decline,

And Honour lags confoundedly in bringing
up the bays.

PORTE-MONNAIE AND PISTOL.

Attention has been attracted by the many
ingenious Yankee "notions" on view in the
Exhibition at Paris, especially in the depart-
ment of firearms, which contains divers highly-
improved rifles; contrivances for enabling
mankind to shoot one another as expeditiously
and easily as possible. A "notion" of this
land, devised by a German mechanist, is on
sale at an establishment in Ludgate Circus. It
might well be called a sweet thing in firearms,
if it were not equally well describable as a
sweet thing in purses. It is, in fact, a com-
bination of purse and pistol, denominated, in
a Circular accompanied with illustrative dia-
grams—

THE REVOLVER-PURSE, patented in the
principal European Countries and the United
States of America.

This truly remarkable "notion" ma3* or
may not have been derived from the original
of Rob Roy's purse, which also concealed a
pistol, except that the pistol was not used for
the purpose of self-defence or assassination by
Rob Roy, but only caused anybody else than
Rob Roy who might open the purse, to shoot
himself. However, as to the " Revolver -
Purse," we are assured that, whether strictly
original or not—•

" The Article is quite unique. A purse to all
appearances in size and manufacture (handy even
for ladies), contains hidden within its frame a five-
barrelled Revolver, which can be loaded with a five-
milimeter cartridge (Eley). In daily use, as a purse,
it simply answers that purpose; if, however, to be
employed for shooting, a pressure with the finger
upon a certain part of the frame opens a valve. A
passage is thus prepared for the bullet, and the
trigger is also ready for action. The Pistol sends a
bullet a distance of about sixty yards. It thus be-
comes an excellent weapon of self-defence."

In the days when Hounslow Heath was in-
fested by Ttxrpin, and other villains of the
same turpitude, this "article" might have
been advantageous to travellers. The sum-
mons, " Stand and deliver ! " might have had a
twofold and effectual reply. The hand ex-
tending a purse to the highwayman could have
also extended a pistol; action perhaps accom-
panied by appropriate words : — " Here, take
this purse. But first receive this shot." Now,
however, improved police arrangements, in
this country at least, nave superseded pocket-
pistols, insomuch that another sort of gentle-
man, moving in another kind of society than
the British, must be taken to be referred to in
the anticipation that—

" The Eevolver-Purse being of solid make and
elegant finish, scarcely any gentleman, after becom-
ing familiar with the novelty and its usefulness, will
be without it."

" Solid make and elegant finish," however
admirable, may not alone, perhaps, suffice to
induce the majority of gentlemen to provide
themselves with Revolver-Purses. Nor, to be

SECURITY IN SLUMBER.

Defenceless Citizen (afraid of Burglars, to Ids Housekeeper, on retiring for the Night).
" There, Mrs. Binks, if they attempt to come in here, you see, the Bell will
ring, the Dish-Cover will be thrown down, and the Coal-Scuttle will be upset ;
so I've no Doubt we shall hear them, at any rate ! And the Man-Trap I've
set just inside the Drawing-Boom Door ! ! "

sure, could a gentleman in a drawing-room, at a theatre, at a baU, or anywhere else in
England, ordinarily have occasion to use a pistol of any description, and, in particular,'a
Revolver-Purse. Still less could a lady need a purse which would be also such a protector.
But the novelty of this ingenious "notion," if not its utility, may recommend it, as a
plaything, to not a few gentlemen and ladies. Porte-monnaies inclosing pistols for the
use of ladies and gentlemen, have hitherto been generally unknown in any community in
Europe, notwithstanding that there may be creatures capable of saying that the purses
of many people commonly contain pistoles; which the bearers of them make use of to pay
their shot with.

Ministerial. Memento.—Ophthalmia, it seems, is prevalent in our new Protectorate.
So now, you who intend going to Cyprus, mind your eye !