Punch or The London charivari (3.1842)

PREFACE.

What shall we say for ourselves ? What apology shall we make to the thousand-
and-one prophets who predicted our early dissolution, for again disappointing them ?

OUR THIRD VOLUME!

Hem ! We pull out our frill, and advance our best carved leg in admiration of ourselves.
We feel that we have made the " Times," and bestowed an immortality upon " our Morning
Herald."

What a morality have we taught! Our wit has converted our deformity into beauty.
The sweetness of our philosophy has changed the " shrill treble " of our voice to " golden
harmonies."

We are no longer the vagabond brawler of bye lanes and alleys—the baited of police-
men'—-the motley mendicant of the drama. No ; we are now—what word can express the
thing we are but—" Punch?"