departments of literature. Mr. Mayhew, who was three years younger than Mr. Lemon, had begun his literary career by bringing out, in conjunction with Mr. Gilbert à Beckett, the farce of the "Wandering Minstrel," at the Queen's Theatre, London, and Mr. Mark Lemon had already been successful with three or four of the sixty dramatic pieces whose paternity he acknowledges, and had occasionally written for newspapers. It is admitted that Henry Mayhew suggested the establishment of Punch. There was, just then, much political excitement in England. The administration of Lord Melbourne, which had succeeded that of Earl Grey, had gradually lost favour, not only in the reformed House of Commons but in public estimation; had been compelled to resign office in 1839, when outvoted on a question connected with the government of Jamaica; had crept back into place, without resuming power, on Sir Robert Peel's declining to form a cabinet unless the wives and daughters of his political opponents were removed from certain confidential posts near the person of the queen; had remained in office solely by the tolerance of Peel, who virtually controlled the votes of the House of Commons; had been repeatedly outvoted in 1840; had "ap pealed to the country" by a general election; and finally, when the first number of Punch appeared, on July 17th, 1841, the new Parliament was on the eve of assembling, with every prospect of Sir Robert Peel and his political adherents driving Lord Melbourne's cabinet into retirement-an event which took place within six weeks.

There has been little change in twenty-seven years in the general appearance and arrangement of Punch. The original title-page contained a rough wood-cut, representing a peripatetic theatre, in which the serio-comic history of Punch and Judy is represented, almost every fine day in the year, in the streets of London, for the hereditary gratification of the men, women, and children of that overgrown city. Ere long, when young Richard Doyle came in as one of the artists, he designed that striking title-page, or cover, in which the dog, Toby, with a frill round his neck, a feather in his cap, and a countenance grave in its aspect as that of Lord Thurlow, sits at ease. upon a pile formed of volumes of Punch, and the facetious hunchback, pen in hand before his desk, puts one of his digitals to his nose, in a confidential manner, with a leer to match, which informs the happy reader that he has just got a facetious idea, to be put down in black and

white ere he is twenty seconds older. Punch has "or the London Charivari" for its second title. As Mr. à Beckett had used up the word Figaro, Messrs. Mayhew and Lemon were compelled to take the name of Charivari, the publication which M. Philipon had given to that formidable rival of Figaro, which he had founded in 1832. The title had been borrowed by Mr. Hughes, of The Times' staff, for a monthly publication, published a few months in 1840, conducted by himself and entitled, The London Magazine, Charicari, and Courrier des Dames-a work to be remembered now only as the medium through which John Leech, the artist, first came before the public; he illustrated a serial, in that shortlived work, called "Adventures of Jacob Diddledoft." Even the principal title of Punch was not original. In the biography of Douglas Jerrold, by his son, it is mentioned that "On the 14th January, 1832, Punch in London,' price one penny, was started; and in the first number may be most legibly traced the pen that afterwards indited in the great Punch of the present time, "The 2 Letters,' and 'The Story of a Feather.'" He adds that Punch in London lived only a few weeks, and he had not traced his father's hand in it beyond the second number.

Douglas Jerrold was in Boulogne, his son says, "writing for the stage and for the magazines, when, on the 17th of July, 1841, some literary friends of his, including Mr. Henry Mayhew, Mr. Mark Lemon, Mr. E. Landells, Mr. Sterling Coyne, Henry Grattan, and others, started a periodical entitled Punch; or, the London Charivari." Mr. Mayhew, he says, was the projector of this work, and as Mayhew was Douglas Jerrold's son-in-law, this ought to settle that question. Jerrold was requested to contribute, but no article of his reached London in time for number one. In the second number, occupying precisely a full page, opposite the cartoon (No. 2 of Punch's Pencillings), appeared a dialogue, entitled "Punch and Peel," in which are discussed the policy and expected organization of Peel's impending administration. This was Jerrold's first contribution, and during the next sixteen years (until his death, in 1857), he wrote more or less for every number of Punch. The cartoon which faced this was appropriate, and it is doubtful whether, in any subsequent number, there was keener pictorial satire. Love of office has always been Lord John Russell's weakness, and he exhibited it very fully in 1839-41.

Lord Melbourne, who was a sort of poco curante premier, was heartsick of his situation, and, having reached his grand climacteric, was anxious to abandon the turmoil of politics. Lord John Russell, like Prior's hero, "seemed loath to depart," and clung to office after repeated defeats. Mr. Archibald S. Henning's cartoon was entitled "Hercules tearing Theseus from the rock to which he had grown," and this subject (in Punch) was explained by a statement that "Apollodorus relates that Theseus sat so long on a rock that, at length, he grew to it, so that when Hercules tore him forcibly away, he left all the nether part of the man behind him." The modernized scene was placed in the House of Commons. Lord John Russell was represented as seated on the Treasury Bench. Behind him, with faces exhibiting great alarm, were Lord Morpeth, Joseph Hume, and other colleagues or adherents. Peel, wearing the hide of the Nemean lion and carrying an enormous club, was depicted with a grasp upon Lord John's throat, so strong, that it pulled him up from the waist, leaving his nether part adhering to the bench.

The popularity of Punch was assured from the first number, but the expenses of advertising (always heavy in London), of composition, printing, paper, designing, and engraving, exceeded the proprietor's means-to say nothing of the cost of letter-press. After a few weeks, Henry Mayhew abandoned the enterprise, and a small sum (one hundred pounds, it is said), was paid for copyright, back-numbers, stereotypes, and wood engravings; Messrs Bradbury & Evans, then not long in business as printers, being the purchasers. They placed the editorship in Mark Lemon's hands, and he still retains it. Their confidence was not misplaced, for to his excellent judgment may be largely attributed the success and influence of Punch.

Albert Smith was early on the literary staff, to which he contributed largely, though his connexion with it did not last long. His "Physiology of the London Medical Student," and of "London Evening Parties," were very amusing. Dr. Maginn was a writer in Punch, but he died in August, 1842, when it was little more than a year old. To the first volume he gave some rhymed translations, or rather paraphrases, of Anacreon and Petronius. To the second volume, when his life was ebbing away, he contributed eight articles, the best of which was a rhymed review of "Hector O'Halloran, an Irish story by

his friend W. H. Maxwell: it is chiefly noticeable for the ingenuity with which rhymes for the word O'Halloran were found. Horace Mayhew wrote "Model Men and Women," and Henry continued to contribute very suggestive ideas for the artist. Thackeray came in, after Maginn's death, in the third volume, and soon became a power. His illustrations of his own articles, not artistical but ludicrous and expressive, greatly helped his popularity-but The Snobs of England, Jeames's Diary, Punch's Prize Novelties, Mr. Brown's Letters to a Young Man about Town, and the Travelling Notes of the Fat Contributor, would have been popular without the aid of the pencil. Mr. Thackeray did not write much for Punch after his first visit to the United States. He was better liked, by the readers of Punch, than Jerrold, whose political articles were vehement in their denunciation of public men and principles. But the most popular series that ever delighted the readers of Punch was Jerrold's "Curtain Lectures, reported by Mr. Job Caudle, from the lips of his late Wife." The heroine is said to have been drawn from life, which can well be believed; Mr. Caudle was the most popular personage ever presented by Punch. As if to prove the correctness of the generally accepted belief that sequels to popular literary productions are rarely successful, a subsequent series, in one of Punch's Almanacs, which introduced Mr. Caudle cruelly tyrannizing over Miss Prettyman, his second wife, in hard lectures at the breakfast-table, proved an ostentatious failure. "Punch's Letter to his Son," and "Complete Letter-Writer," were very good, sardonic and sharp; and "The Story of a Feather," is admirably told. He had begun, in Punch, "Miss Robinson Crusoe," and " Mrs. Bib's Baby," but they did not hit the public taste, and were suddenly stopped. Jerrold might have said, with Beau Brummell's valet, when carrying off the creased muslin cravats, "These are our failures."

Shirley Brooks was among the early writers in Punch, in which his "Miss Violet " may have blushed, but not unseen. Angus B. Reach, a clever Scotchman, who died of literary overwork, was on the staff of Punchbut, indeed, some of the best literary talent in London was tempted into its pages, now and then, by ample remuneration. "Mr. Pips, his Diary," a very amusing series, was written by Percival Leigh. Mr. Tom Taylor, the dramatist, was a contributor. Thomas Hood was an

nounced, in the very first number, somewhat to his own surprise, but did not write for it until some months later, and then only a few short articles. In the Christmas number for the year 1843 appeared his "Song of the Shirt," which almost every one has by heart now, and "The Pauper's Christmas Carol," almost as good. His son mentions, as his only other contribution of any importance, a poem entitled "The Dream," apropos of the State Trials in Ireland; also, a "Drop of Gin," illustrated by Kenny Meadows, and a very few wood-cuts. During what is called the Railway Mania of 1845-6, a great number of the telling points against speculators (nicknamed Stags) were supplied by clever young members of the Stock Exchange. In general, however, the class called "outsiders" have contributed very little to Punch. Our "Artemus Ward" was one of the very few American authors allowed to write in Punch, but the British public thought rather slightingly of his effusions there.

His

The first illustrator of Punch was Archibald Henning, who commenced the series called "Punch's Pencillings. He was assisted, in due course, by Messrs. Hine, Nicholson, E. Landells, Kenny Meadows, John Leech, and Richard Doyle. The last of these joined the Punch staff very early, and his social sketches were full of truth, life, and fun, without losing that natural and expressive delicacy which indicates the poetic temperament. "Manners and Customs of ye Englishe' are positively inimitable. Ridiculing the amusing attempts of Prince Albert at amateur farming, and his absurd invention of an army pot, apparently fashioned on the model of a flower pot, he so seriously offended Queen Victoria that she earnestly pressed her husband to countermand an order which he had given Mr. Doyle for two fresco-paintings in the pavilion in the garden of Buckingham Palace. The prince had the good sense to see that this was not exactly the way to check a satirical pencil, and did not take any steps to deprive himself of Mr. Doyle's pictures. In 1850, when the late Dr. Wiseman, created cardinal by Pope Pius IX., was sent to England as Archbishop of Westminster, it pleased Punch to play the intolerant and champion Lord John Russell's "No Popery" followers, by ridiculing, for some months, the religion, purpose, character, and person of the pope and the cardinal. This was very coarsely done, and Mr. Doyle, a Catholic, naturally objected to it, but without effect. Preserving his self-respect and sacriVOL. XVII.-NO. XXXIII. 9