Chapter I

* * * * *

Punch, or the London Charivari

Volume 105, December 30, 1893.

_edited by Sir Francis Burnand_

* * * * *

_THE_ M.P. FOR CHRISTMAS.]

* * * * *

THE ADVENTURES OF PICKLOCK HOLES.

(_By Cunnin Toil._)

No. VII.--THE STOLEN MARCH.

(_Continued._)

As soon as we entered the drawing-room all the little GUMPSHONS clapped their hands with delight, and surrounded their Uncle PICKLOCK, each of them attempting to infer from the expression on the great detective's countenance what it was that he carried in his left coat-tail pocket. "I know what it is," said EDGAR ALLAN POE GUMPSHON, a boy of fifteen; "it's plum-cake. I know it must be, because I never seed it, so it ain't seed-cake." GABORIAU GUMPSHON, aged thirteen, opined it was a packet of bull's-eyes, "'cos that's what detectives always carry on dark nights," whilst ANN RADCLIFFE GUMPSHON declared with certainty that it must be nuts, for she had just heard a cracker explode in the street. "Children," said PICKLOCK HOLES, "you are nearly right. Your powers have much improved. I am delighted to see that you are kept up to the mark;" and, speaking thus, he produced from his pocket an apple, which he presented to EDGAR, a pocket-knife which he handed to the jubilant GABORIAU, and a pincushion, which was immediately clasped and carried off in the chubby hand of little ANN RADCLIFFE. "A year ago," said PICKLOCK, turning to me, "these children could not have reasoned inductively with one half of their present approximate accuracy; but my dear sister, Heaven bless her! is a wonderful teacher, the best and cleverest of us all. Indeed, indeed you are, PHILIPPA," he continued, warmly embracing Mrs. GUMPSHON. "I am a mere bungler compared to you. But come, let us to business." At a signal from Lady HOLES the happy children trooped off to bed, and we elders were left alone.

Sir AMINADAB opened the conversation. "I sent for you, my dear boy," he said, "because I have just received from one of my agents in the North information of an important case which demands immediate investigation. Neither HAYLOFT nor SKAIRKROW can go, having business that keeps them in London. I look, therefore, to you to cover the family name with new lustre by solving this extraordinary mystery." Here the old man paused, as though overcome by emotion. PICKLOCK encouraged him with an expressive look, and he continued:--

"This morning," he said, "I received from my agent this letter." He drew a sheet of paper from his breast-pocket, and read, in tremulous tones, as follows:--

"'_Tochtachie Castle, Daffshire._

"'SIR,--Lord TOCHTACHIE has been robbed. I overheard him last night conversing with the Hon. IAN STRUNACHAR, his eldest son, who used the following words: "Not a doubt of it. They have stolen a march----" More I could not hear at the moment. The case is of immense importance, and I trust you will lose no time in sending a competent investigator. I have, of course, concealed both my presence here and my knowledge of the theft from his lordship.

"'Yours faithfully, 'DAVID MCPHIZZLE.'"

"There, my boy, is the case. Will you go and help a Scotch representative peer to recover his own? Think how terrible it must be to lose the march or boundary that separates your ancestral domain from that of a neighbour whose whole course of life may be antipathetic to you. Will you go?"

A wave of emotion passed over my friend's face. I could see that a struggle of no ordinary kind was raging in his breast. Finally, however, he looked at me, and his mind, I knew, was made up. In another ten minutes we had bidden adieu to his family, and were speeding northwards in the Scotch express.

Over the details of the journey it is not necessary to linger. Suffice it to say that on the following morning we arrived at Tochtachie, and took up our quarters in a deserted barn situated in the very centre of the estate. From this point we pursued our investigations. Our first proceeding was to interview the local constabulary, but we found them as obtuse and as foolishly incredulous as policemen are all the world over. One of them, indeed, went so far as to hint that HOLES was "havering," which I understand to be an ancient Gaelic word signifying metaphysical talk, but a look from the great detective chilled him into silence. Day by day we worked, and not even the night gave us a rest from our self-sacrificing labours. We mapped out the whole district into square yards; we gathered the life-history of every single inhabitant on the estate; we left no clue untracked, no loophole unblocked, no single piece of evidence unexamined, no footstep unmeasured. We collected every scrap of torn letter, every crumpled telegram-form. The very heather of the moor, and the trees growing in the policies of the Castle were compelled by HOLES' marvellous inductive powers to yield to us their secrets, until after weeks of patient toil we at last judged ourselves to be in possession not only of the stolen march, but also of evidence that would bring conviction home to the guilty party. We had paused, I remember, by a heap of granite at the roadside. HOLES seemed strangely excited. "A march," I heard him muttering, "is performed by footsteps; steps are often made of stone. Can this be it? It must be! It is!" Then, with a shout of triumph, he gave orders to have the heap loaded on to a country cart, which was to follow us to the Castle.

We arrived in the great courtyard at about seven o'clock in the evening. HOLES slipped from my side, entered the house, and after a few moments returned to my side. We then clanged the bell, and demanded to see his lordship. In a few moments Lord TOCHTACHIE appeared, surrounded by kilted retainers, bearing torches, and intoning in unison the mournful sporan of the clan. It was a weird and awful sight. But HOLES, unemotional as ever, advanced at once to the haughty Scotchman, before whose eye half a county was accustomed to tremble, and, without any ado, addressed him thus: "My Lord, your march has been stolen. Nay, do not interrupt me. Your guards are careless, but not criminal--of that I can assure you. Here is the stolen property; I restore it to you without cost." At this moment the cart rumbled up, and ere the peer had time to utter a word, it had discharged its contents into the middle of the yard. HOLES went on, but in a lower voice, so as to be heard only by Lord TOCHTACHIE: "The guilty party, my Lord, is your honoured father-in-law. He dare not, he cannot, deny it. He is, I know, blind and deaf and dumb. These qualities do not, however, exclude the possibility of crime. I have just found these pieces of granite in his morning-room. The proof is complete."

At this moment a shot was heard in the Castle, and directly afterwards a frightened butler rushed up to his lordship and whispered to him. "Ha! say you so?" almost screamed Lord TOCHTACHIE. "That amounts to a confession. Mr. HOLES," he continued, "you have indeed rendered me a service. My unfortunate, but guilty father-in-law has shot and missed himself through the head. But in any ease the honour of the house is, I know, safe in your hands."

I need hardly say that HOLES has never violated his lordship's confidence, and the Daffshire peasants still speculate amongst themselves upon the tortuous mystery of the march which was stolen and restored.

NOTE.--There is no proof positive given by any eye-witness
whose veracity is unimpeachable of the death of the great
amateur detective as it has been described in the _Strand
Magazine_ for this month. _Where is the merry Swiss boy who
delivered the note and disappeared?_ What was the symbolic
meaning of the alpenstock with the hook at the end, left on
the rock? Why, that he had _not_ "taken his hook." PICKLOCK
HOLES has disappeared, but so have a great many other people.
That he will turn up again no student of detective history and
of the annals of crime can possibly doubt. Is it not probable
that he has only dropped out of the _Strand Magazine_? And
is it not equally probable that under some alias he will
re-appear elsewhere?

_Verb. sap._--ED.

* * * * *

FATHER CHRISTMAS leaves his cards on everybody about this time, as he is here only for one day, and off the next. He has employed Messrs. MARCUS WARD & CO. to do them, and excellent they are all round.

* * * * *

_Lady Betty_ (_proud of the old ancestral mansion where the
family have lived ever since the reign of Henry the Eighth_).
"JUST FANCY WHAT PAPA'S HAVING DONE! HE'S HAVING THE ELECTRIC
LIGHT PUT IN!"

_Prosaic Sister-in-law_ (_from Chicago_). "I'M REAL GLAD TO
HEAR IT. IT'LL BE THE MAKING OF THE PLACE!"]

* * * * *

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.

_House of Commons, Friday, December 22._--House adjourned for Christmas Recess; pleased to find that it will include the whole of Christmas Day. Some talk of being satisfied with the Sunday, spending Christmas Day in further pursuit of Parish Councils Bill. But after deliberation decided to have a real good holiday on Christmas Day. Came across SQUIRE OF MALWOOD just now. Was chalking up on door "Back in ten minutes."

"It's a little more than that, of course, TOBY," he said. "But that has business-like look. Am told it's what they do in the City before going out for hasty luncheon."

Enjoyed my holiday reading HERBERT MAXWELL'S life of OLD MORALITY just published by BLACKWOOD. A difficult task; much easier to make attractive book out of life of NAPOLEON BONAPARTE than with WILLIAM HENRY SMITH as subject. That MAXWELL has succeeded appears from fact that one leaves these volumes with warmer esteem and sincerer liking for OLD MORALITY even than was born of close observation through many Parliamentary sessions. MAXWELL has had full access to his correspondence and journals. Uses them with great discretion; they bring into mellow, clear light the capable, unselfish, courageous man, ever following the loadstar of Duty. House of Commons used to smile when OLD MORALITY, faced by any difficulty or dilemma, talked about his "duty to his QUEEN and country." In his private letters he does not put it in that oratorical form. But they are full of references to the calls of duty. Stricken with a painful malady, worn in body and wounded in spirit, OLD MORALITY still sturdily trod the narrow path. There is little doubt that had he, two years before the end came, retired from the Leadership of the House of Commons his genial presence might have been with us to-day. But he was wanted at his post, and he stuck to it.

Writing on the 17th March, 1889, he says: "We have trouble in politics, and I am very weary. But I must go on doing my daily work as best I can, looking for guidance and wisdom where alone it can be had until my rest comes." This cry for rest was always sounding, through day and night. A few weeks earlier he wrote to another friend: "I can say God help me. He will take me out of my work when I am no longer required, and then will come rest."

His last appearance in a semi-official capacity was in July, 1891, when he went to Hatfield to meet the German Emperor. In the last letter written to his wife he says, "Observing I looked tired last night, Lady SALISBURY urged me to go to bed early: which I did." One of his colleagues in the Cabinet, a fellow-guest at Hatfield on this occasion, tells me he had occasion to know that OLD MORALITY was in such pain he could not rest in his bed, spending the long night walking about the room, with occasional rest in an arm-chair. Not a word of this is written in the letter to Mrs. SMITH, in which he reports that "everything has gone off wonderfully well to-day, which must be very satisfactory to the Salisburys." Under his bourgeois habit and unassuming manner W. H. SMITH modestly hid a chivalrous mind and a noble nature. He had a kindly heart, too. But everyone knew that, since he wore it on his sleeve.

_Business done._--Adjourned for so-called Christmas holidays. Think I'll go and call on Lobengula. "Back in ten minutes," as the SQUIRE says.

* * * * *

EDEPOL!

SIR,--"I'm all the way from Westminster," and the work I have to do is to let you know about the Latin play performed there. PLAUTUS, in truth, is not a wildly exciting writer, and there is in the _Trinummus_ a tameness which, extending, as it does, through five acts, becomes almost oppressive at the end. The young actors looked well and enunciated clearly, and one of them, Mr. J. F. WATERS, showed considerable ability as an actor. But we don't go to the College of St. Peter at Westminster merely to see the play. There are other interests. It is pleasant to watch the Old Westminsters rubbing recollections with one another between the acts, and endeavouring gallantly during the performance to keep their rusty Latin abreast of the various situations. Laughter in a Latin play straggles. It is like a dropping fire of musketry. A Westminster master probably leads it off; various intelligent veterans take it up dutifully, and the ladies, bless their unlatinised minds, follow faintly towards the end. If a London manager wants applause in his theatre let him hire a contingent of small Westminster boys. They have attained to absolute perfection in the arts of the _claque_. At no Paris Theatre is it better done. The epilogue showed a pretty wit and a high degree of skill in the management of hexameter and pentameter. No one could have believed that the Kodak advertisement, "you press the button, we do the rest," would have made so good a Latin line. Much pleased, and so to bed.

Yours, A VAGRANT.

* * * * *

"A MERE QUESTION OF TIME."--_Example:_ "What o'clock is it?"

* * * * *

* * * * *

NEW YEAR'S EVE AT LATTERDAY HALL.

(_An Incident._)

SCENE I.--_Library in Latterday Hall_, Sir LYON TAYMER'S _Country House_. Sir LYON TAYMER _discovered fuming by the mantelpiece, while his_ Secretary _is glancing over some correspondence_.

_Sir Lyon_ (_irritably_). Here--I suppose you will have to answer this.

_Secretary._ What is that, Sir LYON?

_Sir Lyon._ You know how anxious I am that my New Year's party should be a success. A whole heap of celebrities are coming, and, notwithstanding the immense expense, I engaged a party of Ghosts to amuse them. Now I have just had a telepathic communication from these Shadows of Shades--(that's all they are--only Ghosts of departed heroes and heroines in fiction)--asking whether they're to be treated on an equality with the other guests, or as mere entertainers! Did you ever hear of such impertinence! The spokesman--I should say, perhaps, the Spooksman--is, of all people in the other world, the VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. A clergyman too! It's quite inconsistent; and so snobbish!

_Secretary._ Dear Sir LYON, excuse me, but it's perfectly natural that Ghosts should be a little sensitive on the social question. Remember, for years they were ignored, or looked upon as mountebanks. It is really only of late that there has been all this excitement about them, so it is not surprising they are anxious to be taken seriously.

_Sir Lyon._ Well, I suppose I am old-fashioned, but it seems to me quite ridiculous. These infernal Ghosts give themselves as many airs as though they were--the Blue Hungarians, at least.

_Secretary._ Ah, from a band we might expect airs. But I should advise you very strongly, Sir _Lyon_, to treat them as friends. You _must_ be up to date.

_Sir Lyon_ (_with disgust_). Allow them to dine--perhaps to _dance_--with my guests?

_Secretary_ (_with calmness_). Certainly they will have to dine; and, as to dancing, of course they _must_, if they're received on an equal _footing_.

[_Smiles to himself at his joke._

_Sir Lyon._ Oh--well--I suppose I must give in. Let them know at once, and for heaven's sake mind they're punctual.

[_Scene closes as the Secretary hastily seizes a slate,
and automatically writes to the Ghosts a very cordial and
courteously-worded invitation._

SCENE II.--_New Year's Eve at Latterday Hall. In the magnificent dining-room are seated at dinner a large, well-known, and incongruous company. The Ghosts are chatting away in the most genial manner with the living distinguished people, and positively making the "celebrities" quite "at home."_ DANIEL DERONDA _shows a marked liking for_ DODO, _whom he has taken to dinner, and is indulging in a light and airy flirtation with her, which takes a form peculiar to himself_.

_Daniel Deronda_ (_earnestly_). Who has ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of matrimonial duty? Honesty is surely the broadest basis of joy in life.

_Dodo_ (_a modern Detail in accordion pleating, subject to morbid fits of irrelevant skirt-dancing_). Oh, Mr. DERONDA, what a silly girl I am! I can't bear that proverb about "Honesty being the best policy." It sounds like a sort of life Insurance.

[_Giggles contemporarily._ DORIAN GRAY _having taken_ JULIET
_to dinner, and not getting on with her very well, is staring
with unfeigned horror at_ ROCHESTER, _opposite, who is
bullying_ JANE EYRE _to a pitiable extent. Behind him is a
screen of gilt Spanish leather, wrought with a rather florid
Louis Seize design and encrusted with pearls, moonstones, and
large green emeralds_.

_Dorian_ (_aside, to_ Young Subaltern, _who has come Home. On leave. For Christmas_). Who _is_ that dreadful man?

_Young Subaltern._ Who? Old ROCHESTER? Oh, he's a Plain Hero. From the past. He's all right. How well you're looking! Younger than ever, by Jove! Which is curious. But why that absurd buttonhole?

_Dorian_ (_hurt_). You never like anything I wear. You Anglo-Indians are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

[_Arranges his fringe in an old Dutch-silver mirror on the
opposite mantelpiece, framed in curiously-carved ivory Cupids,
and studded with precious stones, chiefly opals, sapphires,
and chrysoberyls._

_Ethel Newcome_ (_to_ Secretary). Who are those two pretty American girls? They seem to be attracting a great deal of attention. (_I_ am completely forgotten, I notice.) Do their dresses come from Paris?

_Secretary._ No. I think not, dear Miss NEWCOME. From Messrs. HOWELLS AND JAMES, I fancy.

_Richard Feverel_ (_cheerily, across the table to_ Mr. PICKWICK). In tolerance of some dithyrambic inebriety--quiverings of semi-narration--we seem to be entering the circle of a most magnetic pseudo-polarity. Don't we?

_Mr. Pickwick_ (_puzzled_). Very kind of you to say so, I'm sure. May I have the pleasure of taking wine with you?

[_Dinner proceeds with animation._ BOOTLES' Baby, Little JIM,
PAUL DOMBEY, _and the_ Heavenly Twins _come in to dessert, and
are more or less troublesome_.

_Sir Lyon_ (_aside, to_ Secretary, _when the ladies have retired_). I say, you know I am afraid this is going to hang fire. It's nothing less than a miracle for a social affair to go off well when the people are not in the same set. Old PICKWICK's been asking for "a wassail bowl." I haven't got such a thing about me; and I should have thought '74 champagne would have been good enough, but he says it's like our humour--_too new_! The children are bothering to know why there isn't a Christmas-tree.

_Secretary._ Tell them to go to the--Haymarket. The reward will be--swift. Might I suggest mistletoe? I should be very pleased to go under it with Madame BOVARY, just to show the others how to----

_Sir Lyon_ (_stiffly_). Much obliged, but I will not give you that trouble. If _anyone_ goes under the mistletoe with Madame BOVARY it will be myself. Remember that.

_Secretary._ Oh, certainly! I merely meant----How about crackers? I could set the thing going by pulling one with Miss OLIVIA. The old Vicar said just now, in his pointed, Gothic way, something about times having changed, and----

_Sir Lyon._ Yes, we'll have crackers, but you can leave _me_ to pull the first one with Miss OLIVIA. It would look better. Perhaps we'd better let the Ghosts give their entertainment now--eh?

_Secretary._ I'll arrange it at once.

SCENE III.--_In the Hall, in which is a temporary theatre; all the Modern Celebrities are seated on rows of chairs, chattering, flirting, and discussing Insomnia and the New Criticism. Behind the scenes the Ghosts are disputing as to which shall recite first, the order of precedence depending entirely on the question as to which is the most completely defunct. Finally_, ERNEST MALTRAVERS _and_ TOM JONES _go on together, and the Curtain goes up_.

_Ernest Maltravers_ (_musingly, in a low yet ringing voice, in which Pride struggles with Emotion_). Let us learn, from yon dinner-table, o'er which brooded the spirits of the Novelists of all time, to lift ourselves on the wings of Romanticism back to Bombastic and Primeval Prose. (_Breaks off suddenly. Aside, to_ TOM JONES.) I cannot go on like this. We ought to have had a _scenario_.

_Tom Jones_ (_suppressing laughter, aside_). Why, thou foolish scoundrel, is there not one in front? How else could be seated there so many fair ladies and gallant gentlemen?

_Ernest Maltravers_ (_aside_). In the contemplation of your idiocy, I curb with difficulty the impulse that leads me to crush the life from your bosom. Know, Ignorant One, that a _scenario_ is not the same thing as an auditorium.

[TOM JONES _is about to attack him with fine old English
violence, when the curtain suddenly falls. The entertainment
is interrupted. The audience appear at once amused and
shocked._ DORIAN_ takes out his little vinaigrette exquisitely
set with turquoises, cymophanes, amethysts, and tourmalines,
and offers it to the_ Subaltern, _who, evidently unaware of
its use, pockets it._

_Subaltern._ You got that out of a cracker, didn't you? I'll take it Home. For the kids.

[_The entr'acte is growing so prolonged that the_ Secretary
_goes behind the scenes to know the cause of the delay. He
finds all confusion. The party has been increased by the
presence of_ Mr. STEAD'S Spook JULIA, _who, having half an
hour to spare, has come to protest against the "indignity"
as she calls it, of fine old crusted Ghosts being expected to
perform to a lot of mere modern myths. She speaks with such
eloquence that she persuades them, one and all, to leave
without finishing their performance and entirely without
ceremony. Nothing the_ Secretary _can say has any effect, and
they all vanish, leaving "not a wrack behind," except, a slate
pencil JULIA has dropped in her excitement_.

_Sir Lyon_ (_after hearing the news_). Shameful! Never again will I have a Ghost in this house. This is what comes of treating them as equals! I'll--I'll--I'll write to the Psychical Society!

[_Scene closes as all the guests crowd round him and ask him
to drink the health of Modern Fiction and--The New Year._

* * * * *

MAY AND DECEMBER.

[Brighton is now represented by two of the youngest members in the House.... Mr. GLADSTONE intends to spend Christmas at Brighton.]

Just now, when the weather seems May in December,
They've sent up from Brighton another young member,
Two juvenile gentlemen sit for the town,
Their ages united just two-thirds would be
Of that of the statesman who often goes down
To seek renewed youth by the murmuring sea--
Mr. G.

Two Tories--meek May fighting sturdy December
Their foe is an old hand these lads should remember.
They'll probably sit most judiciously dumb,
Or only object like the murmuring sea.
To the House, sent from Brighton, the youngest have come;
From the House, down at Brighton, the oldest will be--
Mr. G.

* * * * *

A SEASONABLE VADE MECUM.

(_By Ker Mudgeon, Senior._)

_Question._ What is the most satisfactory motto for Christmas?

_Answer._ That it "comes but once a year."

_Q._ Then it is as well to take a gloomy view of the season?

_A._ That is the only reasonable aspect in the face of a pile of "Christmas bills."

_Q._ What are Christmas cards?

_A._ Advertisements of existence sent to enemies as well as friends.

_Q._ What is a plum pudding?

_A._ Indigestion in the concrete.

_Q._ And a mince pie?

_A._ An excuse for a glass of brandy or a glass of any other equally potent liquid.

_Q._ Does old-fashioned English Christmas fare benefit anyone?

_A._ Yes; doctors and chemists.

_Q._ Why does an elderly person go the pantomime?

_A._ Because he likes it just as much as a schoolboy.

_Q._ What reason does he give for his visits to Drury Lane, the Lyceum, or the Crystal Palace?

_A._ That he visits those places of entertainment for the sake of the children.

_Q._ But if he is an old bachelor?

_A._ He declares that he likes to see the delight of other people's children.

_Q._ What is the _spécialité_ of a Christmas family party?

_A._ Row all round.

_Q._ What are the regulation wishes of Yule-tide?

_A._ A Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

_Q._ And the probable result?

_A._ The attainment of neither.

* * * * *

CROSSED IN LOVE.--A wedding-present cheque.

* * * * *

_Keeper (to Boy out for his first day's driving)._ "MIND AND SPREAD YERSELF OUT!"]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

"Sir," said a wisely deferential friend of the Baron's, approaching the Baronial arm-chair wherein sat His Super-Excellency regaling himself in truly Regal-Cole-ian fashion, "Sir, I present to your notice a book entitled _In Search of a Climate_." "With such a title," quoth the Baron, in poetic humour, "it should have been dedicated to His Grace of Canterbury. Would not this distich well favour the title-page? Listen:--

"'In Search of a Climate,' | From CHARLES B. NOTTAGE,
This to the Primate! | Who lives in a cottage."

"W. A.," or "The Wisely Appreciative," went into wisely appreciative ecstasies. "Baron," he presently resumed, "you will be graciously pleased to read it." "I will recline on my sofa," returned the Baron, "and, in that position, do my level best." So saying, His Super-Excellency suited the action to the word, and, waving his hand in token that he was not to be disturbed for the space of some forty winks or more, he bent his head in silent study o'er the somewhat bulky volume. "One of the most interesting and instructive chapters in this excellently elaborated book of reference," said the Baron, some time afterwards--"a book full of 'wise saws and modern instances'--is that headed 'Religion and Rum,' whence it appears that, whatever form of worship the Natives from time to time might adopt, it always included the cult of spirits in some form or other. The title of this chapter," observed the Baron, judicially, "instead of 'Religion and Rum,' should rather have been 'Rum Religions, or Spirituous Influences.' Towards the close of the book the author still seems to be _In Search of a Climate_. But what sort of a climate does he seek? One to suit everybody? Why, like the distinguished individual who was 'terribly disappointed with the Atlantic,' there are people, quoted as testimony above proof by Mr. NOTTAGE, of the Cottage, who were 'all terribly disappointed with the climate of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.' Well, then," quoth the Baron, "try Margate and Ramsgate." The book, attractively got up, is published by the firm whose name always recalls to the Baron's verse-atile mind that delightful poem set to dulcet music yclept "_Soft and Low, Soft and Low_," only that the names are SAMP-SON Low, Low & Co., which, set to the same strain, will "do as well." "And," quoth the Baron, suddenly inspired, "what a series of songs for Publishers and Bookbinders might be written! For example, _'My Mother bids me bind my books!' 'I am inter-leaving thee in sorrow.' Cum multis aliis suggestionibus!_ But this is _délassement_. Let our toast be, 'Our noble Shelves!'--'our noble Book-shelves!'" explains the Baron, gaily; and so back to the Brown Study where, as Baron BROWN BEARD, he disposes of the various heads in his department, and signs himself, THE JUST AND GENEROUS BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

* * * * *

MRS. RAM says no wonder people are blown out at Christmas, as they do fill themselves with so many "combustibles."

* * * * *

(_A Meeting of the Church of England Temperance Society. The Vote of Thanks to the Chairman_.)

"AND, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET ME POINT OUT TO YOU, IN THESE DAYS WHERE THE ACTIVITY OF THE CHURCH IS SO OFTEN CALLED INTO QUESTION, THAT OUR REVERED DIOCESAN COULD NEVER BE CALLED AN '_ORNAMENTAL BISHOP'_!"]

* * * * *

"THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT."

(_Passages from a Political "Christmas Carol" of the Period descriptive of a slumbering Stateman's Yule-Tide Dream._)

Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously sonorous snore, and sitting up on what seemed to be a nightmare-like blend of the Treasury Bench and his own bed, to get his thoughts together, SADSTONE (like _Scrooge_) had no occasion to be told that Big Ben was again upon the stroke of Twelve.

Now, being prepared for almost anything--from J-SS-E C-LL-NGS to a Vote of Censure--he was not by any means prepared for Nothing! Consequently, when the bell boomed its twelfth stroke, and nothing appeared, or happened--not even a nightmare in the shape of T-MMY B-WL-S, or a Motion for Adjournment--he was taken with a fit of the shivers.

At last he began to think that the source and centre of the ghostly light which seemed to gleam on him from nowhere in particular, might be in the adjoining room, his own private Downing Street _sanctum_. Thence indeed, on further tracing it, it seemed to shine. This idea taking full possession of his mind, he got up softly, and shuffled in his slippers to the door.

The moment SADSTONE'S hand was on the lock, a strange voice called him by his name, and bade him enter. He obeyed.

It was his own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with shamrock green and shillelagh branches that it looked a perfect Grove of Blarney. A lurid blaze, like a blue-tongued snapdragon flare, went hissing up the chimney, revealing in weird glimpses on the heated hearth and chimney tiles spectral figures of impish design and menacing gesture. Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were Blue Books, abortive Bills, scrolls on which were inscribed endless questions and unnumbered amendments; bundles of party papers and political pamphlets; pallid sucking-pigs that seemed to demand rather opportune interment than human digestion; long wreaths of sausage-like shackles; resurrection pies of indigestible crust and full of offal scraps and tainted "block ornaments"; pudding-shaped bombs; barrels of explosives and fulminants; red hot (political) "chestnuts" of the most hackneyed partisan sort; Dead-Sea apples of the dustiest kind, savouring of sand and strife; fiery looking Ulster oranges; belated (parliamentary) pairs, and seething bowls of raw and vitriolic party spirit, that made the chamber dim, dank, and malodorous with their heady steam. In uneasy state upon this extraordinary conglomerate couch or throne, there sat an ogreish giant of pantomimic size and bogeyishly menacing expression, portentous to see; who bore a smokily-flaring torch, in shape not unlike an Anarch's beacon or Fury's bale-fire, and held it up, high up, to shed its lurid light on SADSTONE, as he came peeping round the door.

"Come in!" exclaimed the Ghoul-Ghost. "Come in, and know me better, (G. O.) Man!"

SADSTONE entered timidly, and hung his head before the Spirit. He was hardly the dogged SADSTONE he had been, and the Spirit's eyes were so glowering and ungenial, he did not like to meet them.

"I am the Spirit of Christmas Present," said the apparition. "Look upon me!"

SADSTONE sorrowfully did so. It was clothed in one simple emerald-green robe or mantle, bordered with buff fur of the dull tint dear to the old Scotch Whig. This garment hung so loosely on the figure that its capacious breast was bare, as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice. On its head it wore no other covering than a wreath of shamrock, set here and there with a thistle. Its dull black curls were long and elf-like and weird; weird as its frowning face, its staring eye, its clenched hand, its raucous voice, its despotic demeanour, and its gloomy air. Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard, holding a huge two-handed sword; the blade, ready to leap from its sheath, seemed a most unsuitable and unseasonable adjunct to what mankind has been wont to regard as the gentle and genial Spirit of Peace and Goodwill.

"You have never seen the like of _Me_ before!" exclaimed the Spirit.

"_Ne-e-ver!_" SADSTONE made answer to it, in accents stammering somewhat, yet most emphatic.

(_Suggested by John Leech's Picture._)

"COME IN, AND KNOW ME BETTER, (G. O.) MAN!"]

* * * * *

DISTORTED MERCY.

_is New Year's Eve. In a comfortable arm-chair by the fire sits the_ Metropolitan Magistrate. _He smiles in self-complacency. He speaks:--_

This year I have most faithfully fulfilled my duty; the spirit of sweet leniency has marked my every sentence--at least toward the more flagitious and inhuman offender. Thus have I, in place of punishing, won over to more virtuous ways; so may I doze the cheerful, self-admiring doze of virtue.

[_He dozes. Gathering from the comfortable reflections of the
fire and lamp thrown from the polished furniture, a radiant
form shapes itself at his elbow. The_ Magistrate _smiles in
his sleep, in great content_.

_The Metropolitan Magistrate._ Who art thou, visitant?

_The Form._ I am the Spirit of thy Leniency. I come to show thee how fair and flattering a result thy milder sentences--to wit, those passed upon the more outrageous culprits--have yielded. See! (_Waves a wand._) This is he who came before thy judgment seat for--after repeated warning--selling milk from premises teeming with scarlet fever. Thou didst say, "_It is the grossest, and most shocking case of brutal disregard for human life I ever heard!_" and thereupon didst fine him half-a-crown--the minimum penalty.

_M. Mag._ (_with affectionate interest_). And since? How farest now, thou naughty one?

_Milk Criminal._ O most blessed Magistrate and sweet Your Worship, I fare most happily; for, most comfortably encouraged by your gracious leniency, I did redouble--nay, multiply an hundred times--mine efforts to disseminate disease; so that I may, without undue boasting, claim to be father of an epidemic that felled its hundreds. And further, in the doing of this I have heaped up a most goodly pile of gold. Give me your blessing, most sympathetic Your Worship!

_M. Mag._ (_recoiling_). Nay; mine intentions looked not toward so dire result! I cannot bless----

_The Spirit._ How, good Stipendiary? Dost thou now disown me, thine own Spirit? Thou must surely bless thy _protégé_, him who but carries out thy methods to their logical result! And see, I summon others of thy choice; this good butcher who hath sent unwholesome meat to London to feed the poor. Thou didst say of him, "_A most inhuman, ill-conditioned knave and rascal; a constructive homicide! I will not imprison him, but fine him seven shillings._" And again, see this good rough who kicked a constable nearly to death; thou saidst of him, "_A miscreant unfit to live. A savage worse than any tiger! One shilling fine._" Then finding he could not pay without foregoing his accustomed gin, thy heart relented, and thou didst discharge him. Then again, here have we this fair hawker who kicked his donkey's legs and so belaboured him with cudgels that he left no bone unbroken; thou saidst of him, "_An act more horrible and sickening could scarce be perpetrated by a fiend!_" Then, with a gentle caution, thou didst set him free.

_M. Mag._ But tell me, prithee, what the outcome was of these my leniences. Did results not justify----?

_The Butcher._ Oh, yes, indeed, in my case! Taking courage, seeing that justice was so linked with mercy, I did extend most energetically my little venture in unwholesome meat, and now am rich, and have been made a lord.

_The Rough._ And since your clemency, O sweet your Worship, I've kicked to death some dozens of assorted victims--policemen, girls, and infants.

_The Hawker._ And I----

_M. Mag._ (_writhing_). Oh, peace, and spare me! Get ye gone!

_The Criminals._ What? This is passing strange! You will not bless the work yourself have fostered?

_M. Mag._ (_tearing his hair_). _I_ fostered? _I_, the gentle magistrate, the soul of clemency----?

_The Spirit._ Come, bless thy chosen clients!

[_With a shriek the_ Metropolitan Magistrate _awakes from
his doze. He is haggard; his eye is bloodshot with horror. He
speaks, shuddering:--_

What are these hideous crimes that I have done, mistaking them for mercy? How unworthy am I to touch so sweet an attribute, distorting and most basely turning it from its appointed course! There chime the bells. Let them proclaim how, in the coming year they usher in, I will essay to win this fair, sweet attribute entrusted to me, and so misshapen by my cruelties, back to her rightful form! I will begin by showing mercy unto Mercy's self.

* * * * *

A STUDY IN BROWN.

I've caught you, hazel-eyed brunette, day-dreaming, chin on hand!
Don't think, now, that my stolen sketch is bold and contraband!
Nay, rather, 'tis the _duty_ that's imposed on ev'ry beauty,
To grant that with respectful glance her profile may be scanned.

To picture such a wealth of brown would VANDYCK'S self delight;
Brown eyes I see, and waving hair, brown as a summer night.
_I_ cannot do you justice, but this thumb-nail sketch, I trust, is
A deep brown-study rendered into simple black and white.

In reverie reflective, has your wayward fancy strayed,
It may be, to last summer's tryst in some wild English glade,
Or old-world forest-garden, where, like _Rosalind_ in Arden,
Your troth you plighted, or, love-lorn, outmourned the Nut-brown Maid?

You're wand'ring in Mahatma-land, and counting astral sheep?
And gathering wool that never grew, a Brownie-led _Bo-peep_,
Or, possibly, pursuant of an Ego playing truant.
And lost amid the labyrinth of dim hypnotic sleep?

For all I know, you're musing in this meditative trance
On modern and sublunar joys, as dinner, dress, and dance!
Or is it _toothache_ merely that--well, makes you stare so queerly?
(Somehow I ne'er _can_ draw the line 'twixt bathos and romance!)

If thus I seem inquisitive, don't kill me with a frown!
Though times are hard, in vulgar phrase, I'll plank my money down!
Your train of thought to share (if you'll accept a penny-tariff),
I tender, with my compliments, the coin that's called a "brown"!

* * * * *

PRODIGIOUS!

TO MR. PUNCH,--Sir,--I appeal to you. Ought scientific papers to be allowed to publish incitements to bloodshed and anarchy? I have just read in one an enthusiastic commendation of "an agitator working at 280 revolutions per minute." This agitator is, it appears, closely connected with an "annihilator." It is true that the annihilator is a smoke-annihilator, and the agitator is part of its machinery; but who knows what influence may be exerted upon weak minds at such a time as this by the use of these awful terms? Is the Home Secretary asleep?

Yours,
A PATRIOT.

* * * * *

MYSTERIOUS.--In _Sala's Journal_ for December 13 the advertisement of the Christmas Number announces that "arrangements have been made for publishing the Portraits of the Contributors at the commencement of their respective articles. This, it is believed, will prove a very interesting feature." No doubt. But _which_ "feature," and _whose_ "feature," and to which contributor will "the very interesting feature" in the portrait belong? They cannot surely have only one feature among them! Among the special contributors, each of course with distinctive features, are Sir AUGUSTUS HARRIS, Mr. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS, Mr. ARTHUR À BECKETT, and Mr. DAVENPORT ADAMS. Excellent company each, with most interesting features. But which feature is to be taken as representing the lot? "Nose?" Well, there's point in that. "Cheek?" Ahem! Will it be "All their eye?" Evidently the only way of satisfying curiosity is to purchase a copy of _S. J.'s_ Christmas Number.

* * * * *

SEASONABLE RIDDLE.--When does a turkey look a goose?--When quite by himself he has to face a party of twenty-four.

* * * * *

_Sportsman_ (_who has caught Brown's mare_). "NOW THEN! THIS WAY OUT, SIR, THIS WAY OUT!" _Brown_ (_who has already swallowed about a quart of mud and water_). "B--B--BUT IT'S DEEP!" _Sportsman_ (_impatient_). "CONFOUND IT, MAN! DO YOU EXPECT ME TO FETCH A BOAT?"]

CHRISTMAS HAMPERS.

_For the Czar._--Alliances--French and Triple.

_For the Kaiser._--"The Great Revenge."

_For the King of Italy._--The Military Estimates.

_For the King of Greece._--The Adjustment of the National Revenue.

_For the President of the French Republic._--The Legacy of CARNOT the First.

_For the President of the United States._--Protected Free Trade.

_For the Sultan._--The Khedive.

_For the Khedive._--The Sultan.

_For the Premier._--His followers.

_For the Foreign Secretary._--His colleagues.

_For the Chancellor of the Exchequer._--The coming Budget.

_For the Home Secretary._--Trafalgar Square.

_For the Colonial Secretary._--South Africa.

_For the Postmaster-General._--Cards for Christmas and the New Year.

_For the War Office._--The Admiralty.

_For the Admiralty._--The War Office.

_For the Theatre-Managers._--The Clerk of the Weather.

_For the Music-Hall Proprietors._--The London County Council.

_For the London Public._--The Paving Contractors.

_For the Bar._--The Solicitors.

_For the Solicitors._--Reluctant Litigants.

_For the Stockbrokers._--The State of the City.

_For the Poor._--The Condition of the Money Market.

_And for the World in general and Britons in particular._--The Influenza.

* * * * *

THE KISS THAT COSTS.

[A fair plaintiff, who brought a breach of promise action
worth under ordinary circumstances at least £1000, had to be
content with £100 because she had in the meantime been kissed
by a new suitor.]

The gorse is out in kissing time,
And that is always--so the saw.
But know from henceforth (and this rhyme)
This does not follow in the Law.
For she, who, jilted by her swain,
Brings him to Court, and braves the laughter,
Must--if she longs for gold--refrain
From kissing Number Two--till after!

* * * * *

A Little Girl's Christmas Story.

Polly! | Folly!
Holly! | (Gobbles!)
Jolly! | Colly
Dolly! | (Wobbles!)

* * * * *

OUR BARTERERS.--SIDEBOARD.--I have a magnificent-looking article, made of unseasoned deal, coloured to resemble walnut. As great care has been taken to imitate a really first-class piece of furniture by a good maker, it is hoped that the fact that the wood is certain to split and warp, that the drawers jam, that the keyholes are dummies, and that the whole is a piece of cunning shoddy, will escape the attention of the average purchasing idiot. What offers?

* * * * *

TO PICKWICKIAN STUDENTS.--Of what class of persons is it recorded in _Pickwick_ that "their looks are not prepossessing and their manners are peculiar"?

* * * * *

THE CRY OF THE CIVIC TURTLE.

'Twas the voice of the Turtle, I heard him complain,
"You would wake me! Be off!! Let me slumber again!
Your 'Royal Commission on Unification'
Be ----!" something that seemed to convey commination.
"_I_ shan't 'tender evidence'--hang it, not I!--
Why I, as a separate body, should die!
I've power, prosperity, plumpness, and pelf;
If you want an 'Amalgam'--why, mix it yourself!"

* * * * *

Feminine Saturnalia.

[Miss KLUMPKE has just achieved a great triumph with a learned
treatise on the Rings of Saturn.]

Oh! maiden, learned, wise, you can
To froward woman prove a pattern,
You pay your due respect to Man
By writing up the Rings--of Saturn!

* * * * *

NEW PRANDIAL PROVERBS.--What's underdone can't be helped. A bird in a pie is worth two in a dish. Apollinaris (or any other) water in time saves wine. The early guest gets it hot. It is never too late to dine.

* * * * *

A TRUTH IN SEASON.--What would Christmas be without the Cracker? Messrs. G. SPARAGNAPANE have their reply ready with their "Cracker Skirt-Dancer" and their "May Blossom" (so nice in December), which is a pleasant souvenir of _The_ Wedding. Of course, all these crackers will "go off" well!

* * * * *

ADAPTED, 64

Ad Fratrem, 3

Adventures of Picklock Holes (The), 69, 76, 85, 100, 168, 213, 289,
301

Advertiser's Appeal, 270

Afternoon Party (An), 13

"After the Ball" in Paris, 297

After the Call, 243

Alexander and Diogenes, 162

Anacreontics for All, 273

Angels, 186

Another Scene at the Play, 64

Argentina, 226

Arriet on Labour, 88

"Art of 'Savoy Fare'" (The), 204

At Covent Garden last Thursday, 37

At the Sea-Side Church Parade, 73

At the Shaftesbury, 123

At the World's Water-Show, 40

Australian A B C (An), 57

Australia the (without) Golden, 94

BABES on the Treasury Bench (The), 255

Balfour's Boon, 101

Ballad (A), 262

"Ballade Joyeuse," 106

Ballade of Earlscourt, 57

Ballade of Lost Repartees, 142

Ballad of Departed Pippins (The), 41

Ball versus Ball, 297

Bank Holiday Beauty, 292

Behemoth and the Lion, 182

Belfry of Bruges Overlooked (The), 274

Bicycle built for Two (A), 258

Birds of Pray, 219

Bishop Bobadil, 166

Bitter Cry of the Broken-Voiced Chorister, 37

Black Shadow (The), 210

Blue Belles of Scotland (The), 298

Bobo, 178

Bogus Manager's Vade Mecum (The), 237

"Book that Failed" (The), 123

Brick-à-Brac, 195

Bright and Beautiful Working Man, 192

British Athletes Vade Mecum (The), 82

Brown Study in Autumn Tints (A), 109

Burden of Burdon Sanderson, 142

Business, 246

"But that's another Story," 225

CABMAN'S Guide to Politeness, 209, 225

Carr-Actors at "The Comedy," 185

Cause and Effect, 245

Central Hall of the Law Courts (The), 217

Champion Shaver (The), 282

Chance for the Briefless (A), 274

Change of Partners (A), 279

Christmas Hampers, 310

City Horse (The), 190

Closure at Home (The), 61

Coal and Wood, 257

Cockney on a Great Collection (A), 252

Connected with the Press, 77

Conversation-Book for Candidates, 258

Conversion à la Mode, 121

Cophetua, L.C.C., 113

County Council's Progressive Programme (The), 300

Cream of the Cream, 219

Cricket across the Channel, 61

Cricket Congratulations, 70

Croquet, 87

Crowning the Edifice, 153

Cry of the Civic Turtle (The), 310

Cure-ious! 99

DALY Dream (A), 180

Damon out of Date, 205

Dance till Dawn, 16

Danger! 85

Dark Continent in Two Lights (The), 226

Decayed Industry (A), 82

Deptford hath its Darling, 273

"Devil's Advocate" (The), 51

Diary à la Russe (A), 193

Directors' Vade Mecum (The), 49

Distorted Mercy, 309

Ditty of the Dog-Days (A), 17

Diver (The), 98

Double Entente, 228

Drama College, 192

Dr. Dulcamara Up to Date, 218

Dream-Book for Would-be Travellers, 65

Ducal Doings, 292

"Due South," 137, 145, 157, 169

EFFEMINACY of the Age, 97

1893; or, the Government Guillotine, 2

Englishman in Paris (The), 77

Essence of Parliament, 11, 22, 34, 46, 58, 70, 82, 94, 106, 118, 130,
142, 154, 226, 238, 250, 262, 274, 286, 298, 302

European Crisis Averted! 273

Examination Paper for Ladies, 45

Expostulation (An), 216

FABIUS Fin-de-Siècle, 225

Fallen Art (A), 25

"Fantastic" Action (A), 192

Farewell! 190

Fashionable Intelligence, 51

Father William, 18

Feminine Triumph (A), 277

"Flibbertigibbet," 261

Fool with a Gun (The), 159

"Forlorn Hope" (The), 150

Fragments from a Franco-Russian Phrase-Book, 197

French Flag (The), 228

French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb (The), 54

From Colchester, 111

From Grave to Gay, 89

From Our Island Special, 58

From Professor Muddle, 34

Future of Home Rule (The), 245

GAME of Chance (A), 285

Gingham-Grabber (The), 237

Going to the Country, 120

Golden Memories, 141

Good Luck to it! 253

"Good Sir John!", 166

Great African Lion-Tamer (The), 230

HANDY Boy (The), 246

"Hark! I hear the Sound of Coaches!", 255

Haunted! 101

Health-Seeker's Vade Mecum (The), 1

Height of Comfort (The), 241

"Here's to the Client," 63

Her Sailor Hat, 101

Highland "Caddie," 122

Highly Probable, 282

"History (nearly) repeats itself," 261

History Repeats Itself, 154

Home Rails, 243

How to Write a Cheap Christmas Number, 265

"Hymen Hymenæe!" 6

IDEAL Conversation (The), 159

Ideal Drama (The), 202

In Black and White, 225

Inquiry (An), 233

Intelligence à l'Americaine, 10

JOHN Bull's Naval Vade Mecum, 118

John Tyndall, 277

Jolly Young Watermaids (The), 156

Just Cause, 25

KISS that Costs (The), 310

LATEST Autumn Fashion (The), 228

Latest Crisis (The), 61

Latest Parisian Romance (The), 33

Law and Justice v. Duty "done," 286

Lawyer's Chortle (A), 205

Lay of the "Ancient" (The), 101

Lays of Modern Home, 33

Lesson for Labour (A), 138

Letter Home (A), 183

Letters for the Silly Season, 111

Letters to Abstractions, 97

Life (and Death) in South America, 158

Lines on (and off) an Italian Mule, 141

Little Bill-ee, 114

Little Master Minority, 198

Little Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, 86

Lobengula's Letter-Bag, 257

London Pest (A), 25

London School-Board Vade Mecum (The), 165

Lord Chancellor's Song (The), 289

Lost Smell (The), 274

Love and Law, 142

Love's Labour's Lost, 86

"L'Union fait la--Farce!", 186

MAGIC and Manufactures, 245

Making them Useful, 90

Man in the South (The), 129

Man Makes the Tailor (The), 53

March in November, 234

"Masterly Inactivity," 174

Mature Charms, 261

May and December, 305

Meeting of the Anti-Biographers, 105

Message from the Sea (A), 294

Misnomer, 228

Misty Crystal (A), 214

Moan of a Theatre-Manager (The), 41

Moan of the Minor Poet (The), 42

Modern Medusa (The), 270

Modern Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd (The), 16

Mot by a Member, 222

Mr. Punch's Appeal--to Coal-Owners, Miners, and all whom it may
Concern, 170

Mrs. Nickleby in the Chair, 30

Murch Praised, 277

Muscular Education, 37

Music and Law, 293

Music for the Multitude, 49

"My Cummerbund," 153

My Gardeneress, 93

My Landlord, 193

My Pretty June, at a Later Season, 189

Mystified, 216

My Tenant, 193

NAME! Name! 226

Names for Other Names, 174

Nautical Economy, 285

N.B.! 214

New King Coal, 74

New King Coal Corrected, 118

New Lights for Old, 273

New Version, 273

New Year's Eve at Latterday Hall, 304

Ninth of November (The), 238

Noble Organ-grinder (The), 217

No Raison d'être! 216

Not a Fair Exchange, 177

Note by our own Philosopher, 207

Novel Show (A), 121

"OBERLAND" Route (The), 221

Ode de Knill--and Co., 25

Ode of Odours (An), 292

Old "Adelphi Triumph" (An), 117

Old and New School for Scandal, 249

Old Man's Musings (An), 10

One of the Maxims of Civilisation, 261

"One-Horse" Householder, 89

1,000,000 A.D., 250

Only Fancy! 93

Operatic Notes, 5, 17

Ornithological Outburst (An), 257

Orator "Pour Rire" (An), 21

Our Barterers, 294, 310

Our Booking-Office, 9, 52, 154, 198, 209, 237, 249, 253, 265, 285,
293, 305

Our Opera, 25

"Over the Hills and Far Away!", 126

"PAINLESS Dentistry," 133

Palinode, 258

"Paper of the Day after To-morrow" (The), 229

"Pas Même Académecien!" 162

"Pictures from 'Punch,'" 177

"Piece and War!" at Drury Lane, 149

Playing the Deuce at the Haymarket, 161

"Play is not the Thing" (The), 22

Plea for Pleading's (A), 277

Poison in the Pump, 281

Police Phrase-Book (The), 16

Politics in South America, 125

Popular Songs re-sung, 73, 241

Precept and Practice, 213

Preparing for Christmas, 226

Prince Alexander of Battenberg, 253

Profession of Journalism (The), 222

Prophetic Diary of the L. C. C., 16

Proprietors' Vade Mecum (The), 46

Punch's "God-Speed" to the Pole Seekers, 22

Q. E. D., 238

Queer Cards, 246

Queer English, 34

Queer Queries, 36, 37, 135, 240

Question of Tint (A), 217

"Quiet Pipe" (A), 122

Quoth Dunraven, Nevermore! 192

RATHER Familiar! 255

"Ready, Aye Ready!", 110

Reign of Ringlets (The), 158

Repartees for the Railway, 202

"Resh'prosh'ty," 222

Rex Lobengula, 243

Rhodes to ----? 225

Riflemen--"Form!" 165

Rippin', 171

Robert at Gildhall, 75

Robert at the Manshun House, 17

Robert on the Coming Sho, 221

Robert's Puzzel, 261

Rosebery to the Rescue! 15

"Rule, Britannia!", 234

Rule of the Sea (The), 57

Rules of the Rude (The), 177

"SAIL! a Sail!" (A), 78

Saint Izaak and his Votaries, 62

Schopenhauer Ballads (The), 57, 77

Seasonable, 37, 234

Seasonable Reflection, 297

Seasonable Sayings, 298

Seasonable Sonnet, 277

Seasonable Vade Mecum (A), 305

Seeing the Royal Wedding Presents, 28

Self-Help, 205

Sax Scotch Pipers (The), 195

Shakspeare in London, 264

Shooting the Chutes, 73

"Single-Handed Run" (A), 267

Sir Aquarius to the Rescue! 146

Skinners and Skinned, 5

"Social Test-Words," 121

Song of the Autumn Session (The), 217

Song of the Session (The), 3

Song of the Shopkeeper (The), 29

Sonnet, 111

Spirit of Christmas Present (The), 306

Star-Gazing, 183

Still Wilder Ideas, 94

Stormy Petrel (The), 66

Stout Singer's Smile (The), 286

Striker's Vade Mecum (The), 121

Strike-ing Suggestion (A), 228

Study in Brown (A), 309

Study in Press-Land (A), 149

Sub Judice, 3

Surgeon-Major Parke, 138

Sympathy, 42

TALE of the Alhambra (A), 9

Tea and Twaddle, 106

"Tears, idle Tears!", 264

Testimonial Manqué (A), 4

Then and Now, 157

Three Georges (The), 3

Three Jovial Huntsmen (The), 134

Three Tartars (The), 141

Three V's (The), 210

Through the Lock, 42

To a Droshky-Driver, 41

To a Fine Woman, 66

To a Lady, 253

To a Lost Friend, 201

To a Parisienne, 53

To a Swiss Barometer, 64

To a Young Friend, aged Seven, 189

To Bobby, 297

To Doctor Falbe, 141

To "Hans Breitmann," 192

To Hebe, 229

To Marjorie, 273

Too Kind by Half, 39

To the French Oarsmen, 5

To the Sea, 229

Tour that never was (The), 75

Triolet, 269

Trip-lets, 277

True French Politeness, 114

Trumps for Tramps, 87

Trying her Strength, 102

Turkish Occupation; or, Visions in Smoke (A), 26

Turpin and Trains, 147

Timon on Bimetallism, 65

"'Twas in Trafalgar"'s Theatre, 293

Two Pots, The, 75

Two Views of Victory, 233

Tyranny of the Unsuitable (The), 269

ULSTERICAL Impromptu (An), 228

Under the Rose, 112, 124, 136, 148, 160, 172, 184, 196, 208, 220,
232, 244, 256, 268, 280

Under the Roose, 1

Union is (Logical) Weakness, 221

University Intelligence, 277

Upon Julia's Mother, 190

"Usual Channel," (The), 90

"VARIETY! Va-ri-e-ty!", 279

Vision of Royalty (A), 27

Visit to Borderland (A), 52

"Voces Stellarum," 48

Voice of the Thames (The), 45

Volunteers' Vade Mecum (The), 29

WALK in Devon (A), 202, 214

Walking Englishwoman on the Alps, 77

War in South America (The), 181

Way they have in the City (A), 53

"Way they have in the Navy" (The), 41

Wear and Tear in Africa, 9

Weather Wisdom, 269

Were-Wolf (The), 290

Westminster Play (The), 293

What's in a Name? 33

When the "Cat"'s Away, 206

Who is it? 93

Why Elinor is ever Young, 57

Windy Corner at Brighton (A), 297

"Wonder-Kid" (A), 269

Woodman, spare those Trees! 166

Words! Words! Words! 102

Word to the Wise Wheelman (A), 219

YORKSHIRE Victor, 113

You never Wrote, 231

LARGE ENGRAVINGS.

Alexander and Diogenes, 163

"Bicycle built for Two" (A), 259

Black Shadow (The), 211

"Champion Shaver" (The), 283

"Father William," 19

"Forlorn Hope" (The), 151

French Wolf and the Siamese Lamb (The), 55

Handy Boy (The), 247

"Hymen Hymenæe!" 7

Lesson for "Labour" (A), 139

Little Bill-ee! 115

Little Master Minority, 199

"L'Union fait la--Farce!" 187

"Masterly Inactivity," 175

"Message from the Sea" (A), 295

Modern Medusa (The), 271

Mrs. Nickleby in the Chair, 31

"Over the Hills and Far Away!" 127

Poor Victim (The), 91

"Resh'prosh'ty," 223

"Rule, Britannia!" 235

"Sail! a Sail!" (A), 79

Spirit of Christmas Present (The), 307

Stormy Petrel (The), 67

"Through the Lock," 43

Trying her Strength, 103

SMALL ENGRAVINGS.

Agatha and the Wall-paper, 106

"Angels in the House," 47

Apple Woman on Lady Salisbury, 171

'Arry and Foreign Traveller, 12

Authority on the "Buffer State" (An), 64

Bachelor's Reason for Dancing, 29

Baked-Potato Man on the Sands, 166

Balfour and Treasury Babes, 254

Bather trying to regain his Tent, 109

Beater and the Serdlitz Pooder, 257

Bertie "catches a Crab," 51

British Lion and Matabele Behemoth (The), 182

Brown getting out of Stream, 310

Brown helping himself to everything, 138

Brown's Corporation and its Cause, 22

Bulky Bride leaving her Parents, 270

Cabby and Clergyman, 168

Canon's Introduction to a Lady, 210

Chiffonniers on Hampstead Heath, 114

Cleveland's Dance with Free Trade, 278

"Committee Stage of the Home-Rule Bill," 59

Complimenting an After-dinner Speaker, 286

Conjugal Trouble about Christmas Present, 190

Conscientious Hairdresser (A), 34

Corpulent Sportsman's Symptoms, 113

Counsel and Facetious Witness, 233

County Councillor and Acoustics, 298

Critic's Two Reviews (A), 277

"Daily Graphic" Weather Lady, 153

"Devil's Advocate" (The), 50

Dining with the Odds and Ends, 165

Divorce stands Lunch to Bankruptcy, 297

Doctor Dulcamara and Mr. Punch, 218

Doomed Bill (The), 119

"Ears off in Front!" 121

Electric Light in an Old House, 302

Eton Boy and Pater's dear Luncheon, 66

Excited Orchestral Conductor, 285

Farmer Trencherman and the Curate, 169

Father Thames Purified, 95

Festive Babies, 282

Football Match (A), 299

Forgotten his Dress Coat, 25

Friends in Editor's Sanctum, 58

Gamekeeper and Captain's Language, 70

Gate-Boy and Hunting Lady, 207

German Teacher of English (A), 28

Giant Beetle (The), 201

Gladstone's "Long Break," 287

Gladstone the Diver, 98

Going to Cairo for Cheapness, 281

Golf Meeting (A), 191

Government Guillotine (The), 2

"Happy Family" in Fret-Work (The), 71

Harrow Scholar in Good Form, 238

Hawkins and Merton at a Restaurant, 178

Highland Corporal and Photographer, 86

His Ancestor's Portrait, 195

His Sister's Match-Maker, 82

Holiday Dress in the House, 83

Hostess of "Present-Day" Age, 63

Housekeeper and Servants' Sweepstakes, 229

Housemaid's Translation of "Salve," 222

House of Apollo-ticians (A), 143

"House Party" at Christmas, 303

Icicle made for Two (An), 197

Improbable Free Fight in the Lords, 131

Indisposed Yachtsman's Resolutions, 65

Influenzial House of Commons, 275

Inspecting General and Yeoman, 15

Irish Curate and the Doctor, 75

Izaak Walton and his Votaries, 62

"Joey" (Chamberlain) and the Hot Poker, 242

Jones's Delicious Drink, 253

Jones's visit to Prigglesby Manor, 90

Laconic 'Bus-Driver (A), 27

Lady Hypatia and the World at Large, 258

Lady's Story after the Garden Party, 16

Lady Vera flattering an Author, 274

Lika Joko's Hunting Scene, 263

Little Boy and the Martial Cloak, 117

Little Old Woman and her Shoe, 86

Local Hatter and Baronet, 94

Local Mammoth's Neighbours (The), 292

Looking at the Knight's Tomb, 150

Lower Creation (The), 105, 111

Mamma's Vaccination Sleeves, 3

Marian not a fit Servant's Name, 202

Master Bull's Sinking Ships, 110

Master Jack out for Early Hunting, 154

Mr. Punch and Coal-Owner and Miner, 170

Mr. Punch at Edinburgh, 179

Mr. Sinnick's Love for Babies, 246

Mrs. Prickles and "Coals of Fire," 225

Mrs. Ramsbotham and the Graces, 162

Musicians in the Stalls, 159

My Lady and Housemaid's Character, 54

Naughty Boy and his Governess, 186

Nervous Hunting Man and Lady Rider, 262

New King Coal, 74

News from the Law Courts, 237

Not an Ornamental Bishop, 306

Old Adonis and his Bust, 99

Old Gent and Galloping Coach-Team, 81

Old Huntsman's Law Reading, 291

Old Keeper and Red-haired Fisher, 11

"Out for an Otter-Day!" 189

"Out! Her First Ball!" 1

Painter and his Hostess, 78

Papa putting on Mamma's Hair, 198

Parliamentary Bear-Garden (A), 35

Parliamentary Football Match, 266

Parliament by Proxy, 227

People who don't dine out on Sunday, 130

Pheasant Shooting, 203

Philanthropist and Small Boy's Parcel, 226

Piping Satyr (A), 122

Podgers and his Host's Shoes, 147

Police Protection for Pianists, 217

Portrait of Mr. Mince-Pie, 301

Priceless Piece of English Coal (A), 192

Railway Traveller and Dog, 177

Rhodes, the Lion-Tamer, 230

Ringlets again the Fashion, 158

Rivals and the Fair Siamese, 38

Rosebery to the Rescue! 14

Scenes in the City, 239

Scotch Counsel and Old Lady, 118

Scotchman and the Rector, 45

Scottish Political Pipers, 194

Sea-side after Visitors are gone, 135

Seedy Swell's Watch (A), 5

Shadows on the Underground Railway, 181

Shaftesbury Fountain (The), 181

Shy Couple conversing on the Strike, 234

Singing Captain and Ladies, 102

Sir Aquarius and the Water-Snake, 146

Sir Harry on his Rhinoceros, 216

Sir Pompey and the French Baron, 46

Sir Pompey's Acts of Charity, 30

Sleeping Cat o' Nine Tails, 206

Small Boy's Dilemma about Hunting, 267

Smart Set at a Party (A), 6

Snobley and the Sand Ponies, 123

Spelling "Soda-water" with a Syphon, 141

Sporting Farmer and 'Arry at the Hunt, 231

Sportsman who has made a Mare, 243

Spreading Himself Out, 305

Squire and his Steward (A), 245

Stag-Hunting, 215

Stout Lady wanting Wings, 174

Sultan and Khedive Smoking, 26

Tailor's Lobengulous Customer, 250

Telephoning Twins (The), 255

Three Ministerial Huntsmen (The), 134

Tiger and Bear at the Club, 173

Tipsy Gent and Baker's Boy, 53

Tipsy Undergraduate and the Major, 214

Tommy's Ultimatum to his Nurse, 18

Tourist Season (The), 107

Tourist who didn't Shoot Anybody, 219

Trafalgar Square of the Future, 251

Two Golfers, 145

Two Ladies and the Piano, 42

Two Swells in the Rain, 193

Two Unknown Painters, 61

Very Nice to Departing Guests, 294

Vicar's Cook and a Saved Sole, 142

Wandering Minstrel and Sea-side Beauties, 126

Wanting a Table d'Oat Dinner, 205

Week of the Year (The), 23

Were-Wolf of Anarchy (The), 290

Who would be an M.P.? 155

Who would not be an M.P.? 167

Young Lady Making "Dinner Eyes," 39

Young Lady's Jacket Puzzle, 237

Young Muddleigh's Lady Love, 279

Young Sportsman and the Bad Shot, 125

Young Wife and Horse's Weight, 183

Youthful Reprobate and the World, 265

Youth who comes Home late (A), 49

* * * * *

LONDON; BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., LIMITED, WHITEFRIARS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Note:

Page 306: "SANDSTONE" corrected to "SADSTONE", to fit context of article.

"... to shed its lurid light on SADSTONE, as he came peeping round the door."