Chapter I: Preface

The prevailing idea of the origin and history of _Punch_ has hitherto rested mainly on three productions: the "Memories" of George Hodder, "Mr. Punch's Origin and Career," and Mr. Joseph Hatton's delightful but fragmentary papers, entitled "The True Story of _Punch_." So far as the last-named is based upon the others, it is untrustworthy in its details; but the statements founded on the writer's own knowledge and on the documentary matter in his hands, as well as upon his intimacy with Mark Lemon, possess a distinct and individual value, and I have not failed to avail myself in the following pages of Mr. Hatton's courteous permission to make such use of them as might be desirable.

During the four years in which I have been engaged upon this book, my correspondents have been numbered by hundreds. Hardly a man living whom I suspected of having worked for _Punch_, but I have communicated with him; scarce one but has afforded all the information within his knowledge in response to my application. Editor and members of the _Punch_ Staff, past and present--"outsiders," equally with those belonging to "the Table"--the relations and friends of such as are dead, all have given their help, and have shown an interest in the work which I hope the result may be thought to justify. All this mass of material--all the evidence, published and unpublished, that was adduced in order to establish certain points and refute others--had to be carefully sifted and collated, contrary testimony weighed, and the truth determined. Especially was this the case in dealing with the valuable reminiscences imparted by _Punch's_ earliest collaborators, still or till lately living. Of undoubted contributors and their work, it may be stated, more than two hundred and fifty are here dealt with. A further number cheerfully submitted to cross-examination on one or other of the many subjects touched upon; and probably as many more were approached with only negative results.

My special thanks are due to Mrs. Chaplin, the daughter of the late Mr. Ebenezer Landells, who unreservedly placed in my hands all the _Punch_ documents, legal and otherwise, accounts, and letters, concerning the origin and early editorships of _Punch_, which have been preserved in the family; and to Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, who have supplemented these with similar assistance, as well as with books of the Firm establishing points of literary interest not hitherto suspected, together with the letters of Thackeray which illustrate his early connection with and final secession from the Staff. Apart from their general interest, these documents, taken together, establish the facts of such very vexed questions as the origin and the early editorships of _Punch_. This is the more satisfactory, perhaps, by reason of the numerous unfounded claims--or founded chiefly on family tradition or filial pride and affection--which are still being made on behalf of supposed originators of the Paper. Even these partisan historians, it is believed, will hardly be able to resist the proofs here set forth; although attested fact does not, with them, necessarily carry conviction. For such services, and for their ready and sympathetic acquiescence in the requests I have made for permission to quote text or reproduce engraving, my hearty thanks to Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew and Co. are due. To them and to all my numerous correspondents I here repeat the assurance of gratitude for their courtesy which I have privately expressed before.

I have reproduced no more pictures from _Punch_ than were rendered necessary by the topics under discussion. I would rather send the reader, for _Punch's_ pictures, to the ever-fresh pages of _Punch_ itself. Nor, I may add, did I seek information and assistance from its Proprietors until this book was well advanced, preferring to make independent research and to test statements on my own account.

My primary inducement to the writing of this book has been the interest surrounding _Punch_, the study of which has not begotten in me the hero-worship that can see no fault. How far I have succeeded, it rests with the readers of this volume to decide.

_September, 1895._
M. H. SPIELMANN.

(_From the First Sketch by Charles H. Bennett._)]

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY. 1

CHAPTER I.

_PUNCH'S_ BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.

The Mystery of His Birth--Previous Unsuccessful Attempts at
Solution--Proposal for a "London Charivari"--Ebenezer Landells and
His Notion--Joseph Last Consults with Henry Mayhew--Whose
Imagination is Fired--Staff Formed--Prospectus--_Punch_ is Born and
Christened--The First Number 10

CHAPTER II.

_PUNCH'S_ EARLY PROGRESS AND VICISSITUDES.

Reception of _Punch_--Early Struggles--Financial Help Invoked--The
First Almanac--Its Enormous Success--Transfer of _Punch_ to
Bradbury and Evans--Terms of Settlement--The New Firm--_Punch's_
Special Efforts--Succession of Covers--"Valentines," "Holidays,"
"Records of the Great Exhibition," and "At the Paris
Exhibition" 29

CHAPTER III.

THE _PUNCH_ DINNER AND THE _PUNCH_ CLUB.

Origin and Antiquity of the Meal--Place of Celebration--The
"Crown"--In Bouverie Street and Elsewhere--The Dining-Hall--The
Table--And Plans--Jokes and Amenities--Jerrold and his "Bark"--A
Night at the Dinner--From Mr. Henry Silver's Diary--Loyalty and
Perseverance of Diners--Charles H. Bennett and the _Jeu
d'esprit_--Keene Holds Aloof--Business--Evolution of the
Cartoon--Honours Divided--Guests--Special Dinners, "Jubilee,"
"Thackeray," "Burnand," and "Tenniel"--Dinners to _Punch_--The
_Punch_ Club--Exit Albert Smith--High Spirits--"The Whistling
Oyster"--Baylis as a Prophet--"Two Pins Club" 53

CHAPTER IV.

_PUNCH_ AS A POLITICIAN.

_Punch's_ Attitude--His Whiggery--And Sincerity--Catholics and
Jews--Home Rule--European Politics--Prince Napoleon--_Punch's_
Mistakes--His Campaign against Sir James Graham--His Relations with
Foreign Powers--And Comprehensive Survey of Affairs 99

CHAPTER V.

"CHARIVARIETIES."

_Punch's_ Influence on Dress and Fashion--His Records--As a
Prophet--As an Artist--As an Actor and Dramatist--Benefit
Performances--Guild of Literature and Art 122

CHAPTER VI.

_PUNCH'S_ JOKES--THEIR ORIGIN, PEDIGREE, AND APPROPRIATION.

"The Unknown Man"--Jokes from Scotland--"Bang went
Saxpence"--"Advice to Persons about to Marry"--Claimants and True
Authorship--Origin of some of _Punch's_ Jokes and
Pictures--Contributors of Witty Things--A Grim Coincidence--"I Used
Your Soap Two Years Ago"--Charles Keene Offended--The
Serjeant-at-Arms and Mr. Furniss's Beetle--Mr. Birket Foster and
Mr. Andrew Tuer--Plagiarism and Repetition--The Seamy Side of
Joke-editing--_Punch_ Invokes the Law--Rape of Mrs. Caudle--_Sturm
und Drang_--Plagiarism or Coincidence?--Anticipations of the
"Puppet-Show" and "The Arrow"--Of Joe Miller--And
Others--_Punch-baiting_--Impossibility of
Joke-identification--Repetitions and Improvements 138

CHAPTER VII.

CARTOONS--CARTOONISTS AND THEIR WORK.

The Cartoon takes Shape--"The Parish Councils
Cockatoo"--Cartoonists and their Relative Achievements--John
Leech's First--Rapidity in Design--"General Février turned
Traitor"--"The United Service"--Sir John Tenniel's Animal
Types--"The British Lion Smells a Rat"--The Indian Mutiny--A
Cartoon of Vengeance--_Punch_ and Cousin Jonathan--"Ave
Cæsar!"--The Franco-Prussian War--The Russo-Turkish War--"The
Political 'Mrs. Gummidge'"--"Dropping the Pilot," its Origin and
Present Ownership--"Forlorn Hope"--"The Old Crusaders"--Troubles of
the Cartoonist--The Obituary Cartoon 168

CHAPTER VIII.

CARTOONS AND THEIR EFFECT.

Origin and Growth of the Cartoon--And of its Name--Its Reflection
of Popular Opinion--Source of _Punch's_ Power--_Punch's_
Downrightness offends France--Germany--And Russia--Lord Augustus
Loftus's Fix--Lord John Russell and "No Popery"--Mr. Gladstone and
Professor Ruskin on _Punch's_ Cartoons--Their Effect on Mr.
Disraeli--His Advances and Magnanimity--Rough Handling of Lord
Brougham--Sir Robert Peel--Lord Palmerston's Straw--Mr. Bright's
Eye-glass--Difficulties of Portraiture--John Bull _alias_ Mark
Lemon--Sir John Tenniel's Types 185

CHAPTER IX.

_PUNCH_ ON THE WAR-PATH: ATTACK.

_Punch_ lays about Him--Assaults the "Morning Post"--The Factitious
"Jenkins"--Thackeray's Farewell--Mrs. Gamp (the "Morning Herald")
and Mrs. Harris (the "Standard")--_Lèse Majesté!_--The "Standard"
Fulminates a Leader--The Retort--His Loyalty--Banters the Prince
Consort--Tribute on the Prince's Death--_Punch's_ Butts: Lord
William Lennox--Jullien--Sir Peter Laurie--Harrison
Ainsworth--Lytton--Turner--A Fallacy of Hope--Burne-Jones--Charles
Kean--S. C. Hall as "Pecksniff"--James Silk Buckingham and the
"British and Foreign Destitute"--Alfred Bunn--_Punch's_ Waterloo:
"A Word with Punch"--Bunn, Hot and Cross--A Second "Word" Prepared,
but never Uttered--Other Points of Attack 209

CHAPTER X.

_PUNCH_ ON THE WAR-PATH: COUNTER-ATTACK.

Satire and Libel--Mrs. Ramsbotham Assaulted--Attacks of "The Man in
the Moon" and "The Puppet-Show"--H. S. Leigh's Banter--Malicious
Wit--Mr. Pincott--_Punch's_ Purity gives Offence--His Slips of
Fact--Quotation--And Dialect are Resented--His Drunkards not
Appreciated by the U. K. A.--"_Punch_ is not as good as it
was!" 234

CHAPTER XI.

ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.

Mr. Joseph Swain supersedes Ebenezer Landells--His Education as
Engraver--Head of His Department--Engraving the Big Cut: Then and
Now--Printing from the Wood-blocks--Leech's
Fastidiousness--Impracticability of Keene--Thackeray's Little
Confidence--A Record of Half a Century 247

CHAPTER XII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841.

Mark Lemon--As Others Saw Him--His Duties--His Industry--His Staff
and their Apportioned Work--Lemon as an Editor--And Diplomatist--A
Testimonial--And a Practical Joke--Henry Mayhew--His Great Powers
and Little Weaknesses--Disappointment and Retirement--Stirling
Coyne--Gilbert Abbott à Beckett--His Early Career--Tremendous
Industry--À Beckett and Robert Seymour--Appointed
Magistrate--Locked in--Agnus B. Reach 254

CHAPTER XIII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841.

H. P. Grattan--W. H. Wills--R. B. Postans--Bread-Tax and
Tooth-Tax--G. Hodder--G. H. B. Rodwell--Douglas Jerrold--His
Caustic Wit--The "Q Papers"--A Statesman _pour rire_--His Sympathy
with the Poor and Oppressed--Wins for _Punch_ his Political
Influence--Ill-health--"_Punch's_ Letters"--The "Jenkins" and
"Pecksniff" Papers--"Mrs. Caudle"--Jerrold's Love of Children,
common to the Staff--He Silences his Fellow-wits--And is Routed by
a Barmaid--He sends his Love to the Staff--And they prove theirs
282

CHAPTER XIV.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841-2.

Percival Leigh--His Medical Shrewdness--Unsuspected Wealth--His
Ability and Work--His Decay--Kindness of the Proprietors to the Old
Pensioner--Albert Smith--Inspires varied Sentiments--Jerrold's
Hostility--"Lord Smith"--Parts Company--H. A. Kennedy--Dr.
Maginn--John Oxenford--W. M. Thackeray--His First
Contribution--"Miss Tickletoby" Fails to Please--He Withdraws--And
Resumes--Rivalry with Jerrold--As an Illustrator--A Mysterious
Picture--Thackeray's Contributions--And Pseudonyms--Quaint
Orthography--"The Snobs of England"--He Tires of _Punch_--His
Motives for Resignation--The Letter--Death of "Dear Old
Thack"--_Punch's_ Tribute to his Memory 299

CHAPTER XV.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1843-51.

Horace Mayhew--"The Wicked Old Marquis"--A Birthday Ode--R. B.
Peake--Thomas Hood--"The Song of the Shirt"--Its Origin--Its Effect
in the Country--Its Authorship Claimed by Others--Translated
throughout Europe--A Missing Verse--Hood Compared with
Jerrold--"Reflections on New Year's Day"--Dr. E. V. Kenealy--J. W.
Ferguson--Charles Lever--Laman Blanchard--Tom Taylor--Passed over
by Shirley Brooks--Taylor's Critics--Mr. Coventry Patmore--"Jacob
Omnium"--Tennyson _v._ Bulwer Lytton--Horace Smith--"Rob Roy"
Macgregor--Mr. Henry Silver--Introduces Charles Keene--His Literary
Work--Service to Leech--Retirement--Mr. Sutherland Edwards--Charles
Dickens and _Punch_--Sothern Earns his Dinner--Reconciliation of
Dickens and Mark Lemon--J. L. Hannay--Cuthbert Bede 327