(_FROM A COLLECTION OF COMMUNICATIONS SUPPLIED BY OUR PROPHETIC
COMPILER._)
DEAR MR. PUNCH,--Pray protect the Griffin! Those Goths and Vandals,
the Members of the Corporation of the City of London, will remove it,
unless you intervene. This beautiful work of Art, that stands on the
supposed site of the mythical Temple Bar, is to come down. What would
our ancestors say if they were here? Would they not frown at their
degenerate descendants? Every student of history knows that this
Griffin was put up by universal consent, and considered one of the
finest works of art of the nineteenth century. As, indeed, it was.
It is full of historic memories. It was here that WELLINGTON met
NAPOLEON after Waterloo; and here, again, was the Volunteer Movement
inaugurated, when Mr. Alderman WAT TYLER, putting himself at the
head of the citizens, called for "Three cheers for the Charter and
the Anti-Corn-Law League!" The beautiful bas-reliefs that used to
represent the occasions have disappeared, but their subjects are
tenderly cherished. If the Corporation _must_ pull down something, let
them destroy the recently-erected Mansion House! but spare, oh spare,
the Griffin!
Yours truly, A STUDENT OF THE LORE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
_The Palace, Brixton_.
DEAR MR. PUNCH,--It is time for a protest! One of the most beautiful
erections of the nineteenth century (the old South Kensington Railway
Station of the District Railway) is to be removed! Instead of the
picturesque iron roof, we are to have some abomination in stone! Can
this be? It is said to be falling to pieces under the ravages of Time.
If this be really the case, why not let it be restored? There was no
more picturesque outcome from the nineteenth century than these pretty
arrangements in metal. The last generation swept them away by scores,
by hundreds, by thousands--they did not even spare the Brompton
Boilers! Let not such a reproach be applicable to us. We pride
ourselves upon our love of Art and veneration for the antique and the
beautiful, and yet we would pull down a building that for a century
has been the admiration of all with a soul for Art and a mind for
appreciating the sublimest efforts of genius in its highest sense!
This must not be.
_Burlington House_,
Yours truly, A ROYAL ACADEMICIAN.
_From_ 1 _to_ 1000, _Piccadilly._
DEAR MR. PUNCH,--I have had the advantage of reading the above letters
before publication, and am of opinion that they are not one whit
more nonsensical than letters about the _Foudroyant_ and the Emmanuel
Hospital that were printed early in the nineties. You may make what
use you please of this communication.
Yours respectfully, THE SPIRIT OF THE PAST.
_The Earth (Branch Establishment, Mars and Jupiter)._
* * * * *
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