Produced by Punch, or the London Charivari, Malcolm Farmer,
Ernest Schaal, and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
VOL. 62.
JANUARY 13, 1872.
[Illustration: A STRAIGHTFORWARD VIEW.
_High Church Curate._ "AND WHAT DO YOU THINK, MR. SIMPSON, ABOUT A
CLERGYMAN'S TURNING TO THE EAST?"
_Literal Churchwarden._ "WELL, SIR, MY OPINION IS, THAT IF THE CLERGYMAN
IS GOODLOOKIN', HE DON'T WANT TO TURN HIS BACK TO THE CONGREGATION!"]
* * * * *
POKES IN PANTOMIMES.
_NON omnia possumus omnes_; we are not all Popes, nor should we be
omnipotent even if we were infallible. The _Daily News_ is a journal of
ability; but there is a certain inconsistency, the cause of which it
declares itself unable to fathom:--
"That all personal allusions to the private lives of individuals
should be eschewed on the stage, we readily admit. Indeed, we
sympathise with DR. JOHNSON, who, on hearing that FOOTE, the
actor, intended to imitate his mien and gestures, inquired the
price of a good thick stick; but why, in the name of common
sense, when caricatures of MR. GLADSTONE and MR. LOWE weekly
appear in humorous journals, and when scarcely a day passes
without these gentlemen being attacked in print on account of
one or other of their public acts, every harmless joke upon
their official doings should be expunged from the pantomimes,
surpasses comprehension."
Our excellent contemporary forgets that there is in theatres a place
called the Gallery. This place is occupied by a peculiar description of
audience and spectators. In the theatre, by physical position, they
constitute the higher orders, but in common talk are contrariwise named.
Of old, bloated aristocrats were wont ironically to style them "the
Gods." Enlightened Statesmen, however, with a just appreciation of their
value as British voters, use to call them the People. Now the People of
the Gallery are not accustomed to read humorous journals in which
caricatures of the People's WILLIAM, and the People's ROBERT, appear
weekly. If they were, it would be necessary for the humorous journals to
be very careful in caricaturing those popular Ministers, lest
caricatures should endanger their popularity. The People of the Gallery
are our flesh and blood, but they are as yet uneducated, and apt to take
jokes too seriously. If the _Clown_ in a Pantomime were to tread upon a
match-box, and get blown up sky-high, or if, assisted by the
_Pantaloon_, he presented a working man in an arsenal with a sack, these
performances, to the occupants of the boxes indeed, would be harmless
jokes, but the effect produced by them in the electoral way would
probably be mischievous, in a gallery filled with friends and relations
of match-venders and dockyard labourers.
* * * * *
=The Best Tonic.=
THE Doctors disapprove of alcohol, but they are as alive as ever to the
cheering effect of "good spirits" on their patients.
* * * * *