(_FROM A COLLECTION OF COMMUNICATIONS SUPPLIED BY OUR PROPHETIC
COMPILER._)
DEAR MR. PUNCH,--Forgive me for addressing you, but the urgency of
the occasion warrants the intrusion. A hundred years since, the old
Fighting _Foudroyant_ was sold by the Admiralty to be broken up. The
moment the Public of the Period learned the cruel fact through the
customary sources of information, they flew to the rescue. Headed by
the then LORD MAYOR, they raised a fund to bring back the discarded
vessel, and yet in those distant days there were they who denied
that the _Foudroyant_ had ever done anything in particular. And now
we propose doing the same thing. On the Thames there is an ancient
steamboat called _Citizen Z_, that once belonged to the Company that
started penny river lifts. It is certainly rather out of date, but is
full of historical memories. It is said that the Cabinet travelled
to Greenwich on its venerable boards, where they feasted on the
half-forgotten Whitebait, and the entirely, superseded Champagne. It
has carried, at one time or another, all the nobility to Rosherville,
there to spend (as the old saying went) "a happy day," and yet it is
proposed to break it up! Out upon the thought! Have we no veneration
for our relics of the past? Cannot we appreciate a boat that should
have had an honoured place in the Museum at Woolwich? Do not let this
act of Vandalism be done. Save the steamer for the sake of its past.
Yours truly, A REAR-ADMIRAL.
_H.M.S. Electric-Balloon, Skye._
DEAR MR. PUNCH,--I appeal to you, and I know I shall not appeal in
vain. The picturesque Cabman's Shelter in the middle of Piccadilly is
threatened! I hope you will exert your influence to preserve it. It
absolutely teems with historical associations. Lord RANDOLPH CHURCHILL
is supposed to have used it for writing his famous letter on the
Poor-Laws, and to this day is shown the initials of CHARLES STUART
PARNELL which were carved by that celebrated statesman on one of its
benches about the middle of the last century--probably in 1854. And
why is it to be removed? Simply because it is said to impede the
traffic! Could anything be more absurd? Do, pray, save it from the
hand of the ruthless "improver." Yours truly,