_Twenty-five volumes, crown 8vo. 192 pages
fully illustrated_
LIFE IN LONDON
COUNTRY LIFE
IN THE HIGHLANDS
SCOTTISH HUMOUR
IRISH HUMOUR
COCKNEY HUMOUR
IN SOCIETY
AFTER DINNER STORIES
IN BOHEMIA
AT THE PLAY
MR. PUNCH AT HOME
ON THE CONTINONG
RAILWAY BOOK
AT THE SEASIDE
MR. PUNCH AFLOAT
IN THE HUNTING FIELD
MR. PUNCH ON TOUR
WITH ROD AND GUN
MR. PUNCH AWHEEL
BOOK OF SPORTS
GOLF STORIES
IN WIG AND GOWN
ON THE WARPATH
BOOK OF LOVE
WITH THE CHILDREN
[Illustration]
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[Illustration: MR. PUNCH AT THE HELM!
(_By way of Introduction_)
River and sea, with their teeming summer life as we know them in Great
Britain and around our coasts, have yielded a rich supply of subjects
for the pens and pencils of MR. PUNCH'S merry men. In Stevenson's famous
story of "The Merry Men," it is the cruel side of the sea that is
symbolised under that ironic description; but there is no touch of gall,
no sinister undertone, in the mirth of MR. PUNCH'S "merry men."
It may be protested that in the pages of this little book, where we have
brought together for the first time all MR. PUNCH'S "happy thoughts"
about boating and sailing, the miseries of travel by sea and the
discomforts of holiday life on our inland waters are too much insisted
upon. But it is as much the function of the humorist as it is the
business of the philosopher to hold the mirror up to nature, and we are
persuaded that it is no distorted mirror in which MR. PUNCH shows us to
ourselves.
After all, although as a nation we are proud to believe that Britannia
rules the waves, and to consider ourselves a sea-going people, for the
most of us our recollections of Channel passages and trips around our
coasts are inevitably associated with memories of _mal-de-mer_, and it
says much for our national good humour that we can turn even our
miseries into jest.
Afloat or ashore, MR. PUNCH is never "at sea," and while his jokes have
always their point, that point is never barbed, as these pages
illustrative of the humours of boating and sailing--with MR. PUNCH at
the helm--may be left safely to bear witness.
[Illustration]
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