["There is a popular periodical which, whenever it can,
manifests the Liberal sentiments by which it has been guided
from the first--I mean the periodical _Punch_. At that time I
had the honour of figuring, if I remember right, in a Cartoon
of _Punch_, in connection with the rejection of the Paper
Duty, and a clever Cartoon it was, for I was represented as
a little lad in school, sitting (it was _standing_, Sir--_Mr.
P._) upon a small stool, and Lord DERBY--the Lord DERBY of
that day, who led the House of Lords--was standing over me
with an immense sheet of paper, made into a fool's-cap, which
he planted on my head."--_Mr. Gladstone at Edinburgh, Sept.
27, 1893._]
_See Cartoon, "The Paper Cap," in Punch_ (p. 223, vol.
xxxviii.), _June 2, 1860_.
THIRTY-THREE years ago, my WILLIAM, thirty-three
years ago,
Yet you, as of yore, are well to the fore, and _Punch_, too is
in front also;
And that paper cap was a popular crown, as _Punch_ at the time
suggested;
With the real fool's-cap, by a singular hap, "the Lord DERBY"
himself was invested.
_Punch_ "advised his friend GLADSTONE to look out for
squalls, and likewise look out his umbrella."
(_Prophetic_ that, but then _Mister P._ was always that
sort of a fella!)
You have used a good many "umbrellas" since then, both Old and New
(Castle) "brollies,"
As you needed a stout one in DERBY'S storm, so you will, my
dear WILLIAM, in SOLLY'S.
You have "had the honour of figuring," Sir, many times since then in
my pages;
As I hope, my dear WILLIAM, with all my heart, you'll continue
to do--oh! for ages!
The same great designer of "clever cartoons" ("our Sir JOHN")
is as lively as ever,
And if _you_'ll give him suitable subjects, dear boy, _he_'ll
still furnish cartoons quite as clever.
"Liberal sentiments"--"manifest still"--"whenever I can," you say?
Well, Sir!
_My_ sentiments, WILLIAM, are liberal _always_--but
with a small _non-party_ l, Sir!
"Liberal souls devise liberal things"--_you_ know the authority
grand, Sir!--
If your Liberal things are "liberal," always, by liberal things you
shall stand, Sir.
There! _Verb. sap._, my long-honoured old chap! May a real
fool's-cap crown you never,
But a Crown of Honour be yours at the end--which we'd wish to
postpone, Sir, for ever!
Thanks very much for your genial touch. We have pleasant joint
memories, many,
Since you fought the good fight on the Paper Duty and a Press at
the Popular Penny!
* * * * *
Colourable.
["The banners of most of the Dutch regiments have hitherto
been those captured from the French at Waterloo in 1815, since
when they have never been renewed."--_Daily News, September
22._]
The Dutch have had second-hand flags to fight under;
And so if "Dutch courage" mean borrowed, what wonder?
* * * * *
HISS-TRIONIC QUERY.--Where exists the theatrical manager who, utterly
disregardless of tradition and reckless as to the omen of "the Bird,"
would have produced a new piece for the first time _last Friday
night_, which was _Michaelmas Day_, the day sacred to the Goose? We
know of only one manager likely to be so bold, and he would not be so
audacious as to defy the combined omens of ill.
* * * * *
Ichabod!
(_As it generally seems now in Sculling Matches on the Thames._)
Row, brothers, row! But you don't row fast!
It's foreigner first, and Britisher last!
JOHN no longer can sing now, "I says the Bull"
(As in _Poor Cock Robin_), "_because I can pull!_"
* * * * *
COAL AND DRAMA.--Mr. JOHN HOLLINGSHEAD says that the Princess's Pit,
which has been closed for a long time, will be at once re-opened. The
price has been generally accepted.
* * * * *
NEWS OF THE MATABELE.--The "Impi" are "suffering from want of
supplies." They are impi-cunious.
* * * * *
THE MOST GRATUITOUS FORM OF VICE.--Ad-vice!
* * * * *