CHAPTER I.

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THE HISTORY OF "PUNCH"

by

M. H. SPIELMANN

With Numerous Illustrations

Cassell and Company, Limited

_London, Paris, & Melbourne_

1895

All Rights Reserved

[Illustration: "THE MAHOGANY TREE."

(_By Linley Sambourne. From "Punch's" Jubilee Number, by special

permission of Sir William Agnew, Bart., Owner of the original drawing._)

(_See page 536._)]

_TO MY SON_

_PERCY EDWIN SPIELMANN_

[Illustration: (_Drawn by George du Maurier._)]

PREFACE.

The prevailing idea of the origin and history of _Punch_ has hitherto

rested mainly on three productions: the "Memories" of George Hodder,

"Mr. Punch's Origin and Career," and Mr. Joseph Hatton's delightful but

fragmentary papers, entitled "The True Story of _Punch_." So far as the

last-named is based upon the others, it is untrustworthy in its details;

but the statements founded on the writer's own knowledge and on the

documentary matter in his hands, as well as upon his intimacy with Mark

Lemon, possess a distinct and individual value, and I have not failed to

avail myself in the following pages of Mr. Hatton's courteous permission

to make such use of them as might be desirable.

During the four years in which I have been engaged upon this book, my

correspondents have been numbered by hundreds. Hardly a man living whom

I suspected of having worked for _Punch_, but I have communicated with

him; scarce one but has afforded all the information within his

knowledge in response to my application. Editor and members of the

_Punch_ Staff, past and present--"outsiders," equally with those

belonging to "the Table"--the relations and friends of such as are dead,

all have given their help, and have shown an interest in the work which

I hope the result may be thought to justify. All this mass of

material--all the evidence, published and unpublished, that was adduced

in order to establish certain points and refute others--had to be

carefully sifted and collated, contrary testimony weighed, and the truth

determined. Especially was this the case in dealing with the valuable

reminiscences imparted by _Punch's_ earliest collaborators, still or

till lately living. Of undoubted contributors and their work, it may be

stated, more than two hundred and fifty are here dealt with. A further

number cheerfully submitted to cross-examination on one or other of the

many subjects touched upon; and probably as many more were approached

with only negative results.

My special thanks are due to Mrs. Chaplin, the daughter of the late Mr.

Ebenezer Landells, who unreservedly placed in my hands all the _Punch_

documents, legal and otherwise, accounts, and letters, concerning the

origin and early editorships of _Punch_, which have been preserved in

the family; and to Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, who have supplemented

these with similar assistance, as well as with books of the Firm

establishing points of literary interest not hitherto suspected,

together with the letters of Thackeray which illustrate his early

connection with and final secession from the Staff. Apart from their

general interest, these documents, taken together, establish the facts

of such very vexed questions as the origin and the early editorships of

_Punch_. This is the more satisfactory, perhaps, by reason of the

numerous unfounded claims--or founded chiefly on family tradition or

filial pride and affection--which are still being made on behalf of

supposed originators of the Paper. Even these partisan historians, it is

believed, will hardly be able to resist the proofs here set forth;

although attested fact does not, with them, necessarily carry

conviction. For such services, and for their ready and sympathetic

acquiescence in the requests I have made for permission to quote text or

reproduce engraving, my hearty thanks to Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew and Co.

are due. To them and to all my numerous correspondents I here repeat the

assurance of gratitude for their courtesy which I have privately

expressed before.

I have reproduced no more pictures from _Punch_ than were rendered

necessary by the topics under discussion. I would rather send the

reader, for _Punch's_ pictures, to the ever-fresh pages of _Punch_

itself. Nor, I may add, did I seek information and assistance from its

Proprietors until this book was well advanced, preferring to make

independent research and to test statements on my own account.

My primary inducement to the writing of this book has been the interest

surrounding _Punch_, the study of which has not begotten in me the

hero-worship that can see no fault. How far I have succeeded, it rests

with the readers of this volume to decide.

_September, 1895._

M. H. SPIELMANN.

[Illustration: AN INTRODUCTION.

(_From the First Sketch by Charles H. Bennett._)]

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY. 1

CHAPTER I.

_PUNCH'S_ BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.

The Mystery of His Birth--Previous Unsuccessful Attempts at

Solution--Proposal for a "London Charivari"--Ebenezer Landells and

His Notion--Joseph Last Consults with Henry Mayhew--Whose

Imagination is Fired--Staff Formed--Prospectus--_Punch_ is Born and

Christened--The First Number 10

CHAPTER II.

_PUNCH'S_ EARLY PROGRESS AND VICISSITUDES.

Reception of _Punch_--Early Struggles--Financial Help Invoked--The

First Almanac--Its Enormous Success--Transfer of _Punch_ to

Bradbury and Evans--Terms of Settlement--The New Firm--_Punch's_

Special Efforts--Succession of Covers--"Valentines," "Holidays,"

"Records of the Great Exhibition," and "At the Paris

Exhibition" 29

CHAPTER III.

THE _PUNCH_ DINNER AND THE _PUNCH_ CLUB.

Origin and Antiquity of the Meal--Place of Celebration--The

"Crown"--In Bouverie Street and Elsewhere--The Dining-Hall--The

Table--And Plans--Jokes and Amenities--Jerrold and his "Bark"--A

Night at the Dinner--From Mr. Henry Silver's Diary--Loyalty and

Perseverance of Diners--Charles H. Bennett and the _Jeu

d'esprit_--Keene Holds Aloof--Business--Evolution of the

Cartoon--Honours Divided--Guests--Special Dinners, "Jubilee,"

"Thackeray," "Burnand," and "Tenniel"--Dinners to _Punch_--The

_Punch_ Club--Exit Albert Smith--High Spirits--"The Whistling

Oyster"--Baylis as a Prophet--"Two Pins Club" 53

CHAPTER IV.

_PUNCH_ AS A POLITICIAN.

_Punch's_ Attitude--His Whiggery--And Sincerity--Catholics and

Jews--Home Rule--European Politics--Prince Napoleon--_Punch's_

Mistakes--His Campaign against Sir James Graham--His Relations with

Foreign Powers--And Comprehensive Survey of Affairs 99

CHAPTER V.

"CHARIVARIETIES."

_Punch's_ Influence on Dress and Fashion--His Records--As a

Prophet--As an Artist--As an Actor and Dramatist--Benefit

Performances--Guild of Literature and Art 122

CHAPTER VI.

_PUNCH'S_ JOKES--THEIR ORIGIN, PEDIGREE, AND APPROPRIATION.

"The Unknown Man"--Jokes from Scotland--"Bang went

Saxpence"--"Advice to Persons about to Marry"--Claimants and True

Authorship--Origin of some of _Punch's_ Jokes and

Pictures--Contributors of Witty Things--A Grim Coincidence--"I Used

Your Soap Two Years Ago"--Charles Keene Offended--The

Serjeant-at-Arms and Mr. Furniss's Beetle--Mr. Birket Foster and

Mr. Andrew Tuer--Plagiarism and Repetition--The Seamy Side of

Joke-editing--_Punch_ Invokes the Law--Rape of Mrs. Caudle--_Sturm

und Drang_--Plagiarism or Coincidence?--Anticipations of the

"Puppet-Show" and "The Arrow"--Of Joe Miller--And

Others--_Punch-baiting_--Impossibility of

Joke-identification--Repetitions and Improvements 138

CHAPTER VII.

CARTOONS--CARTOONISTS AND THEIR WORK.

The Cartoon takes Shape--"The Parish Councils

Cockatoo"--Cartoonists and their Relative Achievements--John

Leech's First--Rapidity in Design--"General Février turned

Traitor"--"The United Service"--Sir John Tenniel's Animal

Types--"The British Lion Smells a Rat"--The Indian Mutiny--A

Cartoon of Vengeance--_Punch_ and Cousin Jonathan--"Ave

Cæsar!"--The Franco-Prussian War--The Russo-Turkish War--"The

Political 'Mrs. Gummidge'"--"Dropping the Pilot," its Origin and

Present Ownership--"Forlorn Hope"--"The Old Crusaders"--Troubles of

the Cartoonist--The Obituary Cartoon 168

CHAPTER VIII.

CARTOONS AND THEIR EFFECT.

Origin and Growth of the Cartoon--And of its Name--Its Reflection

of Popular Opinion--Source of _Punch's_ Power--_Punch's_

Downrightness offends France--Germany--And Russia--Lord Augustus

Loftus's Fix--Lord John Russell and "No Popery"--Mr. Gladstone and

Professor Ruskin on _Punch's_ Cartoons--Their Effect on Mr.

Disraeli--His Advances and Magnanimity--Rough Handling of Lord

Brougham--Sir Robert Peel--Lord Palmerston's Straw--Mr. Bright's

Eye-glass--Difficulties of Portraiture--John Bull _alias_ Mark

Lemon--Sir John Tenniel's Types 185

CHAPTER IX.

_PUNCH_ ON THE WAR-PATH: ATTACK.

_Punch_ lays about Him--Assaults the "Morning Post"--The Factitious

"Jenkins"--Thackeray's Farewell--Mrs. Gamp (the "Morning Herald")

and Mrs. Harris (the "Standard")--_Lèse Majesté!_--The "Standard"

Fulminates a Leader--The Retort--His Loyalty--Banters the Prince

Consort--Tribute on the Prince's Death--_Punch's_ Butts: Lord

William Lennox--Jullien--Sir Peter Laurie--Harrison

Ainsworth--Lytton--Turner--A Fallacy of Hope--Burne-Jones--Charles

Kean--S. C. Hall as "Pecksniff"--James Silk Buckingham and the

"British and Foreign Destitute"--Alfred Bunn--_Punch's_ Waterloo:

"A Word with Punch"--Bunn, Hot and Cross--A Second "Word" Prepared,

but never Uttered--Other Points of Attack 209

CHAPTER X.

_PUNCH_ ON THE WAR-PATH: COUNTER-ATTACK.

Satire and Libel--Mrs. Ramsbotham Assaulted--Attacks of "The Man in

the Moon" and "The Puppet-Show"--H. S. Leigh's Banter--Malicious

Wit--Mr. Pincott--_Punch's_ Purity gives Offence--His Slips of

Fact--Quotation--And Dialect are Resented--His Drunkards not

Appreciated by the U. K. A.--"_Punch_ is not as good as it

was!" 234

CHAPTER XI.

ENGRAVING AND PRINTING.

Mr. Joseph Swain supersedes Ebenezer Landells--His Education as

Engraver--Head of His Department--Engraving the Big Cut: Then and

Now--Printing from the Wood-blocks--Leech's

Fastidiousness--Impracticability of Keene--Thackeray's Little

Confidence--A Record of Half a Century 247

CHAPTER XII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841.

Mark Lemon--As Others Saw Him--His Duties--His Industry--His Staff

and their Apportioned Work--Lemon as an Editor--And Diplomatist--A

Testimonial--And a Practical Joke--Henry Mayhew--His Great Powers

and Little Weaknesses--Disappointment and Retirement--Stirling

Coyne--Gilbert Abbott à Beckett--His Early Career--Tremendous

Industry--À Beckett and Robert Seymour--Appointed

Magistrate--Locked in--Agnus B. Reach 254

CHAPTER XIII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841.

H. P. Grattan--W. H. Wills--R. B. Postans--Bread-Tax and

Tooth-Tax--G. Hodder--G. H. B. Rodwell--Douglas Jerrold--His

Caustic Wit--The "Q Papers"--A Statesman _pour rire_--His Sympathy

with the Poor and Oppressed--Wins for _Punch_ his Political

Influence--Ill-health--"_Punch's_ Letters"--The "Jenkins" and

"Pecksniff" Papers--"Mrs. Caudle"--Jerrold's Love of Children,

common to the Staff--He Silences his Fellow-wits--And is Routed by

a Barmaid--He sends his Love to the Staff--And they prove theirs

282

CHAPTER XIV.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841-2.

Percival Leigh--His Medical Shrewdness--Unsuspected Wealth--His

Ability and Work--His Decay--Kindness of the Proprietors to the Old

Pensioner--Albert Smith--Inspires varied Sentiments--Jerrold's

Hostility--"Lord Smith"--Parts Company--H. A. Kennedy--Dr.

Maginn--John Oxenford--W. M. Thackeray--His First

Contribution--"Miss Tickletoby" Fails to Please--He Withdraws--And

Resumes--Rivalry with Jerrold--As an Illustrator--A Mysterious

Picture--Thackeray's Contributions--And Pseudonyms--Quaint

Orthography--"The Snobs of England"--He Tires of _Punch_--His

Motives for Resignation--The Letter--Death of "Dear Old

Thack"--_Punch's_ Tribute to his Memory 299

CHAPTER XV.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1843-51.

Horace Mayhew--"The Wicked Old Marquis"--A Birthday Ode--R. B.

Peake--Thomas Hood--"The Song of the Shirt"--Its Origin--Its Effect

in the Country--Its Authorship Claimed by Others--Translated

throughout Europe--A Missing Verse--Hood Compared with

Jerrold--"Reflections on New Year's Day"--Dr. E. V. Kenealy--J. W.

Ferguson--Charles Lever--Laman Blanchard--Tom Taylor--Passed over

by Shirley Brooks--Taylor's Critics--Mr. Coventry Patmore--"Jacob

Omnium"--Tennyson _v._ Bulwer Lytton--Horace Smith--"Rob Roy"

Macgregor--Mr. Henry Silver--Introduces Charles Keene--His Literary

Work--Service to Leech--Retirement--Mr. Sutherland Edwards--Charles

Dickens and _Punch_--Sothern Earns his Dinner--Reconciliation of

Dickens and Mark Lemon--J. L. Hannay--Cuthbert Bede 327

CHAPTER XVI.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1852-78.

Shirley Brooks--His Wit and Humour--Training--Lays Siege to

_Punch_--And Carries him by Assault--"Essence of

Parliament"--William Brough--Mr. Beatty Kingston--F. I.

Scudamore--M. J. Barry--Dean Hole--Mr. Charles L. Eastlake--Mr.

Francis Cowley Burnand--His Little Joke with Cardinal

Manning--"Fun"--"Mokeanna"--Its Success--Thackeray's

Congratulations to _Punch_--"Happy Thoughts"--And Other Happy

Thoughts--Mr. Burnand as a Ground-Swell--Promoted to the

Editorship--The Apotheosis of the Pun--Mr. J. Priestman

Atkinson--Mr. John Hollingshead--Mr. R. F. Sketchley--"Artemus

Ward"--A Death-bed Ambition--H. Savile Clarke--Locker-Lampson and

C. S. Calverley--Miss Betham-Edwards--Mr. du Maurier's "Vers

Nonsensiques"--Mr. A. P. Graves--Rev. Stainton Moses--Mr. Arthur W.

à Beckett--"A. Briefless, Junior"--Mortimer Collins--Mr. E. J.

Milliken--"The 'Arry Papers"--Gilbert à Beckett--"How we Advertise

Now"--Mr. H. F. Lester--Mr. Burnand and the Corporal 356

CHAPTER XVII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1880-94.

"Robert"--Mr. Deputy Bedford--Mr. Ashby-Sterry--Reginald Shirley

Brooks--Mr. George Augustus Sala--Mr. Clement Scott--The "Times"

Approves--Mr. H. W. Lucy--"Toby, M.P."--Martin Tupper and Edmund

Yates--Mr. George Grossmith--Mr. Weedon Grossmith--Mr. Andrew

Lang's "Confessions of a Duffer"--Miss May Kendall--Miss

Burnand--Lady Humorists--Mr. Brandon Thomas and Mr. Gladstone--Mr.

Warham St. Leger--Mr. Anstey--"Modern Music-hall Songs"--"Voces

Populi"--Mr. R. C. Lehmann--Mr. Barry Pain--Mr. H. P. Stephens--Mr.

Charles Geake--Mr. Gerald Campbell--R. F. Murray--Mr. George

Davis--Mr. Arthur A. Sykes--Rev. A. C. Deane--Mr. Owen Seaman--Lady

Campbell--Mr. James Payn--Mr. H. D. Traill--Mr. A. Armitage--Mr.

Hosack--"Arthur Sketchley"--Henry J. Byron--_Punch's_ Literature

Considered 385

CHAPTER XVIII.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1841.

_Punch's_ Primitive Art--A. S. Henning--Brine--A Strange

Doctrine--John Phillips--W. Newman--Pictorial Puns--H. G.

Hine--John Leech--His Early Life--Friendship with Albert

Smith--Leech Helps _Punch_ up the Social Ladder--His Political

Work--Leech Follows the "Movements"--"Servantgalism"--"The Brook

Green Volunteer"--The Great Beard Movement--Sothern's Indebtedness

to Leech for Lord Dundreary--Crazes and Fancies--Leech's

Types--"Mr. Briggs"--Leech the Hunter--Leech as a Reformer--Leech

as an Artist--His "Legend" Writing--His Prejudices--His Death--And

Funeral 409

CHAPTER XIX.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1841-50.

William Harvey--Mr. Birket Foster--Kenny Meadows--His

Joviality--Alfred "Crowquill"--Sir John Gilbert--Exit

"Rubens"--Hablôt Knight Browne ("Phiz")--Henry Heath--Mr. R. J.

Hamerton--W. Brown--Richard Doyle--Desires Pseudonymity--His

Protest against _Punch's_ "Papal Aggression"

Campaign--Withdraws--His Art--Epitaph by _Punch_--Henry Doyle--T.

Onwhyn--"Rob Roy" Macgregor--William McConnell--Sir John

Tenniel--His Career--And Technique--His Early Work--Cartoons--His

Art--His Memory and its Lapses--"Jack[=i]d[=e]s"--Knighthood 444

CHAPTER XX.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1850-60.

Captain Howard--Receipt for Landscape Drawing--Earnings, Real and

Ideal--George H. Thomas--Charles Keene--His Training--Introduction

to _Punch_--Called to the Table--Uselessness in Council--A Strong

Politician--Inherits Leech's Position--Keene as an Artist--Where He

Failed--His Joke-Primers--Torturing the Bagpipes--Good Stories,

Used, Spoiled, and Rejected--"Toby" as a Dachshund--Death of

"Frau"--Keene's Technique--His Inventions and Creations--And what

He Earned by Them--Charles Martin--Harry Hall--Rev. Edward Bradley

("Cuthbert Bede")--"Verdant Green" or "Blanco White"?--Double

Acrostics--George Cruikshank Defies _Punch_--Mr. T. Harrington

Wilson--Mr. Harrison Weir--Mr. Ashby-Sterry--Alfred Thompson--Frank

Bellew--Julian Portch--"Cham"--G. H. Haydon--J. M. Lawless 475

CHAPTER XXI.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1860-67.

Mr. G. du Maurier's First Drawing--The "Romantic Tenor"--Polite

Satire--His Types and Creations--His Pretty Women--And Fair

American--"Chang," "Don," and "Punch"--Mr. du Maurier as a _Punch_

Writer--Mr. Gordon Thompson--Mr. Stacy Marks, R.A.--Paul Gray--Sir

John Millais, Bart., R.A.--Mr. Fred Barnard--First Joke Refused as

"Painful"--Mr. R. T. Pritchett--Initiation by Sir John

Tenniel--Fritz Eltze--His Amiable Jocularity--Mr. A. R.

Fairfield--Colonel Seccombe--Fred Walker, A.R.A.--Mr. J. Priestman

Atkinson ("Dumb Crambo")--C. H. Bennett--Mr. W. S. Gilbert

("Bab")--His Classic Joke--G. B. Goddard--Miss Georgina Bowers--Mr.

Walter Crane 503

CHAPTER XXII.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1867-82.

Mr. Linley Sambourne--His Work--His Photographs--And

Enterprise--Strasynski--Mr. Wilfrid Lawson--Mr. E. J. Ellis--Mr.

Ernest Griset--Mr. A. Chasemore--Mr. Walter Browne--Mr. Briton

Riviere, R.A.--An Undergraduate Humorist--A _Punch_ Initial

Converted into an Academy Picture--Mrs. Jopling-Rowe--Mr. Wallis

Mackay--Mr. J. Sands--Mr. W. Ralston--Mr. A. Chantrey

Corbould--Charles Keene's Advice--Randolph Caldecott--Major-General

Robley--R. B. Wallace--Colonel Ward Bennitt--Mr. Montagu

Blatchford--Mr. Harry Furniss--Origin of Mr. Gladstone's Collars--A

Favourite Ruse--How It's Done--Mr. Furniss and the Irish

Members--The Lobby Incident--Clever Retaliation--Mr. Furniss's

Withdrawal--Mr. Lillie--Mr. Storey, A.R.A.--Mr. Alfred Bryan. 531

CHAPTER XXIII.

_PUNCH'S_ ARTISTS: 1882-95.

Mr. William Padgett--Mr. E. M. Cox--Mr. J. P. Mellor--Sir F.

Leighton, Bart., P.R.A.--Mr. G. H. Jalland--Monsieur Darré--Mr.

E. T. Reed--His Original Humour--"Contrasts" and "Prehistoric

Peeps"--Approved by Sports Committees and School Classes--Mr.

Maud--A Useful Drain--Mr. Bernard Partridge--Fine Qualities of his

Art--Mr. Everard Hopkins--Mr. Reginald Cleaver--Mr. W. J.

Hodgson--Excites the Countryside--Miss Sambourne--Sir Frank

Lockwood, Q.C., M.P.--Mr. Arthur Hopkins--Mr. J. F. Sullivan--Mr.

J. A. Shepherd--Mr. A. S. Boyd--Mr. Phil May--A Test of

Drunkenness--Mr. Stafford--"Caran d'Ache"--Conclusion. 558

APPENDIX 573

INDEX 581

[Illustration: MR. PUNCH.

(_Drawn by Harry Furniss._)]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

"The Mahogany Tree." By Linley Sambourne _Frontis._

Headpiece to Preface. By G. du Maurier vii

An Introduction. From First Sketch by C. H. Bennett x

Mr. Punch. By Harry Furniss xiv

Mr. Punch portrayed by Different Hands 7

Ebenezer Landells 15

Prospectus of _Punch_, Facsimile of Mark Lemon's MS. 20-22

Preliminary Leaflet 23

Signatures to the Original Agreement 25

First Cover of _Punch_. By A. S. Henning. 27

The Four Earlier Proprietors 37

The Five Later Proprietors 39

Second Cover. By "Phiz" 42

Third Proposed Cover. By H. G. Hine 43

Third Cover. By W. Harvey 44

Fourth Cover. By Sir John Gilbert, R.A. 45

Fifth Cover. By Kenny Meadows 46

Sixth Cover. First Design. By Richard Doyle 47

Sixth Cover. Second Design. By Richard Doyle 48

The First _Punch_ Table: "Crown Inn" 57

The Present _Punch_ Table: Bouverie Street 59

Twenty-six Initials Carved upon the Table 60-75

The Dinner Card 69

"Peel's Dirty Boy": Leech's First Sketch 112

"Peel's Dirty Boy": The Cartoon 113

The Anti-Graham Envelope 115

_Punch's_ Anti-Graham Wafers 117

The Draughtsman's Revenge 127

Bennett's Benefit--The Cast 133

Playbill of the Guild of Literature and Art 137

Musical: First Sketch. By Henry Walker 148

Musical: Drawing. By G. du Maurier 149

The Political "Pas de Quatre." By A. S. Henning 154

The Political "Pas de Quatre." By J. Leech 155

General Février. By J. Leech 175

The "Pas de Deux:" Original Drawing. By Sir John Tenniel 178

"The Political Mrs. Gummidge." By Sir John Tenniel 181

Portraits of Beaconsfield. Re-drawn by Harry Furniss 201

"The Mrs. Caudle of the House of Lords:"

Original Sketch. By J. Leech 203

Portraits of Gladstone. Re-drawn by Harry Furniss 207

Maternal Solicitude. By J. Leech 212

"A Word with Punch" 229

Joseph Swain 247

Mark Lemon 254

"Mr. Punch's Fancy Ball" 261

Portraits of _Punch_ Staff 262

Lemon's Presentation Inkstand 264

Henry Mayhew 268

J. Stirling Coyne 271

Gilbert Abbott à Beckett 272

Douglas Jerrold 284

Albert Smith 303

John Oxenford 308

W. M. Thackeray 309

Thackeray and Jerrold ("Authors' Miseries") 312

Thackeray's Presentation Inkstand 321

Thackeray at Work. By E. M. Ward, R.A. 325

Horace Mayhew 327

Thomas Hood 330

Tom Taylor 338

Leech, Tom Taylor, and part of Horace Mayhew. By R. Doyle 339

Henry Silver 347

Dickens' Sole (and Rejected) Contribution 350

J. Hannay 354

Shirley Brooks 356

F. C. Burnand 363

R. F. Sketchley 369

"Artemus Ward" 370

H. Savile Clarke 371

Arthur W. à Beckett 375

E. J. Milliken 378

Gilbert à Beckett 381

_Punch's_ Family Trees 382

John T. Bedford 385

J. Ashby-Sterry 386

H. W. Lucy 390

F. Anstey 396

R. C. Lehmann 401

A. S. Henning 411

H. G. Hine 414

_Punch's_ Seal. By H. G. Hine 415

John Leech. By Sir J. E. Millais, Bart., R.A. 418

"How long have you been gay?" By J. Leech 428

"Leech's 'Pretty Girl'": A Skit.

By Sir J. E. Millais, Bart., R.A. 431

Leech's House in Kensington. By J. Fulleylove, R. I. 438

The Historical Ash-tree in Leech's Garden. By J. Fulleylove, R. I. 439

"Two Roses": Sketch by John Leech 440

A Page from Leech's Sketch-Book: My Lord Brougham 441

Kenny Meadows 447

Alfred "Crowquill" 450

Hablôt K. Browne ("Phiz") 451

R. J. Hamerton 453

W. McConnell 461

Sir J. Tenniel. By Himself 462

Sketch for the Pocket-Book, "Arthur and Guinevere."

By Sir John Tenniel 464

Sketch for the Cartoon "Will it Burst?" By Sir John Tenniel 465

Sketch for the Pocket-Book: "Thor." By Sir John Tenniel 468

Sketch for the Cartoon "Humpty-Dumpty." By Sir John Tenniel 469

Captain H. R. Howard 475

Charles S. Keene. By J. D. Watson 478

Keene torturing the Bagpipes. By Himself 485

From Keene to his Editor 486

"Frau," _alias_ "Toby"--Keene's last Drawing 488

"Cuthbert Bede" 492

T. Harrington Wilson. By T. Walter Wilson 497

George du Maurier 503

"My Pretty Woman." By G. du Maurier 508

Pencil Study. By G. du Maurier 509

"Chang." By G. du Maurier 514

"Don." By G. du Maurier 515

Pencil Study. By G. du Maurier 516

Pencil Study. By G. du Maurier 517

Fred Barnard. A Libel on Himself 518

R. T. Pritchett 520

J. Priestman Atkinson 524

In a Hansom with Mark Lemon. By J. Priestman Atkinson 524

C. H. Bennett. By Himself 525

Mrs. Bowers-Edwards (Miss G. Bowers) 529

Linley Sambourne. By Himself 531

Ernest Griset 538

Mr. Griset introduces himself to Mark Lemon 538

J. Moyr Smith 541

J. Sands 542

W. Ralston 543

A. Chantrey Corbould 544

M. Blatchford 548

E. J. Wheeler 549

Harry Furniss 549

_Punch_ as the Bishop of Lincoln. By Harry Furniss 550

Mr. Gladstone Collared. By Harry Furniss 552

Two Friends. By Harry Furniss 554

"A Happy Release:" A Rejected Trifle. By C. J. Lillie 556

E. T. Reed. By Himself 560

J. Bernard Partridge. By Himself 564

Phil May at Work. By Himself 568

Phil May as _Punch_. By Himself 570

The _Punch_ Staff at Table, 1895 571

"Finale." By Linley Sambourne 572

Index. Original Sketch. By Charles Keene. 581

The engravings here borrowed from _Punch_ are reproduced (in all cases

in smaller sizes) by special permission of the Proprietors, Messrs.

Bradbury, Agnew & Co. The Portrait of Charles Keene by J. D. Watson, and

of Himself with the Bagpipes, were first published in _Black and White_,

through whose courtesy they appear here. To all who have accorded the

various permissions for reproductions, or who have lent drawings for the

better illustration of this volume, the acknowledgments of the writer

are gratefully recorded. The Copyright of the illustrations is in every

case strictly reserved.

THE

HISTORY OF "PUNCH."

INTRODUCTORY.

"If humour only meant laughter," said Thackeray, in his essay on the

English humorists, "you would scarcely feel more interest about humorous

writers than the life of poor Harlequin, who possesses with these the

power of making you laugh. But the men regarding whose lives and stories

you have curiosity and sympathy appeal to a great number of our other

faculties, besides our mere sense of ridicule. The humorous writer

professes to awaken and direct your love, your pity, your kindness; your

scorn of untruth, pretension, imposture; your tenderness for the weak,

the poor, the oppressed, the unhappy. To the best of his means and

ability he comments on all the ordinary actions and passions of life

almost."

It may surely be claimed that these words, consecrated to his mighty

predecessors by the Great Humorist of _Punch_, may be applied without

undue exaggeration to his colleagues on the paper. Though posing at

first only as the puppet who waded knee-deep in comic vice, _Punch_ has

worked as a teacher as well as a jester--a leader, and a preacher of

kindness. Nor was it simple humour that was _Punch's_ profession at the

beginning; he always had a more serious and, so to say, a worthier

object in view. This may be gathered from the very first article in the

very first number, the manifesto of the band of men who started it,

contributed by Mark Lemon, under the title of--

"THE MORAL OF PUNCH."

"As we hope, gentle public, to pass many happy hours in your

society, we think it right that you should know something of our

character and intentions. Our title, at a first glance, may have

misled you into a belief that we have no other intention than the

amusement of a thoughtless crowd, and the collection of pence. We

have a higher object. Few of the admirers of our prototype, merry

Master PUNCH, have looked upon his vagaries but as the practical

outpourings of a rude and boisterous mirth. We have considered him

as a teacher of no mean pretensions, and have, therefore, adopted

him as the sponsor for our weekly sheet of pleasant instruction.

When we have seen him parading in the glories of his motley,

flourishing his _bâton_ in time with his own unrivalled discord, by

which he seeks to win the attention and admiration of the crowd,

what visions of graver puppetry have passed before our eyes!... Our

ears have rung with the noisy frothiness of those who have bought

their fellow-men as beasts in the market-place, and found their

reward in the sycophancy of a degraded constituency, or the

patronage of a venal ministry--no matter of what creed, for party

_must_ destroy patriotism....

"There is one portion of PUNCH'S drama we wish was omitted, for it

always saddens us--we allude to the prison scene. PUNCH, it is

true, sings in durance, but we hear the ring of the bars mingling

with the song. We are advocates for the _correction_ of offenders;

but how many generous and kindly beings are there pining within the

walls of a prison whose only crimes are poverty and misfortune!...

"We now come to the last great lesson of our motley teacher--the

gallows; that accursed tree which has its _root_ in injuries. How

clearly PUNCH exposes the fallacy of that dreadful law which

authorises the destruction of life! PUNCH sometimes destroys the

hangman, and why not? Where is the divine injunction against the

shedder of man's blood to rest? None _can_ answer! To us there is

but ONE disposer of life. At other times PUNCH hangs the devil:

this is as it should be. Destroy the principle of evil by

increasing the means of cultivating the good, and the gallows will

then become as much a wonder as it is now a jest....

"As on the stage of PUNCH'S theatre many characters appear to fill

up the interstices of the more important story, so our pages will

be interspersed with trifles that have no other object than the

moment's approbation--an end which will never be sought for at the

expense of others, beyond the evanescent smile of a harmless

satire."

A portion of this programme was duly eliminated by the abolition of the

Fleet and the Marshalsea; and it must be admitted that _Punch_ has long

since forgotten his declared crusade against capital punishment. But he

has been otherwise busy. His sympathy for the poor, the starving, the

ill-housed, and the oppressed; for the ill-paid curate and the

worse-paid clerk; for the sempstress, the governess, the shop-girl, has

been with him not only a religion, but a passion. Professor Ruskin,

judging only by _Punch's_ pictures, and that a little narrowly, has

thought otherwise. _Punch_ "has never in a single instance," says he in

his "Art of England," "endeavoured to represent the beauty of the poor.

On the contrary, his witness to their degradation, as inevitable

consequences of their London life, is constant and, for the most part,

contemptuous."

Truth to tell, _Punch_ has been kindly from the first; and a man of

mettle, too. None has been too exalted or too powerful for attack;

withal, his assaults, in comparison with those of his scurrilous

contemporaries, have been moderate and gentlemanly in tone. He has

attacked abuses from the highest to the lowest. Sham gentility, vulgar

ostentation, crazes and fads, linked æstheticism long drawn out, foolish

costume, silly affectations of fashion in compliment and language--all

have been set up as targets for his shafts of ridicule or scorn. He has

been a moral reformer and a disinterested critic. A liberal-minded

patriot, he has ever opposed the advocacy of "Little Peddlington" in

Imperial politics; and municipal maladministration is a perennial

subject for his denunciations. He has been a kindly cauteriser of social

sores; caustic, but rarely vindictive. Spiritualism, Socialism,

Ibsenism, Walt Whitmania--all the movements and sensations of the day,

social, political, and artistic, in so far as they are follies--have

been shot at as they rose. And having conquered his position, _Punch_

has known how to retain it. "The clown," says Oliver Wendell Holmes,

"knows his place to be at the tail of the procession." It is to

_Punch's_ honour that with conscious dignity--and, of course, with

conscious impudence--he took _his_ place at its head. And there he has

stayed; and transforming his pages into the Royal Academy of pictorial

satire, his alone among all the comic papers has forced its way into the

library and taken up its position in the boudoir. His workers are the

best available in the land; and when in course of time one contributor

falls away, another is ready to step quickly into his place--_uno avulso

non deficit alter_.

So _Punch_--who for many years past has set up as the incarnation of all

that is best in wit and virtue--is a scholar and a gentleman. He is,

moreover, on his own showing, a perfect combination of humour, wisdom,

and honour; and yet, in spite of it all, not a bit of a prig. It is true

that when he donned the dress-coat, and "Punch" and "Toby" put on airs

as "Mr. Punch" and "Toby, M.P.," he became milder at the expense of some

of his political influence. Yet what he lost in power he gained in

respectability, as well as in the affection of his countrymen. He

appealed to a higher class, to the greater constituency of the whole

nation; and remembering that a jest's prosperity lies in the ear that

hears it, he transferred some of his allegiance from pit to stalls, and

was content with the well-bred smile where before he had been eager for

noisy laughter and loud applause.

People say--among them Mr. du Maurier himself--that there does not seem

quite as much fun and jollity in the world as when John Leech was alive;

but that surely is only the wail of the middle-aged. Englishmen never

were uproarious in their mirth, as Froissart once reminded us. But it is

true that _Punch_ does not indulge so much as once he did in

caricature--which after all, as Carlyle has pointed out, is not Humour

at all, but Drollery. Caricature, one must remember, has two mortal

enemies--a small and a great: artistic excellence of draughtsmanship,

and national prosperity with its consequent contentment. Good harvests

beget good-humour. They stifle all motive for genuine caricature, for

"satire thrives only on the wrath of the multitude." A joke may be only

a joke--or a comedy, or a tragedy; but the greatest caricature (which

need by no means display the greatest art) is necessarily that which

goes straightest to the heart and mind. No drawing is true caricature

which does not make the beholder _think_, whether it springs simply from

good-humour or has its source in the passion of contempt, hatred, or

revenge, of hope or despair. Mere amusement, said Swift, "is the

happiness of those who cannot think," while Humour, to quote Carlyle

again, "is properly the exponent of low things; that which first renders

them poetical to the mind." Through this truth we may see how _Punch_

has so continually dealt with vulgarity without being vulgar; while many

of his so-called rivals, touching the self-same subjects, have so

tainted themselves as to render them fitter for the kitchen than the

drawing-room, through lack of this saving grace. Fun may have been in

their jokes, but not true humour. _Punch_ thus became to London much

what the Old Comedy was to Athens; and, whatever individual critics may

say, he is recognised as the Nation's Jester, though he has always

sought to do what Swift declared was futile--to work upon the feelings

of the vulgar with fine sense, which "is like endeavouring to hew blocks

with a razor."

If there is one thing more than another on which _Punch_ prides

himself--on which, nevertheless, he is constantly reproached by those

who would see his pages a remorseless mirror of human weakness and

vice--it is his purity and cleanness; his abstention from the unsavoury

subjects which form the principal stock-in-trade of the French humorist.

This trait was Thackeray's delight. "As for your morality, sir," he

wrote to Mr. Punch, "it does not become me to compliment you on it

before your venerable face; but permit me to say that there never was

before published in this world so many volumes that contained so much

cause for laughing, and so little for blushing; so many jokes, and so

little harm. Why, sir, say even that your modesty, which astonishes me

more and more every time I regard you, is calculated, and not a virtue

naturally inherent in you, that very fact would argue for the high sense

of the public morality among us. We will laugh in the company of our

wives and children; we will tolerate no indecorum; we like that our

matrons and girls should be pure."

It was not till the great occasion of his Jubilee that the Merry Old

Gentleman of Fleet Street, who "hath no Party save Mankind; no

Leader--but Himself," discovered the full measure of his popularity. The

day broke for him amid a chorus of greeting--a perfect pæan of triumph,

in which his own trumpet was not the softest blown. It is not an

exaggeration to say that the Press of the world welcomed the fiftieth

anniversary of his birth, and that with a cordiality and unanimity never

before accorded to any paper. Hardly a journal in the English-speaking

world but commented on the event with kindly sympathy; hardly one that

marred the celebration with an ill-humoured reflection. Pencil as well

as pen was put to it to do honour to the greatest comic paper in the

world, and demonstrate in touching friendliness the confraternity of the

Press.

For the public, _Punch_ issued his "Jubilee number" and, in accordance

with the promise given in the first volume fifty years before, he

produced in his hundredth a brief history of his career and the names of

the men who made it, modestly advising his readers to secure a set of

his back volumes as the real "Hundred Best Books." For himself, he dined

with the Staff at the "Ship Hotel" at Greenwich, when the Editor, who

occupied the chair, was fêted by the proprietors of the paper and

received a suitable memento of the glorious event.

[Illustration: MR. PUNCH PORTRAYED BY DIFFERENT HANDS.

_See p. 9._]

And what may appear to some as the most curious celebration of all was a

solemn religious celebration--nothing less than a _Te Deum_--in honour

of the occasion. It sounds at first, perhaps, a little like a

joke--though not in good enough taste to be one of Mr. Punch's own; but

the service was held; and when regarded in the light shed upon it by the

Rev. J. de Kewer Williams, the incongruity of it almost disappears. "I

led my people yesterday," he wrote, "in giving thanks on the occasion

of your Jubilee, praying that you might ever be as discreet and as

kindly as you have always been." The prayer spoken in the pulpit

appropriately ended as follows: "For it is so easy to be witty and

wicked, and so hard to be witty and wise. May its satire ever be as good

and genial, and the other papers follow its excellent example!"

The public tribute was not less cordial and sincere, and poetic

effusions flowed in a gushing stream. But none of these verses, doggerel

and otherwise, expressed more felicitously the general feeling than

those which had been written some years before by Henry J. Byron--(who

had himself attempted to establish a rival to _Punch_, but had been

crushed by the greater weight)--one of his verses running:--

"From 'Forty-one to present times

How much these pages speak,

And _Punch_ still bids us look into

The middle of next week;

And that's a Wednesday, as we know,

When still our friend appears,

As honest, fearless, bright, and pure

As in the bygone years."

But greater far than the public esteem is the affection of the Staff,

who naturally enough regard the personality of _Punch_ with a good deal

more than ordinary loyal sentiment and _esprit de corps_. It is

interesting to observe the different views the artists have severally

taken of it, for most of them in turn have attempted his portrayal.

Brine regarded him as a mere buffoon, devoid of either dignity or

breeding; Crowquill, as a grinning, drum-beating Showman; Doyle,

Thackeray, and others adhered to the idea of the Merry, but certainly

not uproarious, Hunchback; Sir John Tenniel showed him as a vivified

puppet, all that was earnest, responsible, and wise, laughing and

high-minded; Keene looked on him generally as a youngish, bright-eyed,

but apparently brainless gentleman, afflicted with a pitiable deformity

of chin, and sometimes of spine; Sir John Gilbert as a rollicking

Polichinelle, and Kenny Meadows as Punchinello; John Leech's

conception, originally inspired, no doubt, by George Cruikshank's

celebrated etchings, was the embodiment of everything that was jolly and

all that was just, on occasion terribly severe, half flesh, half

wood--the father, manifestly, of Sir John Tenniel's improved figure of

more recent times. Every artist--Mr. du Maurier, Mr. Sambourne, Mr.

Furniss, and the rest--has had his own ideal; and it is curious to

observe that in his realisation of it, each has illustrated or betrayed

in just measure the strength or weakness of his own imagination.

Some of these portraits, characteristic examples of _Punch's_ leading

artists, are reproduced on page 7, arranged according to authorship,

thus:--

W. Newman Kenny Meadows R. Doyle

W. M. Thackeray J. Leech (1) J. Tenniel (1)

C. Keene J. Leech (2) G. du Maurier

L. Sambourne (1) J. Tenniel (2) F. Eltze

L. Sambourne (2) J. Tenniel (3) H. Furniss

CHAPTER I.

_PUNCH'S_ BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.

The Mystery of His Birth--Previous Unsuccessful Attempts at

Solution--Proposal for a "London Charivari"--Ebenezer Landells and

His Notion--Joseph Last Consults with Henry Mayhew--Whose

Imagination is Fired--Staff Formed--Prospectus--_Punch_ is Born and

Christened--The First Number.

It should be counted against neither the fair fame nor the reputation of

_Punch_ that the facts of his birth have never yet been definitely and

honourably established. It is not that his parentage has been lost to

history in a discreet and charitable silence; on the contrary, it is

rather that that honour has been claimed by over-many, covetous of the

distinction. He seems to come within the category of Defoe's true-born

Englishman, "whose parents were the Lord knows who," not because there

should be any doubt upon the subject, but because none suspected at the

time the latent importance of the bantling and the circumstances of his

birth until it seemed too late to decide by demonstration or simple

affirmation who was father and who the sponsors. Had it then been known

that _Punch_ was born for immortality, I should not now be at the pains

of setting forth, at greater length than would otherwise be necessary or

justifiable, the proofs of his parentage and of his natal place.

"Great Homer's birth seven rival cities claim,

Too mighty such monopoly of Fame."

Rubens was born both at Antwerp and Cologne. One knows it to be so, when

one has visited both houses. Hans Memling, again, was native of Bruges

and Mömelingen too. It is hardly surprising, then, that several

roof-trees claim the honour of having sheltered the new-born _Punch_,

and that many men have contended for his paternity.

I say "his" paternity; for the absolute personality of _Punch_ has

long been recognised. It has been the usual custom of comic papers

to indulge in a similar fiction, mildly humorous and conveniently

anonymous--"Figaro in London," "Pasquin," "The Puppet Show"-man, "The

Man in the Moon," and the rest. But _Punch_ was not only a personality

himself, but at the outset began by introducing the rest of his family

to the public. Nowadays he ignores his wife, especially since a

contemporary has appropriated her name. But this was not always so. In

his prospectus he announces that his department of "Fashion" will be

conducted by Mrs. J. Punch, whose portrait, drawn by Leech's pencil,

appeared in 1844 (p. 19, Vol. VI.), and who was seen again, under the

name of Judina, in honourable companionship with her husband, in the

preface to Vol. XLVII., for 1864, and once more in "Mrs. Punch's Letters

to Her Daughter." His daughter Julia, too, being then, in 1841, "in

service," wrote a letter to the journal in that style of damaged

orthography afterwards adopted by the immortal Jeames and his American

cousin, Artemus Ward. But it was not long before _Punch_ took a rise in

the social scale, and many men of distinction in literature have claimed

him for their child with all the emphasis of groundless assertion.

According to the "City Press" (June 27th, 1892), Mr. C. Mitchell

frequently declared that _Punch_ originated with him, Shirley Brooks,

Henry Mayhew, and Ebenezer Landells, in his office in Red Lion Court,

the latter drawing the original sketch of the pink monthly cover of

_Punch_. But as Shirley Brooks did not come on the scene till thirteen

years later, and as the cover in question is the one designed, and

signed, by Sir John Gilbert in 1842, the claim may be dismissed, except

in so far as it may support Landells' statement that he prepared the

scheme of such a paper and submitted it to several publishers before he

and his associates determined upon carrying it themselves into

execution. And soon after it was started, as will be seen, the services

of a speculative printer were anxiously sought.

Mr. Hatton declares that Mark Lemon "always spoke of it to me as a

project of himself and Henry Mayhew," wherein he is followed by the

"Dictionary of National Biography;" and the Hon. T. T. à Beckett gives

the exclusive honour to Henry Mayhew (wherein he is followed by the same

authority in the notice of the latter writer), but admits the further

founder's claim of Stirling Coyne.

The writer of the well-known, but sadly inaccurate, pamphlet entitled

"Mr. Punch, His Origin and Career," which was published in 1882 as a

memorial of Mark Lemon, explains circumstantially that it was Mr. Last,

the printer, who proposed the idea to Henry Mayhew, who "readily

accepted it." The book is generally accredited to Sidney Blanchard; but

when I explain that the printer of it, now deceased, informed me that it

was written and brought to him by Last's son, the transfer of the

central interest from Landells and Henry Mayhew becomes intelligible.

The late Mr. R. B. Postans, the house-chum of Henry Mayhew, "his

companion from morning to night," and George Hodder, in his oft-quoted

"Memories of My Time," agree in according undivided credit to Henry

Mayhew; but they unfortunately disagree in essentials, and contradict

each other, and indirectly confirm my own conclusions. Hodder further

declares that Mayhew invented the paper and its name simultaneously,

which sprang Minerva-like, full-titled, from his brain--which we know to

be untrue, as the name was not decided upon until a subsequent meeting.

Indeed, on the final prospectus, written with Mark Lemon's hand, as may

be seen on p. 20, the present title was only inserted as an

after-thought.

Then comes the version of Henry Mayhew's son, Mr. Athol Mayhew, who

claims everything for his father in a statement of some length, in some

respects authentic, but in many details entirely erroneous. He carries

back Mayhew's idea of a "London Charivari" to the year 1835; but, as

will be seen a little further on, Orrin Smith, Jerrold, Thackeray, and

several more of the wags of the day afterwards combined in a stillborn

effort to start a similar paper based on the same model. The writer

bases his case far too much on Hodder's "Memories," which, entertaining

though they are, do not universally command the trust and respect with

which Mr. Athol Mayhew regards them. "A more sanguine man than my

father," he says, "never breathed, and in his arrangement with Hodder

appears to have taken everything for granted, although the scheme had

not as yet been even breathed to Messrs. Landells and Last [the engraver

and printer]; for when the latter gentleman agreed to enter into the

speculation, Mayhew had removed to Clement's Inn." But the writer, who

would appear to have inherited the paternal characteristic of "taking

everything for granted," has not considered that Hodder declared that

his visit to Hemming's Row, by which occasion it is alleged that the new

_Punch_ had sprung to Mayhew's brain, was "_in the summer_." As _Punch_

appeared in the middle of July, and, according to the draft prospectus,

was first arranged to appear on June 10th (though this may possibly have

been a _lapsus calami_), it requires more than ordinary sanguineness to

accept the statement that not a word had been breathed to persons so

paramount in such a newspaper enterprise as the printer and

engraver--especially when the paper was to make its appearance in a few

days' time. And yet Mr. Mayhew adds that matters did not progress even

so rapidly as his authority, George Hodder, narrates.

Yet although it was not, as will appear, Henry Mayhew who was the actual

initiator of _Punch_, it was unquestionably he to whom the whole credit

belongs of having developed Landells' specific idea of a "Charivari,"

and of its conception in the form it took. Though not the absolute

author of its existence, he was certainly the author of its literary and

artistic being, and to that degree, as he was wont to claim, he was its

_founder_.

From all these versions (which, after all, vary hardly more than the

accounts of other incidents of _Punch_ life[1]) it is not very easy at

first sight to sift the truth. There is a story of the tutor of an

Heir-Apparent who asked his pupil, by way of examination, what was the

date of the battle of Agincourt. "1560," promptly replied the Prince.

"The date which your Royal Highness has mentioned," said the tutor, "is

perfectly correct, but I would venture to point out that it has no

application to the subject under discussion." A like criticism might

fairly be passed on each existing reading of the genesis of _Punch_. It

has been worth while, for the first time, and it is to be hoped the

last, to collate and compare these statements, and ascertain the facts

as far as possible. Claims have been set up, variously and severally,

for Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Joseph Last, Ebenezer Landells, and

Stirling Coyne; even Douglas Jerrold and Gilbert à Beckett have been

declared originators, though no such pretentions came directly from

them. Otherwise than in the spirit of the Scottish minister who

exclaimed, "Brethren, let us look our difficulties boldly and fairly in

the face--and pass on," I propose to take those portions of the stories

which tally with the facts I have ascertained and verified beyond all

doubt, and, disentangling the general confusion as briefly as may be, to

present one consistent version, which must stand untainted by claims of

friendship, by pride of kinship, or filial respect.

It had occurred to many of the wits, literary and artistic, who well

understood the cause of mortality in the so-called comic press that had

gone before, that a paper might succeed which was decently and cleanly

conducted. It might be as slashing in its wit and as fearless in its

opinions as it pleased, so long as those opinions were honest and their

expression restrained. Their idea was founded rather on Philipon's Paris

"Charivari" than on anything that had appeared in England; but they

plainly saw that to attract and hold the public the paper which they

imagined must be a weekly and not a daily one. The Staff which was

brought together consisted of Douglas Jerrold, Thackeray, Laman

Blanchard, Percival Leigh, and Poole, author of "Paul Pry"--authors; and

Kenny Meadows, Leech, and perhaps Crowquill--artists; with Orrin Smith

as engraver. The whole scheme of this new "London Charivari" was in a

forward state of preparation, even to pages of text being set up, when

it suddenly collapsed through a mistaken notion of Thackeray's that each

co-partner--there being no "capitalist" thought of--would be liable for

the private debts of his colleagues. The suggestion was too much for the

faith of the schemers in one another's discretion, and "The London

Charivari" was incontinently dropped; yet unquestionably it had some

indirect influence on the subsequent constitution and career of Mr.

Punch.

[Illustration: EBENEZER LANDELLS.]

For some years the success of the Paris "Charivari" had attracted the

attention of Mr. Ebenezer Landells, wood-engraver, draughtsman, and

newspaper projector. He had been a favourite pupil of the great Bewick

himself, and had come up to London, where he soon made his mark as John

Jackson's and Harvey's chief lieutenant and obtained an entrance into

literary and artistic circles. A man of great originality and initiative

ability, of unflagging energy and industry, of considerable artistic

taste, and of great amiability, he also had the defect of the creative

quality of his mind, so that, owing to that lack of business talent

which the public generally associates with the artistic temperament, he

did not ultimately prove himself more than a moderate financial success.

As Jerrold, Thackeray, and the rest had done before him, he believed in

a "Charivari" for England, and pondered how the Parisian success might

be emulated and achieved. In his house at 22, Bidborough Street, St.

Pancras (where most of the early _Punch_ blocks were cut), he had a

ready-made staff of engravers that included some names destined to

become better known--Mr. Birket Foster; Mr. Edmund Evans, best known

nowadays in connection with Miss Kate Greenaway's delightful children's

books; J. Greenaway, her father, who became a master engraver himself;

and William Gaiter, who afterwards took Orders; while "outside" were

Edward and George Dalziel, T. Armstrong, and Charles Gorway. With these

young men the handsome, tall engraver was extremely popular; they called

him "the Skipper," or "Old Tooch-it-oop" behind his back, in token of

his Northumbrian accent, but to his friends he was generally known as

"Daddy Longlegs," or "Daddy Landells."

So Landells took the idea, which he determined upon carrying out, to one

or two well-established publishers, Wright of Fleet Street amongst them,

but none could see the germ of a first-rate property in it. It was

objected that the temperament of the English people so differed from

that of the French that they certainly would neither appreciate nor

encourage the requisite style of writing, even supposing--which they did

not believe--that the necessary talent were forthcoming. Moreover, they

would not credit that a comic paper could succeed without the

scurrility, and often enough the indecencies, that had distinguished

earlier satirical prints; and although the popularity of Hood's "Comic

Annual" and Cruikshank's "Comic Almanac" was pointed to, they would have

nothing to do with a weekly, however much it professed to supersede

previous ribaldry with clean wit and healthy humour.

As it happened, early in 1841 Landells was concerned, with his friend

Joseph Last, printer, of 3, Crane Court, Fleet Street, in projecting a

periodical known as "The Cosmorama," an illustrated journal of life and

manners of the day, and to him Landells imparted his conviction that

such a journal as he imagined would certainly succeed. The enterprising

printer lent a readier ear than others had done (perhaps, in view of his

limited capital and still more limited ideas of speculation, altogether

too ready an ear), and agreed with Landells to take up so excellent a

notion. Now, in the little world of comic writing a brilliant humorist

was at work--Henry Mayhew, one of several brothers of ability, a man

whose resource was equal to his wit. He was already known to Last as the

son of the leading member of the firm of Mayhew, Johnston, and Mayhew,

of Carey Street, his legal advisers. He was residing at the time at

Hemming's Row, over a haberdasher's shop, and, with F. W. N. Bayley and

others, he had been secured as writer on "The Cosmorama." Landells,

introduced to him by Last, approached him on the subject of the

"Charivari." Mayhew grasped the conception at once, and, as the sequel

proved, saw it more completely, and perhaps appreciated its literary and

artistic possibilities more clearly, than either its material originator

or his ambassador had done. He immediately advised dropping "The

Cosmorama," and directing on to the new comic all the energy and

resources that were to have been put into the more commonplace

publication. In due course he imparted the new idea to his friend

Postans, who shared his room, and to other visitors; but he forgot to

mention how the idea had been brought to him, so that his friends not

unnaturally counted it as another of Harry's many happy, but usually

impracticable, thoughts. But in this instance Mayhew made his

personality felt, for the character of the paper, instead of partaking

of that acidulated, sardonic satire which was distinctive of Philipon's

journal, on which it was to have been modelled, took its tone from

Mayhew's genial temperament, and from the first became, or aimed at

becoming, a budget of wit, fun, and kindly humour, and of honest

opposition based upon fairness and justice.

As for the Staff of such a paper as he imagined, Mayhew urged that he

could secure the services of Douglas Jerrold, Gilbert à Beckett, Mark

Lemon, Stirling Coyne, and others, in addition to those already engaged;

and then adjournment was proposed to Mark Lemon's rooms in Newcastle

Street, Strand. "The Shakespeare's Head," in Wych Street, had

previously been Lemon's place of business. It was the meeting-place of

the little "quoting, quipping, quaffing" club of fellow-workers in

Bohemia; and Lemon, it was explained, had dabbled both in verse and the

lighter drama, efforts which were "not half bad." Little did the writer

dream that his modest Muse had marked him out for the editorship of the

greatest comic journal the world has seen! To the duties of

tavern-keeper Lemon, who was enamoured of literature and the drama, had

been condemned by a fate more than usually unkind. He had found himself

nearly penniless when Mr. Very, his stepfather, offered him a clerical

position in his brewery in Kentish Town. But the brewery failed, and

with it Lemon's livelihood, and he was only rescued by a jovial

tavern-keeper named Roper, one of his stepfather's customers, and by him

put into charge--disastrously for both--of the Wych Street public-house.

Then he married, having borrowed five pounds to do it with, and by his

wife's advice kept in touch with his literary acquaintance; and by the

acceptance of a five-act comedy by Charles Mathews at Covent

Garden--which was to be played by a cast including the great comedian's

self, Mme. Vestris, and "Old" Farren--he received a hundred pounds down,

and was tided over his difficulties until the starting of _Punch_ gave

him permanent employment.

So to Mark Lemon they went, and a full list was quickly drawn up. Mayhew

undertook to communicate with Douglas Jerrold, who, then better known to

the public as the successful dramatist than as the great satirist, was

staying at Boulogne for the sake of his young family's education; and a

charming picture has been drawn by his son of how, on the visit of à

Beckett, Charles Dickens, and the rest, he would throw off his clothes

and swim with them in the sea, or challenge them to a game of leap-frog

on the sands--a curious contrast to his own declaration that the only

exercise he cared for was cribbage.[2]

Stirling Coyne, Daily, W. H. Wills, H. P. Grattan (H. Plunkett, otherwise

"Fusbos"), Henning, Henry Baylis, and "Paul Prendergast"--whose "Comic

Latin Grammar" had been attracting much attention--were proposed, and

Hodder was told off to wait upon the latter. At the adjourned meeting at

the "Edinburgh Castle" tavern in the Strand, Somerset House, Postans,

William Newman, Baylis (afterwards president of the "_Punch_ Club"),

Stirling Coyne, Henning, Mayhew, Landells, and Hodder were present.

The latter then explained that "Prendergast" was a young medical man,

Percival Leigh by name, who preferred to wait before giving his adhesion

until he was satisfied as to the character of the publication; and "Phiz"

had returned a similar reply to Mark Lemon--though later on he was

glad enough to accept little commissions in the way of drawing initial

letters for the paper.

Henning was then nominated cartoonist; Brine, Phillips, and Newman,

artists-in-ordinary; and Lemon, Coyne, Mayhew, à Beckett, and Wills, the

literary Staff, until the advent of the others, whose adhesion was

anxiously awaited. Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, and Stirling Coyne were to

be joint editors; Last, of course, was to be printer, and Landells

engraver; and W. Bryant publisher. Several more meetings were held--at

the "Crown" in Vinegar Yard, at Landells' house, and elsewhere--and in

due course Mark Lemon produced the draft prospectus, consisting of three

folios of blue paper, which probably contains a good deal more of Mayhew

and Coyne than of Mark Lemon. Edmund Yates estimated its chemical

composition thus:--

Henry Mayhew 95

Stirling Coyne 3

W. H. Wills 1.5

Mark Lemon .5

------

100

And his estimate was probably correct. This interesting document is here

shown in reduced facsimile:--

[Illustration: _THE HISTORY OF "PUNCH."_

DRAFT OF THE _PUNCH_ PROSPECTUS, IN MARK LEMON'S HANDWRITING (REDUCED).]

[Illustration: _THE DRAFT PROSPECTUS._]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE _PUNCH_ PROSPECTUS.

(_Original size of page 5-1/4 x 3-3/4 inches._)]

At the head of this announcement there was a woodcut of Lord Morpeth,

Lord Melbourne (Prime Minister), and Lord John Russell, who were then in

office, but were popularly, and correctly, supposed to be in imminent

danger of defeat. The price originally proposed was twopence--the usual

price of similar papers of the day--but it was altered to "the

irresistibly comic charge of threepence!!" and the title was being

given as "The Fun----," when the writer stopped short and erased it. It

is generally believed that the intention was to call the paper "The

Funny Dog--with Comic Tales," as appears in the final line of the

prospectus; a title, moreover, that was employed in 1857 for a book in

which more than one _Punch_ man co-operated. A reduced copy of the now

rare leaflet as it was printed and circulated by tens of thousands is

given on the previous page. "Vates," it should be explained, was the

_nom de plume_ of the notorious sporting tipster then attached to

"Bell's Life in London."

As to the origin of _Punch's_ name, there are as many versions as of the

origin of _Punch_ itself. Hodder declares that it was Mayhew's sudden

inspiration. Last asserted that when "somebody" at the "Edinburgh

Castle" meeting spoke of the paper, like a good mixture of punch, being

nothing without Lemon, Mayhew caught at the idea and cried, "A capital

idea! We'll call it _Punch_!" Jovial Hal Baylis it was, says another,

who, when refreshment time came round (it was always coming round with

him), gave the hint so readily taken. Mrs. Brezzi, wife of the sculptor,

lays the scene of the first meeting in the "Wrekin Tavern," Broad

Street, Longacre, and writes that the founders were only prevented from

calling the paper "Cupid," with Lord Brougham in that character on the

title-page [presumably a mistake for Lord Palmerston, who subsequently

was so shown in _Punch_ by Brine, picking his teeth with his arrow] by

the sight from Joseph Allen's window of a Punch and Judy show in the

north-eastern corner of Trafalgar Square. Mrs. Bacon, Mark Lemon's

niece, informs me that she distinctly remembers being seated among the

gentlemen who met at his rooms in Newcastle Street, and hearing Henry

Mayhew suddenly exclaim, "Let the name be 'Punch'!"--a fact engraven on

her memory through her childish passion for the reprobate old puppet.

Mr. E. Stirling Coyne claims that it was his father who suggested the

title at the memorable meeting at Allen's. This, at least, in Lemon's

words, is certain: "It was called _Punch_ because it was short and

sweet. And Punch is an English institution. Everyone loves Punch, and

will be drawn aside to listen to it. All our ideas connected with Punch

are happy ones." The decision was not set aside when it was found that

Jerrold had edited a "Punch in London" years before, proposed to him a

few months earlier by Mr. Mills (of Mills, Jowett, and Mills). But the

favour with which the title was received was not universal. "I

remember," Mr. Birket Foster tells me, "Landells coming into the

workshop and saying, 'Well, boys, the title for the new work is to be

_Punch_.' When he was gone, we said it was a very stupid one, little

thinking what a great thing it was to become."

[Illustration: SIGNATURES ON DOCUMENT BY WHICH _PUNCH_ WAS FOUNDED.

(_See Appendix I._)]

The business plan was to be a co-operative one. Mayhew, Lemon, and

Coyne, it was finally agreed, were to be co-editors and own one-third

share as payment.[3] Last was to find the printing and own one share,

and Landells was to find drawings and engraving, and own one share. The

claims of outside contributors (among whom were Jerrold and à Beckett)

and the paper-maker's bill were to be the first charge on the proceeds;

and if these were not enough, Landells and Last were to make up the

deficiency. So, on the same plan as the first abortive attempt of a

"London Charivari," the new paper was embarked on, by men who with but

little capital ("it was started with £25--which I found!" says Landells)

yet threw themselves into it, and became their own publishers.

Advertising to the extent of £111 12s. was ventured on, including

"billing in 6 Mags.," "page in 'Master Humphrey's Clock' twice," 100,000

of the prospectuses reproduced on p. 23,[4] and 2,000 window-bills that

bore the design which Henning drew for _Punch's_ cover, after a rough

sketch by Landells.

It was a busy fortnight; and it may well be doubted if any other journal

of such great eventual popularity has ever been launched with so little

preparation. Every technical detail identical with what was employed up

to recent years was settled; Henning drew his ill-composed cartoon of

"Parliamentary Candidates under Different Heads," roughly done, but not

ill-cut; and Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Henry Grattan, Joseph Allen, F.

G. Tomlins, Gilbert à Beckett, and W. H. Wills (the biting epigram "To

the Black-balled of the United Service Club," _i.e._ Lord Cardigan, was

his), all contributed to the first number. It is an axiom of newspaper

conductors that "the first number is always the worst number," and

_Punch_ did nothing to disprove the rule. Nevertheless, it was a great

success. The tone and quality were far higher in dignity and excellence

than was common to an avowedly smart and comic paper--far different from

what is suggested by the word "Charivari;" and the public admitted that

here was a novel school of comic writing, by a motley moralist and

punning philosopher, and hailed with pleasure the advent of a "New

Humour."

[Illustration: COVER OF THE FIRST VOLUME OF _PUNCH_.

(_Designed by A. S. Henning._)]

"Out came the first number," wrote Landells. "I shall never forget the

excitement of that first number! It was so great that Mr. Mayhew, Mr.

Lemon, and myself, sat up all night at the printer's, waiting to see it

printed." When "our Mr. Bryant," as the publisher was called, opened the

publishing office on that memorable 17th of July, at 13, Wellington

Street, Strand, the unexpected demand for the paper raised the

expectations and enthusiasm of the confederates to the highest pitch.

Mayhew, with Hodder and Landells, walked up and down outside the office

and in the neighbouring Strand, discussing the paper and its prospects,

and constantly calling to hear from Bryant how things were progressing.

At news of each fresh thousand sold, their spirits rose, and their

anxiety became satisfaction when the whole edition of five thousand had

been taken up by the trade, and another like edition was called for,

and, on the following day, was sold out. Ten thousand copies! Ten

thousand proofs, they took it, of public sympathy and encouragement.

Such is the outline of _Punch's_ conception and birth, based on many

original documents and a mass of evidence, as well as on the independent

testimony collected from survivors. In the words of Mr. Jabez Hogg,

"Landells and Henry Mayhew were certainly the founders"--the former

conceiving the idea of the paper which was presently established, and

the latter developing it, as set forth, according to his original

views--founding the tradition and personality of "Mr. Punch," and

converting him from a mere strolling puppet, an irresponsible jester,

into the laughing philosopher and man of letters, the essence of all

wit, the concentration of all wisdom, the soul of honour, the fountain

of goodness, and the paragon of every virtue.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] An example of these amusing and confusing contentions is the

popular--I might almost say classic--witticism which is often

resurrected at the expense of _Punch_. Once in a company of choice

spirits Somebody suggested, when "our leading comic" was being

discussed, that it would surely be an original idea and a good

speculation to "start a _comic_ Punch." Douglas Jerrold, says one

writer, aimed the dart at Mark Lemon. Mr. W. S. Gilbert, according to a

world-travelled newspaper paragraph, let off the gibe at his friend Mr.

Burnand. Laman Blanchard, says another journalist, surprised Jerrold

into silence with the taunt. Mark Lemon, declares another, threatened

his proprietors with it in a moment of anger; while Mr. Walford told me

that it was certainly first spoken of by George Grossmith, senr., of

humorous memory. But Hodder and Vizetelly agree in fathering it on

Blanchard's son, Sidney, at the time when Gilbert à Beckett's "Comic

Blackstone" and comic histories were delighting all true connoisseurs of

burlesque. Sidney Blanchard, Hodder reminds us, was possessed of a

quaint wit, which was wont to deliver itself in a manner such as that in

which he referred to a cashier who was never behind his desk when money

was to be paid out: "Compared with him," said he, "the eel is an

adhesive animal."

[2] This little conceit greatly pleased its author. He makes Mrs. Caudle

exclaim, when protesting against her spouse's lapse into

billiards--"There's the manly and athletic game of cribbage!"

[3] So ignorant were their immediate successors of the events I am

relating that in a letter written in confutation of the assertion that

Gilbert à Beckett had been an editor of _Punch_, Shirley Brooks said:

"From the first the editorship was in the hands of my predecessor, Mark

Lemon; the opening address was from his pen, and he was sole editor from

July 17th, 1841 (the day of the birth of the publication) until May

23rd, 1870, the day of his lamented death." In the Jubilee number of

_Punch_ this misconception was confirmed upon the authority of this

statement of Shirley Brooks.

[4] These prospectuses cost a penny for twenty; they are now worth a

guinea each.