BY GEORGE!

A Correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_ suggests that, as the Scotch

keep up St. Andrew's Day, and the Irish St. Patrick's, the English

should also have a national _fête_ on St. George's Day, the 23rd of

April. Why not have the 23rd as St. George's Day, and the 24th as the

Dragon's Day? We ought to "Remember the Dragon"--say, by depositing

wreaths before the Temple Bar specimen. A Dragon's Day would be a

most useful National Institution. The object would not be to exalt

the beast, but to celebrate our own (and GEORGE'S) triumph over it.

Everybody has his own private Dragon, and some people have public ones

as well. For example, Sir WILFRED LAWSON, in laying down his wreath,

would be commemorating the introduction of the Veto Bill; Mr.

GLADSTONE would be slaying (in spirit) the Leader of the Opposition

in the House of Lords, who is evidently the "Dragon of the Prime

(Minister)" referred to by TENNYSON; Lord CRANBORNE would be Mr.

DAVITT'S Dragon, and so on. The fun would be that nobody would

be expected to say _what_ Dragon he meant. If a law were passed

establishing such a festivity, perhaps it would be denounced as "too

Dragonic"!

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Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, April 29, 1893 · 第 4 / 23 题