SCOTSMEN--Highlanders and Lowlanders--have furnished Mr. Punch with many
of his happiest jokes. Despite the curious tradition which the Cockney
imbibes with his mother's milk as to the sterility of Scotland in
humour, the Scots are not only the cause of humour in others but there
are occasions when they prove themselves not entirely bereft of the
faculty which, with his charming egoism, the Cockney supposes to be his
own exclusive birthright. Indeed, we have it on the authority of Mr.
Spielmann, the author of "The History of _Punch_", that "of the accepted
jokes from unattached contributors (to Punch), it is a notable fact that
at least 75 per cent. comes from north of the Tweed." As a very
considerable proportion of these Scottish jokes make fun of the national
characteristics of the Scot, it is clear that Donald has the supreme
gift of being able to laugh at himself. It should be noted, however,
that Mr. Punch's most celebrated Scottish joke ("Bang went saxpence"),
which we give on page 153, was no invention, but merely the record of an
actual conversation overheard by an Englishman!
In the present volume the purpose has been not so much to bring together
a representative collection of the Scottish humour that has appeared in
_Punch_, but to illustrate the intercourse of the "Sassenach" with the
Highlander, chiefly as a visitor bent on sport, and incidentally to
illustrate some of the humours of Highland life. Perhaps the distinction
between Highlander and Lowlander has not been very rigidly kept, but
that need trouble none but the pedants, who are notoriously lacking in
the sense of humour, and by that token ought not to be peeping into
these pages.
Of all Mr. Punch's contributors, we may say, without risk of being
invidious, that Charles Keene was by far the happiest in the portrayal
of Scottish character. His Highland types are perhaps somewhat closer to
the life than his Lowlanders, but all are invariably touched off with
the kindliest humour, and never in any way burlesqued. If his work
overshadows that of the other humorous artists past and present
represented in this volume, it is for the reason stated; yet it will be
found that from the days of John Leech to those of Mr. Raven-Hill. MR.
PUNCH'S artists have seldom been more happily inspired than when they
have sought to depict Highland life and the lighter side of sport and
travel north of the Tweed.
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