In 1865 the proprietors, getting old, have put their sons in their stead, and taken the Agnews into partnership. The staff talk sentimentally of old times. They drink success to the Firm. Mark Lemon, the Editor, proposes the health of Bradbury & Evans, saying, "men work well together because they are liberally treated. Thought our loss last year (death of Leech) would have seriously affected _Punch_, but it did not. And no single loss will." Bradbury, replying, speaks of the brotherly affection between the editor and the proprietors. "Says if you want men to serve you well treat them well, and win their sympathy and esteem.... Evans is emphatic on the Brotherhood of the Punch table." Thackeray's "Mahogany Tree" is sung; du Maurier sings a French song, and F.C.B. also singeth a song with no words to speak of, &c. &c. &c. "So we pass a jolly evening, and bear in mind--that Sociality is the secret of the success of _Punch_." On another occasion there is the paper's "Silver Wedding." A watch and chain with eleven links--the mystic number of the _Punch_ staff--is handed over to Mark Lemon. In the morning he has received a letter with a hundred guineas. He claims, in replying, "that the _Punch_ Brotherhood is one of the most extraordinary literary brotherhoods the world has seen." Shirley Brooks hands him letters written by the staff individually, testifying their gladness at the gift proposed. Du Maurier wrote the longest and Charles Keene the shortest. We have extracted the following items from the diary, quoting exactly, except for the substitution sometimes of the full name for initials: _November 7th_--_Monday_. "S.B., du Maurier (his début), H.S., J.T., M.L., P.L., F.C.B., H.M., T.T. "(The initials stand for Shirley Brooks, Henry Silver, John Tenniel, Mark Lemon, Professor Leigh, F.C. Burnand, Horace Mayhew, Tom Taylor.) "Du Maurier tells of Whistler and Rossetti's rage for old china, and how Rossetti once left his guests at dinner and rushed off to buy a piece before Whistler could forestall him." _May_ 17, 1865. "Du Maurier was presented with a son and heir on Saturday, so we baptized the infant in a bumper of Champagne." _December_ 20, 1865. "While the Great Cut is being hatched, Burnand, du Maurier, and Silver all make little cuts of their initials on the _Punch_ table. Henry Silver between William Thackeray and John Leech--Burnand where à Beckett sat and du Maurier where Leech." "Miss Bateman retired from the stage (at Her Majesty's) on Friday--she has rather proved herself a one-part actress, and so has Sothern, whom Burnand denounces as a practical joker--most unscrupulous in tongue." "Du M. thinks it harder to write a poem than to paint a picture. But surely there's no comparing them. One mind expresses itself with a pen and another with a brush."