attacked Brougham, for his temporary subservience to Wellington; and Sir James Graham came also in for a share of the rod; and the _Morning Herald_ and _Standard_ were christened "Mrs. Gamp" and "Mrs. Harris," as old-fogyish opponents of Peel and the Free-Traders. A Beckett's "Comic Blackstone" proved a great hit, from its daring originality; and incessant jokes were squibbed off on Lord John Russell, Prince Albert (for his military tailoring), Mr. Silk Buckingham and Lord William Lennox, Mr. Samuel Carter Hall and Mr. Harrison Ainsworth. Tennyson once, and once only, wrote for _Punch_, a reply to Lord Lytton (then Mr. Bulwer), who had coarsely attacked him in his "New Timon," where he had spoken flippantly of "A quaint farrago of absurd conceits, Out-babying Wordsworth and out-glittering Keats." The epigram ended with these bitter and contemptuous lines,-- "A Timon you? Nay, nay, for shame! It looks too arrogant a jest-- That fierce old man--to take his name, You bandbox! Off, and let him rest." Albert Smith left _Punch_ many years before his death. In 1845, on his return from the East, Mr. Thackeray began his "Jeames's Diary," and became a regular contributor. Gilbert a Beckett was now beginning his "Comic History of England" and Douglas Jerrold his inimitable "Caudle Lectures." Thomas Hood occasionally contributed, but his immortal "Song of the Shirt" was his _chef-d'oeuvre_. Coventry Patmore contributed once to _Punch_; his verses denounced General Pellisier and his cruelty at the caves of Dahra. Laman Blanchard occasionally wrote; his best poem was one on the marriage and temporary retirement of charming Mrs. Nisbett. In 1846 Thackeray's "Snobs of England" was highly successful. Richard Doyle's "Manners and Customs of ye English" brought _Punch_ much increase. The present cover of _Punch_ is by Doyle, who, being a zealous Roman Catholic, eventually left _Punch_ when it began to ridicule the Pope and condemn Papal aggression. _Punch_ in his time has had his raps, but not many and not hard ones. Poor Angus B. Reach (whose mind went early in life), with Albert Smith and Shirley Brooks, ridiculed _Punch_ in the _Man in the Moon_, and in 1847 the Poet Bunn--"Hot, cross Bunn"--provoked at incessant attacks on his operatic verses, hired a man of letters to write "A Word with _Punch_" and a few smart personalities soon silenced the jester. "Towards 1848," says Mr. Blanchard, "Douglas Jerrold, then writing plays and editing a magazine, began to write less for _Punch_." In 1857 he died. Among the later additions to the staff were Mr. Tom Taylor and Mr. Shirley Brooks.