Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, November 28, 1917Various
History
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, November 28, 1917
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
"'Seed potatoes' means potatoes grown in Scotland or Ireland in the
year 1917, or grown in England or Wales in the year 1917 from seed
grown in Scotland or Ireland in the year 1916, which will pass
through a riddle having a 1-5/8-in. mesh, and will not pass through
a riddle having a 1-5/8-in. mesh."--_Journal of the Board of
Agriculture_.
We ourselves cannot get through any riddle of this kind.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Sergeant (instructing squad of volunteers in physical
drill)._ "THIS 'ERE HEXERCISE IS INTENDED TO 'ARDEN THE MUSCLES OF
THE STUMMICK AND MAKE IT HIMPERVIOUS TO GERMAN BULLETS HIN CASE OF
HINVASION."]
* * * * *
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
_(By Mr, Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks.)_
It is difficult within the ordinary limits of a review in these columns
to say all that one feels or even to express adequately one's gratitude
after reading the two volumes of Lord MORLEY'S generous and delightful
_Recollections_ (MACMILLAN). I seem to have been sitting with him in a
large and comfortable library while the great Viscount rolled me out his
mind, now breaking out into a glowing eulogy of GEORGE MEREDITH, JOSEPH
CHAMBERLAIN or LESLIE STEPHEN, or again dashing off with a few firm and
skilful strokes a portrait of JOHN MILL or HERBERT SPENCER, or some
other intellectual giant of that nineteenth century which Lord MORLEY
nobly defends and of which he himself was _grande decus columenque_. The
book is crammed with passages that arouse and maintain pleasure in
the reader and clamour for quotation on the part of the reviewer.
"Meredith," we are told, "who did not know Mill in person, once spoke to
me of him, with the confident intuition proper to imaginative genius, as
partaking of the Spinster. Disraeli, when Mill made an early speech in
Parliament, raised his eye-glass and murmured to a neighbour on the
bench, 'Ah, the Finishing Governess.'" Or we are introduced to SPENCER
at MILL'S table: "The host said to him at dessert that Grote, who was
present, would like to hear him explain one or more of his views about
the equilibration of molecules in some relation or other. Spencer, after
an instant of good-natured hesitation, complied with unbroken fluency
for a quarter-of-an-hour or more. Grote followed every word intently,
and in the end expressed himself as well satisfied. Mill, as we moved
off into the drawing-room, declared to me his admiration of a wonderful
piece of lucid exposition. Fawcett, in a whisper, asked me if I
understood a word of it, for he did not. Luckily I had no time to
answer." Or again: "Another contributor [to _The Saturday Review_]
was the important man who became Lord SALISBURY. He and I were alone
together in the editorial anteroom every Tuesday morning, awaiting our
commissions, but he too had a talent for silence, and we exchanged no
words, either now or on any future occasion." How charming a picture
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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