"It's a long story, _Mr. Punch_; but if you don't mind eating this bird's-nest soup, which isn't bad, though not a patch upon our dear tuttle, I will tell you how I came to leave our glorious Corporation, and got into these outlandish parts." _Mr. Punch_ bowed, and discarding a pair of chopsticks for a spoon, toyed with the succulent preparation while he listened to "ROBERT'S STORY ABOUT CHINA." [Illustration: Finger pointing right. (see page 10.)] * * * * * MR. PUNCH'S PANORAMA OF THE YEAR 1889. [Illustration] PROLOGUE. _Mr. Punch to Toby._ _I_ am the only Painter without bias, And Monster Panoramas, my TOBIAS, Now being quite the order of the day, I've limned the largest, which I here display; And, issued in mine Almanack, 'tis clear 'Twill be the Biggest Order of the Year! 'Tis painted in the Highest Art Style--Mine! Here you perceive the pith of 'Eighty-Nine, A Year of Grace--and also of disgraces. Look, TOBY, on this sea of well-known faces! Mark the familiar eyes, the salient noses! (The sign of GLADSTONE or the mark of MOSES.) Kings, Lords and Ladies, Statesmen, Whigs and Tories. No painter of great sprawling Allegories Ever yet packed into so small a compass So many who've won fame--or raised a rumpus. A _précis_ of a twelvemonth's work and babble is This summary of the great _Annus Mirabilis_. Perpend, TOBIAS. Hand me up the pointer. Listen, O World! and, Time, thou great disjointer Of hearts and epochs, stand awhile at gaze, Whilst I explore, explain the Mighty Maze, Which, being made by _Punch_, the Friend of Man, You may depend is "not without a plan." Now for the rostrum! Follow my pointer, TOBY, with thy recording pencil. Listen, O World, with ears attent, and eyes "sequacious of the--Truth-teller!" I speak _urbi et orbi!_ First, the newly-elected County Council, Ladies and Gentlemen! RITCHIE'S colossal Civic Symposium! "RITCHIE'S Folly," some hasty assayers of innovations may have been tempted to term it. But _Punch_ is never hasty. _Macbeth_ at the Lyceum and GLADSTONE in Naples! Later on, "Macbeth" IRVING visits the QUEEN--an honoured guest! The return of the dove--if the Brummagem Bruiser may be likened to the Bird of Peace. All, at any rate, welcome his wife, a true messenger of peace, let us hope, from across the Atlantic flood. From West to NORTH--the "Nitrate King." Let us trust he'll prove a "True North" to the multitudes who trust _him_. Next the Teuton Titan on the (Colonial) War-Path! Formidable competitor; but even Titans trip at times, eh, Orion? From BISMARCK asking for Samoa to CHAPLIN "chucking" Protection _is_ a transit. Big 'uns both--of a sort? But BOULANGER, the pseudo-great General Boum, coming a cropper? _Guarda, e passa!_