Hardly a generous remark to make to a _Punch_ man who had illustrated two of his books, and considering that Sir John Tenniel had done so much to make the author's reputation, and _Punch_ had always been so friendly; but this is a bygone. PUNCH AT PLAY. [Illustration: W] Well, Sir John, the Grand Old Man of _Punch_, the evergreen, the ever-delightful Sir John, has earned a night's repose after all his long day of glorious work and good-fellowship. "A great artist and a great gentleman": truer words were never spoken. It seems but yesterday he and I took our rides together; but yesterday he and I and poor Milliken--three _Punch_ men in a boat--were "squaring up" at Cookham after a week's delightful boating holiday on the Thames. [Illustration] "There sat three oarsmen under a tree, Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! They were as puzzled as puzzled could be, With a down; And one of them said to his mate, 'We've got these mems in a doose of a state,' With a down derry, derry down! "Oh, they were wild, these oarsmen three, Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! Especially one with the white puggree, With a down; For it's precious hard to divide by three A sum on whose total you can't agree, With a down derry, derry down! "They bit their pencils and tore their hair, Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! But those blessed bills, they wouldn't come square, With a down; 'Midst muddle and smudge it is hard to fix If a six is a nine or a nine is a six, With a down derry, derry down! "A crumpled account from a pocket of flannel Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! With dirt in dabs, and the rain in a channel, With a down, Is worse to decipher than uniform text, Oh, that is the verdict of oarsmen vext, With a down derry, derry down! "A man in a boat his ease will take, Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! But financial conscience at last will wake, With a down; Then Nemesis proddeth the prodigal soul When he finds that the parts are much more than the whole, With a down derry, derry down! "Those oarsmen are having a deuce of a time, Down, a-down, a-down--hey down! The man in the puggree is ripe for crime, With a down. Now heaven send every boating man For keeping accounts a more excellent plan, With a down derry, derry down!" So pencilled poet Milliken. "The man in the puggree" is Sir John,--ripe for many years to come, and when he has another banquet, may I be there to see. _The Two Pins Club_ was a _Punch_ institution. Original notice of "THE TWO PINS CLUB. "There are Coaching Clubs, Four-in-hand Clubs, Tandem Clubs, and Sporting Clubs of all sorts, but there is no _Equestrian Club_.