[_The Proprietors of "Punch" have given special permission to reproduce the accompanying illustrations. This is the first occasion when a periodical has been enabled to present a selection from Mr. Punch's famous pages._] Part II.--1850 to 1854. Some while ago, in the pantomime "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," Ali Baba's brother, who had found his way into the secret cave, ran about in a most ludicrous manner eagerly picking from the floor diamonds, rubies, and emeralds as big as ostrich-eggs: as fast as he picked up another gem he let one fall from his already loaded arms. I laughed at Ali Baba's brother, but did not feel sympathetic. [Illustration: 1.--THIS INITIAL LETTER "L" IS SIR JOHN TENNIEL'S FIRST "PUNCH" DRAWING; NOVEMBER 30, 1850.] _Now_, I do not laugh, and I do feel sympathetic with A. B.'s brother--for in choosing these pictures from _Punch_, one no sooner picks out a gem, with an "I'll have _you_," than on the turn of a page a better picture comes, and the other has to be dropped. It goes as much against my grain to leave such a host of good things hidden in _Punch_ as it went against the covetous desires of Ali Baba's wicked brother to leave so many fine big gems behind him in the richly-stored cave. However, Mr. Punch's whole store of riches is, after all, accessible to anyone whose Open Sesame! is a little cheque, and so one has some consolation for being able to show here only a very small selection from Mr. Punch's famous gallery of wit and art which that discerning connoisseur has been collecting during the last sixty years. The year 1850 was a notable one for _Punch_, for then John Tenniel joined the famous band of Punchites. His first contribution is shown in No. 1, the beautiful initial letter _L_ with the accompanying sketch, which, although it is nearly fifty years old, and is here in a reduced size, yet distinctly shows even to the non-expert eye the touch of that same wonderful hand which in this week's _Punch_ (November 26th, 1898) drew the cartoon showing Britannia and the United States as two blue-jackets in jovial comradeship under the sign of the "Two Cross Flags," with jolly old landlord _Punch_ saying to them, "Fill up, my hearties! It looks like 'dirty weather' ahead, but you two--John and Johnathan--will see it through--_together_!" [Illustration: 2.--JUSTIFIABLE HESITATION. 1850.]