Now, all great men have their weakness; and King Poof-Allee, I am sorry to say, had his. He wished to pass for a poet, and not having a spark of originality in his composition, nor able to string two verses together, would, with the utmost gravity, repeat you a sonnet of Hafiz or Saadee, which the simpering courtiers applauded as if it were his own. 5.--THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FIRST LITERARY CONTRIBUTION BY THACKERAY, WHO ALSO DREW THIS INITIAL SKETCH, 1842.] It is interesting to see in No. 1 that the name _Punch_ was substituted for the struck-out title, "The Fun ----." It has been suggested that the title thus cut short in favour of the single word _Punch_ was to have been "The Funny Dogs with Comic Tales," and the prospectus ends with the words, "Funny dogs with comic tales." The price was written "Twopence," although the price of _Punch_ has always been Threepence. [Illustration: THE LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. 6.--THE FIRST PICTURE OF THE QUEEN IN "PUNCH." 1841.] As regards the sudden change of title to _Punch_--a change made, as we see from the facsimile, while Mark Lemon was in the very act of writing the title--Mr. Spielmann has recorded that there are as many versions as to the origin of _Punch's_ name as of the origin of the periodical itself. Hodder declares that it was Mayhew's sudden inspiration. Last asserted that when "somebody" at the _Edinburgh Castle_ meeting spoke of the paper, like a good mixture of punch, being nothing without Lemon, Mayhew caught at the idea and cried, "A capital idea! We'll call it _Punch_!" There have been many other claimants to the distinction of having thought of the title "Punch," which is certainly an infinitely better title than "Funny Dogs with Comic Tales" and much better than "The Funny Dogs," which I suggest may have been the title Mark Lemon began to write, judging from the place on the paper (see No. 1), where he began with the words, "The Fun ----"; for if he had intended to write the longer title, "The Funny Dogs with Comic Tales," he must have run the last part of this long title too far to the right of his paper to be consistent with the symmetrical position given to his other headings, etc., on the sheet of foolscap: a practised writer unconsciously allows enough space for the symmetrical setting out of his headlines, etc., and that Mark Lemon was a specially practised writer is very clearly shown by inspection of this interesting facsimile. [Illustration: THE PRINCE OF WALES.--HIS FUTURE TIMES.