with me in furtherance of the 'new
work of wit and whim,' embellished with cuts and caricatures, to
be called:--

_PUNCH; OR, THE LONDON CHARIVARI_?

"LEMON, and LAST, and MAYHEW, were they here to-day, would probably
agree to divide between them the early honours, as they shared the
early responsibility. But doubtless MARK LEMON was the literary shaper
of the 'Guffawgraph,' as he jocularly called it in his 'Prospectus,'
and, from the first, its guiding spirit. Happily so, for his was a
spirit fitted to rule, both by power, and tact, and taste. With 'Uncle
MARK' in the chair, I knew there would be neither austere autocracy,
nor _faineant_ laxity, neither weakness of stroke nor foulness
of blow, neither Rosa-Matilda-ish, mawkishness, nor Rabelaisian
coarseness.

"How well I remember my first group of 'Young Men,'" pursued _Mr.
Punch_, musingly. "There was swift and scathing DOUGLAS JERROLD, with
his tossed and tangled mane of grey hair. GILBERT ABBOTT A BECKETT,
too, the whimsically witty, the drolly satirical, the comically
caustic. HENRY MAYHEW, of course, and, a little later, his brother
HORACE, the simple, lovable 'PONNY.' HENNING, NEWMAN and BRINE, were
my earliest Artists. HENNING drew the first Cartoon, whilst NEWMAN and
BRINE, and, later, HINE, between them, were responsible for most of
the smaller cuts, head-and-tail-pieces, pictorial puns, and sketchy
silhouettes, wherewith _Punch's_ early pages abounded.

"In the fourth Number of _Punch_, published on August 7th, 1841, first
appeared the soon-to-be-famous signature of 'JOHN LEECH.'"

"Ah! JOHN LEECH," cried the attentive ANNO DOMINI. "A name to conjure
with! How did that 'Star swim into your ken'?"

"There was a certain clever, scholarly, and genial gentleman,"
responded _Mr. Punch_, "who had lately published, under the pseudonym
of 'PAUL PRENDERGAST,' an extremely funny _Comic Latin Grammar_. 'PAUL
PRENDERGAST' was, in reality, Mr. PERCIVAL LEIGH, originally a medical
gentleman, the well-beloved 'Professor' of later _Punch_ days. The
_Comic Latin Grammar_ had been admirably illustrated by a personal
friend, and fellow-student, of LEIGH's named LEECH. The services of
_both_ of the contributors to the _Comic Latin Grammar_ were soon
enlisted in my interests.

"Another of LEECH's medical student friends was ALBERT SMITH, and he
before long was penning his 'Physiology of London Evening Parties'
(illustrated by PHIZ--HALBOT KNIGHT BROWNE--NEWMAN, and oth