ctions; he perfected
himself in Latin, French and Italian literature, wrote "leaders" for the
"Morning Herald," and articles for Magazines. All his works were short,
and those which were most approved never assumed an important character.
The most successful enterprise in his career was his starting "Punch,"
in conjunction with Gilbert' A-Beckett and Mark Lemon.

Jerrold was a staunch and sturdy liberal, and his original idea was that
of a periodical to expose every kind of hypocrisy, and fraud, and
especially to attack the strongholds of Toryism. "Punch" owed much at
its commencement to the pen of Jerrold, and has well retained its
character for fun, although it scarcely now represents its projector's
political ardour.

His conversation overflowed with pleasantry, and in conversation he
sometimes hazarded a pun, as when he asked Talfourd whether he had any
more "Ions" in the fire. But the critic, who says that "every jest of
his was a gross incivility made palatable by a pun," is singularly
infelicitous, for as a humorous writer he is almost unique in his
freedom from verbal humour. His style is often adagial or exaggerated,
and we are constantly meeting such sentences as;

"Music was only invented to gammon human nature, and that is the
reason that women are so fond of it."

"A fellow from a horsepond will know anybody who's a supper and a
bed to give him."

"To whip a rascal for his rags is to pay flattering homage to cloth
of gold."

"A suspicious man would search a pincushion for treason, and see
daggers in a needle case."

"Wits, like drunken men with swords, are apt to draw their steel
upon their best acquaintance."

"What was talked of as the golden chain of love, was nothing but a
succession of laughs, a chromatic scale of merriment reaching from
earth to Olympus."

St. Giles' and St. James' is written to show that "St. James in his
brocade may probably learn of St. Giles in his tatters." It abounds in
quaint and humorous moralizing. Here is a specimen--

"We cannot say if there really be not a comfort in substantial
ugliness: ugliness that unchanged will last a man his life, a good
granite face in which there shall be no wear or tear. A man so
appointed is saved many alarms, many spasms of pride. Time cannot
wound his vanity through his features; he eats, drinks, and is
merry in spite of mirrors. No acqu