The Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100.
March 14, 1891., by Various

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Title: Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100. March 14, 1891.

Author: Various

Release Date: August 15, 2004 [EBook #13186]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PUNCH,

OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

VOL. 100.

March 14, 1891.

SPECIMENS FROM MR. PUNCH'S SCAMP-ALBUM.

NO. III.--THE BIOGRAPHER.

We will ask you, reader, this week, to compel your fancy to take a
further flight, and kindly imagine yourself a worthy merchant, who
has exchanged the turmoil of City-life for the elegant leisure of a
suburban villa--let us say at Norwood. You are in your dining-room,
examining the sky, and thinking that, if the weather holds up, you
will take your big dog out presently for a run before lunch, when you
are told that a gentleman is in the study who wishes to see you "on
particular business." The very word excites you, not unpleasantly,
nor do you care whether it is Churchwarden's business, or the District
Board, or the County Council--it is enough that your experience and
practical knowledge of affairs are in request--and, better still,
it will give you something to do. So, after a delay due to your own
importance, you march into your study, and find a brisk stranger, with
red whiskers and a flexible mouth, absorbed in documents which he has
brought with him in a black bag.

[Illustration: "Your Visitor has his Note-book out."]

"I _have_ the pleasure of addressing Mr. MARK LANE, I think?" he says.
"Just so. Well, Mr. MARK LANE, I consider myself extremely fortunate
in finding you at home, I assure you, and a very charming place
you have here--abundant evidence of a refined and cultivated mind,
excellent selection of our best-known writers, everything, if I may
say so, elegant in the extreme--as was to be expected! Even from the
cursory glimpse I have had, I can see that your interior would lend
itself admirably to picturesque description--which brings me to the
object of my visit. I