ting to the domestic habits or personal character of the man in
the moon, consequently our smallest biographical contributions will
be thankfully received. We must not be pressed for his photograph,
at present. We certainly wish it could have been procured; but
though photography has taken some splendid views of the

[Illustration: moon02]

_Geo. Cruikshank_. Hone's "_Facetiae_," 1821.
THE MAN IN THE MOON

"If Caesar can hide the sun with a blanket, or put the moon
in his pocket, we will pay him tribute for light" (_Cymbeline_).

face of the moon, it has not yet produced any perfect picture of the
physiognomy of the man. It should always be borne in mind that, as
Stilpo says in the old play of _Timon_, written about 1600, "The
man in the moone is not in the moone superficially, although he bee
in the moone (as the Greekes will have it) catapodially,
specificatively, and quidditatively." [4] This beautiful language, let
us explain for the behoof of any foreign reader, simply means that
he is not always where we can get at him; and therefore his
venerable visage is missing from our celestial portrait gallery. One
fact we have found out, which we fear will ripple the pure water
placidity of some of our best friends; but the truth must be told.

"Our man in the moon drinks clarret,
With powder-beef, turnep, and carret.
If he doth so, why should not you
Drink until the sky looks blew?" [5]

Another old ballad runs:

"The man in the moon drinks claret,
But he is a dull Jack-a-Dandy;
Would he know a sheep's head from a carrot,
He should learn to drink cyder and brandy."

In a _Jest Book of the Seventeenth Century_ we came across the
following story: "A company of gentlemen coming into a tavern,
whose signe was the Moone, called for a quart of sacke. The drawer
told them they had none; whereat the gentlemen wondring were told
by the drawer that the man in the moon always drunke claret." [6]
Several astronomers assert the absence of water in the moon; if this
be the case, what is the poor man to drink? Still, it is an
unsatisfactory announcement to us all; for we are afraid that it is the
claret which makes him look so red in the face sometimes when he
is full, and gets a little fogged. We have ourselves seen

[Illustration: moon03]

"THE MAN IN THE MOON DRINKS CLARET."
"_Bagford Ballads_," ii. 119.

him actually what sailors call "half-seas over," w