dent?--or Mr. Sala's
sallies, in the funniest of orations, at the expense of Mr. Sambourne,
who had expressly not donned evening dress? Still more important than
this was the Jubilee dinner held on July 19th, 1891, just
five-and-twenty years after the Burnham Beeches picnic--in honour of Mr.
Punch's hundredth volume. The "Ship" at Greenwich was the place of
venue. With Mr. Burnand in the chair, the members of the Staff seated as
represented in Mr. Sambourne's well-known drawing of "The Mahogany
Tree," with Mr. W. H. Bradbury and Sir William Agnew at one end of the
table, with toasts to Mr. Punch himself, to Sir John Tenniel, to Mr.
Burnand, and to the proprietors, the enthusiasm "first grew warm and
then grew hot;" and when a presentation of a silver cigar-box had been
made to the Editor, it was duly resolved to meet again, the same company
in the same place, fifty years hence!

The last state event in the world of _Punch_-politico-rejoicings was the
dinner to Sir John Tenniel on the occasion of his knighthood. Then the
banquet was held at Hampton Court, and the "Mitre" was the scene of the
ceremony. All the enthusiasm of the Jubilee revels reappeared in an
intensified form. For not only was it all focussed upon one man, but in
his case there was a great personal triumph, a national recognition of a
great work and of a splendid career, and in the eyes of the world the
justification of that mighty art of black-and-white, which through the
printing-press is a greater vital force than any other existing form of
art--though despised till now in all official quarters--the art by which
_Punch_ rose to his pinnacle of greatness. And added to all this was the
emotional note that prevailed throughout the harmony of the feast, for
not even Leech himself had captured more hearts than Tenniel--that Grand
Old Man of _Punch_ for whom not one member of the staff but entertains
an affection of the warmest and the most cordial character, which even
respectful esteem has had no power in moderating. But one event, and
only one, could call forth greater enthusiasm and greater emotion, and
that, I apprehend, is when in six years time _his_ Jubilee on _Punch_,
by the kindness of Fate, comes to be celebrated by his loving and
admiring colleagues.

Such are the chief semi-official dinners that have been held; but the
list would be swelled were those other occasions included when these
men--never sated, it would really seem, with each other's