nals and
dockyards--to some extent, no doubt, in view of Napoleon's
double-dealing in the matter of Nice and Savoy. "Ribs of steel are our
ships, Engineers are our men," he sings, under the new order of things
in naval construction--

"We're steady, boys, steady,
But always unready;
We've just let the French get before us again."

The American War of Secession; the throne of Greece put up to auction;
Poland in chains, defying the Russian Bear; the ghost of Charles I.
warning the King of Prussia, by the block to which he points, of the
punishment that awaits the would-be despot; Napoleon crushing the
prostrate figure of France; the wars between "father-in-law Denmark,"
Germany, and Austria, and between the latter two (as Robbers in the
Wood); Reform; Irish Church Disestablishment; "Dizzy" as the
Premier-Peri entering the gates of Paradise, or, bound to the Ixion's
wheel of "Minority," hurled forth by Hercules-Bright, with the severe
approval of Juno-Britannia and Jupiter-Gladstone; the Franco-Prussian
War; the Royal marriages; the occupation of Egypt; and the creation of
the "Empress of India;"--all the subject-matter, indeed, of home and
foreign politics, and of general public interest, have been touched upon
by _Punch_ as they occurred, lightly, but often probed _a fond_. His
attitude seldom caused much surprise, for his opinions and views could
generally be foretold. It was the manner in which they were put forth
that carried weight and influence; they were the nation's ideas

"... to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed."

The student of the times, if he would know how public affairs struck the
public mind during that period, can assuredly find no truer, no more
accurate indication than is offered by the perusal of _Punch's_ pages.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] "Daily Chronicle," August 26th, 1892.

[11] This, with the Pharaoh pro-Jewish picture at the time of the
Russian persecutions, is said to be the only cartoon founded on a
strictly Biblical or Scriptural subject ever published in _Punch_.

[12] _See_ p. 108, Vol. XXXIII.:--

"And woe to the hell-hounds! Right well may they fear
A vengeance--ay, darker than war ever knew;
When Englishmen, charging, exchange the old cheer
For, 'REMEMBER THE WOMEN AND BABES WHOM THEY SLEW!'

* * * * *

"And terrified India shall tell to all time,
How