an that he has exerted his
gift, though an example of the latter class of foresight may be pointed
to in the cartoon of Sir John Tenniel of April 7th, 1860. This was
entitled "A Glimpse of the Future: A Probable and Large Importation of
Foreign Rags," in which King Bomba of Naples, the Emperor Louis
Napoleon, and the Pope were shown landing on British shores in very
sorry plight. And in due time England was to see--at least, as far as
the two monarchs were concerned--the realisation of the oracular couplet
combined:--

"The time will come when discontent
Will overthrow your Government."

Then the number of inventions and innovations forestalled by _Punch's_
pen are many. In December, 1848, much is made of a proposed "opera
telakouphanon"--a forecast of the telephone, phonograph, and
theatrophone combined:--

"It would be in the power of Mr. Lumley," says _Punch_, "during the
aproaching holiday time to bring home the Opera to every lady's
drawing-room in London. Let him cause to be constructed at the back
of Her Majesty's Theatre an apparatus on the principle of the Ear
of DIONYSIUS.... Next, having obtained an Act of Parliament for the
purpose, let him lay down after the manner of pipes a number of
Telakouphona connected--the reader will excuse the apparent
vulgarism--with this ear, and extended to the dwellings of all such
as may be willing to pay for the accommodation. In this way our
domestic establishments might be served with the liquid notes of
JENNY LIND as easily as they are with soft water, and could be
supplied with music as readily as they can with gas. Then at a
_soiree_ or evening party, if a desire were expressed for a little
music, we should only have to turn on the _Sonnambula_ or the
_Puritani_, as the case might be," etc.

--a thirty years' prophecy. The following year he represented a lady
listening to music by telegraph; and the kinetoscope is only now waiting
to fulfil Mr. du Maurier's forecast of many years ago. If Mr. Edison has
not yet done quite all that Mr. Punch foretold, is not that rather Mr.
Edison's than _Punch's_ fault?

In an unhappy moment in 1847 _Punch_ proposed the use of umbrellas and
house-fronts for advertising purposes, and the hint was promptly taken.
In the previous year he foretold the use of the Thames Tunnel as a
railway conduit; and his sketch of a zebra harnessed to a carriage in
the stre