mpting to
be resisted. There was Mrs. Keeley's authorised "Mrs. Caudle" in town;
but simultaneously Mrs. Caudles cropped up in every town in the country.
One of these was enacted by Mr. Warren, and his playbill of the Theatre
Royal, Gravesend, dated August 7th, 1845, is before me as I write. "The
REAL MRS. CAUDLE," he asserts, "having received an enthusiastic welcome
from a Gravesend audience, and being pronounced far superior to any of
the _counterfeit Representatives_, will have the honour of repeating her
Curtain Lecture this and to-morrow evenings." "Mrs. Caudle at Gravesend"
was, in fact, a "Comic Sketch" by C. Z. Barnett; and the programme
decorated with a common engraving in impudent imitation of Leech's
immortal cut, contained all the _dramatis personae_ of Jerrold's little
domestic drama, including "Mrs. Caudle (the Original from _Punch's_
Papers), Mr. WARREN."

Six years later Mr. Briggs himself was lifted from _Punch_ on to the
stage (amongst others) of the Royal Marylebone Theatre, which then
assiduously cultivated the equestrian drama. On November 14th, 1851, for
the benefit of a lady called MRS. MORETON BROOKES, there was played a
"new grand dramatic equestrian spectacle, entitled the MAID OF
SARAGOSSA; OR, THE DUMB SPY AND STEED OF ARRAGON--realising Sir David
Wilkie's Celebrated Picture." As the Arragon Steed remained on the
premises when the curtain fell on the first piece, it was obviously a
pity to waste him; so, after he had finished realising Wilkie's picture,
and had rested awhile, he stepped out of romance into high comedy, or,
as the playbill simply put it--"After which will be presented from
Sketches furnished from PUNCH'S Domicile, Fleet Street, a New, Grand,
Locomotive, Pedestrian, Equestrian, Go-ahead Extravaganza, entitled

=MR. BRIGGS=!

Or, HOUSE KEEPING _versus_ HORSE KEEPING"--

in which Mr. Briggs was played by Mr. Crowther, and Mrs. Briggs by the
fair _beneficiaire_.

The first dramatic effort of _Punch_, in his individual quality and
personality as a jester, was the pantomime of "King John, or Harlequin
and Magna Charta." _Punch_ had at that time become so popular, and was
so generally regarded as the incarnation of all that was witty, that a
commission was given for a pantomime that was to surpass for wit and
humour any pantomime that had ever been written or thought of before.
"They have given out," said Alfred Bunn in his vituperative "Word with
Punch," "in distinct terms