admitted
that his judgment is generally sound. But of the accepted jokes from
unattached contributors, it is a notable fact that at least seventy-five
per cent. come from North of the Tweed. Dr. Johnson, ponderous enough in
his own humour, admitted that "much may be made of a Scotchman if he be
caught young;" and it is probable that to him, as well as to
Walpole--who suggested that proverbial surgical operation--is owing much
of the false impression entertained in England as to Scottish
appreciation of humour and of "wut." Some may retort that it is just the
preponderance of Scotch collaboration that has rendered _Punch_ at times
a trifle dull. Certain it is that _Punch_ is keenly appreciated in the
North. In one of the public libraries of Glasgow it has been ascertained
that it was second favourite of all the papers there examined by the
public; and it has been asserted that in one portion of the moors and
waters gillies have more than once been heard to say, "Eh, but that's a
guid ane! Send that to Charlie Keene!"

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that _Punch's_ dialect has not always
pleased up there, where "the execrable attempts at broad Scotch which
appear weekly in our old friend _Punch_" have before now been
authoritatively denounced. Under the heading of "Probable Deduction"
_Punch_ had the following paragraph:--"A pertinacious Salvation Army
captain was worrying a Scotch farmer, whom he met in the train, with
perpetual inquiries as to whether 'he had been born again of Water and
the Spirit.' At last McSandy replied, 'Aweel, I dinna reetly ken how
that may be, but my good old feyther and mither took their toddy
releegiously every nicht, the noo." Referring to this story--first
cousin surely to Lover's joke in "Handy Andy" of the Irish witness who,
when pressed as to his mother's religion, promptly replied, "She tuk
whuskey in her tay!"--the critic remarks, "It is pretty wit; for
_Punch_. But McSandy ought to speak in the Scottish tongue. Now, if
'night' is 'nicht,' why is 'right' 'reet'--either 'the noo' or at any
other time? Hoots awa." Yet _Punch_ has usually taken great pains to
verify his dialects, and Charles Keene--to whom the legends usually came
from his friends ready-made and carefully elaborated--would, as a rule,
seek to have them confirmed by one or other of his Scottish friends in
town.

Perhaps the greatest service that any Scot ever rendered to _Punch_
(apart from drawing for it) was the "pui