lways been
matters, so to speak, of routine. The unexpected has more than once left
_Punch_ in a terribly awkward fix. On one occasion, in 1877, it was
confidently expected that Lord Beaconsfield's Government would be thrown
out on the Monday night or Tuesday morning, when, of course, it would be
too late to begin to think of drawing and engraving a cartoon; besides,
the matter was a foregone conclusion. So Beaconsfield was represented in
his robes, leaning back "in a heap" upon his bench, his chin on his
breast, and his hands thrust deep into his breeches pockets, the very
picture of a beaten Minister. But, as it happened, the Government was
_not_ defeated--and there was the cartoon! Providentially, however, the
Government had been severely badgered about some matter of trivial
importance, such as the amount of sealing-wax employed in Her Majesty's
Stationery Office, and the cartoon was used with a legend to the effect:
"After all the big things I have been in, to be pulled up for _this_!"
The public wondered, and thought that _Punch_ had taken the situation a
little too seriously; but it was a _pis-aller_, and the best had been
made of a shocking bad job.

Mr. Linley Sambourne, writing on this very matter in the "Magazine of
Art," tells something more of _Punch's_ tribulations: "Difficulties in
the production of cartoons sometimes arise in the impossibilities of
foretelling what, not a day only, but a week may bring forth. In
December, 1871, when His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to the
profound sorrow of the entire nation, hovered between life and death,
Tenniel drew two cartoons, to be used as events might dictate. To the
intense relief and joy of all, the one that was issued was called
'Suspense,' with some beautiful verses entitled 'Queen, People, and
Princess: "Three Hearts in One";' while the other, a grief-stricken
figure of Britannia, lay almost forgotten in the engraver's bureau, but
was remembered, and had unhappily occasion to appear thirteen years
after, on April 5th, 1884, to note the sudden loss of His Royal Highness
the Duke of Albany. _Punch_ is not infallible. The most serious slip he
ever made in the 'cock-sure' line was a cartoon appearing on February
7th, 1885, representing the lamented General Gordon shaking hands with
General Sir Henry Stewart (who himself lay stiff and cold after glorious
action) _inside_ the fated city of Khartoum. When the number appeared
(although at the moment unconfir