inutiveness, and exaggerated those complacent smiles and
oily rippling chins of Sir William Harcourt, continuing them long after
the time when Sir William could boast the local portliness no more.
However, it is certain that the sprig of straw, which really referred
only to his pure devotion to the Turf, from 1815 onwards, was first used
in 1851, just after the whimsical "Judicious Bottle-Holder" declaration,
and, as a matter of fact, added not a little to Palmerston's popularity,
as not only representing the Turf, but a Sam Weller-like calmness,
alertness, and good-humour.

Similarly both Leech and Tenniel were in the habit of giving Bright an
eye-glass. "Some of us remember seeing him wear a coat with a stand-up
collar in the House of Commons," said a writer in the "Daily Telegraph,"
"and a broad-brimmed hat; but 'why,' he used to ask with a merry face,
'did _Punch_ always put an eye-glass in _my_ eye? I never wore a single
eye-glass!'" That was just the point; for no doubt the simple reason was
that the addition of a monocle was supposed to lend a sort of rakish
appearance to the solemn Quaker, and belonged to the same genus of
perverse jocularity as that which suggested three hats as the humorous
covering for young Disraeli's head. Mr. W. H. Smith in like manner
genially protested at a complimentary dinner in 1877 against the
liberties taken with his person. "As to _Punch_," he said, "whose
remarks have been mentioned, I beg leave to say that I do not go to sea
in uniform, or exhibit those very queer expressions of face depicted by
_Punch's_ artists."

There are some men whose physiognomies defy the deftest pencils. Such a
one was Cobden, whose views _Punch_ represented far more faithfully and
sympathetically than his face. At the Cobden dinner of 1884 Lord
Carlingford drew fresh attention to the point: "Cobden's was, for some
reason which I never heard explained, a most difficult face to sketch,
and _Punch_ was in despair at the impossibility of producing a
caricature that could be recognised without explanatory text. Many of
the artists tried Cobden, and were floored over him. Leech and Tenniel
both confessed that they could not hit the familiar expression. Somehow,
they never did hit it, though photography came by-and-by to their aid."
The statement is perfectly true, but the reason is not hard to find:
simply that a shaven face, without well-marked features or strong lines
of character, and, above all, without