rnalistic wrongdoing. Some of the most
violent of these attacks came from the aforesaid "Joe Miller," and from
"The Great Gun"--the short-lived journal of distinct ability. In "The
Man in the Moon" the pens of Shirley Brooks, James Hannay, and other
wits made it distinctly uncomfortable for _Punch_--but nothing more.
Thus to a portrait of Mr. Punch, who is shown in the last degree of
misery, is appended the legend, "A CASE OF REAL DISTRESS.--'I haven't
made a joke for many weeks!'" (November, 1847). In the next number
appeared the brilliant verses, "Our Flight with _Punch_," from Shirley
Brooks's pen, as well as a sketch of a man speechless with amazement,
described as the "Portrait of a Gentleman finding a Joke in _Punch_."
Then there is the riddle, "Why is a volume of _Punch_ like a pot of bad
tea?--Because it is full of slow leaves;" and in the same number, a
biting satire in anticipation of a play written by some of the _Punch_
Staff and produced at Covent Garden in aid of the family of Leigh Hunt,
ends with the words, "_Every_ resorter to the stalls and boxes will be
expected to purchase a copy of either 'Dombey,' _Punch_, or 'Jerrold's
Weekly Newspaper,' as, next to benevolence, it is in aid of those works
that the chief actors appear. N.B.--Strong coffee will be provided to
keep the audience awake throughout the performance. _Vivant Bradbury et
Evans!_"

"The Puppet-Show" followed on the same lines, but its attacks were more
personal. Under the heading of "A Trio of Punchites" (April, 1848),
Thackeray, Douglas Jerrold, and Gilbert a Beckett were torn limb from
limb, and later on Mark Lemon and the rest were added to the holocaust;
yet, like the Cardinal of Rheims' congregation, nobody seemed a penny
the worse. The paper began its fusillade in the first number, and soon
came out with a large picture, well drawn and engraved in the manner of
the day, of Mr. Punch, much humiliated, receiving a lecture from Mr.
Bull:--

SHAMEFUL ATTEMPT AT OVERCHARGE!

MR. BULL (_a commercial gentleman_)--"Hallo, Mr. Punch, threepence!
What do you mean by threepence? Why, the Puppet-Showman supplies a
better paper for a penny! You must mind what you are about!"

MR. PUNCH--"Well, sir, you may think it too much, but really the
article is so very heavy I cannot sell it for less."

On another occasion the same idea is carried a step further, in the form
of an advertisement: "NOTICE.--If the heavy joke, whic