--
X. | 9-1/4| -- | -- |-- | -- | -- |-- | -- | --
XI. | 3/4| -- | -- |-- |2 | -- |-- | -- | --
XII. | -- | -- | -- |-- |1-3/4| -- |-- | -- | --
XIII. | -- | -- | -- |-- | -- | 4-3/4| 1/2| -- | --
XIV. | -- | -- | 3/4|-- | -- |51-1/2|-- |3-3/4| --
Total |17-1/2|2-1/2|3-1/4| 1/4|2 |12 | 1/2|3-3/4|2,931-1/4
-------+------+-----+-----+----+-----+------+----+-----+---------
Average| -- | -- | -- |-- | -- | -- |-- | -- | --
per | | | | | | | | |
volume | | | | | | | | |
-------+------+-----+-----+----+-----+------+----+-----+---------

[Illustration: MR. PUNCH'S FANCY BALL.

_Reduced from the Double-page Cartoon by John Leech (1847), showing the
Staff of "Punch" as Orchestra._ (See next page.)]

[Illustration: W. NEWMAN. RICHARD DOYLE. JOHN LEECH. W. M. THACKERAY.
HORACE MAYHEW. MARK LEMON. PERCIVAL LEIGH. GILBERT A BECKETT. TOM
TAYLOR. DOUGLAS JERROLD.

(_Detail of Portraits of the Staff in "Mr. Punch's Fancy Ball."_)]

At no time was Lemon's position an easy one, for his team, brilliant as
it was, was sometimes wont to jib, and even to kick over the traces, or,
most serious of all, to fall ill; whereupon the fountain of inspiration
and supply would immediately dry up. When one failed, another would have
to be made to fill the space; and all the while susceptibilities had to
be nursed and respected as carefully as the well-being of the paper.
Thackeray would now and then send a letter of apology instead of his
"copy," and Jerrold would fail for a week or two together; and then
Gilbert a Beckett with important contributions, and Horace Mayhew with a
mass of little ones, were the men who, in the early volumes, would rush
quickly to the rescue. Lemon was patience itself--he had no alternative
perhaps--and could humour his Staff just as their humour demanded, for
he was a born diplomatist as well as editor. Moreover, he had an
unerring instinct as to what should and what should not appear in the
paper; not alone on the ground of "good taste," as it was then
understood, but of public feeling. This invaluable quality was
acknowledged by the rest of the Staff, and was probably the secret of
Lemon's ability to retain his position so long and with so much dignity,
and to impose his will--_suaviter in modo_ as was his habit--on men who
would brook su