tic being, and to that degree, as he was wont to claim, he was its
_founder_.

From all these versions (which, after all, vary hardly more than the
accounts of other incidents of _Punch_ life[1]) it is not very easy at
first sight to sift the truth. There is a story of the tutor of an
Heir-Apparent who asked his pupil, by way of examination, what was the
date of the battle of Agincourt. "1560," promptly replied the Prince.
"The date which your Royal Highness has mentioned," said the tutor, "is
perfectly correct, but I would venture to point out that it has no
application to the subject under discussion." A like criticism might
fairly be passed on each existing reading of the genesis of _Punch_. It
has been worth while, for the first time, and it is to be hoped the
last, to collate and compare these statements, and ascertain the facts
as far as possible. Claims have been set up, variously and severally,
for Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Joseph Last, Ebenezer Landells, and
Stirling Coyne; even Douglas Jerrold and Gilbert a Beckett have been
declared originators, though no such pretentions came directly from
them. Otherwise than in the spirit of the Scottish minister who
exclaimed, "Brethren, let us look our difficulties boldly and fairly in
the face--and pass on," I propose to take those portions of the stories
which tally with the facts I have ascertained and verified beyond all
doubt, and, disentangling the general confusion as briefly as may be, to
present one consistent version, which must stand untainted by claims of
friendship, by pride of kinship, or filial respect.

It had occurred to many of the wits, literary and artistic, who well
understood the cause of mortality in the so-called comic press that had
gone before, that a paper might succeed which was decently and cleanly
conducted. It might be as slashing in its wit and as fearless in its
opinions as it pleased, so long as those opinions were honest and their
expression restrained. Their idea was founded rather on Philipon's Paris
"Charivari" than on anything that had appeared in England; but they
plainly saw that to attract and hold the public the paper which they
imagined must be a weekly and not a daily one. The Staff which was
brought together consisted of Douglas Jerrold, Thackeray, Laman
Blanchard, Percival Leigh, and Poole, author of "Paul Pry"--authors; and
Kenny Meadows, Leech, and perhaps Crowquill--artists; with Orrin Smith
as engraver. The whole scheme