Scenes of
Society" carried on the social dissections of the comic physiologist,
and a Beckett began his "Heathen Mythology," and created the character
of "Jenkins," the supposed fashionable correspondent of the _Morning
Post_. _Punch_ had begun his career by ridiculing Lord Melbourne; he now
attacked Brougham, for his temporary subservience to Wellington; and
Sir James Graham came also in for a share of the rod; and the _Morning
Herald_ and _Standard_ were christened "Mrs. Gamp" and "Mrs. Harris," as
old-fogyish opponents of Peel and the Free-Traders. A Beckett's "Comic
Blackstone" proved a great hit, from its daring originality; and
incessant jokes were squibbed off on Lord John Russell, Prince Albert
(for his military tailoring), Mr. Silk Buckingham and Lord William
Lennox, Mr. Samuel Carter Hall and Mr. Harrison Ainsworth. Tennyson
once, and once only, wrote for _Punch_, a reply to Lord Lytton (then Mr.
Bulwer), who had coarsely attacked him in his "New Timon," where he had
spoken flippantly of

"A quaint farrago of absurd conceits,
Out-babying Wordsworth and out-glittering Keats."

The epigram ended with these bitter and contemptuous lines,--

"A Timon you? Nay, nay, for shame!
It looks too arrogant a jest--
That fierce old man--to take his name,
You bandbox! Off, and let him rest."

Albert Smith left _Punch_ many years before his death. In 1845, on his
return from the East, Mr. Thackeray began his "Jeames's Diary," and
became a regular contributor. Gilbert a Beckett was now beginning his
"Comic History of England" and Douglas Jerrold his inimitable "Caudle
Lectures." Thomas Hood occasionally contributed, but his immortal "Song
of the Shirt" was his _chef-d'oeuvre_. Coventry Patmore contributed once
to _Punch_; his verses denounced General Pellisier and his cruelty at
the caves of Dahra. Laman Blanchard occasionally wrote; his best poem
was one on the marriage and temporary retirement of charming Mrs.
Nisbett. In 1846 Thackeray's "Snobs of England" was highly successful.
Richard Doyle's "Manners and Customs of ye English" brought _Punch_ much
increase. The present cover of _Punch_ is by Doyle, who, being a zealous
Roman Catholic, eventually left _Punch_ when it began to ridicule the
Pope and condemn Papal aggression. _Punch_ in his time has had his raps,
but not many and not hard ones. Poor Angus B. Reach (whose mind went
early in life), with Albert Smith and Shirley Brooks, ridicule