The History of "Punch" Part 25

The labour of producing his _Punch_ work was often irksome to him in the extreme, and many a time would he put Mark Lemon off--now, because he was so well in the swim with his novel then in hand that he begged hard to be let off, and again, because the Muse was coy and would not on any account be wooed. On one occasion he wrote explaining with what weariness he had been battening rhymes for three hours in his head, and could get nothing out: "I must beg you to excuse me," he ingeniously added, "for I've worked just as much for you as though I had done something." At other times he would break away from the company he was in, in order to complete his regulation number of columns. His G.o.dson, afterwards the Rev. Francis Thackeray, has told us how the great man once took him to a conjuring entertainment and, having secured him a good place, explained "Now, I must leave you awhile, and go and make a five-pound note." And in such a manner, in haste and with disinclination, was often produced what James Hannay calls "the inimitable, wise, easy, playful, worldly, social sketch of Thackeray."

Although, as a rule, Thackeray preferred social to political satire, he would sometimes point an epigram with sharp effect. For example, in 1845, the disclosure in the "Freeman" of J. Young's letter, to the discomfiture of the Whigs and Lord Melbourne, suggested to Thackeray the line: "Young's Night Thought--Wish I hadn't franked that letter!" Its appearance in _Punch_ caused Mr. Sparkes to b.u.t.tonhole the writer at the Reform Club, and excitedly dilate on the mischief that was being done to the Party by such very public and sarcastic means. Thackeray burst out laughing--"the mountain shook," says the historian--but felt a little genuine pleasure at the circ.u.mstance all the same.

As success and public recognition came to him for his novels--the success for which he had worked so hard--his disinclination to work for _Punch_ increased. No doubt the policy of the paper had something to do with it; but there can be little question that the great fame and reward he derived from novel writing made more occasional work distasteful to him, and in 1854--the year of "The Newcomes"--Thackeray corrected his last proof for _Punch_. He had foreseen it for some time, for in 1849 he had written to Mrs. Brookfield from Paris, "What brought me to this place? Well, I am glad I came; it will give me a subject for at least six weeks in _Punch_" ["Paris Revisited," &c.], "of which I was getting so weary that I thought I must have done with it." Five years afterwards he wrote to the same lady: "What do you think I have done to-day? I have sent in my resignation to _Punch_. There appears in next _Punch_ an article so wicked, I think, by poor ---- [? Jerrold] that upon my word I don't think I ought to pull any longer in the same boat with such a savage little Robespierre. The appearance of this incendiary article put me in such a rage that I could only cool myself with a ride in the park." Writing a long while afterwards for the public eye, he said, "Another member of _Punch's_ Cabinet, the biographer of Jeames, the author of the 'Sn.o.b papers,' resigned his functions on account of Mr.

Punch's a.s.saults upon the present Emperor of the French nation, whose anger he thought it was unpatriotic to arouse"--being thus in Punchian policy, if not in motive, in entire accord with Mr. Ruskin.

A more complete and emphatic statement of the facts, as Thackeray viewed them, will be found in the subjoined letter from the novelist to one of the _Punch_ proprietors, which, by their courtesy, is here printed for the first time:--

"March 24th, 1855.

"36, Onslow Sqre.

"MY DEAR EVANS,

"I find a note of yours dated Feb. 5, in wh. F.M.E.[41] states that my account shall be prepared directly. F.M.E. has a great deal to do and pay and think of, but W. M. T. has also his engagements.

"I hope your 'Poetry of Punch' will not be published before my collected Ballads--Now remember (you wrote me a letter expressly on the subject) that the Copyright of all articles in 'Punch' were mine, by stipulation--and my book would be very much hurt by the appearance of another containing 3/4 of its contents.

"I met Murray the publisher the other day, and cannot help fancying from his manner to me that there is a screw loose with him too about that unlucky Leech article. Lemon, answering one of my letters, said that he personally complained that my account of leaving 'Punch' was not correct.

"There was such a row at the time, and I was so annoyed at the wrong that I had done, that I thought I had best leave Lemon's remonstrance for a while and right it on some future occasion. I recall now to you and beg you to show to him and to any other persons who may have received a different version of the story--what the facts were. I had had some serious public differences with the Conduct of 'Punch'--about the abuse of Prince Albert and the Chrystal [_sic_] Palace at wh. I very nearly resigned, about abuse of Lord Palmerston, about abuse finally of L. Napoleon--in all which 'Punch' followed the 'Times,' wh. I think and thought was writing unjustly at that time, and dangerously for the welfare and peace of the Country.

"Coming from Edinburgh I bought a 'Punch' containing the picture of a Beggar on Horseback, in wh. the Emperor was represented galloping to h.e.l.l with a sword reeking with blood. As soon as ever I could after my return (a day or 2 days after), I went to Bouverie St., saw you and gave in my resignation.

"I mention this because I know the cause of my resignation has been questioned at 'Punch'--because this was the cause of it. I talked it over with you in, and Leech saw me coming out of your room, and I told him of my retirement.

"No engagement afterwards took place between us; nor have I ever been since a member of 'Punch's' Cabinet, so to speak. Wishing you all heartily well, I wrote a few occasional papers last year--and not liking the rate of remuneration, wh. was less than that to wh. I had been accustomed in my time, I wrote no more.

"And you can say for me as a reason why I should feel hurt at your changing the old rates of payment made to me--that I am not a man who quarrels about a guinea or two except as a point of honour; _and_ that when I could have had a much larger sum than that wh. you gave me for my last novel--I preferred to remain with old friends, who had acted honourably and kindly by me.

"I reproach myself with having written 1/2 a line regarding my old 'Punch' Companions--which was perfectly true, wh. I have often said--but which I ought not to have written. No other wrong that I know of have I done. And I think it is now about time that my old friends and publishers should set me right.

"Yours very faithfully, dear Evans,

"W. M. THACKERAY.

"F. M. Evans, Esq."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THACKERAY IN HIS STUDY. (_From Portion of a Painting by F. M. Ward, R.A., in the Possession of Richard Hurst, Esq._)]

Yet, though he resigned, he would still from time to time attend the Dinners, at which he was always made welcome by the publishers and his late colleagues. When, during this period, he was pleading for a.s.sistance for the family of one of the Staff who had pa.s.sed away, he took pleasure in admitting that--"It is through my connection with _Punch_ that I owe the good chances that have lately befallen me, and have had so many kind offers of help in my own days of trouble that I would thankfully aid a friend whom death has called away." So, although he was no longer to be identified with the paper, Thackeray--"the great Thackeray" he had become--was bound to it and to several members of the Staff by ties of intimate affection, and his sudden death came with stunning force upon them all. To Leech it was as his own death-knell; and when he, Mark Lemon, Shirley Brooks, Tom Taylor, Horace Mayhew, "Jacob Omnium," and John Tenniel stood round his grave, they felt, I have been told, as if the glory of _Punch_ had been irremediably dimmed.

No verses ever penned by _Punch's_ poets to the memory of one of their dead brethren ever breathed more love or more beauty of thought than those in which Thackeray was mourned, and defended against the charge of cynicism--" ... a brave, true, honest gentleman, whom no pen but his own could depict as those who knew him could desire":--

"He was a cynic: By his life all wrought Of generous acts, mild words, and gentle ways; His heart wide open to all kindly thought, His hand so quick to give, his tongue to praise.

"And if his acts, affections, works, and ways Stamp not upon the man the cynic's sneer, From life to death, oh, public, turn your gaze-- The last scene of a cynical career!

"Those uninvited crowds, this hush that lies, Unbroken, till the solemn words of prayer From many hundred reverent voices rise Into the sunny stillness of the air.

"These tears, in eyes but little used to tears, Those sobs, from manly lips, hard set and grim, Of friends, to whom his life lay bare for years, Of strangers, who but knew his books, not him."

FOOTNOTES:

[40] The inclusion of the article ent.i.tled "A Plea for Plush," in the volume of "Contributions to _Punch_" in "Complete Works," published by Smith, Elder & Co., is a mistake. The article in question was by Thackeray's friend, "Jacob Omnium."

[41] Mr. Frederick Mullet Evans.

CHAPTER XV.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1843-51.

Horace Mayhew--"The Wicked Old Marquis"--A Birthday Ode--R. B.

Peake--Thomas Hood--"The Song of the Shirt"--Its Origin--Its Effect in the Country--Its Authorship Claimed by Others--Translated throughout Europe--A Missing Verse--Hood Compared with Jerrold--"Reflections on New Year's Day"--Dr. E. V. Kenealy--J. W.

Ferguson--Charles Lever--Laman Blanchard--Tom Taylor--Pa.s.sed over by Shirley Brooks--Taylor's Critics--Mr. Coventry Patmore--"Jacob Omnium"--Tennyson _v._ Bulwer Lytton--Horace Smith--"Rob Roy"

Macgregor--Mr. Henry Silver--Introduces Charles Keene--His Literary Work--Service to Leech--Retirement--Mr. Sutherland Edwards--Charles d.i.c.kens and _Punch_--Sothern Earns his Dinner--Reconciliation of d.i.c.kens and Mark Lemon--J. L. Hannay--Cuthbert Bede.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HORACE MAYHEW.

(_From a Photograph by Ba.s.sano._)]

_Punch_ had been running about eight months when, in Wills's words, "a handsome young student returned from Germany and was heartily welcomed by his brother, Mr. Henry Mayhew, and then by the rest of the fraternity." This was at the particular _Punch_ meeting at which Mr.

Hamerton was present. Horace Mayhew's diploma joke consisted, I believe, of "Questions addressees au grand concours aux eleves d'Anglais, du College St. Badaud dans le Departement de la Haute c.o.c.kaigne" (Vol. III.

p. 89). Regular occupation was forthwith found for him as sub-editor, his duties being to collect the cuts from the artists, to act as medium of communication between the writers and draughtsmen, and to a.s.sist Mark Lemon in making-up the paper; and for these services he received one pound a week. Soon, however, it was found that the editor could very well perform all such duties for himself, and the post of "pony" was abolished. Horace--or "Ponny," as he was invariably nicknamed--became one of the accepted writers. He was most prolific as a suggestor, and never failed of point and pith in his own numerous little paragraphs. As a proposer he had much of the talent of his brother, but little of his genius. "The Life and Adventures of Miss Robinson Crusoe," written by Douglas Jerrold, was "Ponny's" suggestion; but he carried out his conceptions entirely in such papers as his extremely amusing "Model Men," "Model Women," and "Model Couples;" and his "Change for a Shilling" and "Letters left at a Pastrycook's" are still remembered.

"Ponny" had not a seat "in the Cabinet" until January 11th, 1845, before which time he had no separate existence as a contributor, all his "copy"

being entered indiscriminately to the Editor. For a long while his average contribution was thirty-one columns in each volume; but his main value lay in the short articles and paragraphs of a playful and whimsical character. Thus, when the "Birmingham Advertiser" declared with grovelling sn.o.bbishness that "in these days it is quite refreshing to p.r.o.nounce the name of the Duke of Newcastle," "Ponny" suggested that during the summer months "the name of his Grace should be written up in every public thoroughfare." He was, in fact, in the words of an old friend, "bright, good-natured, and lively, not very clever, but always letting off little jokes;" "a social b.u.t.terfly," adds Mr. Sala, "who never fulfilled the promise of his youth."

He was a strikingly good-looking man, and was justifiably proud of Thackeray's greeting as they met at Evans's--"Ah, here comes Colonel Newcome!" "From his aristocratic mien and premature baldness," says Vizetelly, "Wiltshire Austin christened him 'the wicked old Marquis.'

The keeping of late hours was Ponny Mayhew's bane. For a quarter of a century--save an annual fortnight devoted to recruiting himself at Scarborough or elsewhere--he scorned to seek repose before the milkman started on his rounds, and during the greater portion of the year never thought of rising until the sun had set, when he would emerge from his Bond Street rooms as spruce and gay as a lark." He had been engaged to a daughter of Douglas Jerrold (whose other daughter, it will be remembered, was the wife of Henry Mayhew), but on the ground that "one Mayhew is enough in the family," Jerrold would not hear of it, and the young people remained faithful to each other to the end. Living first with Joseph Swain, the engraver, he afterwards took up his residence for a time with the Lemons at King's Road, Chelsea.

"Ponny's" portrait, it has often been said, may be seen in the White Knight in "Alice in Wonderland;" but "the resemblance," says Sir John Tenniel, "was purely accidental, a mere unintentional caricature, which his _friends_, of course, were only too delighted to make the most of.

P. M. was certainly handsome, whereas the White Knight can scarcely be considered a type of 'manly beauty.'" He was a great favourite with the Staff, by reason of his many charming qualities. What they thought of him may be in a measure deduced from one or two of the verses borrowed from Shirley Brooks's Birthday Ode, here reproduced from Mr. Hatton's "True Story" in "London Society":--

"Is he perfect? Why, no, that is hardly the case; If he were, the _Punch_ Table would not be his place; You all have your faults--I confess one or two-- And we love him the better for having a few.

"He never did murder, like--never mind whom, Nor poisoned relations, like--some in this room; Nor deceived the young ladies, like--men whom I see, Nor even intrigued with a gosling, like--me.

"No; black are our bosoms, and red are our hands, But a model of virtue our Ponniboy stands; And his basest detractors can only say this, That he's fond of the cup, and the card, and the kiss.

"A warm-hearted fellow--a faithful ally, Our Bloater's[42] Vice-Regent o'er _Punch's_ gone by; He's as true to the flag of the White Friars still As when he did service with Jerrold and Gil.

"Here's his health in a b.u.mper! "_Old_" Ponny--a fib; What's fifty? A baby. Bring tucker and bib.

Add twenty; then ask us again, little boy, And till then may your life be all pleasure and joy!"

"Ponny" Mayhew, who did not actually write anything for some years before his end, died in May, 1872; and on p. 191 of the sixty-second volume a graceful obituary notice pays tribute to his long and faithful service and his gentle good-nature.

By this time _Punch's_ established reputation brought a great number of anonymous contributions, only a very few of which were ever used, and of fewer still was the authorship placed upon record. Early in 1843, however (p. 82, Vol. IV.), Mr. Blackwood, of Edinburgh, sent in one of the earliest of Scottish witticisms, a conundrum; Joseph O'Leary, a reporter of the "Morning Herald," is said to have contributed a poem on "The English Vandal;" and R. B. Peake, who had adapted "A Night with _Punch_" for W. J. Hammond, began his little series of "_Punch's_ Provincial Intelligence," of which the most notable is a humorous report of the University Boatrace of the year; and then the elder Hood began his short but brilliant career.