Might's foes will miss their friend.
Homage to Spurgeon
It should be remembered that Punch did not easily applaud Temperance advocates in this period, when he avowed himself as "capable of special sympathy with the publicans." Punch owed an amende to Spurgeon as well as to Manning, and made it handsomely. He recognizes Spurgeon's sturdiness and geniality:—
You spoke a potent word
In the World's ear and listening thousands heard.
Spurgeon stirred the throng, not fastidious or sensitive souls. He was honest, robust, Puritan but not ascetic:—
Crudeness may chill, and confidence offend,
But manhood, mother-wit and selfless zeal,
Speech clear as light and courage true as steel,
Must win the many. Honest soul and brave,