readers of Punch. We have, therefore, at an enormous sacrifice of time and specie, obtained a view of it.”
On the morning of Nov. 3, at 4 a.m., the raising of a portion of the colossal statue of Nelson, on the pillar in Trafalgar Square, commenced. This figure is 17 feet high from its base to the top of the hat, and is made of stone from the Granton quarry, belonging to the Duke of Buccleugh. It weighs nearly 18 tons, and, needless to say, is made in segments. These were put together before it was raised, to show the public—and during the two days it was on view, it was visited by 100,000 persons.
The building this column had seemed slow, but that was nothing compared to its completion; the bas reliefs were long in being placed, and it was not till 31 Jan., 1867, that Landseer’s four couchant lions were exposed to public gaze. Of the progress of its building, Punch (25 Nov., 1843) has some very fine fooling.
“THE NELSON COLUMN DRAMA.
The earliest announcement of the late Covent Garden management, was a piece entitled ‘Trafalgar Square, or the Nelson Monument.’ We have obtained the following slight information respecting it. The drama is described as ‘a grand architectural and historical burletta,’ in two acts; and the prologue was to have been spoken by Mr. Widdicomb, as Time. The two acts comprise the commencement and completion, and a lapse of twenty years is supposed to take place between them, in which time ‘the boy,’ who is the principal character, becomes a middle-aged man. The following speech is very fine. The boy enquires of the mason when the column will be finished, who replies, in an interval of the steak banquet, which they are enjoying together:
Mason.—I’ve asked that fearful question of the stars,
Who wink responding—of the Board of Works,
Whose works have bored us—of the misty moon,
Towards whose lodgings, after years of toil,
We rise no nearer. All were still, but now,
Whilst gazing on that steak of beef,
Sent up to form our capital repast,
And cheer us in our lonely solitude,
I hope the best—the best can hope no more.
’Twill rise, like College honours, by degrees,
And to our limbs a pillar be, of ease:
Our hearts are warm—although upon the frieze.
The following duet is also introduced by the man and the boy in the second act:
Boy.
I remember, I remember,
When I was a little boy,
On the column, in November,
I was given some employ.