Date of Play—The Reign of George I.
Scene—London.
Time supposed to be occupied, from the noon of the first day to the afternoon of the second.
And, lastly, may be mentioned the performance of Ben Jonson's play at Knebworth, in which, says Vizetelly, Douglas Jerrold, as Master Stephen, showed real talent and power. But the piece is not an entertaining one, as Lord Melbourne—with his bad habit of thinking aloud—bore disconcerting witness in his stall: "I knew well enough that the play would be dull, but not so damnably dull as this!"
FOR THE GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART. (See p. [135].)
[Contents]CHAPTER VI.
PUNCH'S JOKES—THEIR ORIGIN, PEDIGREE, AND APPROPRIATION.
"The Unknown Man"—Jokes from Scotland—"Bang went Saxpence"—"Advice to Persons about to Marry"—Claimants and True Authorship—Origin of some of Punch's Jokes and Pictures—Contributors of Witty Things—A Grim Coincidence—"I Used Your Soap Two Years Ago"—Charles Keene Offended—The Serjeant-at-Arms and Mr. Furniss's Beetle—Mr. Birket Foster and Mr. Andrew Tuer—Plagiarism and Repetition—The Seamy Side of Joke-editing—Punch Invokes the Law—Rape of Mrs. Caudle—Sturm und Drang—Plagiarism or Coincidence?—Anticipations of the "Puppet-Show" and "The Arrow"—Of Joe Miller—And Others—Punch-baiting—Impossibility of Joke-identification—Repetitions and Improvements.