It is curious that the printing-press, which has worked such mighty changes, should have reproduced in another form the ancient jester who stood in cap and bells behind his master’s chair, and the merry-andrew who made the rustics laugh upon the village green. The numerous satirical and humorous publications of the Victorian era represent a distinct kind of illustrated journalism, through which runs an amusing commentary on passing events, combined with a vein of satire always good-humoured and often instructive. At the head of this array of wit and wisdom stands Punch, who, however, was preceded by Figaro in London, conducted by Mr. Gilbert A’Beckett, afterwards one of Punch’s strongest supporters. Mr. A’Beckett faithfully acted up to his motto:—
| ‘Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that’s hardly felt or seen;’ |
but the constitution of Figaro was not strong, and he died young.
While the Penny Magazine was yet in vigorous life, and the Illustrated London News was as yet unborn, there used to be a weekly gathering of authors, actors, and artists, at a tavern in Wych Street, Strand, where the late Mr. Mark Lemon presided as the genial host. This company of merry men were mostly on the sunny side of life, and disposed to look upon the world and the world’s cares with a laughing eye. They were ever ready to go out of their way for the sake of a joke, and a pun, good or bad, was pleasant to them. In this congenial atmosphere Punch germinated, and in July, 1841, that shrewd observer and good-humoured satirist appeared. Mr. Punch, like some other great men, had a hard struggle in his early days; but prosperous times came, and he now combines in his own person the dignity of age with the vivacity of youth. Puck, Diogenes, and numerous other imitators of Punch, attempted to obtain a share of public favour, but most of them died after a brief existence. The best of these that survive are Fun and Judy, which, with the Hornet, Vanity Fair, Figaro (a revival of the name), Moonshine, Funny Folks, and others, continue their weekly budgets with a smartness and vigour not unworthy of their great prototype.
[1] There was another Sunday paper in existence about this time, the Sunday Reformer and Universal Register. In the number for Dec. 29th, 1793, there is a copperplate portrait of Robert Lowth, D.D., Lord Bishop of London, then recently deceased.
[2] ‘Old Stories Retold,’ in All the Year Round.
[3] Grant’s Newspaper Press.
[4] ‘Old Stories Retold,’ in All the Year Round.