VISIT TO SATURN.
"I am glad to hear that, at any rate," said Saturn, welcoming the illustrious guests to his remote golden-ringed realm.
Saturn, however, did not look exactly comfortable, and his voice, how unlike "To that large utterance of the early gods," sounded quavering and querulous.
"It is customary," said he, "to talk, as the old Romans rather confusedly did, of 'the Saturnian reign' as the true 'Golden Age,' identified with civilisation, social order, economic perfection, and agricultural profusion. As a matter of fact, I've always been treated badly, from the day when Jupiter dethroned me to that when, the Grand Old Man—who ought to have had more sympathy with me—banished hither the strife-engendering Pedant's hotch-potch called Political Economy."
"Be comforted, Saturn, old boy—I am here!" cried Mr. Punch. "I am 'personally conducting' Father TIME in a tour of the Planets. Let's have a look round your realm!"
Mr. Punch sums up much of what he saw in modern "Saturnian Verses."
Punch. Good gracious! my worthy old Ancient, who once held the sway of the heavens,
Your realm seems a little bit shaky; what mortals call "sixes and sevens"!