PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
VOL. 108. June 22, 1895.
edited by Sir Francis Burnand
ROUNDABOUT READINGS.
It has been noticed by philosophers that a mere name will often lead a man to his ruin. Why, for example, was John Darley fined twenty shillings and costs at the Tynemouth Petty Sessions? He met a boiler-smith, Richard Rothwell, riding on a bicycle. Thereupon, without any apparent reason, he used abusive language, bashed the unoffending boiler-smith on the nose, brandished a knife, and shouted out, "Come on!—I'm Johnny Darley, from Byker." There you have it. Residing, as he did, in a perpetual comparative, he naturally despised and loathed the positive "byke." Hence his violent assault on its rider.
I observe, with deep regret, that Professor Lloyd, of Southport, has been fined for trespassing on a railway bridge at Preston. The Professor did not want to stay there. All he wished to do, and all that he actually did, was to dive off into the water below. He is an aquatic Professor, and informed the Bench that he was obliged to do these things to keep up his reputation.