"GENTLEMEN Arbitrators, I salute you in the concrete," said Mr. Punch, walking up to the table of the Hall of Congress at Geneva. "I also salute you specially. Count Sclopis, una voce poco fà; M. Staempfli, my Merry Swiss Boy, point d'argent, point de Suisse; Baron Itajuba, I hope your sangre azul is cool this hot weather."
"Really, Mr. Punch," said the Lord Chief Justice Cockburn——
"And really, my dear Sir Alexander," was Mr. Punch's lightning-like repartee. "How are you? and Davis, my Bancroft, how are you? Have you seen Mrs. Bancroft in Caste? Capital, isn't she? And now to business, and after that we'll go for a row on the Lake, my Allobroges. Know they settled here, Davis?"
"I know several things," said Mr. Davis, "and one is that you have no business in this chamber."
"Rem acu tetigisti, my Occidental. My visit is strictly on pleasure. And I reckon to have the pleasure of sticking these here Negotiations in a greased groove before I quit."
"Porter!" exclaimed the Count Sclopis, angrily.
"Not a drop, I thank you," said Mr. Punch, smiling. "We should not get it good here. A bottle of Seltzer, if you please, with a slight dash of the liquid named after yonder lake, but unsweetened."
His exquisite good-temper—he associates with Granville and Disraeli—was too much for the dignitaries. They all shook hands with him, said he was welcome, and begged that he would go away until dinner-time.