Had the Pope not "aggressed" by appointing archbishops and bishops to English sees [This caused all the exaggerated pother and flutter of 1849.—J. H. S.], and so raised the scare of which Lord John Russell and Mr. Punch really seem to have been the leaders, Doyle would not have resigned, and no opening would have been made for Tenniel.
Sir John, indeed, was by no means enamoured of the prospect of being a Punch artist, when Mark Lemon [the editor in 1850.—J. H. S.] made his overtures to him. He was rather indignant than otherwise, as his line was high art, and his severe drawing above "fooling." "Do they suppose," he asked a friend, "that there is anything funny about me?" He meant, of course, in his art, for privately he was well recognised as a humorist; and little did he know, in the moment of hesitation before he accepted the offer, that he was struggling against a kindly destiny.
Thus we may say that the "Popish Scare" of fifty years ago was a main cause of the Tenniel cartoons in the Punch of to-day.
9.—ILLUSTRATING THE CONNECTION BY ELECTRIC CABLE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. BY LEECH, 1851.
The picture in No. 9, "The New Siamese Twins," celebrates the successful laying of the submarine cable between Dover and Calais, November 13, 1851: the closing prices of the Paris Bourse were known within business hours of the same day on the London Stock Exchange. The use by Leech of the words in the title, "Siamese Twins," refers to the visit to this country of a Barnum-like natural monstrosity—a pair of twins whose bodies were joined—a freak that was also the origin of a toy sold in later years with the same title. In the year 1851 Punch secured another of its most famous artists—Charles Keene—whose first contribution is shown in No. 10.
10.—THIS IS CHARLES KEENE'S FIRST "PUNCH" DRAWING; DECEMBER 20, 1851.
11.—BY LEECH. 1851.