edged swords, cutting humour, and pointed wit (to say nothing of
the knives and forks), the sallies of the combatants were so incessant
and intermixed, the field of battle so enveloped in _smoke_, that there
was only a kaleidoscopic confusion of brilliant colours in the vision of
the spectator, when the signal was given to 'cease firing.'" Who would
not attend a _Punch_ dinner after that?

A frequent visitor was Mr. Samuel Lucas--known to his fellow-workers as
plain "Sam Lucas"--who was then editing the newly-founded "Once a Week"
for Bradbury and Evans. His attendance, which was constant enough
between the years 1860 and 1864, was--like that of his sub-editor, Mr.
Walford--doubtless a great convenience to all concerned, for most of the
_Punch_ artists and writers were also contributors to the more serious
magazine, and arrangements could obviously be more quickly and
effectively made at a single meeting than by a number of special
interviews. Sir W. H. ("Billy") Russell, too, "dined on several
occasions at the _Punch_ Table, when Mr. Mark Lemon and Mr. Shirley
Brooks were the Editors of the paper;" the introduction, it is
understood, being at the time when he was correcting the proofs of his
Crimean book, which Bradbury and Evans were printing.

And, lastly, Sir John Millais--himself a contributor to _Punch's_
pages--was once a Dinner guest. "I certainly dined once," he wrote to me
a year or two ago, "at an hotel in Covent Garden ['Bedford Hotel'] when
Mark Lemon was editor of _Punch_, and I have always been under the
impression it was one of their Dinners. The Staff only were present, and
Lemon was in the chair, and I sat beside Leech. There were ten or twelve
dining beside myself, and it was on a Wednesday."

This point settled, then, as to Dinner guests--among whom, says the
proprietress of the "Bedford Hotel" (the niece, by the way, of Mark
Lemon), Peter Cunningham should also be included--other visitors there
are to be considered. If _Punch_ does not rigidly obey the Biblical
behest, and when on duty bent is not wholly "given to hospitality," he
at least has allowed hospitality to sit with gladness when the business
of the evening is done. From time to time outside friends were
introduced, and, according to one witness, whose testimony I am unable
to confirm, Tom Hood, Barham ("Tom Ingoldsby"), and Charles Knight have,
at intervals, been entertained "after business hours." The Staff, at
such times, would go into