ike the Prince Consort,
Lord Randolph Churchill (who possessed several of the original _Punch_
drawings into which he had been introduced), among other politicians of
the day, kept these artistic instruments of political torture before
him, as a man treasures in his locket the hair of the dog that bit him.
A visitor to Hughenden gave, in the "Dublin Mail," an interesting
illustration of this tribute to the comic press. He was waiting in an
ante-chamber, "and while passing the time my attention was attracted to
a clever sketch of the then Prime Minister, depicted as Hamlet, seated
at a table covered with innumerable documents, the text quotation being,
'The time is out of joint. O Cursed spite, That [ever] I was born to set
it right!' I was smiling at the picture, which, I may add, was a cut out
of _Punch_, and framed, when the Prime Minister entered with the
gentleman who was to present me, and finding me gazing at the sketch
Lord Beaconsfield said, 'Yes, that is one of the best caricatures of me
that has yet appeared, and, strange to say, the artist has neither
presented me with donkey's ears nor cloven hoofs. I feel very much
flattered!' Lord Beaconsfield took an interest in all the caricatures
that appeared of him, and at the time he died he had several hundreds in
his possession."

Mr. Gladstone, who, we have often been assured, has not the gift of
humour, has at least enjoyed _Punch's_ good-natured yet occasionally
severe raillery, and in the same Edinburgh speech to which reference has
already been made, he recalled with much relish how, in connection with
the rejection of the Paper Duty Bill, he was represented in a cartoon as
being decorated by the triumphant Lord Derby--the Lord Derby of that
day, who led the House of Lords--with an immense sheet of paper made
into a fool's-cap, which he dropped upon his head. Mr. Goschen took a
still more exalted view of _Punch's_ prestige when he declared (at
Rugby, November, 1881) that "he had since attained to the highest
ambition which a statesman can reach--namely, to have a cartoon in
_Punch_ all to himself."

[Illustration: LORD BEACONSFIELD IN "PUNCH."

_By R. Doyle, J. Leech, J. Tenniel, C. Keene, L. Sambourne, and H.
Furniss. (Re-drawn by Harry Furniss.)_]

But hardly less important, in many a public man's opinion, than the
sardonic significance of _Punch's_ treatment of him in the cartoon, is
the degree of facial resemblance achieved by the artist. It is
undeni