very bit as good as the others' text; and even when
the gentle Hine was called upon to make sketches upon the same subject,
he found himself inspired like the rest. "Jenkins," the toady, and
"Lickspittleoff," his "Russian editor," were grand sport in the office,
and their example was followed--not a little to their disgust--by the
"Great Gun" and other papers. Soon after his first introduction (p. 123,
Vol. V.) "Jenkins" was cast aside as a joke played out, and Thackeray
took leave of him in the following amazing lines:--

"PUNCH'S PARTING TRIBUTE."

"Oh! Jenkins, homme du peuple--mangez bien![18]
Desormais avec toi nous ferons rien,
Vous etes tout use--chose qui montre la corde,[19]
Nos lecteurs etaient mal de toi d'abord;
Allez-vous-en--votre baton coupez vite,
En _Ponch_ jamais votre nom--desormais sera dite."

But when the possibilities of "Jenkins" were fully realised, he was
revived, and for some years did excellent service as a subject for
humorous attack.

A more serious campaign upon which _Punch_ now entered was that against
the "Standard" and the "Morning Herald." He had with some astuteness,
and doubtless not without sincerity, ranged himself on the side of the
"Times," and threw himself into the fray with all the zest and some of
the irresponsibility of the licensed jester.[20] "Martin Chuzzlewit"
had already seized upon the town, and the names of Mrs. Gamp and Mrs.
Harris were on everybody's lips. _Punch_ chose to assume that the
"Morning Herald" and the "Standard"--morning and evening papers then
which represented the Conservative party, both of them until 1857
belonging to one proprietor--were edited respectively by the two ladies
aforesaid. The "Standard" was very wroth. It would not have been so sore
perhaps at being dubbed "Betsy Prig;" but, being in fact almost a
reprint of the "Herald," the suggestion of "Mrs. Harris"--a creature of
no existence, the mere reflex of Mrs. Gamp's own inane and besodden
brain--was too calmly provoking, as it was meant to be, to be borne in
silence. These two journals were highly unpopular at the time; for the
"Manchester School" was making headway, and Free Trade was already a
powerful and significant cry. So when _Punch_ laughed at them for
two--though really one--disreputable old women, and Leech's inimitable
pencil typified them as such, in mob-cap and pattens, the public laughed
with him, whatever their own political opinion might be. It should be