h was sent to the
'Puppet-Show' office last Monday, and for which two-and-ninepence was
charged, be not forthwith removed, it will be sold to _Punch_ to pay
expenses;" and later on it hints that the Parisians will do well to
import a few of _Punch's_ jokes as the best of all possible material for
the barricades they were then erecting (1848). A graver charge was
contained under the heading, "On Sale or Hire," and it ran: "We
perceive, by an advertisement in _Punch_, that the entire work can be
purchased for L4 10s. Judging from its ridiculous puffs of Her
Majesty's Theatre, we should say that it could always be bought by a box
at the Opera." This amiable paragraph appeared in a lively column which
was a weekly feature of the paper, and was headed "Pins and Needles."
"Pasquin," a rival "comic" edited by Mr. Sutherland Edwards, was always
"bandying epithets" with the Showman, and no sooner was the column
introduced than he drew pleasing attention to the fact in the following
paragraph: "The 'Puppet-Show' has started 'Pins and Needles.' We don't
wonder at it. 'Pins and Needles' are always a sign of a defective
circulation."

From time to time, too, pamphlets have been directed against _Punch_,
such as the "Anti-Punch,"[25] published by the men who naturally fall
under the lash of a satirist, and resent its application. Of such was
the widely circulated "Phrenological Manipulation of the Head of
_Punch_," written by George Combe about 1845, in the form of an open
letter. It began, "Sir, you are not an honest man.... Practically your
benevolence is merely professional, it is only for the readers of
_Punch_. Why do you act like Toby in the manger?" But there is little
wit and less reason in these booklets to recommend, or to justify aught
but oblivion.

A more able and important foe than these was Harry S. Leigh, who in 1864
was editor of "The Arrow," with Mortimer Collins as verse-writer and
Matt Morgan as cartoonist. Leigh opened his attack with rhymes that were
greatly enjoyed at the time. They ran thus:--

RHYMES FOR A BIG BABY.

No. I.

"Sad stuff of Lemon's,"
Think the bells of St. Clement's;
"Not worth five farthings,"
Sneer the bells of St. Martin's;
"Going down daily,"
Grunt the bells of Old Bailey;
"_Once_ it was rich,"
Hint the bells of Shoreditch:
"When could _that_ be?"
Ask the bells of Step-ney;
"Hanged if _I_ know,"
Growls the big bell at Bow.

No. II.