n
_Punch_ rarely introduces "mon" (as an equivalent for "man") into his
Scotch jokes without producing a disclaimer against this alleged
"peculiarly British error."

A third form of mistake commonly gloated over is that which touches some
general fact of economics or social matters. An example of this was Mr.
Linley Sambourne's drawing, entitled "An Embarras de Richesses,"
graphically illustrating the glut of money in "the City" in the summer
of 1894. The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is shown standing on a
pile of bags of bullion impatiently waving back the City men who are
pressing forward with more bags of gold, which bags are labelled
"Deposits." But the Bank of England allows no interest on deposits, as
suggested by the drawing and its accompanying verses; and the
draughtsman, explained one of the financial papers which gleefully
called attention to the misconception, "thought it was the Old Lady who
had reduced her deposit rates to one-half per cent."

But what are considered the most heinous, as well as the rarest, of all
blunders are those of policy or important movements, which, of course,
concern large bodies of men, whether they constitute a party, a
constituency, or a strike. A case in point was the cartoon dedicated
(August, 1893) to the miners on strike in Northumberland and Durham: but
at that particular moment it was the miners of other districts who were
so involved. Another instance was the substitution of Mr. Logan, M.P.,
for Mr. Leon, M.P. (December, 1893), in a Parliamentary picture that
illustrated an incident mentioned in the "Essence of Parliament." But it
may be taken that the error was rather a slip than a blunder that
represented "Toby barking up the wrong tree."

It is natural, of course, that the "faddists" should be among Mr.
Punch's most impatient critics, because "fad" and "cant" have always
been _Punch's_ pet ground-game that he loves to run to earth. It is
perhaps from the Temperance party that he has had most sport, for he has
always taken delight in the pictures they dislike the most--the
incomparable drawings of Leech and Keene, which show the humorous,
instead of only the hateful, side of inebriety; and he chuckles as he
reads, now their protests against Mr. Bernard Partridge's excruciating
pictures of a drunken man's "progress," now the plaintive paragraph that
"in a recent issue of _Punch_ more than twenty-five per cent. of the
advertisements concerned hotels, wines, spirits,