rs begged that some of the kitchen refuse and pigs'-wash,
hitherto used to _over_fatten swine, might be reserved for them. This
petition had an admirable effect.

[36] Hodder incorrectly gives the _mot_ to Thackeray.

CHAPTER XIII.

_PUNCH'S_ WRITERS: 1841.

H. P. Grattan--W. H. Wills--R. B. Postans--Bread-Tax and
Tooth-Tax--G. Hodder--G. H. B. Rodwell--Douglas Jerrold--His
Caustic Wit--The "Q Papers"--A Statesman _pour rire_--His Sympathy
with the Poor and Oppressed--Wins for _Punch_ his Political
Influence--Ill-health--"_Punch's_ Letters"--The "Jenkins" and
"Pecksniff" Papers--"Mrs. Caudle"--Jerrold's Love of Children,
common to the Staff--He Silences his Fellow-wits--And is Routed by
a Barmaid--He sends his Love to the Staff--And they prove theirs.

The remaining contributors to the first number were Joseph Allen, H. P.
Grattan, and W. H. Wills. The contribution of the first-named has
already been indicated. H. P. "Grattan"--whose real name was Plunkett,
and whose occasional pseudonym was the familiar "Fusbos"--worked well
for the first numbers and for the Almanac. He was a witty versifier and
clever dramatist, but he soon tired of the paper and directed his
energies into other channels. W. H. Wills--"Harry Wills" he was always
called--was a more important and a more faithful contributor. His first
verses were "A Quarter-day Cogitation" (p. 5), and for some time he was
the regular dramatic critic of _Punch_, in which a considerable amount
of space was accorded to the review of amusements of all kinds, and not
a little to Charles Kean and his histrionic deficiencies. Besides
"_Punch's_ Theatre," he wrote paragraphs, verses, and criticisms
innumerable, including the series of "_Punch's_ Natural History of
Courtship," illustrated by the pencils of Sir John Gilbert, Newman, and
Gavarni; "_Punch's_ Comic Mythology," "_Punch's_ Information for the
People," as well as "_Punch's_ Valentines," and lively skits like "The
Burst Boiler and the Broken Heart," and the verses in praise of
pawnbrokers, "The Uncles of England." After helping the Almanac for
1846, his _Punch_ connection was interrupted for a period through his
being called to Edinburgh to edit "Chambers's Journal;" but on his
return to London two years later he resumed his position in a modified
form. He became secretary to Charles Dickens, who was then editing the
"Daily News," as well as his assistant editor on "H