n who cry for fresh air
("The Children's Cry"), and described as well many a deed of daring by
sea and land, in which sailors, soldiers, engine-drivers, policemen,
life-boatmen, and coastguardsmen were concerned. In his little volume of
"Lays and Lyrics" nearly a score of these _Punch_ poems are republished.

The Parliamentary phase of _Punch_ is the one which has remained
constant from the beginning of the paper. All else has been subject to
change--the quality of its satire, the character of its literature, the
intention of its art, and the class of its humour. But in his attendance
upon Parliament _Punch_ has been persistently assiduous and consistently
frank, neither awed by its majesty nor sickened by its follies.
Parliament has always been regarded in his pages in the spirit of
benevolent patronage and control, which, though unquestionably
pedagogic, has always been just and sympathetic in tone. It was in order
to continue the chain forged by Shirley Brooks and Tom Taylor in their
"Essence of Parliament," without the dropping of a link, that Mr.
Burnand's first Staff appointment was made with a view to filling the
place that had been left vacant by Tom Taylor's death. His attention,
like that of many others, had long been attracted to the brilliant
weekly articles in the "Observer," entitled "From the Cross
Benches"--papers that dealt with the week's Parliamentary proceedings
with singular cleverness, humour, and originality--and at the proper
moment he sought out the author of them, Mr. Henry W. Lucy, of the
"Daily News."

Mr. Lucy had already graduated as the Pepys of Parliament; for he had
been known in gallery and lobby of the House for the past ten years, and
was acting as chief of the Parliamentary Staff for his paper. He was,
therefore, considered particularly well-fitted for the new post on
_Punch_, and he readily accepted the invitation. His first contribution
was a sort of prospectus of Toby's Diary, which was published on January
8th, 1881. Thenceforward Mr. Lucy became known as "Toby, M.P.;" and when
a puzzled Member of Parliament, familiar with his face, would
occasionally ask him in the Lobby, "By the way, where are you member
for?" he would answer "_Barks_" and pass on. It is not uncommon to find
unregenerate members taking to themselves the credit of the witticisms
which Toby puts into their mouths; so that there is perhaps excuse for
the biographer of Lord Sherbrooke (Robert Lowe), who attributed