e peeping into a marrow
bone; "--how luxuriantly they laugh, or stand with their eyes and mouths
equally distended, staring at the minikin effigy of fun and phantasy;
thinking, no doubt,

"He bin the greatest wight on earth."

And, certainly, he has not his equal, as a positive, dogmatic,
knock-me-down argument-monger; a dare devil; an embodied phantasmagoria,
or frisky infatuation. I have often thought that Punch might be
converted to profitable use, by being made a speaking Pasquin; and,
properly instructed, might hold up his restless quarter staff, in
terrorem, over the heads of all public outragers of decency; and by
opening the eyes of the million, who flock to his orations, enlighten
them, at least, as much as many greater folks, who make more noise
than he, and who, ~64~~like him, often get laughed at, without being
conscious that they are the subjects of merriment. The very name of our
old friend Punch inspires us in our social moments. What other actor
has been commemorated by the potential cup? is not the sacred bowl of
friendship dedicated to the wooden hero? would you forget the world, its
cares, vexations, and anxieties, sip of the mantling, mirth-inspiring
cordial, and all within is jollity and gay delight.

"For Punch cures the gout, the cholic, and the phthisic,
And it is to every man the very best of physic."

Honest, kind-hearted Punch! I could write a volume in thy praise, and
then, I fear, I should leave half thy merits untold. Thou art worth a
hundred of the fashionable kickshaws that are daily palmed upon us to
be admired; and thy good-humoured efforts to please at the expense of a
broken pate can never be sufficiently praised.

But now the curtain rises, and Mr. Punch steals from behind his two-foot
drapery: the very tip of his arched nose is the prologue to a merry
play; he makes his bow to the multitude, and salutes them with all the
familiarity of an old acquaintance. What a glorious reception does
he meet with from an admiring audience! And now his adventures
commence--his "dear Judy," the partner of his life, by turns experiences
all the capricious effects of love and war. What a true picture of the
storms of life!--how admirable an essay on matrimonial felicity! Then
his alternate uxoriousness to the lady, and his fondlings of that
pretty "kretur" with the family countenance; his chivalrous exploits
on horseback, and mimic capering round the lists of his ch