PUNCH AND JUDY 



6402 



PUNCHESTOWN 



Punch. Replica of the first issue of 

 Doyle's cover, Jan. 6, 1849 



By courteiy of the proprictort of Punch 



but, on the whole, while pricking 

 bubbles, it has reflected week by 

 week the best and most represen- 

 tative feeling of the nation, as well 

 as its follies and foibles, and many 

 a good cause has found in it a 

 helpful friend. Reprints in various 

 forms, e.g. Pictures from Punch, 

 4 vols., 1906 ; the Punch Library of 

 Humour, ed. by J. A. Hammerton. 

 25 vols., 1907 ; and Mr. Punch's 

 History of Modern England, by C. 

 L. Graves, the opening volumes of 

 which appeared in 1921, bear wit- 

 ness to its permanent appeal. 

 British art and letters are equally 

 well represented in its pages, and 

 scholarship has given an edge to 

 its wholesome fun. Numbers of its 

 cartoons, as Leech's General Fev- 

 rier Turned Traitor, 1855; Ten- 

 niel's Dropping the Pilot (Bis- 

 marck), 1889 ; and Bernard Part- 

 ridge's King Albert (Unconquer- 

 able), 1914, have become historic. 

 Much of its verse, as Tom Hood's 

 Song of the Shirt, 1843, and Tom 

 Taylor's Abraham Lincoln, 1865, 

 are permanent additions to Eng- 

 lish literature ; and numbers of its 

 jokes, as Advice to persons about 

 to marry Don't ! or the frugal 

 Scot's Bang went Saxpence ! have 

 passed into proverbs. 



Among those who have sat round 

 the staff table at the weekly din- 

 ners, in addition to those named 

 already, are the a Becketts, F. 

 Anstev (Guthrie), Alfred "Crmv- 

 quill,' T George Cruikshank, Harry 

 Furniss (who for many vears illus- 

 trated the Diary of toby M.P.), 

 Douglas Jerrold, R. C. Lehmann, 

 Percival Leigh, Charles Keene, E. 

 V. Lucas, Henry Lucy (so closely 

 identified with the Essence of 



Punch and Judy, \.unc of an 

 English puppet play, performed in 

 the streets by itinerant enter- 

 tainers. The performer is concealed 

 in a portable frame covered with 

 cloth, the upper part of which is 

 open in front, forming a small 

 .covered stage. The puppets are 

 moved from below by the hands of 

 the performer, who utters the dia- 

 logue in a nasal falsetto, varied to 

 suit the characters. There have 

 been various forms of the play, j 

 but the hero, Punch, is always a j 

 violent, pugnacious, but droll and i 

 high-spirited rascal, hunch-backed, j 

 hook-nosed, and gaily dressed, who 

 with the help of a stout cudgel 

 overcomes all his enemies in suc- 

 cession. In one version, Punch, 

 having murdered his child and his 

 wife, Judy, flies from an officer of 

 the law, escapes from the Spanish 

 Inquisition, and repels various j 

 antagonists, including Disease, 

 Death, and the Devil. Punch is 

 commonly accompanied by a small 

 live dog, Toby. 



Punch, originally called Punchi- 

 nello, appears to have been intro f 

 duced to England from France 



Parliament), 

 George du Mau- ; 

 rier, Phil May, * 



E. J. Milliken, L. 

 Raven-Hill, E. T. 

 Reed (of Pre- 

 historic Peeps), 

 L i n 1 e y S a m- 

 bourne. Albert 

 Smith, W. M. 

 Thackeray, and 



F. H. Townsend. 

 See Char i v a r i ; 

 Keene, C. ; Omni- 

 bus ; consult also 



The History of Punch, M. H. 

 Spielmann, 1895 ; The a Becketts 

 of Punch, A. W. a Beckett, 1903 ; 

 Records and Reminiscences, F. C. 

 Burnand, 1904 ; A Great Punch 

 Editor (Shirley Brooks), G. S. 

 Layard. 1907. 



Puncb 



Punchestown, Ireland. Taking the stone wall in the Maiden Plate steeple- 

 chase on Punchestown racecourse 



show. From the painting by Webster, 

 automobile Punch and Judy show 



at the Restoration, but did not 

 gain great popularity until the 

 reign of William III, when the 

 show may have been modified by 

 the influence of Dutch puppet 

 plays. Addison devotes an article 

 in The Spectator (No. 14) to the 

 play. Judy is a familiar form of 

 the once ^common name Judith, 

 and Toby, as a dog's name, is due 

 to the dog of Tobias in the Book 

 of Tobit. See Marionettes ; Punchi- 

 nello ; Puppets ; consult also Punch 

 and Judv, J. Payne Collier, illus. 

 by G. Cruikshank, 5th ed. 1870. 



Punchestown. Racecourse in 

 co. Kildare, Ireland. In the parish 

 of Rathmore, it is 2 m. from Naas 

 and 24 m. from Dublin, with a 

 station on the G.S. & W. Rly. It 

 is noted for its steeplechases, the 

 most important meeting taking 

 place every April. 



