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Untitled Article
the Oriental operas . The Doctor is admirably defined . He is a combination of all the gold-headed canes of Hogarthrwith the general principles of all practitioners who are behind their age . He is the most moderate-measured grey-wig administrator that old women could desire . He is , in fact , the eminent old-woman physician of all time—the class which say , as per
diploma , " We would recommend ; " " If we may advise ; " and , in cases of life and death , " Had we not better try ? " He is all formality , ancient practice , tenderness of touch , white-handed ring-displaying , and gentle patting of patronage and soothing system . Some of our vulgar brutes of Managers here , put such words into his mouth as , " Hillo ! Punch ! " or , " I say , Punch what ' s the matter ?—get up ! " But these are stage
interpolations ; nothing of the kind is to be found in the original ; nor was it ever rendered so when I was young . His character , nevertheless , remains manifest through all versions , erroneous changes and disguises . Of the Constable and the Executioner little need be said . They speak for themselves , though to no legal purpose in this play . Their usefulness in the prevention of vice , however , as well as their fate , has furnished the first
hint for the establishment of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishments in this country . The Undertakers , ( who are one undertaker , and that one representing all the tribe ) are admirably true to their black craft , in external gloom and inward re-action of hilarity . The careful way in which they first bring forward the coffin , as though they felt a deep interest in it , and the jocose style in which they presently
dance about with it in their arms , or set it a-swmgirtg like a cradle , is just like the fellows when they think nobody is looking at them . And very natural too , I think ; for if they could not do this , what a dead-and-alive existence would be their lot . The subject of their trade and game would be far better off , and enviable in the comparison . The abomination and immorality is in Mr Punch eventually taking part in the lark , he having
so richly deserved to be seriously put to rest therein . Mistress Po , or Miss Poll , or whatever her name may be , is a tawdry , dancing Courtezan , exactly of the middle class of Courtezans . She is the only character in the play whom the hero does not ill-treat , at least in public . He , however , seems to have no real affection for her , and no admiration . During their celebrated dance , he is evidently as pleased when his hump is turned towards her , as when he faces her ; and from this fact ,
added to the deli g hted conceit he displays , you see that he is only thinking of himself , and chuckling at his own ludicrous performance . He sometimes takes it into his head to be indecent , on the occasion , but apparently with no motive but vanity and impudence . There are various other characters , but we
Untitled Article
Analytical Disquisition 6 n Punch and Judy . ^ l
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1837, page 41, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1827/page/43/
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