The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS NOVEMBER 5, 1853. SKETCHES OF RADICALS. 4. THE RADICAL 3EsTER. DID you ever reflect philosophically on the spectacle of a (i ll y F aux on Gunpowder-day ? What a ludicrous large-nosed Puneli of au object it is—and how the little ragamuffins run halloaiiig round it. like will things ! Yet Guido Fawkes, the historian, W as one o f t h e Fawkeses of Farnley, an old Yorkshire family, and was personally a stern, solemn, enthusiastic gentleman. I can't help thinking that the wags of the day are about as civilised and reasonable in their treat ment of the Constitution, as correct in their general views of it, in short, as are the aforesaid little fellows in their notions of Guid o . A good type of this class is Ponto Sparks, who wrote in the " Cud " that paper on the Peerage and Attain which I mentioned in a previous essay, and of which (owing to the kindness of a butterman) I possess a copy. Au immense deal of our jocose talent is in the Radical ranks just now, and " Waggish Histories of England," " The Comic Delolme," ficc., testify to its activity. I admire the agility, though I question the reasonableness, of Ponto Sparks. He even pro vokes me when he gets angry, for he sometimes gets inflammatory ; as chimneys catch fire, not by native liveliness, but front an accumula tion of soot in them which ought to have been swept away. False in• formation and false reasoning lead to false and dangerous pleasantry. It is the staple Radical philosophy which of course forms the mental groundwork of Ponto ; and this I have defined to depend mainly on an over-estimation of modern influences. A commercial community, governed by what is called common sense, must, of course, find history a curious sultiect to explain. Hence the attempt of such persons as our friend Nlawker to apply the rule of three to the affairs of England, apropos of everything. Thus, I remember a calcu lation of his, that, taking the rental of the aristocracy at so much per annum, and that of the moneyed classes proper at so much, you would find such and such a proportion against the aristocracy, eryo—(the remainder of the sentence was drowned in the applause of the " Ponderers," and one old gentleman thumped his pewter pot on the table and nearly went into a tit !) Here it was, "ass is to 3," &e. But the fatal error in this rule of three (which, however, 1 despair of making Ponto comprehend) may be instantly exposed in an illustra tion. The number (say 3) called inferior is not only a 3, but, even as numbers with the Pythagoreans had a mystic force, so it has a symbolic power besides its ordinary numerical one ! This element is the secret but potent one which ruins so many of these counnon-sense cabada tions. Let argument do what it will—Mawker doesn't only bury his grandmother because she would decompose disagreeably, but under a deeper feeling than ho would find it. easy to explain! A crown is not only a circlet of bright metal. A political body is not powerful only by the material power, but by the sentiment, by the ideas, by the memories, by the romance which it represents. From his point of view, then, our friend Ponto makes strange work. All his pleasantry depends upon a contrast between any given object, and a cockney standard of knowingness and fitness. In the oa4/, I remember, he was universally facetious on antiquity. "If " Socrates were to come into the market-places, in our day, to talk phi " losophy, the policeman would tell him to move on!"—said Polito. So happy as notion deserved working up, and he did us a history on the principle—the whole fun consisting in treating Om. de Lion in print as Wright would treat him at the Adelphi; and judging St. Thomas of Canterbury by the fun of the contrast between his costume and that of a modern parson. This pleasantry, however, has a decided purpose and bent. Ponto's squibs are parts of the " enlightenment' of the day. It is not without a meaning that he is so facetious about Adam, or that he made that waggish inquiry into the relative proportions of iron in old blood and new ! (I thought Mawker would have choked himself with laughing at this sally !I When he threw off that paper called " Tom Cribb at a Tournament." the dog had his eye on producing more than a laugh in time ; and all those jokes, burlesques, and buffooneries about the classics, the middle ages, and the peerage, were intended to help the general cause effectually enough. Pont() des pises. with all the zest of a lively man, your ordinary, boring, reason able Radical, who expends dreary hours in showing that a man who reforms the sanitary evils of his day, or has a large factory going, i s one of " Nature's noblemen " . . . . " a noble who has his patent from Nature," &e., &c. ; but in the long run his cause is the same with that prodigy of sober commonplace. His jokes about Adam are all honey to the new-fledged aristocrats of gold ; all jealous of the great world, and sick to be into it; scornful of high life, and sycophantic of its out siders ; ranting about social freedom, while intriguing for admission into fashionable clubs; and ending generally by out-heralding heralds, and having nothing to say to their poor relations but sending them oc casional old clothes! Ponto's humour helps a potentate of this sort — who buys the estates of the old Jacobite families, and tries to get the peerages of Nithsdade, or Kenmure, or Derwentwater, restored to him. It would ben shame to bring solemn artillery to bear on these light-bob skirmishers; but Ido think Ponto should undertake a little serious reflection on sonic of his pet subjects. There is one pleasantry about Adam, for example, and one perennial gaiety about the Landed Interest. This lust is a stock subject, and but for top boots, and the 637 agricultural shows. and " Squire Western," I seareele know what the eat! would have done, except what it ultimately did do. Of course. the beaux esprit* of the suburbs are highly capable of judging of the habits and manner% of such a class. and can't be expected to reflect that even ua old " Squire Western" days the bosom of the " landed interest" could produce such men as Evelyn (and we may add Sir Roger de Coverley), and Marshal Stair : and has in our time nourished a man or two like Landon Bulwe'r. Apure of Caldwell, Aubrey de N't re, and so On. We will not come down upon Ponto at present with such an inquiry as how the aristocracies of Europe turned out such fellows as they did, from Alfred to Elizabeth, and from Dante to Bacon, and Cervantes and Calderon. But it is a little too hard o f lam t o b e play ing with that desolating wit of his so specially always on the peerage. who, as they don't generally write in comic journals, bay° no c h im es of taking their own part ! But that's the way of that unreasonable lively dog Ponto—who, too, is always somewhat narrow in fixing all merit, in writing For after all, a book is only so much sense and pluck in one form. and these qualities can be shown elsewhere-- in the army, or navy. or in the government of a great estate—and can be shown quietly and silently too (perhaps to most etreet after all 9. Then here again it is cruel of Potato to demand all the greatness from the one gentleman who is the eldest brother and head of the family. We present Pouto with " Hume's h istory." and he insists on having it from the " Earl of Hume." We call his attention to " Waverley," but nothing will satisfy him but haying a " Waverley " from the Duke of Bueelench. We remind him of "'font Jones," and ha roars out that it should have been done by the Earl of Denbigh. Yet surely flume. Scott, and Fielding had precisely the Sarni' amount of the blood of their families as the gentlemen at the head of theta, anti must be debited to the aristocratic account. The little handful of men, out of the twenty four millions of population, who wear coronets eannot be all Bynms. Is every fisherman a Mamaniello, or every peasant a William Tell ? Was Sir Charles Napier less nn " aristocrat' because he had not the coronet of his grandfather? Besides, my dear Ponto (without making any unpleasant and odious compinisons between your style and Lord Lindsay's), do you always argue this delicate question quite fairly The new lord. who is such an able nuts, was the sills of a tobacconist you say. Compare him to Front de Bta'uf, the 14th baron. " opposite." I lout you forget that the new lord's ancestors have been of the tobacconist s t a mp s ine,. Ad a m till our able friend: whereas there have been half a dozen Front de Bonds (if the family is really a patrician one) between this and the Conqueror, who have ranked with the great spirits of their times. Families, like fruit-trees, have good crops and bad crops. Pity the old tree with the barren branches this summer, but don't. cut it down, don't pelt it with mud ! But may space, I observe, is 1.1111 out. T ILE THISTLE. oct. ►tot. The Queen Iwl4l a chapter of the Mont. Ancient and Meat Noble order o f tl►e Thistle at three o'cluek ►his attereoen in the Castle.—c► wed Circular. A Chapter at Windsor was held t'other day For giving the Thistle of Scotland away ; And a motley assemblage as ever was seen Went down in the carriage with old .Ini:ntir:r:v.• A Baron, an Earl, and a Duke ton, were there, Who propos'il amongst then► the Thistles to share ; A Whig, and a I'eelite, and something between, All went in the carriage with old Anrunah:N. The IlArimerrow Earl, and the Lord of PANIMBE, Had never agreed in one object before; lint now both admitted there never hail been A Minister equal to old ABERDEEN. But as for the Puke—they considered it low— For Lord Denny appointed his Duchess, you know; And now he accepts with alacrity keen The Thistle, when offered by obi Ant:to Yon know it is said, when misfortune wertakes us, With very strange fellows acquainted it makes us; But here the reverse and contrary is seen— Tis fortune combines us with old Anr.nPrEtt. 'Tis fortune has made Coalitions the go, With liessrt.i. and GrAtecrowe, and Mi,Lesworrie end C o .— Ilas mixed up a motley kaleidiscope scene, And made the head showman of old Atit:nneEN. John Bull, looking on, said, "Well, say what you may, " While Anrenyes rules you are right to make hay; " And I trust every donkey, whatever his mien," " May each get a thistle from old ABERDEEN. " Your ears may be lengthy, but heed what I say : " You may all take a hint fr►m the Vicar of Bray ; " For the nation it will not for ever, I wecn, " Submit to be govern'd by DM ABERDEEN." • l'he Enrl of Alwrdeen, the Earl of lladdington, the I►uke of Athol, I.onl Pantunte. the Earl of Manrti►ld, and two or three officials, went down in the name railwapoarriage to Wiitdse tr. SIR CHARM% Wool) AT HAI.IYAC nail, WI hive much to get through this evening." lie did not say whether it was in the wood or the bottle, and his subsequent observations on the Porte afford no due. IMPORTANT ON STRIKES. IT iS said that the Russian army on the Danube is decimated by die ease ; tio is the Wigan police—one of them is on the nick lift. I l