The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-15 00:00:00

A CAPITAL BIT OF FUN.

(Meaning the New Christmas Number of it !)

The longest-lived of all the rivals of Punch—the
one only prosperous rival of Punch—not a " Shil-
ling's worth of Nonsense" but OM Penny's worth of
Furl comes out just now so hilariously close upon
the eve of Christmas that, looking at it, we some-
how seem to see it double ! Yes, sure enough,
in the left-hand corner of it—under date Decem.
ber 15, 1864, " Price Twopence." The Christmas
Number of "FUN" it ie, in fact, and—as our head-
ing intimates—A Capital bit of Fun, too 1 To
begin with, a thoroughly original little comical
story, about a regular Yankee Munchausen,
one Zll3 Sump—written by that right-good story
teller, Captain Mayne and entitled (with
a sort of a Sindbid illustration at the
top of it) " Trapped in a Tree : a Back.
wood's Adventure." After that—an extravagantly
ridiculous celebration of " The Cattle Show" by
Oar special Bocolic Commissioner. Four comic
cats—every one of them really and truly comical—
in the middle of this excellent number of Fun
for Christmas. Here. (in proof of their having
"something" in them—that is, in the way of real
comicality) are the themes of these four principal
cuts of Fun in the way of embellishment.
OH, THE CLIVER DHRAB I—Mistress : " Why, Bridget,
surly you are not wiping your hand on the drawing-room
tablecloth ?" Bridget : " Sure, 'tis on the dark part, mum ;
an' I was but dustin' the dhriftin' dirt off a the nand o' me,
for fear when I'd be washing I might make a baste of a
mess on the clans towel below,"—[ AL:dress is perfectly
satisfied, of course.]

KNIGHT OF THE BROOM to professional friend, alluding
to De Brown's cigarette (loq )—" Hi, Villiam, 'ere's a
curiosity 1 'ere's a 'eavy swell a smokin' brown paper I"
MUCH TOO CRUEL.—(Florence reproachfully)—" Oh 1
Cousin Tabby, for shame; you are really too cruel; 'here
is another evening gone, and leap-year nearly over, and
you have not yet proposed."

LADY -" Well, Freddy dear, did you share the sixpence
gave you last time with your little sister ?"

FREDDY DZAR--" Yee, M'm."
Lady—" And what did she say ?"

Freddy dear—" She said, perhaps you'd give us a sh
ling this time."

Two other rather funny pictures there are (neither
of them, however, nearly so well drawn as the four
just mentioned)—under one of which we read—
" Consolation.—lnvalid (after a lull in conversation)
—Well, Biil, what are yon thinking about ? Friend
(who has called to cheer him up)—Well, Jae, I was
thinking what a precious long coffin you would
take "—and under the other—" Small• Beer—
. (vociferously)—Ere Porter ! Porter ! Porter !
Somewhat obese functionary—Now Then, stow
that, can't yer ! If you was stout how
would you like to be called Porter P' To
wind all up befittingly, with a very odd sort of an
enforcement of the old proverb, "laugh and grow
fat," FuN's Christmas Number ends with a ridieu•
lousily laughter-moving celebration of Bantingism.

AN AUTHOR'S EXPLANATION.

Mr. G. A. Sala's '. Quite Alone."

The following completely satisfactory explanation
of a curious little incident in Modern Authorship,
is the Advertisement prefixed to Mr. Sala's new
novel," Quite Alone"—the story recently completed
under unusual circumstances in All the Year Round,
and issued from the press by Messrs. Chap-
man and Hall in its completed form as a three
volumed novel, only this very day, the 15th of De-
cember. Mr. Sala's Explanation, as given in this
" Advertisement" we have spoken of as com.
pletely satisfactory. And it, surely, must prove
so to every one—but himself! Certainly to the
public at large, to Mr. Charles Dickens, to the
Messrs. Chapman and Hall, to that anonymous
"other Land" of whom Mr. Sala speaks as of a
collaborateur. Havisg said which, we commend
the following to very general perusal, as the last
Aerap of pleasant writing endited by a Sixteen
Years' Favourite among English lovers of Light
Literature :