The Washington times., 1902-07-30
The KRighting of punch. ;

King Edward would have found 1t
hard to please the British public
more through the bestowal of
knighthood than he did by giving
Francis Cowley Burnand, editor Of
Punch" the right to put Sir" be-
fore his name, says the London cor
respondent of the New Orleans
Times-Dem. crat'' It was a fore
gone conclusion that the joyous
Frank" as he is known in London
bohemian circles. would get some
sort of recognition sooner or later,
for the poet, playwright and punster
has been for a long time one of King
Edwards intimate friends, and,
when the sovereign was Prince of
Wales. the humorist was one of the
jolly little coterie who dined with
him regularly at Marlborough
House. The elevation of the editor of
Punch" 70 knighthood was the
Kings own idea. too. and not, as
usual, suggestion of his ministers.
Several days before the "Honors !
List" was published, and just pre-
vious to his majesty's breaking |
down, the King, who had expressed !
his willingness to receive from the
writer's own hands a copy of the
Coronation number of Punch"
notified Burnand that he intended to
confer knighthood upon him. and
added that It gave him particular
pleasure to do so.
In the ordinary course OF things,
Sir Frank" would have been hon
ored In some way long ago. for he Is I,
familiar figure in London life, and |
his paper is. OF course. an establish
ed institution throughout the king |
dom. But Queen Victoria had a
marked preference for the fossil |;
type as subjects for knightly honors,
and SO tho editor of the popular
humor weekly has lacked. until now,
the distinction that was conferred |
on his associate. Sir John Tenniel. |
the cartoonist.
For, In Great Britain, Punch" Is |
popular. 1t is voted dull in the |
United States, but that is because |
much OF its matter is SO topical. |
Most Americans who have lived in |
England for while find amusement |
in the sallies OF Burnand and his |
staff OF testers, and learn to toler- |
ate some of the most hopeless puns |
that were ever identified as humor
by ''ha, ha" in type. The jovial |
knight had a distinguished sponsor |
on commencing literary work, for he |
was introduced to the editor of the |
now long defunct "Once a Week" by |
George Meredith. That was after
young Burnand had both studied for |
the church and read for the bar and |
finally decided TO let both callings |
go and be a scribbler instead. Fin |
ally he Joined the staff OF Punch"
then edited by Mark Lemon. because |
Fun" for which he had written |
for a year, turned down an idea
which Burnand thought particularly |
felicitous, and of which Punch" !
made use. Long afterward he sue
ceeded to the editorship already |
held by Lemon. Shirley Brooks, and
Tom Taylor. and took the presiding
place at the famous Punch table. |
Around this historic board. the mem
bers of the staff of Punch" have
gathered for years at a weekly din
ner, at which the principal cartoon
of the week is discussed. Here sat
Douglas Jerrold and. later. Du Mau-
rier. and here now sit Phil May.
Linley Sambourne, and Bernard Par
fridge.
Success has greeted the work of
the editor of Punch no matter in
what form 1t has appeared. His
books, The New Sandford and Mer-
tom The Ride to Khiva," and so
forth. have sold we'll and he has
written over hundred plays. the
best known of them being his bur
lesque of ''Black-Eyed Susan" which
ran for over 500 nights at the Roy
atty Theater. Augustin DAILY pro-
duced in New York several of his
adaptations of German farces, no
tablv the LADY fr m Ostend' Bur
nand wrote two operas in collabora-
tion with Sir Arthur Sullivan, as
well as a musical burlesque called
COX and Box" which was a famous
hit.