Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, September 12, 1841 by Various
page 56 of 65 (86%)
page 56 of 65 (86%)
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exemplar of vice punished and virtue rewarded--is the "Newgate Calendar!"
and Newgate itself! what tales might it not relate, if its stones could speak, had its fetters the gift of tongues! But these need not be so gifted: the proprietor of the Victoria Theatre supplies the deficiency: the dramatic edition of Old-Bailey experience he is bringing out on each successive Monday, will soon be complete; and when it is, juvenile Jack Sheppards and incipient Turpins may complete their education at the moderate charge of sixpence per week. The "intellectualization of the people" must not be neglected: the gallery of the Victoria invites to its instructive benches the young, whose wicked parents have neglected their education--the ignorant, who know nothing of the science of highway robbery, or the more delicate operations of picking pockets. National education is the sole aim of the sole lessee--money is no object; but errand-boys and apprentices _must_ take their Monday night's lessons, even if they rob the till. By this means an endless chain of subjects will be woven, of which the Victoria itself supplies the links; the "Newgate Calendar" will never be exhausted, and the cause of morality and melodrama continue to run a triumphant career! The leaf of the "Newgate Calendar" torn out last Monday for the delectation and instruction of the Victoria audience, was the "Life and Death of James Dawson," a gentleman rebel, who was very properly hanged in 1746. The arrangement of incidents in this piece was evidently an appeal to the ingenuity of the audience--our own penetration failed, however, in unravelling the plot. There was a drunken, gaming, dissipated student of St. John's, Cambridge--a friend in a slouched hat and an immense pair of jack-boots, and a lady who delicately invites her lover (the hero) "to a |
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