in to the rescue; he had not only preserved some of the brilliant things
that he (Col. Sibthorp) had said, but had also reported many of the
extremely original witticisms that he had intended to have uttered.
(_Hear_!) There were many honourable gentlemen--(he begged
pardon--gentlemen, he meant, without the honourable; but he had been so
long a member of parliament that he had acquired a habit of calling men
and things out of their proper names). Apologising for so lengthy a
parenthesis, he would say that there were many gentlemen who were equally
indebted (_hear! from Sir Peter Laurie, Peter Borthwick, and Pre-Adam
Roebuck_) to this jocular benefactor. "It was PUNCH," said the gallant
gentleman, with much feeling, "who first convinced me that the popular
opinion of my asinine capabilities was erroneous. It was PUNCH who
discovered that there was as much in my head as on it(_loud cheers,
produced doubtlessly by the aptness of the simile, the gallant Colonel
being perfectly bald_). I should, therefore, be the most ungrateful of
Members for Lincoln, did I not entreat of this meeting to mark their high
sense of Mr. PUNCH'S exertions by a liberal subscription" (_cheers_).

SIR PETER LAURIE acknowledged himself equally in debt with their gallant
Chairman to the object of the present meeting. He (Sir Peter) had tried
all schemes to obtain popularity--he had made speeches without number or
meaning--he had done double duty at the Mansion-house, and had made Mr.
Hobler laugh more heartily than any Lord Mayor or Alderman since the days
of Whittington (during whose mayoralty the venerable Chief Clerk first
took office)--he (Sir P. Laurie) had, after much difficulty and four
years' practice, received the Queen on horseback (_much cheering_); but
(_continued cheering_)--but it was left for PUNCH to achieve his
immortality (_immense cheering--several squares of glass in the
conservatory opposite broken by the explosion_). He (Sir P. Laurie) had
done all in his power to deserve the notice of that illustrious wooden