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PUNCH LIBRARY OF HUMOUR

Edited by J. A. HAMMERTON

Designed to provide in a series of volumes, each complete in itself,
the cream of our national humour, contributed by the masters of comic
draughtsmanship and the leading wits of the age to “Punch,” from its
beginning in 1841 to the present day.

MR. PUNCH IN SOCIETY

[Illustration]




[Illustration: _He._ “By the bye, talking of old times, do you remember
that occasion when I made such an awful ass of myself?”

_She._ “_Which?_”]




                         MR. PUNCH IN SOCIETY

                   BEING THE HUMOURS OF SOCIAL LIFE

                       _WITH 133 ILLUSTRATIONS_

                                  BY

    GEORGE DU MAURIER, CHARLES KEENE, PHIL MAY, L. RAVEN-HILL, C.
    E. BROCK, J. BERNARD PARTRIDGE, A. S. BOYD, REGINALD CLEAVER,
    LEWIS BAUMER, F. H. TOWNSEND AND OTHERS

                            [Illustration]

                     PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH
                      THE PROPRIETORS OF “PUNCH”

                     THE EDUCATIONAL BOOK CO. LTD




THE PUNCH LIBRARY OF HUMOUR

_Twenty-five Volumes, crown 8vo, 192 pages fully illustrated_

    LIFE IN LONDON
    COUNTRY LIFE
    IN THE HIGHLANDS
    SCOTTISH HUMOUR
    IRISH HUMOUR
    COCKNEY HUMOUR
    IN SOCIETY
    AFTER DINNER STORIES
    IN BOHEMIA
    AT THE PLAY
    MR. PUNCH AT HOME
    ON THE CONTINONG
    RAILWAY BOOK
    AT THE SEASIDE
    MR. PUNCH AFLOAT
    IN THE HUNTING FIELD
    MR. PUNCH ON TOUR
    WITH ROD AND GUN
    MR. PUNCH AWHEEL
    BOOK OF SPORTS
    GOLF STORIES
    IN WIG AND GOWN
    ON THE WARPATH
    BOOK OF LOVE
    WITH THE CHILDREN

[Illustration]




INTRODUCTION


[Illustration]

It would be difficult to think of _Mr. Punch’s_ prototype of the
immortal drama as “in Society”; but, however much our national jester
may resemble in facial detail the somewhat rude and impulsive character
from whom he took his name, he is in all his instincts a gentleman. In
other words, it is just here that PUNCH has differed from most comic
journals, being, if not absolutely from the first number, certainly
from its early days, distinguished for refinement of taste and good
manners, not less than for its wit and humour. “MR. PUNCH in Society”
is indeed MR. PUNCH in his most congenial surroundings, as he has been
above all else the untiring, irrepressible satirist of the social world.

If an analysis were made of all the drawings which have appeared in
PUNCH from 1841 to the present day, we venture to think that those
devoted to Society’s ways, its foibles, its follies, would greatly
outnumber the illustrations of any other phase of life. And was not
the entire career of one of MR. PUNCH’S most celebrated artists
devoted exclusively to social satire? The name of George du Maurier
is pre-eminent in the history of modern humorous art. To an unerring
instinct for character, shrewd but never unkindly satire, he united a
profound sense of beauty which made his work unique and individual. It
was thus that to a vast public, of which only a very small proportion
could be expected to possess any art culture, Du Maurier’s work
appealed with irresistible force, his charming lightness of touch,
his gaiety, which came no doubt from his Gallic origins, rendering
everything from his pencil a source of delight to the general public,
no less than to the students of draughtsmanship.

Du Maurier’s connection with PUNCH began in 1860 and his earliest work
displayed very little of that wonderful grace to which it attained
before many years had passed, but Mr. Henry James, discussing his
art so long ago as 1883, said that “since 1868, PUNCH has been,
artistically speaking, George du Maurier,” an opinion which would
certainly be accepted in America, where for a generation the cultured
classes looked to Du Maurier, as Mr. Spielman reminds us, “almost
exclusively, not only for English fashions in male and female attire,
the _dernière mode_ in social etiquette, but for the truest reflection
of English life and character.”

When we consider that almost exclusively in the pages of MR. PUNCH
is the artistic life-work of Du Maurier contained, we shall see
how inexhaustible a treasury is there to be drawn upon for such a
collection as the present. We have thought it wise, however, not to
limit “MR. PUNCH in Society” to the work of any one humorist, but have
sought to present a collection of Du Maurier’s best social satires in
company with those of many other artists who, in their individual ways,
have also depicted the humours of social life.

[Illustration]




MR. PUNCH IN SOCIETY

       *       *       *       *       *

A SEASONABLE LETTER

[Illustration]

                                                  _Huntingthorpe Hall._

MY DEAR JACK,--I want you to come down on Monday and stay a couple of
days with me. My wife will be delighted, as you can help her with a
children’s party, and also play Pantaloon in a little thing being got
up by the young people. I will mount you on the Tuesday with our Stag
hounds, as I know you are fond of a day’s hunting. No, don’t thank me,
my dear chap--I shall be only too glad if you will go, as the horse I
am intending to put you on is a rank brute, and when he doesn’t refuse
his fences--which is a rare occurrence--he invariably falls into them.
However, you won’t mind _that_, will you?

You will have to put up with real bachelor accommodation, I am afraid,
as the house is crammed. The best I can do for you is a half share of
one of the attics. Our cook has left us, all unexpectedly, so this
places her room at our disposal for two of you. The kitchen-maid is
doing her best to keep us from starving; but, though she means well, I
can hardly class her as a _cordon bleu_.

Louise Dearlove, that pretty little girl you were so sweet upon last
season, is unable to come; but her brother--the red-headed youth who
was always trying to pick a quarrel with you--will be here.

I am so short of horses that I fear I must ask you to cab the four
miles up from the station; but I am sure you won’t mind taking the
rough with the smooth.

                                              Yours ever,
                                                          JOHN JOSTLER.

As the recipient of the above invitation, I ask which is “the smooth”?

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration: WHAT THE DANCING MAN HAS COME TO

“Not dancing any more to-night, Fred?”

“No; and, what’s more, I’ll never put my foot in this house again! Why,
I’ve been _introduced three times_!”]

       *       *       *       *       *

[Illustration: THE TERRORS OF SOCIAL LIFE

_Stout Lady (at a charity ball)._ “Excuse me, Lady Godolphin, but I
_should_ so like to make some notes of your charming costume--may I?”

