Punch and Judy/Chapter 6

by John Payne Collier

CHAPTER VI.

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ON THE CHARACTER OF PUNCH.

Professor Richardson, of Glasgow, as everybody knows, wrote a series of "Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters," in which he entered at length into the design of the author, and the manner in which he had accomplished it. Other admirers of the works of the same poet have published separate dissertations on particular personages in his plays, such as Falstaff, Hamlet, &c. It seems to us that Punch, although not drawn by the same "master-hand," merits a similar distinction; and we shall accordingly proceed to offer a few remarks upon his character, as it is displayed in the most approved representations of the present day. Professor Richardson declared, even in his "fifth edition," that his work was unworthy of the public notice" (rather a bad compliment to his many readers), while we, on the contrary, in our first impression contend that our remarks well deserve attention; and we shall "be of the same opinion still," even if "convinced, against our will," that our work will never arrive at an equal degree of popularity.

We are more disposed to offer a few observations on the character of Punch, because upon none of the dramatis personæ of Shakespeare's plays has Professor Richardson bestowed a larger space, or a greater degree of labour, than on Richard III. and Sir John Falstaff: to both of these is Punch, in disposition and talents, akin; and he, besides, combines in his own person the deformity of the one^[1] and the obesity of the other. He is, as it were, a combination and concentration of two of the most prominent and original delineations on the stage: as if

"The force of nature could no farther go:
To make a third, she joined the other two."

The similarity between Richard and Falstaff, though not very obvious, has been fully established; and it consists in the intellectual superiority they both possess, and with the exercise of which the first gratifies his ambition, and the last his appetites. It is the possession of the same high talents (in the last instance applied very much to the attainment of the same ends,) which constitutes Punch's chief moral resemblance. The high authority to which we have just alluded lays it down, and, we may say, proves that "the pleasure we receive from the character of Richard is produced by those emotions which arise in the mind, on beholding great intellectual ability employed for inhuman and perfidious purposes."^[2] If we try the character of Punch by this test, shall we not arrive at the identical conclusion? Like the "crook-back prodigy," he is not "shaped for sportive tricks," and

"wants love's majesty,
To strut before a wanton, ambling nymph:"

but to compensate for these personal defects, Punch, like Richard, has "a tongue shall wheedle with the Devil," and he does, in fact, "wheedle with the Devil," to some purpose. His wit, his ingenuity, his rapid invention of expedients, or, in two words, his "intellectual ability," is employed for "inhuman and perfidious purposes," and hence the delight we experience during the representation of those scenes in which his genius is displayed.^[3] We freely admit that, as far as the moral is concerned, Shakespeare has the advantage of the author of "Punch and Judy," in both instances: Richard is slain, and Falstaff dismissed with contempt; but to this point we have already adverted in the preceding chapter.

"The desire of gratifying the grosser and lower appetites is the ruling and strongest principle in the mind of Falstaff."^[4] Only substitute the name of Punch for that of the fat, witty, and luxurious knight, and every syllable is equally applicable. A great deal has been written pro and con, on the question of Falstaff's cowardice, and it now seems agreed by the learned, not "the commentators on Shakespeare,"

"Deep-vers'd in books and shallow in themselves;
Crude and intoxicate, collecting toys
And trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge:"

But, by those who have some knowledge of the human mind and its operations, that Falstaff is no coward: while he avows "discretion to be the better part of valour," he only avoids situations of danger, not from constitutional fear of them, but because his strong sense revolts at incurring peril were it is needless. As one of our old translators of Horace shrewdly says, in reference to that poet's disappearance at the battle of Philippi, "a soldier is no more bound to fight when he is out of his humour, than an orator to speak when he is out of his wits; nor is it prudent for a man of wit and learning to have his brains beaten out by one that has none."^[5] Such is precisely the "discretion," which Falstaff commends. Punch, however, is less prudent than Falstaff, and, in some instances, may perhaps, be almost charged with being a little fool-hardy. He is more amorous; and in seeking to gratify this propensity, he must, of course, be sometimes prepared, like Don Juan, (whom in this respect he resembles,) "to run upon the very edge of hazard." If, in the course of his adventures, Punch be now and then guilty of ridiculous extravagancies, apparently inconsistent with part of the character we have drawn of him, let it be remembered in the words of Pascal, "l'extreme esprit est accusée de la folie, comme l'extreme défaut."

We have it upon very high and ancient authority, that "no bad man can be happy,"^[6] and, if this maxim be true, the character of Punch is so far out of nature: he hardly knows a moment's unhappiness, from the beginning to the end of his career, scarcely excepting even the period of his confinement before he is led out to execution. Punch, in this respect, beats Macheath, as they used to say, "out of all cry;" but then the Captain, compared with Punch, is only a "petty-larceny villain," who is obliged to dose himself with brandy. Punch's confidence and presence of mind never desert him; and these qualities, combined with his personal but prudent courage, carry him through every difficulty, and enable him to triumph over every adversary. The great French satirist severely lashes those writers, who "make vice amiable."^[7] and of this charge, we cannot acquit the author or authors of "Punch and Judy." In the person of the hero, and in the success of his criminal attempts, vice is most assuredly rendered too attractive, if we suppose that his example can have any effect upon those who witness his amusing performances.

Such is the character of Punch, as he is represented in this country, but in Italy he still preserves most of the qualities for which he was originally notorious. Baretti tells us, that his part is that of a "timid weak fellow, who is always thrashed by the other actors, and always boasts of victory after they are gone;"^[8] and the author of a modern work, upon the manners and amusements of the Italians, thus speaks of the exhibitions in which Punch is engaged and of the figure he cuts in them.

"Two inferior theatres, La Fenice and San Carlino, both in the Largo del Castello, are chiefly devoted to farces and pantomimes. There you see Policinella in his genuine colours. Policinella is represented as a servant of Acerra,^[9] a village in the neighbourhood of Naples, and he is so highly gifted by nature and accomplished by education, that he is at once a thief, a liar, a coward, a braggart, and a debauchee: still the facetious way in which he relates his various feats, enraptures the grovelling countrymen. He delights in licentious "double entendre," gross jokes, and dirty tricks; there is not a single good quality in him: his cunning is very low, and he is always outwitted when he meets with any person of sense, so that in the end he is generally discovered, imprisoned, whipped, and hanged. Such is the celebrated Policinella. There are many houses for puppet-shows, where, at any time of the day, one may go in for a few "grains," provided one's olfactory nerves are not too keen for the smell produced by the crowd of dirty fellows who resort to them. There are also ambulatory puppet-shows in the streets."^[10]

It has been said, that "in England every thing intellectual advances by rapid strides;" and no more striking or convincing proof can be given of its truth than the change, especially of late years, which has occured in the character of Punch. In Italy, he has remained stationary: he is there now, what he was two hundred years ago; but here, he is no longer the blunt-headed booby, "always outwitted," represented in the preceding extract, but a personage in general far too clever for any of those with whom he has to deal: instead of being "discovered" and "hanged," he contrives to have his executioner, "trussed up" in his place; and finally, by the happy union of intellect and corporeal strength, defeats and destroys "man's greatest enemy," and becomes "the devil's butcher," when the fiend hoped to have had him "in fee-simple, with fine and recovery."

We cannot close the character of our hero without inserting a sonnet (and its coda, as the Italians call it,) in praise of Punch, by no less a man, if we are rightly informed, than the poet, among whose latest works it was to continue and vary the story of "Don Juan." It is highly characteristic of the author, and of the representation it celebrates with so much truth and vivacity.

SONNET TO PUNCH.

Triumphant Punch! with joy I follow thee
Through the glad progress of thy wanton course;
Where life is painful with such truth and force,
Its equal on our stage we never see,
Whether thou kill'st thy wife with jolly glee,
Hurl'st thy sweet babe away without remorse,
Mount'st, and art quickly thrown from off thy horse,
Or dance with "pretty Poll," so fair and free;
Having first slain with just disdain her sire,
Deaf to music of thy sheep-bell lyre:
Who loves not music, is not fit to live!
Then, when the hangman comes, who can refuse
To laugh, when thou his head into the noose
Hast nimbly thrust, while he gets no reprieve? Who feigns to grieve
Thou goest unpunish'd in the fiend's despite,
And slay'st him too, is but a hypocrite. 'Tis such delight
To see thee cudgel his black carcase antique,
For very rapture I am almost frantic!

Having now traced the history of Mr. Punch,^[11] we shall proceed, we believe, for the first time in this or any other country, to put his performances upon record. It is time to do so for the benefit of posterity; lest, as society gradually acquires a more superfine polish that it even now possesses, it should be impossible, hereafter, to print what is fortunately yet considered innocent and harmless. Addison tell us, that "the merry people of the world are the amiable," and in the language of "a man forbid," we address ourselves to those,

"Chi amano, senza smorfia e ipocrisia,
"Gl' innocenti piaceri e l' allegria."

1. As he was to have "a spice or somewhat more" of Don Juan about him, and as we are told

   "A decent leg is what all ladies like,"

   it was not thought expedient by the inventor or inventors of Punch, to represent him with Richard's tibial disfigurement. Punch's legs are not "legs for boots," but legs fit "to make legs with," and to make legs by. We never saw him at any exhibition without a pair, models of their kind, and in showing which he evinced no slight degree of vanity. There is not, at present, such a thing as a good male leg on the stage; so that Punch may be excused if he is a little ostentatious. Lord Byron calls a delicate hand and a good leg the criterion of good blood; Punch's leg is not so remarkable for "a vulgar quantity of calf," as for the fineness of its ankle, and the general symmetry of its proportions.

2. Edition 1797, p. 204.
3. We have elsewhere alluded to the possible intentions of Silvio Fiorillo in giving Punch such a stupendous nose; but we omitted one reason which may here be assigned, and would have been the more applicable, had our hero in Italy at all times possessed the same unrivalled talents he invariably displays in this country. This reason is contained in the productions of some of the Burlesque Poets of Italy; who, however, as we have before remarked, do not, and could not, mention Punch, as he was not invented when they most flourished. Ludovico Dolce has a "capitolo in lode del Naso," highly extolling "un gran pezzo di naso," and declaring "che l'huomo è degno d'ogni stima" who is so provided: he afterwards proceeds thus in point, and that point is not lost in our translation.

   If any man has but a gracious nose,
   I mean a nose in longitude not scanty,
   His brain with wit and fancy overflows.
   Do we not know that the immortal Dante
   Had a huge nose? and that's the real cause
   He wrote so well.—Ovid, in style so janty,
   And yet so natural, obtain'd applause
   By his great nose, which likewise gave him name:
   Horace and Virgil envied him.—His jaws
   Berni had vainly open'd, to his shame,
   And to the loss of our supreme delight,
   But that his nose was like a torch on flame.

   Punch has a similar ornament, and the same causes produce the same effects.

4. Richardson's Essays, 1797, p. 249.
5. Alexander Broome's "Life of Horace," prefixed to "The Poems of Horace," &c. by several hands." London, 1666.
6. Nemo malus fœlix, &c. Juvenal Satires, iv.
7. Je ne puis estimer ces dangereux auteurs
   Qui, de l'honneur en vers infames déserteurs,
   Trahissent la vertu sur un papier coupable,
   Aux yeux de leurs lecteurs rendent le vice amiable.
   "Boileau Art. Poet." chap. 4.
   
   
8. Tolondron, p. 324.
9. See chap. I. of this work.
10. "Italy, and the Italians in the Nineteenth Century," chap. 1. The dress worn by Punch is represented hi one of Panelli's "Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi," Rome, 1816. It represents the performance of a puppet-show in the streets of Rome, exactly in the same way as they are exhibited in this country. In Naples, sometimes a third person stands on an elevation at the side, and explains, or "interprets," for the characters. Penelli makes Punch wear a black mask, like Harlequin.
11. In reference to the origin of his family name, we may add, that some have erroneously derived it from the liquor punch, (which itself comes from the Indian Palepuntz, or Palepunsche,) on the same principle that the Italian character Macaroni is said to have been taken from the approved dish of that name and as our Jack Pudding and the German Hanns Wurst, (before mentioned,) from the attachment of the mob to puddings or sausages. The fact is, that Punch is only a familiar abbreviation of Punchinello, which is itself corrupted from Pulcinella.

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