R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

114 V. Sackville-Westdid not approve; and Mr Punch represents the averageEnglishman much more truly than does John Bull, forJohn Bull is a fixed type, whereas Mr Punch is a mirrorthat perpetually shifts the angle of reflection, constantthough the surface of that mirror remains.The woman of the future! she'll be deeply read, that's certain,With all the edueation gained at Newnham or at Girton;Or if she turns to classic tomes, a literary roamer,She'll give you bits of Horace or sonorous lines from Homer.Thus said Punch; and added,Oh pedants of these later days, who go on undiscerningTo overload a woman's brains and cram our girls with learning,You'll make a woman half a man, the souls of parents vexing,To find that all the gentle sex this process is unsexing.Thus Punch complained; and complained perhaps all thelouder because the fashion and necessity of the day hadcut out one of his ribs and fashioned a Mrs Punch—aMrs Punch, who, in the person of a Miss Matilda Betham-Edwards, had begun to interfere in his paper as early as1868, and who had already ventured so far as to call mana ' despot to whom woman is a ministering slave'. Womenwere really becoming intolerable. The Married Women'sProperty Act was a serious topic of conversation; theFeminist Movement, and, with it, the woman's vote, hadcalled for Mr Punch's notice as far back as 1857; Huxley,the great Professor Huxley, was actually lecturing towomen in South Kensington in 1870; certain fanaticsmaintained that women ought to be admitted to the Bar;women were taking to games: to croquet and archery—well, that was just admissible; archery was a pretty sport,that in its gesture displayed the figure to its best advantage,and croquet gave to the dear creatures a generousopportunity to cheat, and to Mr Punch the opportunityfor a standing joke—so far so good, but now lawn-tenniswas threatened with feminine competition, and even