Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 04, April 23, 1870 | Page 5

dub him Bishop of 'Ngami; which, you know, is one of those places that LIVINGSTONE (is he living, though?) found out. When any body questioned him, the said delegate was immediately to talk 'ngammon Latin; and His Holiness would interpret it to the council, as being the African for infallibility. It's wonderful how well this jolly dog gets on, with his dogmas and dog Latin together.
Now for news. After all, the most remarkable event has happened on your side of the water; but as Philadelphia is further from New York than New York is from Philadelphia, (the latter is so slow,) I don't believe you have heard it yet. There is a railroad, well known thereabouts, going to _Germantown._ Well, the event is, that the board of directors of that road have--will you believe it? I hardly do--ordered a _new car_--a palace-car! The way it happened was that, owing to the large use of cattle-cars on the Pacific Railroad, no more second-hand cars could be got for a month or two, bad enough for the directors to buy; and there wasn't a builder in the country willing to make their kind of cars to order.
On this side of the "big pond" we have had nothing so laughable as the MORDAUNT case. The charge of the presiding judge to the Prince of Wales has not been correctly reported. I am told that he spoke thus: "Your Royal Highness is advised that, on this occasion, it is not expected that your Royal Highness should tell the truth, unless your Royal Highness pleases; indeed, your Royal Highness is rather advised not to tell the truth. Now, will your Royal Highness, acting under this advice, please to say, whether he did, or did not, ever do any thing naughty?" Some one said to me at the time--are there not some mordants that will dye beyond whitewashing? But I believe that Wales always was moral, is moral, and always will he moral, (Balmoral!) Now, this last assertion I call news! Is it reliable?
More about Yokohama. An English sailor, from Captain EYRE'S vessel, is said to have murdered a Japanese, in cold blood, to rob his house. A court sat upon the case; and, after trial, pronounced this decision: "We regret to be obliged to find, that the man, CHAN-JUN, lost his life by an incision of his throat; and that the knife which made the incision was in the hand of the sailor called BILL BLINKS, of the Bombay. While, therefore, it would have been, undoubtedly, much better if the man CHAN-JUN, and his house, had been out of the way of the said BILL BLINKS, who by their proximity was placed under a temptation, we are unwillingly compelled to regret that BLINKS should have made an unfortunate incision of this kind. We are therefore of the opinion that the said WILLIAM BLINKS ought not to be allowed to have any grog for at least six days." This very severe sentence was, we are told, afterward remitted by request of Captain EYRE.
Our Roman delegate sends me word to-day, that, the Pope's gardener at the Vatican setting out a variety of early spring plants, every one of them came up a Hyacinth! One after another was sent to pot; but, hydra-headed, still they come! By the way, it is said that two newly noted people in the church are Frère JONQUIL and Soeur DAFFODIL; another is a negro priest, black as two ravens, and he is called Father CROCUS.
ROCHEFORT, we learn, the other day refused to eat any thing, because his prison food was at the cost of the Emperor's government. M. OLLIVIER forthwith sent him a polite autograph note of congratulation; telling him that this was the first act of his, public or private, of which he approved; and in the result of which the government, people, and world would take satisfaction. ROCHEFORT, after reading the note, twisted it up to light a cigarette, and then told his jailer to bring in his dinner! You _can't_ please that man.
M. CHASLES has just been appointed Curator of Autographs at the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris, with VRAIN LUCAS as his secretary. This gives general satisfaction.
Miss ANNE B----, of Philadelphia, who lives at Rome, has just written a charming song, with music for the piano, entitled, "Liszt, O Liszt!" The most famous aria, however, there now, is the malaria. Rome is sick. The people are sick of the Pope and his priests; the Pope is sick of the Council; the bishops are sick of each other; and travellers are sick of fever. _Sic transit!_
Let me tell you of my experience, for one day, with the "Press Ass" of the Cable. On getting here, finding him to be amicable, I tried him on. He gave me, for news, to