As part of my research for New Beginings on Vancouver Island I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary books and publications. I was really fortunate last month in coming across two bound re-issue volumes of Punch , or The London Chavari at Westwood Books in Sedbergh. https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/westwoodbooks My novel is set in Cumbria and Canada in 1854 so you can imagine it was a red letter day when I came across the two volumes both being 1854. Battered and worn ( well-loved) they may be, but for me they are a treasure trove of current thinking, costume of the day, historical happenings of the year etc.
The historian in me is fascinated by the Crimean War reports, and the writer in me rubbing her hands with glee at the use of language, the manners and topics of everyday life. Here’s something that just caught my eye as a good example of the humour of the times: The Difference between Two suits. “There is this difference between a Law- and a Love-Suit that with a Law-suit our fears are generally for the worst, whereas with a Love-Suit our hopes are always for the best.”
I thought I would share the cricket cartoon at the top of the page because it made me smile and maybe it will make you smile too. More from Volumes 27 and 28 of Punch another time.
From Lorna's Command Centre 