In this 1869 #Punch cartoon, rivals Gladstone and Disraeli exchange flowers while clutching switches behind their backs.
Gladstone's gift is a sprig of foxglove, which—according to folklore—foxes used to muffle the sound of their footsteps.
@FolkloreThurs #FolkloreThursday
A little late to @FolkloreThurs, but for the theme of births: the figure of the New Year's baby replacing yesteryear's elder appeared frequently in Victorian popular media.
Here are a few examples from #Punch, including a pretty morbid one where the old year has... drowned? 😬
In a cartoon from 1888, Dædalus (Bismarck) warns Icarus (the new Kaiser, Wilhelm II) not to stray too close to the sun of "Cæsarism" in their flight. We now know how both ill-fated journeys ended. #FolkloreThursday
John Tenniel, "A Wise Warning," #Punch, Oct. 6, 1888.
#CowAppreciationDay (or more accurately - #CattleAppreciationDay)
John Tenniel, "The Bull They Wouldn't Fight," #Punch magazine, April 27, 1867.
For #FolkloreThursday, a bit of mythology in cartoon: the end of PM Benjamin Disraeli's short first gov't depicted as Ixion being punted from the starry heavens by Zeus. Disraeli had published a novel retelling the myth several years before. John Tenniel, #Punch, Dec. 1868.
A little Anglo-French ribbing with neoclassical flair from Linley Sambourne (though one of these structures attained worldwide icon status and the other did not), "Putting his nose out of joint," #Punch, March 8, 1890 #lunchtimetweets #Eiffeltower