This is my bell, (hits) this my organ, (hits) this my fiddle, (hits) this my drum, (hits) and this my trumpet, (hits) there! a whole concert for you.
Servant. No more! me dead.
Punch. Quite dead.
Servant. Yes, quite.
Punch. Then there's the last for luck, (hits him and kills him. He then takes hold of the body by its legs, swings it round two or three times, and throws it away)
Act III.
Enter an Old Blind Man, feeling his way with a staff; he goes to the opposite side when he knocks.
Blind Man. Poor blind man, Mr. Punch; I hope you'll bestow your charity; I hear that you are very good and kind to the poor, Mr. Punch; pray have pity upon me, and may you never know the loss of your tender eyes! (listens, putting his ear to the side, and hearing nobody coming, knocks again) I lost my sight by the sands in Egypt;[1] poor blind man. Pray, Mr. Punch, have compassion upon the poor stone blind, (coughs, and spits over the side) Only a halfpenny to buy something for my bad cough. Only one halfpenny, (knocks again)
Enter Punch, and receives one of the knocks, intended for the door, upon his head.
Punch. Hollo! you old blind blackguard, can't you see?
Blind Man. No, Mr. Punch. Pray, sir, bestow your charity upon a poor blind man, with a bad cough, (coughs)
Punch. Get along, get along; don't trouble me:—nothing for you.
Blind Man. Only a halfpenny! Oh, dear! my cough is so bad! (coughs and spits in Punch's face)
- ↑ Of cause, this explanation of the cause of blindness was inserted after Sir Ralph Abercrombie's expedition to Egypt, when many beggars were seen about the streets asking alms on the same score. Before that date, some other popular cause was, no doubt, assigned.
