The Grand Panjandrum

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The Grand Panjandrum
by Samuel Foote

Published in 1755 to test the memory of the actor Charles Macklin, who had claimed he could read any paragraph once through and then recite it verbatim.

1198924The Grand PanjandrumSamuel Foote

As quoted in the 1820 novel Harry and Lucy concluded (vol. 2) by Maria Edgeworth


So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf, to make an apple pie; and at the same time a great she-bear coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. 'What! no soap?' So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber; and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top; and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.


In 1885 this nonsense paragraph was published as a poem in a picture book by Randolph Caldecott using the words "great Panjandrum":

So she went into the garden
to cut a cabbage-leaf
to make an apple-pie;
and at the same time
a great she-bear, coming down the street,
pops its head into the shop.
What! no soap?
     So he died,
and she very imprudently married the Barber:
and there were present
the Picninnies,
     and the Joblillies,
          and the Garyulies,
and the great Panjandrum himself,
with the little round button at top;
and they all fell to playing the game of catch-as-catch-can,
till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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