Excerpt from Punch's Letters to His Son, and Punch's Complete Letter-Writer These letters were originally addressed to, I verily believe, my own son. In them, I have endeavoured to enshrine the wisdom of my life. In them, I have sought to paint men as they are - to sketch the scenes of the world as they have presented themselves 'to my observation - to show the spring of human motives - to exhibit to the Opening mind of youth the vulgar wires that, because unseen, make a mystery of common-place. I am prepared to be much abused for these epistles. They are written in lemon-juice. Nay, the little sacs in the jaws of the rattle-snake, wherein the reptile elaborates its poison to strike with sudden death the beautiful and harmless guinea - pigs and coneys of the earth, - these venomous bags have supplied the quill that traced the mortal sentences. Or if it be not really so, it is no matter; the worthy, amiable souls, who would have even a Sawney Bean painted upon a rose - leaf, will say as much; so let mejor once be beforehand, and say it for them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.