Mr Mansfield and the Musicians
Anon
Genre: | Letter, Spoof |
Subjects: | Crime, Mathematics, Scientific Practitioners, Music, Genius, Invention |
Addressed to the 'London Magistrate', Mr Mansfield, presents Mr Punch's praise of Mansfield for having no regrets about prosecuting the 'ill-advised ruffians' who 'broke peaceful Englishmen's heads in the Park', and for prosecuting the street musicians who irritated the 'great mathematician' Charles Babbage. Notes Mr Punch's suggestion that the 'animals' who irritate Babbage might be 'some kind of Gorilla' and that Babbage and Paul B Du Chaillu could investigate them. Inveighs against these 'creatures' for not comprehending that Babbage's 'genius' is an 'honour to the country', or the importance of his inventions. Wonders if there is 'female malice in it', a 'shrewish Materfamilias' who would have disturbed Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal in their studies. |
© Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Project, Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, 2005 - 2020
Printed from Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: An Electronic Index, v. 4.0, The Digital Humanities Institute <http://www.sciper.org> [accessed ]