Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Amusement, Travel, Scientific Practitioners, Charlatanry, Stratigraphy, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Collecting, Amateurism, Public Health

    Informs Mr Punch of his unsatisfactory holiday experiences at the seaside. Later describes his enjoyment of the countryside near Ilfracombe (Devon) which, Punch notes, elicits Shylock's 'shallow parade of scientific knowledge'. Shylock describes Ifracombe's 'succession of bays, formed by the wildest headlands and shattered and twisted rock (grauwacke of the clay-slate formation [...])', and the riches it has in store for the 'retiring zoophyte', the marine gardener (who can enjoy such delights as the 'sea-anemone' that 'expands its many-coloured petals'), and the botanist and 'fern-hunter'. He goes on to praise the efforts of the local board of health in keeping the streets clean.