Behind the Scenes

Wood engraving

Punch (4 April 1857): 135

"Pam" is apparently a pet form of Lord Viscount Palmerston, First Lord of the Treasury, and effectively Prime Minister of the Whig administration, Disraeli of the Tories then being in the Opposition. The cartoon puns on "house" (theatrical auditorium) and "House of Commons."

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham

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