ABSTRACT
A rub of class on class, of E. J. Milliken’s Cockney impertinence upon upper-class reticence, is generated by the intrusion of 'Arry into the clubby world of nineteenth-century Punch. The contradiction reflects the ambivalent development of Punch itself, which struggled in the latter years of the century as its youthful radicalism mellowed into a comfortable Old Boyishness ill-suited to the changing social scene. Contextualized by the development of Punch, 'Arry holds an ambiguous position. Milliken's sly suggestion that Charlie and 'Any consider themselves the "world's masters" is subtly critical of the Punch stance, since it allies 'Arryism with Old Boyishness. From a vacation at the seaside to serious issues of women's rights, racism, and class, Milliken's Cockney verse letters mirror the life-cycle of the last third of the Victorian Age. Punch was less misogynistic than some of its contemporaries, but its perspective was that of the "bachelor clubman"—"The dear creatures must be fled when nagging and petted when feather-headed".
