and our Punch is from paunch.}
The drama or story of our Punch and Judy is attributed to Silvio Fiorillo,
an Italian comedian of the seventeenth century. The tale is this: Punch, in a fit of jealousy, strangles
his infant child, when Judy flies to her revenge. She fetches a bludgeon, with which she belabours her
husband, till Punch, exasperated, seizes another bludgeon and beats her to death, then flings into the
street the two dead bodies. The bodies attract the notice of a police officer, who enters the house. Punch
flees for his life; being arrested by an officer of the Inquisition, he is shut up in prison, from which he
escapes by means of a golden key. The rest is an allegory, showing how Punch triumphs over all the
ills that flesh is heir to. (1) Ennui, in the shape of a dog, is overcome; (2) Disease, in the disguise of
a doctor, is kicked out; (3) Death is beaten to death; and (4) the Devil himself is outwitted.
Pleased as
Punch. (See Pleased.)