5 DECEMBER 1885, Page 23

The Panjandrum Picture. Book. By Randolph Caldecott. (George Rontledge and

Sons.)—We are inclined to think that either Mr. Randolph Caldecott or the stock of nursery rhymes is played out. With the exception of one picture showing the King following good Madame Blaize, there is not, to our humble judgment, a really funny picture in the book. The great Panjandrum himself is made into a schoolmaster in cap and gown, but somehow he fails to amuse ; the Picninnies —a wedding party of children—are rather funny, but the Joblilies and the Garynlies, &c., are dull to stupidity. There is not a ghost of a smile to be raised by the "Banbury Cross" or "Come Lasses and Lade." It is true that the figures march and dance with their accustomed spirit ; but the spirit of fun seems to have evaporated.