Charivari

Charivari, the French equivalent for the "rough music" with which unpopular persons are sometimes saluted in France, as in our rural districts. It was not uncommon on the Continent of Europe during the Middle Ages, and was specially directed against those suspected of various matrimonial offences, in particular widowers or widows who married again, or wives who beat their husbands. The practice occasionally provoked interference by the Government, especially in France. The name was adopted by the prototype of Punch, the satirical paper Charivari of Paris, first published December 2, 1832. Felix Pyat and Lucien Reybaud were amongst the earlier members of the editorial staff. The paper had to suffer twenty prosecutions during the reign of Louis Philippe.