* * * *

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)

The following intelligence from the seat of war, though premature in
some respects, and _not quite_ new in others, may be acceptable to your
readers, from A.A.A.

ALPHABETICAL ALLITERATION.

An awful army, artfully array'd,
Boldly by battery besieg'd Belgrade;
Cossack commanders cannonading come,
Dealing destruction's devastating doom,
Every endeavour engineers essay,
For fame, for fortune, forming furious fray.
Gaunt gunners grapple, giving gashes good,
Heaves high his head heroic hardihood;
Ibraham, Islam, Ismael, imps in ill,
Jostle John Jarovlitz, Jem, Joe, Jack, Jill.
Kick kindling Kutusoff, king's kinsmen kill;
Labour low levels loftiest, longest lines,
Men march 'mid moles, 'mid mounds, 'mid murd'rous mines.
Now nightfall's near, now needful nature nods,
Oppos'd, opposing, overcoming odds.
Poor peasants, partly purchas'd, partly press'd,
Quite quaking, "Quarter!--quarter!" quickly 'quest.
Reason returns, recalls redundant rage,
Saves sinking soldiers, softens signiors sage.
Truce, Turkey, truce! truce, treach'rous Tartar train!
Unwise, unjust, unmerciful ukraine!
Vanish, vile vengeance! vanish, victory vain!
Wisdom wails war--wails warring words. What were
Xerxes, Xantippe, Ximenes, Xavier?
Yet, Yassy's youth, ye yield your youthful yest,
Zealously, zanies, zealously, zeal's zest.

* * * * *

Ye learned, pray say, who dark mysteries unfold,
Why razors cut better with _hot_ water than _cold_.

Every kind of knife or razor is a fine saw, though we cannot possibly
see it with the naked eye; and on all the edges of those fine polished
tools there sticks a kind of resinous substance, which, when put into
warm water, takes off the same, and makes the razor cut more easy and
free.

* * * * *

A father had three sons, in whose company he was walking when an old
enemy of his came running out of an ambush, and inflicted a severe wound
upon him before any of the bystanders could interfere. The eldest son
pursued the assassin, the second bound up his father's wound, and the
third swooned away. Which of the sons loved his father best?

* * * * *

MRS. BILLINGTON.

At a rehearsal of _As You Like It_, Mrs. Billington, who sustained the
principal female character,