RC going out fighting for Church and King; and then, just as we are
hanging suspended in mid-air over an awful precipice, there is a last
gallant effort, and we awake to find ourselves gasping for breath, and
awake to the fact that "Q.'s Pegasus" is a nightmare. It recalls
memories of LOUIS STEVENSON'S _Black Arrow_, but distances it by miles,
while here and there its vivid descriptions are equal to some of the
glowing pictures in SHORTHOUSE'S _John Inglesant_. The Baron hereby
recommends it as a stirring work for the novel-skipper in an idle hour.

By the way, it would be difficult, to say the least of it, to prove that
the slang phrase "shut up" and the Americanism "say" were never used in
A.D. 1642, in the sense in which they are used in 1890, but they are
scarcely characteristic of the modes of expression at that particular
period.

BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

* * * * *

A SONG _WITH_ WORDS.

(_Suggestively dedicated to Lord Bury._)

Oh! tell me not that you will "clic"
When I can but "electricate,"
Or, "propelected," merely "tric"
A distance I might well "volate."
For if to "Faradate" or "Volt"
In "motored" motion I may "glide,"
I wonder why I may not "bolt,"
When called on to "electricide."
Yet as each word I clip and splice,
I'm more than half inclined to "trice."

Let others "elk" until they're wild,
I will not "lectroceed" or "glint,"
And though their trip be "poled" or "piled"
I need not "coil," or "spark," or "scint."
No, if "electroflected" force
They use to "clash" along their way,
I p'raps might "ohm" upon my course
Or even "squirm," if "clicked" to-day.
"But no! the _Times_ gives sound advice,
As matters stand, I think I'll "trice"!

* * * * *

OUR ADVERTISERS.

THE DON JOSE GIANT GRAPE GINGER BEER.--Don JOSE DI GOMEZ, Marquis of
MAXILLO, Duke of BAGOTA, Grandee of Spain, Knight Grand Commander of the
Order of the Purple Alligator, G.R.M.C.S.S., &c., &c., having, owing to
some recent financial losses in connection with his ancestral estates in
South Patagonia, determined to listen to the advice of experts and
friends, who assure him that he possesses a complete mine of wealth in
the Giant Grape Vineyards, for which his Sicilian property has long been
celebrated, has made all the necessary arrangements for the manufacture
of a sound and serviceable sparkling Wine, which, und