have sufficient magnanimity to refrain from giving you
in charge. (SPIKER _sneaks off, crushed_.) And now, my children, and
my faithful old servant, congratulate me that I am no longer----

_Verbena and Lord Bleshugh (together)._ Under the Harrow!

[_Affecting Family Tableau and quick Curtain._

* * * * *

[Illustration: BLANK REFUSAL.

_B-lf-r._ "QUITE EASY TO GET THE MONEY, IF YOU'LL BACK THE BILL."
_P-rn-ll._ "NO, THANK YOU!"]

* * * * *

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS.--Sir JOHN GILBERT
leads off with an excellent landscape "_Autumn_," which is full of
his best quality. The presidential key-note thus struck, seems to have
been taken up by the rest of the exhibitors, for in the present show
there is certainly a preponderance of landscapes. Among the most
notable contributions may be named those by Messrs. BIRKET FOSTER,
A. D. FRIPP, T. LLOYD, C. B. PHILLIP, HEMY, SMALLFIELD, MARSHALL,
GOODWIN, WATERLOW, E. K. JOHNSON, STACY MARKS, HENSHALL, J. D. WATSON,
T. J. WATSON, HENRY MOORE, CARL HAAG, Miss CLARA MONTALBA, Mrs.
ALLINGHAM and Miss C. PHILLOTT. The exhibition, though it appears to
be not so large as usual, is a very interesting one.

"AN UNCONSIDERED TRIFLE."--One of the clever young men who assist in
that excellent _Daily Telegraph_ salad, "London Day by Day," without
which, served fresh and fresh every morning, life would not be worth
living, said, last Tuesday, that "the latest on 'Change is that
STANLEY declares he never saw EMIN PASHA. Why? Because there's no M in
Pasha." _Mr. Punch_, December 21, 1889, originated it in this form:--

A MYTHICAL PERSON: EMIN PASHA.--Why this fuss about a man who does not
exist? There's no _M in_ "Pasha."

"It's of no consequence;" only, given as the latest quotation on
'Change, was not quite up to date for "London Day by Day."

* * * * *

AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY.

WHAT _is_ a "Sphere of Influence"?
Say, warlike WISSMANN; tell, pugnacious PINTO
(Whom England had to give so sharp a hint to).
The talk about the thing is now immense.
JOHN BULL, the German, and the Portuguee,
Claim each a "sphere," and that alone makes three;
But what and where are they upon the map?
And do they intersect or overlap?
One wonders what they are and where they _can_ lie.
STANLEY flouts EMIN, EMIN rounds on STANLEY;
On Shire's shore raid Portuguese