n News._

_The Bridge._ You took lots of beating, my sky-scraping friend,
But BENJAMIN BAKER has compassed _that_ end;
I am sure Monsieur EIFFEL himself would allow
That the Bridge licks the Tower; so where are you _now_?

_The Tower._ _J'y suis et j'y reste_, my big friend and great rival,
I hope for a long and a glorious survival;
But don't mind admitting--all great souls are frank--
That you--for the present at least--take first rank
'Midst the mighty achievements adorning our sphere
Of our latest of Titans, the Great Engineer.

_The Bridge._ All hail, Engineering! No wonder you're proud
Of a work in whose honour all praises are loud;
No wonder 'tis opened by princes and peers
Amidst technical triumph and popular cheers;
No wonder that BENJAMIN BAKER feels glad,
Sir JOHN FOWLER and COOPER quite other than sad.
'Twas a very big job, 'tis a very big day,
And the whole country joins in the Scotchmen's Hooray!

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

What train of thought was it that led the indefatigable PERCY FITZGERALD
to write, _The Story of Bradshaw's Guide_, which appears in one of the
most striking wrappers that can be seen on a railway book-stall? How
pleasant if we could obtain a real outside coat-pocket railway guide
just this size. It is a pity that the Indefatigable and Percy-vering One
did not apply to _Mr. Punch_ for permission to reprint the page of
Bradshaw which appeared in _Mr. Punch's Bradshaw's Guide_, marvellously
illustrated by BENNETT, many years ago. This _magnum opus in parvo_ is
really interesting and amusing, but if there is one thing more than
another which he who runs and reads desiderates of an author writing of
time-tables and guides, it is accuracy. Now, in one particular instance,
our PERCY is inaccurate. He writes: "Close on fifty years have passed
by, and the guide with every year has continued, like _Mr. Stiggins_, to
be a 'swellin' wisibly.'" The Brave Baron challenges PERCY to mortal
combat on this issue, defying him to prove that _Mr. Stiggins_ was ever
described within the limits of _Pickwick_, as "swellin' wisibly." Will
the erudite biographer of _Bradshaw_ be surprised to learn, that, in the
first place, the description "swellin' wisibly" was never applied to
_Mr. Stiggins_ at all, but was u