ay it without offence--
It shuns the Law as a pestilence.

"'Tis all the fault," said this great Law Lord,
"Of demands for inspection, and similar pleas;
Of expenses that neither side can afford,
Commissions and interrogator-ees;
Till Pelion's piled on Ossa--and hence
Men shun the Law as a pestilence.

"_I_ call it oppression, and I'm a Judge!
We must put it down, for the wrong's acute;
And then the public no fees will grudge,
But will rush to get suited with a suit;
For Law, the perfection of common sense,
Should never be shunned as a pestilence!"

* * * * *

KING JOHN AT OXFORD.

The Oxford University Dramatic Society have acted another Shakspearian
play with conspicuous success. To say that the O.U.D.S. have acted a
play of SHAKSPEARE is to say nothing, seeing that they are compelled,
under fear of the most dreadful punishments known to the University
Calendar, to confine their histrionic efforts to the drama as
SHAKSPEARE wrote it, with an occasional excursion into the dramatic
verse of BROWNING. A great many, however, of the most influential
members of the Hebdomadal Council are said to view any such departure
from SHAKSPEARE with alarm, as calculated to impair the discipline and
sap the morality of the tender nurselings confided to their charge,
and it is doubtful if the experiment will be repeated. Long live the
legitimate drama, say I, and so say all of us. But, after all, it may
be questioned whether those who can listen unharmed to the broad, and,
if I may say so, "illegitimate" humour of _Faulconbridge_ in _King
John_ would take much damage from SHERIDAN, or LYTTON, or TOM
TAYLOR, or even--though I make this particular suggestion with bated
breath--from the performance of such burlesques as the A.D.C. at
Cambridge from time to time offers to its patrons.

All this is, however, by the way. We must take the O.U.D.S. as we find
it, and I must confess I found it in a very strong and flourishing
condition during the performance of _King John_. The audience is not
an easy one to act to. Not that it errs on the side of over-criticism.
Rather it is too painfully friendly and familiar with the actors. Here
is a stray example culled from the Stalls:--

_Enter_ King PHILIP, _the_ DAUPHIN, _and attendant Knights._

_Undergraduate in the Stalls_ (_to his Neighbour_). Halloa! There's
old Johnnie in chain armour and a helmet. Did you ever see