ttees, and so forth.
How delightful to be able to flock all by yourself! It recalls the bould
Irish soldier who "took six Frenchmen prisoners by surrounding them"?

* * * * *

THE GRAMMAR OF ART.--"Art," spell it with a big or little "a," can never
come first in any well-educated person's ideas. "I am" must have the
place of honour; then "Thou Art!" so apostrophised, comes next.

* * * * *

[Illustration: ROYAL ACADEMICIANS AT MILLBANK.

("We understand that Millbank Prison, the site offered
by Sir WILLIAM HARCOURT for the National Gallery of
British Art, has been accepted by Mr. TATE."--_Morning
Papers._)]

* * * * *

[Illustration: For Sail or Return.]

FROM PENCIL TO PEN.

(_A Story of the Merry Yule-Tide Season._)

_Publisher's Sanctum._ Publisher _and_ Author _discovered in
conference_.

_Publisher._ And so I thought that, perhaps, with your kind assistance,
we might work off some of the blocks that have been left on our hands
under the unfortunate circumstances I have just related.

_Author._ Certainly. Quite easy. You want to get a Christmas Number out
of them. All right--give me the subjects, and I will just jot down how
they shall be worked in. We will commence--hero and heroine--say, for
the moment, _Edwin_ and _Angelina_.

_Pub._ (_looking at pictures_). I fancy this is intended for somewhere
in the neighbourhood of the North Pole. Sailors surrounded by white
bears on an iceberg.

_Auth._ Very good. _Edwin's_ father was an Arctic explorer. Write under
sketch, "The old man had many a startling adventure in the silent land
of eternal snow." Go on.

_Pub._ Here is, seemingly, a quarrel to the death, in the time of
CHARLES THE SECOND. Ball-room, with Cavaliers and their Ladies. Central
group, a fight with swords. Can we do anything with it?

_Auth._ Why, certainly. _Edwin_ excites the jealousy of _Angelina's_
cousin _Reginald_. The latter calls out the former at a fancy-dress
dance. Label it--"_Captain de Courcy_ was too impatient to wait until
the ball was over, but challenged his rival as the company were on the
eve of going down to supper." Drive on!

_Pub._ This seems rather a puzzle,--a ship sinking in mid-ocean.

_Auth._ The very thing. _Edwin_ having lost all his money on the Stock
Exchange, goes to Australia for more gold. Label--"The storm was
terrific, and the _Bel