Lamb-like, but the
illustrations are very quaint, and the Pocket Volume is a curiosity of
literature.

BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

* * * * *

A REALLY VALUABLE SUGGESTION.

(_TO THE EDITOR OF PUNCH._)

DEAR SIR,--As the conductor of the recognised organ of the legal
profession, I have the honour to address you. My learned and
accomplished friend. Mr. MONTAGU WILLIAMS, Q.C., complained the other
day that there was a right of appeal from the Police Court to the
Bench of Middlesex Magistrates. He said that his colleagues were
barristers and gentlemen of considerable eminence, and in those
characters were better able to decide upon the merits of a case
than the persons who compose the Tribunal to which appeal from their
decision is permissible. I have not recently looked through the list
of Metropolitan Police Magistrates, but, if they have been chosen from
the ranks of literature and law, as they were thirty years ago, I can
well understand that they are an exceedingly capable body of men.
That so accomplished a _litterateur_ and admirable an advocate as my
friend Mr. MONTAGU WILLIAMS himself should have been raised to the
Magisterial bench, is a proof that the standard has been maintained.
But, Sir, can nothing be done for the other tribunal?

Would it not be possible to appoint a certain proportion of
stipendiaries, with ample salaries, to that body? What is wanted are
men with a perfect knowledge of the law, and a large experience of
the adversities as well as the pleasures of life. If they occasionally
dabble in literature, so much the better. But, it may be said, where
are such men to be found? I answer, in very many places, and, to
encourage the authorities in their search, shall be most happy to
personally head the list.

Yours, very faithfully,

(_Signed_) A. BRIEFLESS, JUNIOR. _Pump-handle Court, Oct. 4th, 1890._

* * * * *

THE GROAN OF THE GUSHLESS.

(_A SONG A LA SHENSTONE._)

["What is described as an Anti-Gush Society has, according
to a Pittsburg paper, been formed in New York, its object
being to check the growing tendency, especially noticeable
among young people of the period, to express themselves in
exaggerated language."]

_Girl Member of the A.G.S. loq._:--

Ye maidens, so cheerful and gay,
Whose words ever fulsomely fall,
Oh, pity your friend, who to-day
Has become a Society's thrall.
Allo