hat balderdash which reminds one of 'The
Rivals,' where Acres says, "If you had called me a poltroon, Sir Lucas!"

"Well, sir, and if I had?"

"In that case I should have thought you a very ill-bred man."

See what it is to have a literary Foreign Secretary; see how he
goes back to our great writers, not alone for his style, but his
statesmanship. We have been insulted, mocked, and sneered at; our
national honour derided, our national strength defied; but we are told
it is all right: our policy is a "masterly inactivity," and the Funds
are at ninety-one and one-eighth!

The 'Times.' too, is of the same cheery and encouraging spirit, and
philosophically looks on the misfortunes of our friends pretty much
as friends' misfortunes are usually regarded in life--occasions for a
tender pity, and a hopeful trust in Providence. Let them--the writer
speaks of the Allied armies--let them go on in the career of rapine and
cruelty; let them ravage the Duchies and dismember Denmark; but a time
will come when the terrible example of unlawful aggression shall be
retorted upon themselves, and the sorrows of Schleswig be expiated on
the soil of the Fatherland.

"They are going to hang Larry," cried the wife of a condemned felon to
the lawyer, who had hurried into court, having totally forgotten he had
ever engaged to defend the prisoner.

"Let them hang him, and I'll make it the dearest hanging ever they
hanged."

These may be words of comfort in Downing Street. I wonder what the Danes
think of them?

A NEW HANSARD.

There is an annual publication called the 'Wreck Register,' which
probably few of us have ever seen, if even heard of. Its object is to
record all the wrecks which have occurred during the preceding year,
accompanying the narrative by such remarks or observations as may
contribute to explain each catastrophe, or offer likelihood of
prevention in future. It is, though thoroughly divested of any
sensational character, one of the dreariest volumes one can take up.
Disaster follows disaster so fast, that at length the reader begins to
imagine that shipwreck is the all but invariable event of a voyage,
and that they who cross the ocean in safety are the lucky mortals of
humanity.

Fortunately, however, long as the catalogue of misfortune is, this
is not the case, and we have the satisfaction of learning that the
percentage of loss is decreasing with every year. The higher knowledge
and attainments of merchant