" said they,
"that is very good news indeed."

* * * * *

_Dufresny_, a French author, having written _L'Amant masque_ in three
acts, had it reduced to one act by the performers; and his comedies of
five acts were also generally reduced to three. "What," said he,
excessively piqued, "shall I never get a five act piece on the stage?"
'Oh, yes,' answered the _Abbe Pellegrin_, "you have only to write a
comedy in eleven acts; six of which will be retrenched by the
comedians."

In France the comedians are their own managers; except so far as
government interferes.

* * * * *

The _lively device_ upon Mrs. Clarke's seal, which tickled the fancy of
the _gallant_ Colonel Mac Mahon, was a _worn out Jack Ass_, mounted by a
Cupid, prodding the sides of the animal with an arrow, and the following
motto, _Tels sont mes sujets_--"Such are my subjects."

* * * * *

_Gluttony._--A few days since, a flint-digger, on the new Brighton road,
undertook, for a trifling wager, to devour four pounds of beef and a
sixpenny loaf, and wash all down with two quarts of beer, within half an
hour; and this task he actually completed in ten minutes and three
seconds, little more than a third of the time allowed!

* * * * *

During the inquiry into the conduct of the commander in chief, Mr.
Wilberforce said, that the courtly rebuke of the duke of York, by the
chancellor of the exchequer, reminded him of an anecdote of the reign of
Charles the second. When that monarch had been guilty of some gross
breach of decorum and decency with a loose woman, which attracted the
notice of the clergy, it was resolved to reprove him for his
incontinence and public transgression. The body of the clergy came to
the bottom of the audience room; one of them, of the name of Douglass,
persuaded the others to let him go up singly to his majesty, in order
that he might rebuke him with greater asperity. He accordingly walked up
to the king, but instead of the expected admonition, gravely, and in a
low tone of voice, advised his majesty, when he did such a bad thing
again, to be sure and close the shutters!

As the public frequently enjoys a laugh at the expense of an Irish jury,
it is but fair to allow a little _retaliation_ in the case of a
_Yorkshire_ jury, who at the last assizes brought in a verdict of
_manslaughter_, although the person