o eager foreign inquirers. The
sentinels eye the moving scene with determination and bayonets fixed.
At a word from Sir DRURIOLANUS, they will give an extra charge, and
rout the crowd. "What is it all about?" asks little PETERKIN. Sir
DRURIOLANUS can tell him. Madame CALVE is indisposed, and _L'Amico
Fritz_ cannot be performed. So GLUCK's _Orfeo_ is substituted in a
happy-g'lucky sort of way. The two RAVOGLI are excellent, and Box and
Stall are satisfied.

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

"MRS. HENNIKER," my Baronite writes, "dedicates to her brother, Lord
HOUGHTON, her first essay in fiction, on the ground that he will be
the most kindly critic. _Bid me Good-bye_ (BENTLEY) does not stand in
need of the adventitious aid of fraternal kindliness to recommend it
to the reader. The story of woman's sacrifice to a sense of duty has
been told before; but Mrs. HENNIKER endows her version with a charm
of simplicity under which, here and there, glows the fire of passion.
Moreover, she writes excellent English, which ladies who make books do
sometimes. It is a pity the story is so sad. _Colonel St. Aubyn_ might
just as well have married _Mary Giffard_, and lived ever after in that
charming Brereton Royal which Mrs. HENNIKER doubtless sketches from
life. If she had insisted on his being a cripple for life, her dictum
could not have been disputed. But there ought to have been a union
between _William_ and _Mary_."

* * * * *

Why are the Obstructives like last Season's Walnuts?--Because they are
troublesome to PEEL.

* * * * *

[Illustration: VOLO EPISCOPARI.

_Festive Middy_. "I SAY, GUV'NOR! I THINK YOU MUST RATHER LIKE BEING
BISHOP HERE!"

_His Lordship_. "WELL, MY BOY, I HOPE I DO! BUT WHY DO YOU ASK?"

_Festive Middy_. "OH, I'VE JUST BEEN TAKING A WALK THROUGH THE CITY,
AND--I _SAY_!--THERE _IS_ AN UNCOMMONLY GOOD-LOOKING LOT O' GIRLS
ABOUT, AND _NO_ MISTAKE!"]

* * * * *

TO LORD SALISBURY.

(_BY A PERTURBED TORY_.)

["We trust that the present Administration will not commit
the blunder of attempting to 'gain favour with this or that
section of the constituencies, by indulging in loose talk on
economical questions.'"--_The Standard_.]

To thump the Drum Ecclesiastic
Was very likely mere parade;
But oh, why make yourself seem plastic
To the fanatics of Fai