Castor was
the brother of Pollux, who was famed as a boxer. "Boxer" is a synonym
for "prize-fighter"; "prize-fighter" recalls "WELLS"; "wells" contain
"water," and "water" suggests "brook." So Lord BEAVERBROOK, with a
true allegiance to Canada, coupled with a scholarly mastery of the
niceties of Classical etymology, has chosen for his family motto: "_E
Castore Pollux_" (Brook from the Beaver).

* * * * *

THE DEVIL IN DEVON.

The Devil walked about the land
And softly laughed behind his hand
To see how well men worked his will
And helped his darling projects still,
The while contentedly they said:
"There is no Devil; he is dead."

But when by chance one day in Spring
Through Devon he went wandering
And for an idle moment stood
Upon the edge of Daccombe wood,
Where bluebells almost hid the green,
With the last primroses between,
He bit his lip and turned away
And could do no more work that day.

R. F.

[Illustration: THE HEDGER.

"WOT BE GOIN' TO WIN THE TWO-THIRTY RACE, VARMER?"

"WELL, YOUNG FELLER, THERE BE NINE 'OSSES RUNNIN', AND I 'AS THREE
_FANCIES_ AN' FOUR _SNEAKIN'_ FANCIES. BUT, MARK MY WORDS, I SHAN'T BE
A BIT SURPRISED IF ONE O' THEY OTHER TWO DON'T DO THE TRICK."]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

There has recently been a notable output of books of "personalities"
and critical appreciations, contemporary, historical and (for the
most part) iconoclastic. One may therefore say that Mr. HORACE G.
HUTCHINSON is distinctly of the movement in compiling his _Portraits
of the 'Eighties_ (UNWIN). This is certainly a volume that anyone
can dip into with instruction and entertainment, even if (to be quite
honest) the former is likely to predominate. The fact is that one has
become so used to the satirical method in portraiture, in which the
attack is all and the subject emerges only as a beriddled target, that
an ordinary pen-picture, however faithful, is apt to seem heavy by
contrast. Mr. HUTCHINSON certainly is not of the slingers; he will
just "tell you about" the notable persons of his period, setting down
nothing in malice, omitting little however banal, and rejecting no
aphorism or anecdote as outworn. Perhaps his nearest approach to the
popular method is a very occasional touch of gentle irony, as when he
permits himself to say of G. W. E. RUSSELL (to