e smoking world, and has agitated every
divan in the metropolis to its very centre. The question is, "Whether
should a cheroot be smoked by the great or the small end?" On this
apparently trivial subject the great body of cheroot smokers have taken
different sides, and divided themselves, as the Lilliputians did in the
famous egg controversy, into the _Big-endians_ and _Little-endians_. The
dispute has been carried on with great vigour on both sides, and several
ingenious volumes have been already written, proving satisfactorily the
superiority of each system, without however convincing a single individual
of the opposite party. The Tories, we have observed, have as usual seized
on the _big end_ of the argument, while the Whigs have grappled as
resolutely by the _little end_, and are puffing away furiously in each
other's eyes. Heaven knows where the contest will end! For ourselves, we
are content to watch the struggle from our quiet corner, convinced,
whichever end gains the victory, that John Bull will be made to smoke for
it; and when curious people ask us if we be _big-endians_ or
_little-endians_, we answer, that, to oblige all our friends, we smoke our
Manillas at _both ends_.

* * * * *

BALLADS OF THE BRIEFLESS.

No. 1.--THE RULE TO COMPUTE.

Oh, tell me not of empires grand,
Of proud dominion wide and far,
Of those who sway the fertile land
Where melons three for twopence are.
To rule like this I ne'er aspire,
In fact my book it would not suit!
The only _rule_ that I desire,
Is _a rule nisi to compute_.

Oh speak not of the calm delights,
That in the fields or lanes we win;
The field and lane that me invites
Is Chancery or Lincoln's Inn.
Yes, there in some remote recess,
At eve, I practise on my flute,
Till some attorney comes to bless
With _a rule nisi to compute_.

No. 2.--SIGNING A PLEA.

Oh, how oft when alone at the close of the day
I've sat in that Court where the fig-tree don't grow
And wonder'd how I, without money, should pay
The little account to my laundress below!
And when I have heard a quick step on the stair,
I've thought which of twenty rich duns it could be,
I have rush'd to the door in a fit of despair,
And--_received ten and sixpence for signing a plea_.

CHORUS.--Signing a plea, signing a plea!
Received ten and sixpence for signing a plea.

They may talk a