ed out, _digita praetereuntium_,
and of catching the whispers of those who nudge one another as they
mention his name.

Finally, it will be rumoured that he has been collecting materials for
the Memoirs which he proposes shortly to publish. But though he never
disclaims the intention, and is even understood, on more than one
occasion, to allude in conversation to the precise period of his life
to which his writing has then brought him, it is quite certain that
he will never carry out the intention, or bring out the book. At
the age of sixty he will still be a young man, with a gay style of
banter peculiarly his own. Towards the end of his life he will often
talk darkly of great events in which he has played a part, and of
extraordinary services which only he could have performed; and when he
dies, the country will be called upon to mourn for one who has saved
it from social degradation, and from political disaster.

* * * * *

A PIG IN A POKE.

[Illustration]

[According to the _Standard_, by the new Meat Inspection Law,
just come into force in the United States, American cattle
and pigs for export to England, France, or Germany, are to be
inspected before leaving America, with a view to removing the
grounds of objection on the part of those Governments to the
unrestricted reception of these important American exports.
Should any foreign Government, fearful of pleuro-pneumonia
or trichinosis, refuse to trust to the infallibility of the
American inspectors, the President of the United States is
authorised to retaliate by directing that such products of
such foreign State as he may deem proper shall be excluded
from importation to the United States.]

O SENATOR EDMONDS, of verdant Vermont,
Of wisdom you may be a marvellous font;
But you'll hardly get JOHN,--'tis too much of a joke!--
To buy in your fashion a Pig in a Poke;
Which nobody can expect!

To slaughter your Cattle when reaching our shore,
You probably think is no end of a bore;
But even your valiant Vermonters to please,
We cannot afford to spread Cattle-disease,
Which nobody can desire.

A Yankee Inspector is all very fine,
But if pleuro-pneumonia crosses the line,
And with BULL'S bulls and heifers should play up the deuce,
A Yankee Inspector won't be of much use,
Which