en
"free gratis and for nothing." It is right, however, that I should add
that I found some difficulty in distinguishing "the White Kangaroo"
from "the Laughing Jackasses," and both from "&c." I now made for
Mlle. PAULA's Crocodiles, but here, again, alas! I was doomed to
disappointment. As I approached the Reptile-House, in which the fair
dame was disporting herself (no doubt) amongst "Indian Pythons and Boa
Constrictors," I was warned off by the legend, "Admission, Sixpence."
It was then I remembered that, after all, I was in an Aquarium,
and, consequently, had no right to expect anything but fish. So I
approached the tanks, and, to my great delight, found in one of them
some floating bodies, that I am almost sure must have been herrings.
Having thus gratified my curiosity for the strange and the curious, I
returned, well satisfied, to the country, where I purpose remaining a
further term of next twenty years. In the meanwhile, believe me, Dear
_Mr. Punch_,

Yours sincerely, ONE EASILY PLEASED.

* * * * *

Something very big.--"The principal _role (Falstaff_), in VERDI's new
comic Opera is amplified and enlarged," writes a special Correspondent
to _The Standard_, "from the _Falstaff_ of the other plays (besides
the _Merry Wives_) in which he takes a part." "Takes a part!" Good
Heavens! _Falstaff_ "amplified and enlarged" will be something more
than a part. It will be that mathematical impossibility, "a part
greater than the whole." Surely, with such a _role_ in it, this can't
be a light Opera.

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

_Golden Bells_, rung by DEAN AND SON,--quite appropriately
ecclesiastical this,--and edited by Mrs. ELIZABETH DAY, will ring
forth peals of delight in the nursery, it being the Christmas number
of _The Little One's Own Paper_.

[Illustration]

_Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual_, by WALTER BESANT, bears the cheerful
and seasonable title of "_The Demoniac_."

Mr. HYNE's _Four Red Nightcaps_ is somewhat in the style of _Three Men
in a Boat_, only there are "Four men in a Yacht."

Most of the Magazines have their special numbers of these. _The
English Illustrated Harper's_, _The Century_, are got up with the most
charming illustrations.

_The Gentlewoman_ has her first Christmas Number, and,--so like
her!--a coloured satin picture! _The Pictorial World_ has two good
pictures for framing.

The Baron liketh much the latest con