in the South Seas--and England, that
little kingdom, with a population of not more than forty millions, has
had the honour of colonizing half the globe; but "these countries are
our colonies no longer." Such are a few of the wonders of 2130! In the
Dialogue is an admirable joke with a scientific street-sweeper and a
learned beggar, who pleads _necessitas non habet legem_, and "embraces
the profession of an operative mendicant." But here is a _morceau_:

_Lady D._--Ah! Lord A.! Mr. C.! most unexpected persons both! I heard
only yesterday that one of you was in Greenland, and the other in
Africa. What false reports they circulate!

_Lord A._--The reports were true not long ago, and I believe we returned
about the same time. You, Lady D., have been also travelling, I believe.

_Lady D._--Yes, we were out of England in the winter. Our physician
commanded a warmer climate for Lord D. so we took a villa on the Niger,
and afterwards spent a short time at Sackatoo.

_Mr. C._--I suppose you found it full of English?

_Lady D._--Oh, quite full--and such a set! We knew hardly any of them.
In fact, we did not go there for society. We met a few pleasant people,
Australians; the Abershaws, the Hardy Vauxes, and Sir William and Lady
Soames.

_Mr. C._--Did you go by the new Tangier and Timbuctoo road?

_Lady D._--Yes, we did, and we found it excellent. By the bye, Lord A.,
to digress to a different latitude, how did you succeed in your last
excursion to the North Pole?

_Lord A._--To tell you the truth, extremely ill; we had most
improvidently taken with us scarcely enough of the _solvent_ to work our
way through the ice, and our concentrated essence of caloric was found
to be of a very inferior quality. I shall try again next summer.

_Lady D._--I believe we shall go to Spitzbergen ourselves.

_Lord A._--I am happy to think that, in that case, I may perhaps have
the pleasure of meeting you there on my return. I must go to the Pole,
by the way of North Georgia: I am engaged to visit an Eskimaux friend.

Still more ludicrous are the following historical blunders:--One of the
party asks how Napoleon is introduced in an historical novel of 1830?
The reply is--"He and the Emperor Alexander of Russia are introduced
dining with the King at Brighton. Napoleon quarrels with the two
sovereigns, and challenges them to a personal encounter. Each claims the
right of fighting by deputy. The King of England appoints his prime
minister,