* * * * *

THE SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY.

"The Earl of Loudoun, whose English seat it is, possesses eight
jeerages."--_Field_.

* * * * *

ANOTHER IMPENDING APOLOGY.

"'Honour among thieves' is an old saying, but the pickpocket who
stole Lieut.-Commander Grieve's watch during his reception was an
exception to the rule."--_Illustrated Leicester Chronicle_.

* * * * *

A correspondent asks us if there is any truth in the statement that
Peace will be signed in time for the Peace Celebrations. At the moment
of going to press it is still doubtful.

* * * * *

"NOTE.--The Swan used in this Production is supplied by the
well-known firm of Messrs. Swan and Edgar, Piccadilly Circus,
London."--_Programme of Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool_.

We understand that the business is in the charge of Mr. EDGAR during his
partner's absence.

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

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

_Jinny the Carrier_ (HEINEMANN) was, as Mr. ZANGWILL lets us know in a
felicitous epistle-dedicatory to an evidently charming lady, designed as
a "bland" and leisurely book, free from any trace of war's horrors or
modern perplexities, the sort you could read comfortably with a sore
throat on you. I think if I had not been in such rude health I might
have managed the five hundred and eighty odd close-set pages without
getting just a little tired of his worthy Essex peasants of the time of
the great Hyde Park Exhibition. _Jinny_ herself is a perfect darling, of
real wit and character, and her business as the local carrier gives a
plausible machinery for the introduction of an enormous number, a truly
Dickensian profusion, of subsidiary characters. _Jinny_ indeed is above
criticism, but the trouble with many, indeed with most, of the others,
seemed to me to be their exaggerated sprightliness of speech, just a
little too clever to be credible and not quite amusing enough to be
palatable in large doses. To me the real pleasure of the book comes from
the author's craftsmanlike use of words and the humour and imagination
of his descriptions and asides. But if I may be humbly candid beyond the
custom of my trade I must confess to an uncomfortable impression
that sounder qualities in the reviewer would have discovered greater
qualities