niform of the 3rd Middlesex Artillery Volunteers, a corps that
was raised some ten years after His Grace's death, a fact that would
argue that the painting was either a posthumous work, or intended
to represent someone else. Accepting the alternative suggestion, the
picture may hand down to posterity the features of BURDETT COUTTS
(husband of the Baroness of that name), J.L. TOOLE, the popular
Comedian, HENRY IRVING (his friend), the Rev. C.H. SPURGEON, or (and
this is the most likely hypothesis) PRINCE GEORGE of Wales.

No. 102. _Miniature of a Lady Unknown_. It is impossible at this
lapse of time to identify the original of this portrait. No doubt
she belonged to a short-lived and somewhat degraded class known as
"professional beauties." In one hand she holds an instrument called an
opera-glass, which was used in the last century at trials for murder
at the Old Bailey. The hair she wears on her head is evidently false,
and has been supplied from some foreign peasantry. Her hat is adorned
with a stuffed bird, suggestive of the cruelty of her nature. As she
holds in her other hand a book labelled, "_The Art of Nursing_,"
it may be conjectured that she is a frequent visitor to the
Dissecting-Room, or the Accident Ward of a London Hospital. On the
whole, perhaps, it is fortunate that her name has not been preserved
by succeeding generations. She must, indeed, have been a contrast to
her angelic descendants of the present day.

No. 2478. _An Utensil Made of Brass_. This strange-looking object
may have been used by our ancestors as a helmet, or perhaps as a
fish-kettle. It is, perhaps, rather large for the first, and a little
too thick for the second. The Catalogue describes the exhibit as "a
coal-scuttle." It is impossible to verify this assertion, as coal
is now only found in specimen cases at museums, and a sketch of
a coal-scuttle has not been seen for the last fifty years. It is,
however, interesting as suggestive of a time when the world was not
heated by volcanic hot water.

* * * * *

[Illustration: Seasonable "on this Head."]

SEASONABLE REPLY (_By Our Own Politest Letter-Writer_.)--This is a
model for a cautious answer at this time of year to an invitation to
witness an out-of-door ceremony, the laying of a first stone, &c, &c,
returning to London same day:--"Dear A----, if I am (1) alive, (2)
well, (3) with no urgent business, (4) in London, and if the weather
is (i.) fine, (i