son, has recently attracted so much
attention and remark in Great-Britain. Mrs. GRANT appears to have been a
woman of very remarkable powers, and of the most admirable _common sense_.
Her observations upon the 'amusive talents' of THEODORE HOOK, and his
entire devotion to their cultivation, are replete with the soundest
wisdom. The distinction between living to amuse the public merely, and the
exertion of one's intellectual powers for one's own benefit, and with an
eye to the claims of riper years, is admirably discriminated and set
forth. There is not perhaps a more instructive lesson than that conveyed
by _professional_ wits, who are 'first applauded and then _endured_, when
people see that it is all they have.' As auxiliaries, as contrasts, with
reflection and thoughtful exercitations of the mind, wit and humor are
felicitous matters; as an intellectual _main-stay,_ however, they have
been weighed in the balance by a hundred brilliant examples, and have
always been 'found wanting.' . . . PUNCH, at this present writing, save
three or four numbers, in February, is among the missing. Late issues
however, furnish some valuable contributions to academical statistics; as
for example, Mr. BOYS, who in his report upon the metropolitan
school-visitation, writes as follows:

'THE use of sponge for cleaning slates he found confined to 17-1/4
per cent.; of whom 5-1/2 used the sponge wet with water, and
11-3/4 with saliva; the remaining 82-3/4 made use of the latter
liquid and the cuffs of their jackets instead of sponges, with an
occasional recourse to the pocket-handkerchief. The author found,
in schools in which the Latin language was not taught, a
lamentable deficiency in the knowledge of the meaning of 'meum'
and 'tuum;' he pointed out how the great extent of juvenile crime
might thus be accounted for, as being caused by the absence of all
instruction in the Latin language, and hoped that teaching it
would soon be made obligatory upon all school-masters.'

There is a humorous sketch of an examination of law-students, from which
we select an 'exercise' or two:

'QUES: Have you attended any and what law lectures? ANS: I have
attended to many legal lectures, when I have been admonished by
police magistrates for kicking up rows in the streets, pulling off
knockers, etc.

QUES: What is a real action? ANS: An action brought in earnest,
and not by way of a joke