,
But when they took their stands.
Fear made them tremble so they found
They both were shaking hands.

Said Mr. C. to Mr. B.,
Here one of us may fall,
And like St. Paul's Cathedral now,
Be doom'd to have a ball.

I do confess I did attach
Misconduct to your name;
If I withdraw the charge, will then
Your ramrod do the same?

Said Mr. B. I do agree--
But think of Honour's Courts!
If We go off without a shot,
There will be strange reports

But look, the morning now is bright,
Though cloudy it begun;
Why can't we aim above, as if
We had call'd out the sun?

So up into the harmless air
Their bullets they did send;
And may all other duels have
That upshot in the end.

* * * * *

We next quote brief illustrations of the Cuts on the opposite page. It
may be observed that the articles themselves have but little _esprit_,
and that, unlike most occasions, the wit lies in the wood.

First is a Sonnet accompanying the cut "Infantry at Mess."

"Sweets to the sweet--farewell."--_Hamlet._

Time was I liked a cheesecake well enough;
All human children have a sweetish tooth--
I used to revel in a pie or puff,
Or tart--we all are _tarters_ in our youth;
To meet with jam or jelly was good luck,
All candies most complacently I cramped.
A stick of liquorice was good to suck,
And sugar was as often liked as lumped;
On treacle's "linked sweetness long drawn out,"
Or honey, I could feast like any fly,
I thrilled when lollipops were hawk'd about,
How pleased to compass hardbake or bull's eye,
How charmed if fortune in my power cast,
Elecampane--but that campaign is past.

* * * * *

"Picking his way," belongs to a day (April 17) in a "Scrape Book,"
with the motto of "Luck's all:"

"17th. Had my eye pick'd out by a pavior, who was _axing_ his
way, he didn't care where. Sent home in a hackney-chariot that
upset. Paid Jarvis a sovereign for a shilling. My luck all
over!"

* * * * *

The Schoolmaster's Motto, accompanying "Palmam qui meruit ferat!" is
too long for extract.

* * * * *

The chief fun of the countryman and his Pigs lies in the cut.

* * * * *

CUTS FROM HOOD'S COMIC ANNUAL.

[Illustration: INFANTRY AT MESS.] [Illustra