JOHN DILLON, who sat silent with folded arms, the habitual pallor of his face changed to a ghastlier white.

"My dear JOHN," I said to him later, "how on earth could you make such a terrible mistake? The only amelioration it has is that it was so stupendous and obvious that it was plainly stumbled upon without intent or purport to deceive."

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"Thank you, TOBY," said JOHN DILLON. "I suppose that is clear enough to the generous mind. But I know a blunder is sometimes worse than a crime. The fact is, about the time I spoke at Castlerea, things were so bad in Ireland, the police so little hesitating to shoot, that I got mixed up in my dates, and remembered Mitchelstown when I was thinking about something else." Business done.-Home Rule Bill in Committee. Tuesday.-TRITTON descending amongst the minnows has brought up CONYBEARE. Not much heard of late of that eminent legislator. Seems he's been compensating enforced silence in House by "saying things of SPEAKER in letter to newspaper. More than hints SPEAKER, moved by political motives, has acted unfairly in Chair. Perhaps TRITTON had done better to leave him alone. Comparatively few were aware of the little excursion into print. Now blazoned forth to all the world. Since 'twas done 'twas well 'twas done admirably. SPEAKER moved to one of those outbursts of passionate though restrained eloquence of which, upon occasion, he shows himself capable. As Baron FERDY remarks: "Since G. P. R. JAMES was sent as Consul to Venice, the only city in the world where the solitary horseman of his many novels could not be observed,' nothing so quaint as condemning one of the few parliamentary orators of the day to the silence of the Chair."

Mr. G. delivered brief but magnificent

with a fat elbow, and said with ungent chuckle, Ah, I s'pose you writing fellows don't often sit down to a dinner like this?" Business done.-In Committee on Home-Rule Bill. Much cry and few Amendments.

Thursday.-At ten o'clock to-night guillotine descended; simultaneously Opposition lost their head; for hour and half there raged succession of angry scenes that beat a gorgeous record. Mr. G. and PRINCE ARTHUR, coming and going from division lobbies, were made objects of rival ovations. Liberals and the Irish leaped to their feet, madly cheering when PREMIER dropped in. Few minutes earlier or later came PRINCE ARTHUR; instantly Unionists on their feet wildly cheering. Outside all London making holiday. Here hon. gentlemen almost clutching at each other's throats across the beneficently wide floor. Instead of wedding festivities and national holiday depleting House it was fuller than ever. VILLIERS came down to give his vote against Closure; Unionists rapturous round their Grand Old Man. The other side had Mr. G. with his fourscore years and four. VILLIERS of Wolverhampton topped him by seven years. Nearly carried him into division lobby shoulder high; beat hasty retreat after doing this last service to his country.

speech, instinct with the true spirit of Parliamentarian. PRINCE ARTHUR said a few words; everybody looked round for CURSE OF CAMBORNE but unwonted access of modesty had seized him. Here was opportunity with crowded House waiting on his words. And where was he? Not in his place; so episode closed.

Though CONYBEARE's intention probably not kindly meant, SPEAKER certainly under considerable obligation to him. Opportunity afforded House of enthusiastically applauding the most capable, dignified, upright SPEAKER that ever faced the fierce light that beats upon the Chair of the House of Commons.

I asked.

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Came across HERBERT MAXWELL just now; haven't seen him since Saturday; met at dinner to Art and Literature given at Mansion House by Lord Mayor KNILL. 'BAYARD finished his speech yet?" "Not sure," said MAXWELL; "fancy not. When I was carried out, in state approaching coma, I observed on table before him two or three other volumes of manuscript, containing further passages of the prodigious recitation."

BAYARD is the new American Minister, doncha; made his first public appearance at the Mansion House on Saturday; felt he must rise to occasion; and did.

"Yours is a mere speck of a country, TOBY," he said, before we went in to dinner. "Your public speeches are, very properly, planned in proportion. Now America, as you may have heard, is a vast Continent, and I've got up a little thing to scale."

"Otherwise a very pleasant dinner," said MAXWELL. "I sat next to a Citizen and Loriner. Don't know what a Loriner is, but fancy, from look in my friend's eyes, it's something to do with fish. When turtle soup appeared on table there was phosphorescent gleam in the worthy Loriner's eyes. He prodded me genially in ribs

"Fact is, you know, TOBY," he said, "I'm not quite the young fellow I used to be; can't stand the racket as was easy enough some sixty or seventy years ago. If they 'Il kindly excuse me, I'll go and take a walk with the crowd to see the illuminations in Piccadilly. That will be delightfully quiet after this turmoil."

On Clause 6 SAGE OF QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, accompanied by halfa-dozen unpurchaseable Radicals, voted in Opposition lobby; brought Government majority down to 15; crowd, streaming by Palace Yard, clearly

heard terrific cheers that welcomed this falling off. Proposed to bring back the SAGE and his merry men in triumph. Floral decoration being order of day, why not let them enter rose-garlanded, led by PRINCE ARTHUR on one side, and JOEY C. on the other ? Guaranteed a noble reception from grateful and gratified Opposition. But some difference of opinion arose within little circle of Stalwarts, and proposal abandoned. Drifted in one by one, amid stream of Opposition. Business done.-Clauses 5, 6, 7, and 8 added to Home-Rule Bill. Friday Night.-CONYBEARE went out a-shearing, and came home shorn. Asked leave to make personal explanation; House naturally thought this would assume form of apology for attack on SPEAKER, of which note was taken on Tuesday. Permission accordingly given. Turned out nothing further from CONYBEARE's thoughts. First began by scolding unnamed persons for not rising in his defence on Tuesday; then proceeded to argue with Mr. G. and SPEAKER on point of order involved in his earlier attack. Incidentally, as the SPEAKER, in indignant tones, pointed out, he repeated the charges embodied in his letter. House long listened, with amazing patience. But there are limits to forbearance; at end of quarter of an hour the CURSE OF CAMBORNE had reached these; his letter declared by unanimous vote to be a breach of privilege; a lame apology wrung from his unwilling lips, under penalty of a week's suspension. Curses," said the Member for Sark, "come home to roost, no exception being made in the case of CAMBORNE." Business done.-None.

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MRS. R.'S LATEST OBSERVATION.-Our excellent friend was disappointed with the Royal Bridal Procession. Finding the King and Queen of DENMARK in the procession, she naturally looked out for Hamlet, and does not, to this hour, see why he should have been left out of the play.

A LONDON PEST. To an impartial observer the public, philanthropic, and municipal attempts to honour the memory of the great and good, if sometimes mistaken, Earl of SHAFTESBURY, appear to have been singularly unfortunate. The West-End Avenue that bears his name is more full of music-halls, theatres, pot-houses, and curious property. than any street of equal length and breadth in the whole Metropolis. Lord SHAFTESBURY may not have been a Puritan, but he was essentially a serious man, and his sympathies were more with Exeter Hall than with the Argyle Rooms; and yet, in the street which is honoured by his name, it has been found impossible to remove the old title of this bistoric place from the stone facade of the Trocadero.

The fountain at Piccadilly Circus, which has been unveiled as the second of the SHAFTESBURY memorials, is surmounted by-what? Some writers have called it a girl, some have called it a boy; many of the public, no doubt. regard it as a mythological bird, and it certainly looks like the Bolognese Mercury flying away with the wings of St. Michael. We are told, on authority, that it represents

OUR OPERA.

To hear sweet strains by GLÜCK or GOUNOD, MASCAGNI, WAGNER, one must, you know, Pass slums; at dark it

Is nice in Endell Street and Bow Street; Still better in that fragrant nose treat66 Mudsalad Market."

Inside. say, Orpheus sings in Hades
To gallant men and noble ladies-

Rank, wealth, and beauty;
Outside, Elysium is forgotten.
To clear away these slums, half rotten,
Is no one's duty.

Inside, MASCAGNI's Intermezzo,
Though heard in many places, yet so
Delightful ever;

Outside, cab touts and paper sellers,
And other people's pert Sam Weller's,
Delightful never!

Inside, some day, the newest, Falstaff,
Will occupy a far from small staff
Of band and chorus:
Outside, as now, old slums ill-smelling,
And costermongers, shouting, yelling,
Will be before us.

Once someone started building greatly,
Walls rose, arranged to form quite stately
House, foyers, lobbies.

They stopped, extremely gaunt and lonely,
And, now the site is used, it's only
A haunt of bobbies.

So still Euterpe's home is hidden
In ill-paved slums, through which we've
ridden

With jolts that jerk us. How unlike Paris! Did we follow Her taste, we should enshrine Apollo At Regent Circus.

JUST CAUSE.

I LOVE you for your splendid hair,

Your violet eyes, your swaying waist, Whose curves exactly suit my taste; Your radiant smile, your dimples rare.

I love you for your store of pelf,
Of course; but most of all, my sweet,
Because of this-whene'er we meet,
You let me talk about myself!

ODE DE KNILL-AND CO. Making Something of Nothing!!-Lord Mayor KNILL has been created a Baronet. Sheriff's WILKIN and RENALS, as being next to Nil, have been knighted.

"Nobodies" have been Baronets, but still
'Tis wondrous to create one out of Nil!
The Middlesex Artillery Volunteers
Will "make the Wilkin ring" with hearty
cheers.

And for the last, he'll bear his honours meekly,
He's RENALS "going strong," not
66 Renals
Weakly."

(For the last, understand Reynolds' Weekly.)

GOOD EGG-SAMPLE!-One egg was sold the other day for £60 18s. Vide Times of Wednesthat rara avis in terris, the gigantic Aepyornis day last. The egg was a perfect specimen of Maximus of Madagascar. What did Mr. STEVENS do with it? Did he have it made into several omelettes for a breakfast-party of a dozen? Of course it was a perfectly fresh egg, and the only thing at all high about it was the price.

Eros, the Greek god of love, and his shaft is directed to a part of London that, more than any other part, at night, requires the bull's-eye and the besom of authority. The "Top of the Gaymarket" is in just as bad a condition as it was when Punch directed attention to it more than ten years ago, and the virus since then has extended as far eastward as St. Martin's Lane. Moll Flanders' Parade now begins at St. James's Church and ends with Cranbourne Street. It is unfortunate, to say the least of it, that Eros has been selected to point at this London Pestiduct, and the sooner it is thoroughly cleansed and the neighbourhood made worthy of the Shaftesbury Fountain, the better.

DELENDA EST DRURILANA!The Drury Lane Committee, headed by the dauntless JAMES O'Dowd, have decided upon approaching the Duke of BEDFORD with a protest against his Grace's present expressed intention of pulling down the Old Theatre within the next two years. Probably the result of this, the latest incident in the interesting annals of Old Drury, will simply be to make another addition to the well-known collection of "Rejected Addresses."

A FALLEN ART.

[A "lady palmist" has been fined ten shillings and costs for fortune-telling.-Daily News.]

SHE lived, this prophetess, too late,
And plied an art that's out of date,
Another age had seen her gain
Her reputation not in vain,

Had seen a crowd respectful wait
Upon the arbiter of fate,

While kings and rulers brought her gold
To have futurity unrolled!

In some Greek court where fountains play,
Or dwelling by the Appian way,
The prophetess would surely be
Besought by each Leuconoë,

And if for these she sometimes drew
A future pleasanter than true.
At least she gave them, you'll confess,
Anticipated happiness!

Ah! times are changed, and nowadays
Such divination hardly pays;

There comes no more the crowds that used,
The fees are terribly reduced!
And if our policemen caught the Sphinx
Propounding" Missing Words," one thinks
Our British justice could not fail
To send her speedily to gaol!

He

IMPY AND GARRY.-Colonel SAUNDERSON, hear the gallant Colonel speak as an English"speaking as an Irishman " (did anyone ever man ?), didn't object to being classed among his countrymen, whom Mr. BRODRICK had styled "impecunious and garrulous." might have quoted the name of one of their own national airs as emphasizing, by descriptively abreviating, these two epithets, namely, Garryowen." Garry" is clearly the FROM THE CAMP.-Just now Riflemen are short for "garrulous," and owen is the Bis'ley engaged. oldest form of " not payin'."

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64

Sultan (amicably). Welcome, dear ABBAS! Take a seat, and a pipe-take anything you have a mind to, and "make yourself at home," as the accursed Giaours say.

Khedive (squatting). Thanks, my dear-Suzerain! Yildiz Kiosk feels, indeed, very home-like. More than my own Cairo does-when CROMER'S there. This Nichan-i-Imtiaz Order is really very becoming. Pity you and I, ABDUL, have to take "orders" from any body west of Alexandria!

Sultan (sotto voce). And why should we? Khedive (sulkily). Well, the sons of burnt fathers have got the upper hand of the Faithful, somehow-confound them!

Sultan (reading). "Intelligence received here of late, from trustworthy quarters in Egypt, indicates that the KHEDIVE's journey is to be made the point of departure for a grande action diplomatique against British influence in the Valley of the Nile." That's from the Times, my ABBAS!