occurred? Those, the germs of this story or of any story, would be the most interesting of all; that is, to the confraternity of Authors. There is a pleasant preface, lively, of course, it should be, as coming from a Kitten who might have given us a catty-logue of the works of DICKENS in his possession.

"Thank you, Mr. B.L. FARJEON," says the Baron, "for a clever little novel called A Very Young Couple." Perhaps it might have been a trifle shorter than it is with advantage; and, if it had been published in that still more pocketable form which has made the Routledgean series of portable-readables so popular with the Baron, and those who are guided by his advice, the book would be still better. As it is, it is clever, because the astute novel-reader at once discards the real and only solution of the mystery as far too commonplace, and this solution is the one which Mr. FARJEON has adopted. It is the expected-unexpected that happens in this case, and the astute reader is particularly pleased with himself, because he finishes by saying, "I knew how it would be, all along."

BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

MR. PUNCH'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASES.

DURING A VISIT.

"Pray don't move;" i.e., "He will be a brute if he doesn't."

"I hope I am not disturbing you;" i.e., "I don't care the least if I am."

"What a delightful volume of poems your last is!" i.e., "Haven't read one of them; but he won't find it out."

"So much in your new book that is interesting about those dear Japanese;" i.e., "Glad I happened to glance at that page."

"Do tell me when you next lecture. Wouldn't miss it for worlds!" i.e., "Wild horses would not drag me there."

"So sorry you are going. Mind you come and stay with us again very soon;" i.e., "Unless she comes without an invitation, she is not likely to cross this threshold again."

INCOMPREHENSIBLE!—At the dinner given by the LORD MAYOR, a few days since, to the representatives of Art and Literature of all nations, a linguist, who is believed to understand seventeen languages, made a speech in the eighteenth!

OUR COMPATRIOTS ABROAD.

SCENE—A Table d'hôte.

Aristocratic English Lady (full of diplomatic relations). "A—CAN YOU TELL ME IF THERE IS A RESIDENT BRITISH MINISTER HERE?"

Scotch Tourist. "WELL, I'M NOT JUST QUITE SURE—BUT I'M TOLD THERE'S AN EXCELLENT PRESBYTERIAN SERVICE EVERY SUNDAY!"

A FAMILY QUESTION.

A SONG FOR THE SITUATION.

Air—"The Chesapeake and the Shannon."

"CHARGE, CHESTER, CHARGE!"—The Times reports that at Chester County Court last week, Mr. STAVELEY HILL, Q.C, M.P., Judge Advocate of the Fleet, was summoned for £25—for goods supplied, and that the claim was unsuccessfully contested on the score that it was barred by the Statute of Limitations. Mr. SEGAR, who represented the Plaintiff, said that the Defendant was "wrong in his law," and Judge Sir HORATIO LLOYD assented to the proposition by giving a verdict for the full amount claimed. From this it would appear that there was "no valley" (as a Cockney would say) in the point of the Hill—the Judge Advocate of the Fleet being on this occasion, if not in his native element, at any rate, "quite at sea!"

A FAMILY QUESTION.

Miss COLUMBIA. "SAY, PAP-PA, WON'T THAT BILL RILE THE BRITISHERS, SOME? ANYHOW, GUESS YOU'LL HAVE TO SHELL OUT PRETTY CONSIDERABLE ALL ROUND—AT HOME!!'"

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

STEAM-ROLLING EXPERIENCES.—That you should have endeavoured to have turned the birthday-gift of your eccentric nephews to account, and made an offer to the Municipality of West Bloxham to "set" the High