"B-O-M-B—BOMB!"
Friday, June 21. The Duke of Cambridge resigned his Commander-in-Chieftaincy, and the Government was suddenly scattered by a "Brodrick Patent Cordite Exploder," which reduced the Secretary of War's salary by a hundred pounds.
"A hundred pounds!
Ha! Thou hast touched me nearly."
The Critic.
The Witness Protection Society and General Legal Reform Union has been holding its Annual General Meeting. Among the numerous objects of this estimable body the chief appears to be to protect witnesses in law courts from insult by counsel. Captain Parkis, having expressed himself as willing, was voted to the chair, and the members settled down to have a good time. "Heated discussion," "further disturbance," and a well-sustained fire of "protests," lent an air of gaiety to the proceedings, which culminated in "various gentlemen abusing one another across the table." With such excellent practice, the members of the W. P. S. G. L. R. U. should be able to hold their own in court. The Bar trembles. Even the Bench feels a little uneasy.
L-ckw-d, no longer drawing, will be drawn,
Even the piercing eye of Cl-rke will quail,
C-rs-n be "spacheless," G-ll will almost fawn,
And sturdy W-bst-r falter and turn pale,
Because the witness, taking heart of grace,
Will "go for him" with candour strangely new,
And brandish, cross-examined, in his face
The W. P. S. G. L. R. U.!
"Memorable Sayings and Historical Events."—There must now be added to the long list Sir William Harcourt's languidly jocose remark on Friday night last. "Thank Heaven," he is reported to have said, "there is one night on which we need not fear a crisis." And while yet the laugh was on their lips, the bells rang, and subsequently the Four Tellers announced what could not have been Fore-told. And who laughs last?
