And say 'twas through Gladstonian ill-will
It lost that blessed boon, your bad, bad Bill!
Living and Learning.—Sir, from a paragraph in The Times about the Newfoundland Fisheries, I gather the existence of "Lobster Factories." Never knew this was an industry. Had always thought that Lobsters, like poets, were born, not made.
Yours,
A Naturalist.
L'ABBÉ INCONSTANTIN PARSONIFIED.
The first impression of A Village Priest is that, in one respect, Mr. Grundy has done well to choose the historical name of the execrable "Abbé Dubois," and bestow it on the Curé, who is meant to be the interesting hero of what, without him, would have been a sufficiently strong melodrama. The very A B C of the practice of the confessional being that everything between Priest and Penitent (even when the Penitent is impenitent) is sub sigillo, this Abbé can have, as the Grand Inquisitor in the Gondoliers sings, "No possible probable shadow of doubt, No possible doubt whatever," as to his plain duty; and yet he demands of Heaven a miracle to show him how not to do it. And to this pious request comes an answer (by limelight) which demonstrates once more how the Devil can quote Scripture to his purpose.