Moral.—Be quite sure you're out of the wood, though maybe you were never in it, and even then don't congratulate yourself. "Mumm"'s the word (so's "Pommery" also by the way, not forgetting "Greno," all such being excellent Fizzic for the Epidemic), as to your state of health, and don't forget the charm—"Beroofen!"

SUMMER !

(Sketched, in metrical spasms, by a Sufferer therefrom.)

Damp days,
Chill nights;
Morning haze,
Evening blights;
Grey skies,
Sodden earth;
Cramped cricket,
Arctic squall;
Drenched wicket,
Soaked ball;
Park a puddle.
Row a slough;		Eaves dropping,
Red noses;
Pools, splashes,
Spouts, spirts;
Swollen sashes.
Gutters, squirts;
Butterflies
Weak at birth;
Gloom over,
Grime under;
Soaked clover.
Hail, thunder;
Wind, wet,
Squelch, squash;
Gingham yet,
Mackintosh;
Lawns afloat,
Paths dirt;
Top-coat,
Flannel shirt;		Limp curls,
Splashed hose;
Pretty girls,
Damp shows;
Piled grates,
Cold shivers;
Aching pates,
Sluggish livers;
Morn cruel,
Eve a biter;
Hot gruel,
Sweet nitre;
Voice a creaky
Cracked cadenza,
Face "peaky,"
INFLUENZA!!!
Gloom growing,
Glum, glummer
Noses (and nothing else) blowing,—
That's Summer!
Lilacs drenched,
Laburnums pallid;
Spirits quenched,
Souls squalid;
Tennis "off,"
Icy breeze;
Croak, cough,
Wheeze, sneeze;		Muck, muddle,
Slush, snow;
Hay-fever
(No hay!)
Spoilt beaver,
Shoes asplay;
Lilies flopping,
Washed-out roses;

OPERATIC NOTES.

We're quite the gay Frenchmen now at the Italian Opera: Faust in French, Manon in French, Roméo et Juliette in French, Le Prophète in French; American singers, and Dutch singers—for if Mr. VAN DYCK isn't as much a Double Dutchman as VANDERDECKEN or any other Van, except PICKFORD & CO.'s, then am I myself a Dutch native—and, by the way, I'm always equal to a dozen of 'em any time during the right and proper season. Not for many a long day and night has there been a better show at Covent Garden. Miss EAMES, the Brothers DE RESZKÉ, VAN DYCK, MELBA; the two RAVOGLI girls, specially GIULIA, as tuneful contralto; MAUREL, the cultured artist; SIBYL SANDERSON, the simple child of Nature; AGNES JANSON, with more sauce Hollandaise; marvellous MRAVINA for the French Queen, "with a song;" and, above all, Madame ALBANI, in tip-top voice, acting and singing better than ever.

Tuesday.—June 2 was a Diamond Night in front. H.R.H.'s present: Diamond Queens and Princesses of Society all on view. DRURIOLANUS, in his glory, beams on everyone.

Wednesday.—State Ball counter-attraction to Opera. Won't do to go in rumpled silks and satins, and drooping feathers, like hens after the rain, to a Court Ball. So Opera suffers; those present trying to look as if they had been invited to State Ball, but didn't care about going, or couldn't go, on account of recent family affliction. However, as DRURIOLANUS is reported to have appeared in full fig at State Ball, he couldn't expect others less interested in the performance than himself to cut the Court and come to the Opera. To-night, M. PLANCON as Mephistopheles, a thinner demon than Brother NED DE RESZKÉ, but un bon diable tout de même.