Imperial Brother-in-Law. "AFTER ALL, MY DEAR TINO, YOU ARE SOMETHING BETTER THAN A KING; YOU ARE A FIELD-MARSHAL IN MY ARMY! YOU SHALL PRESENTLY HAVE A COMMAND ON THE WESTERN FRONT."
Tino (without enthusiasm). "THANK YOU VERY MUCH."
ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
Monday, June 11th.—I am told that it was Willie Redmond's ambition to be the Father of the House; indeed, that by some arithmetical process peculiar to himself be claimed, although only elected in 1883, to be already entitled to that venerable honour.
In reality he was the Eternal Boy, from the far-off time when it was his nightly delight with youthful exuberance to cheek Mr. Speaker Brand until the moment of his glorious death in Flanders, whither he had gone at an age when most of his compeers were content to play the critic in a snug corner of the smoking-room.
Personal affection combined with admiration for his gallantry to inspire the speeches in which the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward Carson enshrined the most remarkable tribute ever paid to a private Member.
Sir George Greenwood's affection for the animal creation is commonly supposed to be such that he would not countenance the slaughter of the meanest thing that crawls—not even those miserable creatures who hold that Shakspeare's plays were written by Shakspeare. It was therefore with pained regret that I heard him attempting to support his objection to the activities of sparrow-clubs by the argument that, if the birds were destroyed, large numbers of grubs and caterpillars would be left alive. After this I shall not be surprised to hear that he has been summoned by the R.S.P.C.A. for brutality to a slug.
