KSPEARE's irony than his putting these instructions to players
in the mouth of a noble amateur. Of the revival, as a whole, one
may truthfully say, _Ca donne a penser_, and, indeed, the study of
_Hamlet_ is inexhaustible.

* * * * *

WITH THEIR EASTER EGGS.

_The Emp-r-r of G-rm-ny._--Presentation copy of the light and leading
satirical English Paper.

_The Cz-r of R-ss-a._--Letter of regret from President C-RN-T.

_The Pr-s-d-nt of the Fr-nch R-p-bl-c._--Secretly-obtained copy of
proposed treaty for a Quadruple Alliance.

_The K-ng of It-ly._--Scheme for a _modus vivendi_.

_The P-pe._--Duplicate copy of ditto.

_Ch-nc-ll-r C-pr-vi._--Permit for leave of absence.

_Pr-nce V-n B-sm-rck._--A song, "_The Return of the Pilot_."

_The M-rq-s of S-l-sb-ry._--Date of the General Election.

_The Ch-nc-ll-r of the Exch-q-r._--Comments on the Budget.

_F-rst L-rd of the Tr-s-ry._--New rules for the game of Golf.

_Rt. Hon. W.E. Gl-dst-ne._--Set of Diaries for the next twenty years.

_The P-t L-r-te._--The Order of "The Foresters."

_The Oxf-rd E-ght._--The Blue Riband of the Thames.

_S-r A-g-st-s Dr-r-l-n-s._--A month's well-deserved rest.

_N-b-dy in P-rt-c-l-r._--A legacy of L100,000.

_Ev-ryb-dy in G-n-r-l._--Rates and taxes.

* * * * *

[Illustration: SO FRIVOLOUS!

_Wife_. "SOLOMON, I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU."

_Solomon_ (_flippantly_). "WITH PLEASURE, MY DEAR, SO LONG AS IT'S A
FUNNY BONE!"]

* * * * *

THE DYNAMITE DRAGON.

A dragon! Faugh! that foul and writhing Worm
Seems scarcely worthy of the ancient term
That fills old myth, and typifies the fight
'Twixt wrathful evil and the force of right.
The dragons of the prime, fierce saurian things
With ogre gorges and with harpy wings,
Fitted their hour; the haunts that gave them birth,
The semi-chaos of the early earth,
The slime, the earthquake shock, the whelming flood,
Made battle ground for the colossal brood.
But now, when centuries of love and light
Have warmed and brightened man's old home; when might
Is not all sinister, nor all desire
Fierce appetite, that all-devouring fire,--
When life is not alone a wasting scourge,
But from the swamps of soulless strife emerge
Some Pisgah peaks of promise where the dove
Finds footing, high the whirling gulfs above,--
Now the intrusion of this loathly shape,