same pull as they did in the days
When "yard-arm to yard-arm" was JACK'S favoured phrase,
When death-stored torpedoes and Titan-lipped guns
And steel in huge masses, and fast-flying tons
Had never been dreamed of. Ah! Vulcan, your reign
Has played up rare pranks with my briny domain;
My spirit may sometimes rebel when it dwells on
The jolly old days of DRAKE, BENBOW, and NELSON.
However, we're shipmates to-day, so here goes,
Success to Old England, short shrift to her foes;
My favourite, spite of all change, I confess her.
A bumper, my boy! Here's the QUEEN, and God bless her!

* * * * *

[Illustration: SPITHEAD, JULY 23RD, 1887.

FATHER NEPTUNE (_cheerily_). "WHAT--VULCAN, MY HEARTY! WELL, WE'RE
SHIPMATES NOW, SO HERE'S 'THE QUEEN!'--GOD BLESS HER!!"]

* * * * *

LANE AND GARDEN.

[Illustration]

"Oh, TODGERS'S could do it when it chose! mind that." AUGUSTUS
DRURIOLANUS can "do it," too, when he chooses, mind that, and his
production of _Les Huguenots_ on Monday the 11th was a convincing proof
of this assertion. The _mise-en-scene_ was as perfect as if the Opera
had been a brand new one. The costumes were gorgeous, the scenes
brilliant, and the _jeu de scene_ original and artistic.

Monsieur MAUREL was an ideal _Count de Nevers_, a chevalier _sans peur
et sans reproche_. Miss ENGLE won all hearts as _Marguerite de Valois_.
"_Non 'Engle' sed 'Angel,'_" as the POPE didn't say.

The Page was rather weak, but made up in action and archness--the
archness was not confined to the eyes, but was also strikingly exhibited
in another feature--for whatever might have been lacking vocally; and
then of course there were the two brothers, JEAN and EDOUARD DE RESZKE,
always ready to come to the resky. We stopped till the end, and
congratulated ourselves on having heard the very last of the _Huguenots_
for the first time in our chequered career. We saw Signor FOLI, as
_Marcel_, perform a marriage ceremony between _Valentine_ and _Raoul_,
from which fact we gathered that the _Count de Nevers_ must have been
shot, otherwise _Valentine_ would be a bigamist; and, in fact, the moral
position of the three parties would be an extremely unpleasant one, in
view of their hurried departure from this wicked world, which the
muskets of the soldiers, executing the victims and the dramatist's
design at the same time, compel them to