the baker's to _tear
it asunder and distribute the fragments with three confederates_!!! an act
which I need not say was evidently symbolical of their desire to rend
asunder the _Corn Laws_, and to divide the landed property amongst
themselves. The action also appears analogous to the custom of breaking
bread and swearing alliance on it, a practice still observed by the
inhabitants of some remote regions of the Caucasus. I must again solemnly
express my conviction that we are standing on a _slumbering_ VOLCANO; the
thoughtless and unobservant may suppose not; probably because in the
present tee-total state of society they see nothing of the CRATER.

* * * * *

TAKING A SIGHT AT THE FIRE.

A man bearing the very inapplicable name of _Virtue_ was brought up at
Lambeth-street last week, on the charge of having stolen a telescope from
the Ordnance-office in the Tower on the morning of the fire. The prisoner
pleaded that, being short-sighted, he took the glass to have a sight of
the fire. The magistrate, however, _saw through_ this excuse very clearly;
and as it was apparent that _Virtue_ had taken a _glass_ too much on the
occasion, he was fully committed.

* * * * *

JOE HUME'S FORTHCOMING WORK.

We have received the following note from an old and esteemed
correspondent, who, we are rejoiced to find, has returned from a tour in
Switzerland, where he has been engaged in a prodigious work connected with
the statistics of that country.

_Reform Club-house_.

DEAR PUNCH,

Knowing the interest you take in anything relating to the advancement of
science, I beg to apprise you that I am about publishing a statistical
work, in which I have made it perfectly clear that an immense saving in
the article of ice alone might be made in England by importing that which
lies waste upon Mont Blanc. I have also calculated to a fraction the
number of pints of milk produced in the canton of Berne, distinguishing
the quantity used in the making of cheese from that which has been
consumed in the manufacture of butter--and specifying in every instance
whether the milk has been yielded by cows or goats. There will be also a
valuable appendix to the work, containing a correct list of all the inns
on the road between Frankfort and Geneva, with a copy of the bill of fare
at each, and the prices charged; together with the colour of the
postilion's jacket, the age of the lan