e quite negligent of
toilette, and incredulous about the powers of soap and sand. The bugs in
only _one_ of her beds would defy _Bonnycastle!_ Fast enough, however,
goes the Castor! Orestes, pursued by the furies, never rushed more
impetuously on than does this child of Leda, with all his vermin in the
locker. Of Virgil in the water, we have no experience, but they say his
_prosody_ is perfect, and his _quantity_ (of accommodation) blameless.
The Dante under paddles is unknown to us; but the poem which his
customers read oftenest on board is doubtless the _Purgatory_. The
captain of the Palermo, an obliging man, _with ear-rings_, and speaking
Siculo-English, does his job in nineteen hours; and giving you one
execrable meal, gives you more than enough. This vessel (blessed
privilege!) carries some of the Teffin family (Mr Teffin, our readers
know, was _bug-destroyer to the king_), and _is said_ to have no bugs.
As to the two floating volcanoes, Vesuvius and Mongibello, we had heard
much against the Neapolitan _crater_ (_cabin they_ call it), and, after
due preparation, we precipitated ourselves into the latter, which
placards her two hundred and fifty horse-power. The engineer, however,
if you acquire his confidence, reduces the team considerably, taking off
at least one-fifth. Horse-power is, after all, we fear, an appeal to the
imagination! How do you measure horse-power? and what horses? Calabrian
nags? Arab stallions? Dutch mares? or English drays? or perhaps you mean
_sea-horses?_ That every vessel has a great _rocking-horse power_ we
know by sad experience, and are come to read one hundred and fifty, two
hundred, &c., with great tranquillity, being convinced that when the
translation from horse-power into paddle-power is effected, you obtain
no corresponding result.

AESTHETICS OF DRESS.

MILITARY COSTUME.

Military dress is almost as difficult and dangerous a thing to deal with
as ladies' attire; as various in its hues and forms, as fanciful in its
conceits, as changeable in its fashions, and as touchy in the temper of
its wearers. To pull a guardsman by his coat-tail would be as
unpardonable an offence as to tread on a lady's skirt; and to offer an
opinion upon a lancer's cap might be considered as impertinent as to
criticise a lady's bonnet. Having, however, been bold enough to commit
offences of the latter description, we will now venture to brave the
wrath of the whole of Her Majesty's forces, horse