e a common thing with the aristocracy.
The Earl of SELBORNE is very particular about the fit and cut of his.

* * * * *

Mr. BOYCE, in his interesting and picturesque work, _Snowdon and
Rained Upon_, insists on the desirability of taking only a light
luncheon when engaged upon a pedestrian tour. He adds, "I walked up
Snowdon on two hard-boiled eggs." The remark seems scarcely relevant,
but it records a notable achievement. Considering the height of
Snowdon, and the occasional stoniness of the path, to walk up it on
two eggs, howsoever hard-boiled, is a feat that puts in the shade the
Music-hall trick of riding up an inclined plane of rope on a bicycle.
Mr. BOYCE does not say what he came down upon. Probably his back.

* * * * *

We hear from Munich that underneath the motto, _Suprema lex regis
voluntas_, written in the Visitors' Book by the Emperor of GERMANY,
there now appears the following line--_Rex est major singulis, minor
universis_. Herr HITHERCLIFT, the well-known German authority, having
made a careful examination of the page, states his opinion that the
handwriting is that of Prince BISMARCK, or is an excellent imitation.

* * * * *

A WARLIKE TALE FROM THE PACIFIC.

(_FRAGMENT FROM THE POSSIBLE DIARY OF A REALISTIC NOVELIST._)

Well, now I think I have got matters pretty straight. The question is,
whether the Baron will accept my last message as chaff, or resent it.
Let me see, how does it read--"It is suggested, for the President's
consideration, that rumours uncorrected or unexplained acquire almost
the force of admitted truth." Quite so--so they do. Let me see--"That
any want of confidence between the governed and the Government must be
hurtful"--well, to us both. Yes! That's all right. So it will! Lastly,
"That the rumours, in their present form, tend to damage the white
races in the native mind, and to influence for the worse the manners
of the Samoans." Now, that _ought_ to fetch him! A wink is as good as
a nod to a blind pig! However, he is quite ass enough to do nothing!
Everybody saying that he is going to blow us all up, himself included!
Why it's enough to make the natives rise and kill every white man in
the place. Still, good idea for a story.

_Later_. The idiot! Instead of promptly denying the facts, he says he
won't have anything to do with us, because "we care so little for the
correctness o