observed a gang of bricklayers actually
in operation, anxiously hovered over by a clerk from the Ministry,
thermometer in hand.

I think I have forgotten to mention in this brief sketch that Dr.
ADDISON has a frame of iron. Since I have said it of all the other
Cabinet Ministers of whom I have spoken, I ought certainly to say it
of Dr. ADDISON too. Like Mr. LLOYD GEORGE, like Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL,
like Sir ERIC GEDDES, the MINISTER OF HEALTH AND HOUSING has a frame
of iron. All that he really needs is the concrete.

K.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Wealthy Parvenu_ (_showing acquaintance his house,
"ancestors," etc_.). "AH! AN' THEY'RE ALL TIP-TOP AN' PRE-WAR, MIND
YER."]

* * * * *

=ELEGIA MACCHERONICA.=

[We print as it reaches us this strange incoherent ejaculatory
effusion, signed "A Lover of the Old Italian Opera." With the
general spirit of this valediction it is possible to feel a
certain amount of sympathy, but the author is clearly inaccurate
in including amongst the bygone glories of the institution which
he deplores places, persons, musical and even culinary features
which are by no means obsolete. We confess also to grave misgiving
as to the purity of the writer's style, which in some lines seems
to smack more of the debased Anglo-Italian of Soho than the
crystal-clarity of the Tuscan of Carducci.]

O TEMPI passati!--
PAGANI, FRASCATI,
MASCAGNI, SGAMBATI--
O Asti spumante!
O scena cantante!
Polenta, risotto,
O contra-fagotto!
Sordini, spaghetti,
BELLINI, confetti.
O cioppo dal grillo!
TARTINI del "trillo,"
_Barbiere_, "Di tanti,"
O fiaschi di Chianti!
O dolce solfeggio!
O caro arpeggio!
Salsiccia con veggio!
O lingua Toscana!
O bocca Romana!
O voce di petto!
_Rigoletto_, _Masetto_,
Stringendo e stretto,
O notte di festa!
E poi mal di testa.
O Caffe di GATTI!
O PASTA! O PATTI!
O PATTI! O PASTA!
O Brava! O Basta!
O danza San VITO!
_Clemenza di Tito_,
CAMILLO BOITO,
_Sarastro_, "Qui sdegno,"
Da capo, dal segno,
ALBANI, ALBONI!
TREBELLI, GARDONI!
O coloratura!
O bella bravura!
O "Salve dimora!"
O _Norma_, _Dinorah!_
O lunga cadenza
Senza desinenza,
O tempo rubato!
Strumenti a fiato!
O pingue contralto!
O ponte di Rialto!
O basso profondo!
O fine del mondo!
O "voi che sapete!"-