trousers, I should say it was generally on the other
side of the Tweed.

ONE WHO IS FOND OF DIGGING FOR ROOTS.--I should say, from your
foolish question, that the place where you dig most must be a garden
full of simples. How can I say whether "toggery" is derived from the
Latin word _toga_? Or whether CLYTEMNESTRA, when she was on the
point of stabbing her son, exclaimed "_Au Reste_?" Or whether a
cross-examination is so called, because it generally has the effect
of making a person "cross?" I wonder you are not ashamed of yourself
putting such insipid questions to one of HER MAJESTY'S Ministers.

A PUBLIC JOURNALIST.--LORD PALMERSTON is extremely sorry he cannot
give the name of the "Old Woman who lived in a shoe," and he doubts
very strongly in his own mind if any old woman ever chose such a
curious locality for a habitation. Perhaps--and this is merely
thrown out as a conjecture--it may refer to MRS. GAMP, of the
_Morning Herald_, and who lives in Shoe Lane; but then the song
should run, "There was an old woman, who lived in Shoe Lane," and
unfortunately it doesn't.

HORTICULTURALIST.--The apple of discord was doubtlessly, my dear, a
crab-apple; but it is beyond me to say whether VENUS, in accepting
it, was a naughty-culturist; but I can only say, from my own
experience, that it is not the first time by many that Paris has
been the cause of throwing the apple of discord--witness the Spanish
Marriage.

"ET TU QUOQUE."--It would ill become me, in my position, to offer
any opinion upon the conduct of a fellow-colleague, so you must
excuse me if I decline answering your inquiry whether LORD ABERDEEN
is not "the injudicious bottle-holder of the Porte." I should be
sorry to accept a compliment at the expense of a man whom I so
highly--but never mind the rest.

FIDDLE-DE-DEE.--I will write to LORD WESTMORELAND at the earliest
opportunity to inquire whether he is composing variations on the
tune of "_Pop Goes the Weasel_," but I doubt it extremely. Your
other question of whether a man who gives his mind to a violin can
be a clever ambassador, I decline answering.

"THAT'S THE WAY THE MONEY GOES."--You ask me--why I don't know--the
reason why "tin" should be the vulgar synonym for money. It defies
my powers of divination to tell you, unless it originated from the
fact