so much so, that
frequently is the castle swallowed up in its keep.

* * * * *

A REFLECTION (_By_ MECHI).--It is not the sharpest blades that always
are the truest steel.

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE REMONSTRANCE.

_London Merchant._ "WHY, WHAT IS THE USE OF YOUR BEING IN A RESPECTABLE
HOUSE OF BUSINESS IF YOU PROCEED IN THIS ABSURD, VULGAR MANNER? NOW,
TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, UNLESS YOU MEND VERY CONSIDERABLY, YOU WILL GO ON
FROM BAD TO WORSE. YOU WILL BECOME A PETTY HUCKSTER; FROM THAT YOU WILL,
IN ALL PROBABILITY, GET TO BE A MERE COMMON COUNCILMAN; THEN AN
ALDERMAN; WHEN, AFTER A COURSE OF GLUTTONY AND TOM-FOOLERY, PAINFUL TO
THINK OF, YOU WILL MAKE A RIDICULOUS TERMINATION TO YOUR CONTEMPTIBLE
CAREER BY ACTUALLY BECOMING A LORD MAYOR!"]

* * * * *

A MIDDLESEX BALLAD.

AIR.--"_And shall_ TRELAWNEY _die_?"

A baize board and a crafty 'and,
And a racing print or two;
Didn't we once just understand,
The sporting gents to do?
And 'ave they fixed the where and when,
And shall the system die?
Then 'alf a thousand betting men
Will know the reason why.
And shall they scorn MEG, MATH, and "BEN,"
And shall the system die?
There's 'alf a thousand in our trade
Who'll know the reason why.

Out spake FLASH BILLY, blithe and bold.
A horse-shoe pin wore he:
"Deposits on a race to 'old
Shall we no more be free?
When we could grasp them in our 'and,
The system used to pay;
For when rum tidings reached the Strand,
'Twas--'Shutters up--away!'"
And shall they scorn MEG, MATH, and "BEN," &c.

A plague upon St. Stephen's wall,
Where not one cove stood true;
We'll make that PALMERSTON look small.
For working this 'ere screw:
The Turf you 'ave betrayed, as 'ow
You swear 'er lists shall die;
But 'alf a thousand betting men
Will know the reason why.
And shall they scorn MEG, MATH, and "BEN," &c.

* * * * *

GREAT POLITENESS TO NICHOLAS.

Our own ships have waited, whilst the Russian frigate _Aurora_ has
occupied a Portsmouth dock. We have supplied NICHOLAS with the work of
shipwrights and the stores of our Dockyard. This is Christianlike, and
according to the ABERDEEN policy expressed by the Premier at the Mansion
House. It is said the Noble Earl, in the excess of his benevolence,
would--if he might--e