ragon, the
Lion, Red or Black, and such like, should be taken as examples of the
principle on which all those places of plunder should be designated.
Those time-honoured appellations are recommended not only by their
antiquity but by their candour, and we would have every extravagant Inn,
that is, almost every Inn in the kingdom, that does not rejoice in one
of them, denoted and commonly called and known by a similar kind of
title; as, The Crocodile, The Boa Constrictor, The Hyena, The Condor,
The Wolf, The Ogre, in order to signify that it is the den of a ravenous
monster that subsists by devouring travellers.

* * * * *

CREDIT AT A DISCOUNT.

There was great consternation at the West End on the announcement being
made that the rate of discount had been raised in the Back parlour--of
SHADRACK AND CO.--from fifty-five to sixty per cent. Even this amount of
interest was insufficient to ensure the discount of some very good
paper--for though the paper itself was certainly very good, it was
spoiled by some very bad names on the back of it.

* * * * *

[Illustration: WHAT EVERYBODY THINKS.

_Young Palmerston, a sharp clever boy._ "OH, CRIKEY! WHAT A SCOTCH MULL
OF A PRIME MINISTER!"

[THAT MAY BE, BUT IT IS NOT PRETTY TO SAY SO.--_Punch._]]

* * * * *

[Illustration: ECONOMY.

Mamma. "_My dear child! What are you doing with my best Velvet Dress?_"

Child. "_I am only cutting and contriving a Frock for my Doll!_"]

* * * * *

THE EMPEROR AT BOULOGNE

(_By our own Eye-Witness._)

BOULOGNE has for some weeks presented the miserable aspect of a sort of
daylight Vauxhall, or the "behind the scenes" portion of a theatre at
rehearsal time. The "EMPEROR" having been expected nearly a month ago,
the "authorities" who had made him captive in 1840 determined to
captivate him in 1853 by turning the town into a series of "bowers of
bliss" by the aid of at least 1000 scaffolding poles and some millions
of yards of evergreens. The "authorities," having formed themselves into
a sort of committee of stage management, proceeded to get up the scenery
and properties a month ago; and during that month, the equinoctial gales
have been shifting the scenery and distributing the properties in a most
vague and impartial manner. Several "triumphal arches" have been for the
last three weeks staggering in a s