Various

“ It is no slight thing to have succeeded a statesman of the calibre of Chaplin. But when he persistently sits opposite you, critically observing all your movements with that air of supreme intelligence which more than hints that, as Minister for Agriculture, he was personally acquainted with every one of the cattle on a thousand hills, it is an ordeal that calls into play all the higher faculties of Man. As to the tuberculosis, it is always breaking out in unexpected places ”

“ Tuesday.—"The life of Her Majesty's Ministers," said the Grand Young Gardner, moodily contemplating his spats, "is not an entirely happy one. I think I may add that is peculiarly the case with the Minister for Agriculture. I must say, if the language, be not regarded as too flowery——"
"The Minister for Agriculture," I said, desiring to put Gardner at his ease, "would be fully justified in using cauliflowery language."
"Thank you. Then I'll say I go to bed with tuberculosis, and get up with Harry Chaplin. The casual observer is, doubtless, aware that Chaplin has an eye. ”

“ Nothing left but to clear House for Division. Members near entreated Kenyon to desist from further opposition. No use fighting Closure; only meant another Division and twenty minutes' prolongation of sitting. Kenyon, with eye reverently fixed on Bishop, immovable. Others might falter on the way; might palter with the truth; might parlay with the enemy. Kenyon would have no compromise, no surrender. ”

“ Well, oddly enough, I fancy I know somebody who has been trying for a long time to find a young person of just your age and appearance, and might be induced to waive a reference on a personal interview. (Miss Seaton looks incredulous.) ... Marjory, don't you understand? If I hadn't been such a pauper, I'd have spoken long ago, when we were up in Scotland together, only it didn't seem fair then. I—I daresay I've no better chance now; but, at least, I've more right to speak than I had, and—and—will you have me, Marjory? (She turns away.) ”

“ We poor mice may share Church cheer!
There was a feeling of uncertainty in the House of Commons last Wednesday, as to what should be taken to constitute "A Religious Body." Not to go harking back to the Rev. Sydney Smith's definition of "a Corporation"—which, without speaking it profanely, cannot be here quoted without offending eyes polite,—one may say that "A Religious Body" is a contradiction in terms. ”

“ And, if I may ask one last indulgence, will you—a—let me have an opportunity of saying good-bye to Miss Seaton?
Mrs. Tid. She, she doesn't deserve—Oh, I don't know what I'm [pg 100] saying. Of course, Lord Strathsporran, anything, anything I can do to——I will send her down to you, if you will only wait. She shall not keep you long! ”

“ Gilbert Hare, was natural where the authors have allowed him to be natural, and best, therefore, in the last Act, where he has become a responsible personage in a diplomatic office. The "three-men-in-a-difficulty" scene went as well as ever, though, on the whole, played far too slowly, and with so much "suppressed force," that the celebrated [pg 101] "Monsieur! à vos ordres!" when Orloff suddenly breaks out into "the language of diplomacy," did not electrify the house. ”

“ Dora, as a young Irish girl, and not, as she is here, a half-breed, would never have threatened to suicide herself out of the window, though all else she, as a not particularly well-educated, but certainly very impulsive girl, might probably have done. ”

“ When a good old joke is again brought into Court with or without apology, instead of its being received with respectful silence, we should like to read that it was greeted with "tears" or "sobs." It would, indeed, not be unbecoming on the part of the Judge if, unable to control his emotion, he had immediately arisen, and, in broken judicial utterances, had adjourned the Court for the day, out of respect to the memory (for old jokes) of the Leader or Junior who had apologetically perpetrated one. Should Mr. ”

“ Like the late M. Massie, whose shade he invokes, the young Prince seems to object to us, not because we commit any specific acts of hostility, but "because we look on in a most aggravating fashion." This is truly funny! One country may steal a—Tonkin, but another may not look over a boundary! ”

“ Forbes Robertson is good from first to last as the very weak-knee'd Julian Beauelere, sufficiently emotional in the strong situations, and never better than when the character itself is at its weakest; that is, in the one great scene with his wife. ”

“ Bancroft, it would be better, for an English audience at least, if omitted entirely, or reduced to a few appropriate lines in pleasant places. An English audience wants the story, when once begun, to go on without any break or interruption; and indeed, but for dramatic effect, an English audience is inclined to resent even the division of a piece into Acts, unless such arrangement is evidently necessitated by some heavy mechanical change of scenery. ”

“ Then Mellor (fortuitously on spot in evening dress) stepped into Chair, where through six Sessions, Courtney has sat ruling the whirlwind out of order, and riding on the storm. All done in moment. Before you knew where you were, there was new Chairman of Committees proposing vote of £2,000 for rearrangement of rooms in Houses of Parliament. Alpheus Cleophas rose, with evident intent of wanting to know "about these rooms," when irrepressible Mr. G. on his feet again. "I beg to move," he said, addressing Chairman, "that you do report progress, and ask leave to sit again." ”

“ He goes out.
Mr. Tid. (making an effort to escort him downstairs, but giving it up, and sitting down heavily on a settee instead) . She'll be Lady Strathsporran! And I shall have to break it to Maria—after she's just gone in and stuck a month's salary and immediate notice on her pincushion! Oh, lor—as if my poor wife hadn't trouble enough to bear as it was! ”

“ A. One is associated with the Stock Exchange, and the other is usually made comfortable with a pot of beer and a penny paper in the kitchen.
Q. What is a kitchen?
A. The source from which happiness or misery flows under the superintendence of a cook.
Q. Describe a cook.
A. As a food-preparer he, or she, is often an executioner.
Q. What is a century?
A. When obtained by a cricketer, an honour; when achieved by an individual, a distinction that must be shortly followed by extinction. ”

“ It is a study for a novel rather than an accomplished work. One expects, my Baronite says, that in some leisure time the author will come back and finish it. It is well worth the labour, being full of living characters. ”

“ Never had his crisp incisive style produced more marked effect. It is a pity that in the Third Act, which being the weak point of the play requires all the strength of the actor to be seriously employed, Mr. ”