1831.] Affairs in General. 663 



Windsor, and Bushy, and Brighton, and St. James's are all on the 

 alert. The summer is to be the gayest that ever was known, and her 

 Majesty's relatives are honouring England by their visits. The Ger- 

 mans are very good people, but they certainly have very numerous 

 families. 



" The Duchess Ida of Saxe Weimar. This illustrious lady, who has arrived 

 from Rotterdam, is the younger sister of the Queen, and was united to Duke 

 Bernard Charles, of Saxe Weimar Eisenach, in 1816, at the age of 24. The 

 reigning Duke of Saxe Meiningen is the only brother of Her Majesty and the 

 Duchess Ida, and succeeded to the family territory in 1803, at which period 

 he was only three years of age. His mother, the duchess dowager, adminis-* 

 tered the government till December, 1821, when the duke completed his 21st 

 year. The extent of the territory of Saxe Meiningen is about equal to 680 

 square English miles, and the population is estimated at 140,000. The prin- 

 cipal town, Meiningen, contains nearly 5,000 inhabitants." 



We must thank the course of a kind fate for every thing, and we may 

 thus rejoice in the possession of a great many interesting foreigners ; 

 some of whom we pension very handsomely. By degrees we shall get 

 rid of our English names, and Victorines will be the fashion ; the price 

 of Meershaums has risen already, and we understand that more yellow 

 mustachios will be worn during the winter months of June, July, and 

 August, than were ever visible since the Saxon Heptarchy. We only 

 hope that the ladies will not adopt them. 



The Irish proverb that " single misfortunes never come alone," has 

 been contradicted in the case of Lord Lowther, who, though he has lost 

 his election, has won his race, and brought up his expences at the 

 hustings, and five pounds over, by his triumph at the stand. His Lord- 

 ship is too old a statesman not to have the desire of serving his country 

 in a good place. But his late experience may teach him that of all posts, 

 the best is the winning-post. We must do him the justice to say, that 

 when in office, he was an indefatigable man of business, and that though 

 we do not yet comprehend the good fortune by which, in the memorable 

 and fatal year 1829, he was suffered to vote against the Catholic Bill, 

 and yet keep his office ; we should wish to see him marshalling his stone- 

 masons, bricklayers, and carpenters again, and standing, ferule in hand, 

 over the pullers down and builders up of half a dozen more miles of the 

 Strand. 



We recommend the following caution to heiresses and others, from ten 

 thousand pounds upwards, during the present eloping season at Bath, 

 Cheltenham, Clifton, Brighton, Broadstairs, Astley's, and Almack's. 



" Law of Settlement. It is not, we believe, generally known that an English 

 woman marrying a native of Scotland or Ireland, loses all claim to parochial 

 relief in England, and may be passed, like an Irish or Scotch vagrant, to the 

 birth-place of the husband. Such is the present Law of Settlement 1" 



On the continent none but women take the veil, but an imported 

 foreigner, like imported champagne, always improves by the London 

 market. We give an instance : on the day of the Derby much mirth was 

 occasioned by the occasional appearance on the Epsom road of certain 

 nondescript animals, with green veils over their heads. Those, at first, 



