200 Notes of' the Month on Affairs in Gena-ul. QAugust,- 



Then we read of Lord John, how he stood up alone ; 

 And talked for two hours, drawing tears down in showers. 

 From Hume, Hunt, and Wood, a grim brotherhood ; 

 Who, like thieves in a storm, swore they'd go and reform. 

 There shone young Tommy Metaphor, all fuss and vigour. 

 And Stanley as quick as an Irishman's trigger ; 

 And he who talks verse, and prose too by the yard. 

 Lord Nugent, the jovial-faced Portugal's bard. 



This we believe no man can deny to be extraordinary : we will pit 

 our Bard against a bushel of Skeltons. We conclude with a touch of 

 nature : it is in the very finest spirit of observation. 



It's surprising how the steam vessels go. 



Without either wind or tide, I know ; 



Supported with engines of many horse-power. 



That makes them sail at the rate of so many knots an hour. 



From Glasgow to Liverpool they do fly. 



And calls at Portpatrick, Isle of Man, as they pass by. 



What will the Doctor say to this. " Where," as the Scotchman in 

 the English pit, said on seeing Douglas, " where's your Wully Shaks- 

 peare noo ?" 



The Coronation is, like Hamlet's notion of death, " To be, and not to 

 be;" or like Taglioni's petticoat, invisible, yet existing, a delicate mys- 

 tery of which nobody would suspect the existence. Or like the witch's 

 promise, " kept to the ear, but broken to the hope :" or like the Reform 

 Bill, an affair voted useless without ceremony. On this point spoke the 

 Oracle. 



" The affair of the coronation was a subject of some difficulty. The form 

 seemed necessary, the expense fearful. We hope that a compromise, through 

 the kind consideration of his Majesty, between the jarring elements, has been 

 effected. It is rumoured that the day for the ceremony, on which less parade 

 will be attendant than usual, is fixed for Ihe 23d of September. Our amiable 

 Queen, will, no doubt, be crowned along with her royal husband." 



So said the great ministerial paper a month ago, It is now, however, 

 decided that the whole affair is to be quite " an entre nous sort of thing," 

 or as the ]\Iarquis of the Regent's Park would say, a half-hour's tcte a. 

 icte, dry as a JNIethodist lecture, and not attended with the national 

 expense of a new pair of breeches, nor a bottle of Cape wine to the 

 nation. But all is right in this best of all possible worlds. We have 

 got rid of the Coronation, for the^;*; time, be it observed : we hope the 

 getting-rid system will stop there. 



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