The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-24 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.

The Registrar-General's returns for last week
shew an extraordinarily low barometer and an extra-
ordinarily high thermometer. The mean height of the
first was only 29.47 in., the mean of the second was
47.5, or no less than 7.5 deg. above the average of the
last fifty years. There was nearly an inch of rain
during the week, and the excessive wet of the present
month has brought the rainfall of the year nearly
up to the average, in spite of the long drought in the
summer.

Oxford-street tradesmen are in a state of high indigna-
tion because Mr. Hawkesley, the engineer, has proposed
to make an underground railway from the Marble
Arch to the City. They say that the construction of
the work will render their thoroughfare impas-
sable, though Mr. Hawkesley promises that they
shall know nothing about it ; and• they urge that
it will have the effect of taking West-end residents into
the City, where they will be able to do their shopping
more cheaply. Here we see exactly the same selfish spirit
manifested, though in a different way, which made land-
owners twenty years ago the great obstructors of rail-
ways. - Each class thinks that the public advantage is to
be sacrificed to their individual profit, and that they have a
vested interest in difficult locomotion. The late Duke
of Buckingham gave a grand dinner and burnt a large
bonfire to celebrate the rejection of the Great Western
Railway Bill. Mr. Snelgrove, of the firm of Marshall and
Snelgrove, is leading the opposition to the Oxfqrd-street
Railway. Human nature is the same in all classes and at
all times. Meanwhile it is satisfactory to know that the
system of. underground communication is extending
rapidly. The new section which will connect Padding-
ton with Westminster Bridge will be opened on Christmas
Day, and on New Year's Day the South Western Railway
will be accessible from the north side of the Thames, so that
passenger* by that line will no longer be compelled to hire
a cab and pay a 2d. toll at Waterloo Bridge.
In literary circles the event which excites most curiosity
is the transference of the copyright of Mr. Tenryson's
works fri?m Mr. Moxon to Messrs. Strahan. Messrs.
Strahan are comparatively new men, of boundless energy
and courage, who have always done business on
the principle • of giving large sums to first-rate
authors. IC is under these circumstances that
they , are able to announce as contributors to
Good' Words dining the coming year Mr. Gladstone,
the Duke of Argyll, the Bishop ofOxford, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, Dean Alford, George Macdonald, Pro-
fessor Kingsley, Miss Edwards, and Mr. Helps. That
they should have succeeded in alluring the Laureate from
the old-established house in Dover-street to the new house
in Ludgate-hill is an event which offers boundless
speculation as to the terms by which they have tempted
Mr. Tennyson. I should add that there is really
no Mr. Moxon. The second of that name, son of the
founder of the business, died in middle life about eight
years ago: His widow survives, and the business is carried
on by Mr.. Bertrand Payne. Another of the Piccadilly
houses, Mr. Murray's, must look after its clients. Dean
Stanley is becoming a frequent contributor to Macmillan's
Magazine, and' the forthcoming number will have an
article from him on the late Dean Milman. Mr. Glad-
stone, in spite of political differences, adheres to Albemarle-
street, and his " Chapter of Autobiography " has reached
its 9th thousand.

We are evidently to have a " green " Christmas. I
wish my readers a merry one—better still, a happy one.

THE COMIC PAPERS.
(From Punch.)

. .
FLIES IN AMBER.—Yetlow Cabs.
FAsHiors.The 'ladies are still wearing " diadem "
bonnets. They have long only worn crowns?
No APPARENT CONNECTION.—Mrs. Malaprop, whose
head is still runnine, on politics, cannot make out why the
new Ministers are obliged to go and be elected again be-
cause of a statue of Queen Anne !
POT AND KETTLE.—Friend : Well, Stuffins, what did
you think of the cattle show ?"—Mr. Stuffins: " Pretty
fair. But the way they feed up those poor beasts I call a
disgrace to humanity !"

THE EASTERN BORE.—It is said that " when Greek
meets Greek, then comes the tug of war." Never mind
that; but, for the peace of Europe, let us hope that when
Greek meets Turk the case will prove otherwise.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?"— Waiter (to nervous invalid) :
" There's the old church, sir, close by, but some visitors
goes to St. Wobbleoe's, sir. There the clergyman preaches
distempery ! " (Cleary not the place for him, the old gen-
tleman thinks, with a shudder.)
THE RETORT COURTEOUS. —The French Bar gave a
dinner to the English at the Grand Hotel. M. Gravy pro-
posed " The health of the foreign barristers." Mr. Hud-
clleston' Q.C., responded to the toast. Bravo! If the
French Bar gave the English Gravy, the English Bar gave
the French Sauce in reply.
TOAST OF TOLERATION.—The season for dinners of a
specidlly festive character being now at hand, people who
shall have dined may be expected to be uncommonly
facetious., Very likely if the right honourable gentleman
the President of the Board of Trade should happen to be
present at a Christmas feast of which the founder is a
buffoon, that buffoon will venture to be so absurd as to
propose the toast of "Ministers of all Denominations,"
coupled with the name of Mr. Bright.
MASTER •OF THE SITUATION (?) !—(Scene—Mr. Tether-
short's sanctum: Enter Mrs. T. and her Cook.) Cook
(with her- usual promptitude—she never kept anybody
waiting) : •" Oh, if you please, sir, I wish to complain of
missis ! which she come a dictaterin' and a hinterferin' in
your kitching in a way as I'm sure you wouldn't approve
on, &c., &c., &c." ! ! [T. confesses he felt (for the first
and last time) a delicious sensation of being apparently
master in his • own house. She was an admirable conk,
and altogether'a most excell— But, however, she had
to go !]

(From Fun.)

TRAP Dooms.—The doors of too many limited liability
companies.

HARD MEASURE.—Jenkyns, who is really musical, and
unfortundtely lives next door to a young ladies' school,
declares it is tao bad : as soon as he gets rid of the daily
scales he gets the nightly waits.