Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1879-12-20 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

CIE., Bengal General List (Infantry), who has been gazetted to brevet rank for distinguished service rendered by him during his emplovnient on special duty in Persia, is the son of General Lord Napier, of Magdala. A friend tells me that the buoyant Mr. Loather has exchanged his wonted switch for a stout blackthorn. This he has done since the Irish arrests. Well. I doubt net the lithe and active Irish Secretary would given good account of himself with that tams blackthorn.  To Scotland be went with A thread-bare coat. And with lamas that were frayed at the heels;  Atarlis.l;6;;;-g-nv—e him a brad new suit, And another at Galashiels.  His coat years ago (maybe thirty and ten) Was a coat of the grand Tory blue, But he's turned it and dyed it so often since then, That 'Us now of a nondescript hue.  So C.-auks, " brither Scats," to; new-clothing the chid But a castle alone is but vain; Send him South, after laying the Radical deil, In his right mind, a Tory again:  (From " Mayfair.")  One of the best anagrams ever made was on the elder Mathews: Mathews—saw them! Mathews—was them:  Would not this have furnished a happy couplet to the tombstone of the second Charles? The popularity of "H.M.S. Pinafore" seems to be unbounded. It has reached the hillistatiens of India, where it is being played by a company of amateurs. The success of the piece at Simla was, I hear, mainly due to the "First Lord," who got himself up as the exact counterpart of a naval officer very well known at Simla. It was at one of these performances that the Viceroy was assisting when the sad news of the massacre of Cavagnari was telegraphed to him, and an impromptu Cabinet Council .a 8 forthwith summoned in his Excellency's private box. A boatman at Shields threw himself, some few weeks ago, into the water, and was drowned. The body was recovered, and a coroner's jury called. Their verdict was felo-de-se. A local reporter, seeing an idol/. wrote the verdict 'fellow de sea." Toe joke being an extremely poor one, his editor bought a third-class ticket to London, pressed it into the reporter's hand, gave him a letter of introduction to Punch, and discharged him. As the public can judge for themselves. I do not feel bound to say whether that reporter's cervices have been accepted or not. I see by an American paper that Mr. Sothern has been playing another practical joke. He put an eel-kin stuffed with wet bran into a gentleman's bed, and my autho.rity says that the gentleman looks tea years older in consequence of the fright. I have no great admiration for practical joking of any kind. Certainly, for audacity, there bas been no cooler hand at this sort of entertainment than Sothern since the days of Hook. He once told me that he had made a collection of Hook's practical jokes, and some of the instances he related were certainly very funny. Some few I recollect. One was tying bits of meat to the bell handles, which are still to be sees dangling here and there at the gates of suburban villas. IVlven the night fell, every stray dog that passed would snatch at the meat and of course set the bell ringing. Out would troop the servants, candle in hand, look around and see nothing. In this way the bell would be kept ringing whilst the meat held to the handle.  (From the' World.") The hopes of the Russian Constitutionalists have been destroyed by the recent attempt on the Emperor's life at Moscow. It is felt that, whatever previous intentions may have been, autocratic pride will not suffer the appearance of concession immediately after such an event. The fine collection of theatrical portraits at the Garrick Club has recently received a valuable addition in the water-colour drawings representing the late Charles Mathews in 116 different characters. These pictures, which now line the lobby leading to the strangers'-room, were purchased at the Mathews sale, and presented to the Garrick Club by Mr. Robert Walters. Dublin in general, and Kildare-street Club in particular, will henceforth miss the well-known presence of another gentleman of the old school—the courteous and genial Sir Edward Borough, at one time head of the house of " Armit and Borough, army agent." It was to this house that nitty Dick Arndt belonged after leaving the Guards, and it was apropos of this house, in which his father was then a partner. that Dick" made his happy reply to Geo/ go IV. The first time the young guardsman was presented to the King, the latter, who prided himself, and pretty justly, on knowing "who was who," observed, "Mr. Armit—ah, son of knowing and Borough, I believe." "Of Armit only,l hope, your Majesty," was the answer. Sir Leopold McClintock, of Arctic celebrity, hoists his flag on board the new frigate Northampton as commander-in-chief of the North American and West , Indian squadron. The gallant admiral will sail from Spithead on the Pfith of December, and, contrary to , the general rules of the service, will be amoinpanied to , Bermuda by Lady McClintock and his children. (From " Truth?) . Any one who reads "The Warden," which is one of Mr. Anthony Trollope's best and earliest novels; will find therein a good sketch of the Times in its really great days, and will gather an idea of the amount of slavish awe with which its decrees, daring the earlier part of Mr. Delane's reign, were regarded in the country. The judge of the Walsall County Court took a sensible course with a frivolous case which was brought before him last week. Solicitors, plaintiff, and defendant, each with a posse of witnesses were in attendance, and proceedings were about to commence, when it transpired that the amount in dispute was eightpence, whereupon, having induced the parties to leave the matter in his hands, he forthwith handed the amount to the plaintiff, and a day's waste of public and private time was avoided, to the satisfaction of all concerned except the litigmts. Surely there shoold be a minimum amount furs County Court case as well as a maximum. Certainly affairs and rewards, &c., in Zululand are oddly arranged and conducted. Colonel Harrison gets a C.B. after being unpleasantly mixed up with the death of the Prince Imperial, and the souse is given to Captain Bradshaw, whose prompt and deci,ive action perhaps seysdnpr celogy._ Lord Gifford gets £5OO and his majority, and dinners, Mid 'heaven knows *hat all, for hunting Cetewayo ; and Major Master, who caught him, gets what Not muck. ' The admieerh of languid beauty must have had their feelings terribly ontraged if they happen to have seen "our girls" on the ice dueing the last week. Nothing cquld be more energetic than the performances of those who can skate (unless; perbaps, the persistent endeavours of those who can't); and though